South American Adventure - Day Fifteen, Thursday 6th March 2014

Our last morning at Awasi.  No more watching the condors twist their way upwards whilst having a shower, or waking up to the view of the three towers.  It really does look like Mordor – I expected Frodo Baggins to appear at any moment.  The last trip to breakfast – perhaps I won’t miss that.  The journey from our home to the main lodge, not the breakfast.  Twelve steep steps from the cabin to the road, a hundred yards upwards on the road, and then another hundred yards or so upwards on a steep gravel pathway.  Builds up the appetite!

No JP waiting to take us to the park – all a bit wrong somehow.  This morning is really chilly – the weather does seem to have changed.  The breakfast yet again was lovely.  Frederico, the Argentine Chef, came out as he does most meals to make sure the food is to our liking.  Not sure what he would do if we said no.  Most people have already left for the day, so only us to attend to.  Nothing else for it – I will have to go and pack.  The coat, that I have briefly put on once and really didn’t need, is going to the bottom of the case.  A kilo I could have saved.  And the hat and the gloves.  It doesn’t take long to put everything away, but it does feel rather sad to be doing so.

JP is driving us to Puerto Natales, and then we have another transfer company taking us from there to Punta Arenas for a one night stop before our flight tomorrow to Calama.  He is there – for the last time – as punctual as ever.  Awasi have even given him a packed lunch for us, and a little bag of chocolates for the journey.  They really do think of everything.  After everyone has come out to say their goodbyes, we start off for the two hour journey.  Puerto Natales is the nearest town to Awasi, albeit two hours away, so JP has a shopping list to bring back.  We start our usual commute, and two red foxes cross the road in front of us.  And back again.  This journey just never is boring.  We leave the mountains of the park behind – the weather does not look good there either.  The wind is blowing a gale, and it looks as if there is snow on the lower mountains.  It rained fairly heavily during the night, so the trails in the park are not going to be good first thing.

After about an hour we pass a little village called Cerro Castillo.  This is where Awasi have taken over a house for all the staff – there are up to fifty of them living there at any one time.  It looks a lovely country house – but quite a way to travel there and back every day.  Going towards Puerto Natales, the scenery changes from the mountains back to the flat.  When we arrive there, the Le Boreal is moored just offshore.  Must be one of their ports of call.  The car is waiting for us, so we transfer the luggage and set off for the three hour trip from Puerto Natales to Punta Arenas.

The wind gets even worse on the way – the car is being blown around as the road is just next to wide open spaces both sides.  The driver doesn’t speak English – the only words Paul knows are Vino Tinto, so she just nods and stops at a place for him to get some.  I think the joke was lost in translation somewhat!  It had bathrooms though, so some use.  The heavens absolutely opened just before we arrived into Punto Arenas – the sea as we were coming in was so rough.  There were some poor road construction workers that were done up for the weather conditions.  I somehow don’t think this is unusual.  Punto Arenas seems very industrial – and large.  This looks like an important freight port, and all the industries associated with it.  I am sure there is a lovely town in there somewhere, but when we arrive at the hotel it is a case of making a dash for it before we are blown away and soaked.

We are staying at the Cabo de Hornos – a very respectable establishment for one night.  We have a corner room on the sixth floor, and when we get in the room the wind is whistling around the building making an awful racket.  Hopefully it will calm down!  The rain has stopped, so we decided to go out and get something to eat – and would you believe we needed the coats.  The one at the bottom of the very neatly packed case.  Oh well, at least we needed it once on the trip.  And the case is not neatly packed anymore.  It was like Antarctica outside – well, we are well on the way there.  One of my trips for the future – Paul said he will enjoy waving me off.  Seems I haven’t yet been able to persuade him to come! 

Nobody here speaks English.  None of those we met anyway.  We ended up in a semi fast food restaurant – the emphasis on food and not fast.   It had beer on the menu so that was good enough for Paul.  We had a couple of hamburgers, which weren’t actually too bad.  No fries – not sure why.  Perhaps they don’t go in for them here.  It certainly wasn’t Awasi standard, but it filled a hole.  Coming back Guns ‘n’ Roses were playing in the square – the CD rather than the group – at full blast.  And it was just below our window.  Oh what joy!  Wind or heavy metal?  Take your pick, or if you’re really lucky you can have both!