Major catch up time.
So I leave Ancud at stupid-o'-clock in the morning and sleep all the way to Puerto Montt, a fairly dreary and drab city (so glad I made the choice not to stay here). "Boarding time" is between 9:30 and 11:30, but in true South American fashion the boarding time isn't actually until 14:30. Luckily I bump into the Dutch girls from Ancud, and we stop to buy some alpaca hats (glaciers are cold don't you know) and grab some alcohol from the local supermarket to keep us going on the boat (only an overpriced bar on-board). The carrier bags are akin to the new super-thin-can't-use-them-for-carrying-a-pint-of-milk-bags Tesco are currently demo-ing. So when the bag-packer puts two bottles of wine in one of these bags, it's bad news. Within 1m of the till, the bag breaks and a 1.5L bottle of wine comes crashing to the floor. A very nice old man starts yelling that it's the boy's fault, and soon we're being profusely apologised to by management and presented with new bottles of wine. Phew!
With that fiasco over with we head back and finally board the boat. The bunk beds are rather squashed looking, and hit my head sitting down on the bed when I first arrive. Not a good start. On the top deck, we find a giant chessboard, and while waiting for the boat to leave, I find myself watching a couple of Australians play. Well, one was getting a thrashing. His ass was getting handed to him, so I offered a few suggestions and suddenly I'm an "expert" (with my VERY rusty chess skills...) and before I know it I'm on the team! The boys are pretty cool and the real chess champion comes along and wipes the floor with everyone.
Soon afterwards, we are introduced to every single member of staff on board (no word of a lie) and we were expected to clap for the introduction of each person. Personally, I thought it was a little over the top considering they hadn't done anything yet. Maybe it would have been due if we had docked at the other end safely! Safety briefing over, we watch a National Geographic documentary on Patagonian wildlife. A sign of things to come.
Breakfast is at 8am. Not cool. Don't people know that sleep is a cherished past-time? We spend most of the next few days on the lookout for whales and dolphins, and we do catch a glimpse of some dolphins swimming alongside the boat. I find out these guys are also headed to Torres del Paine (along with pretty much the rest of the boat, there isn't that much to do in Puerto Natales). Due to the poor visibility (it had started to rain by this point), the captain decided to take a detour from the usual route and take us past an glacier called the Iceberg glacier, which is a lot wider, but not as high as the other glaciers we would have passed. It was breath-taking. The lead-up was a series of small ice-bergs (there were lots of people re-enacting Titanic), and the glacier itself was just SO BLUE. It was unbelievable.
We were given the opportunity to dis-embark for an hour at Puerto Eden, a town of 250 people, and while the option was tempting after 3 days on a boat, the heaven's decided to open, and I chose (wisely) that I wouldn't go. Just as well, because everyone who went looked so miserable when they came back! The entertainment on the final night on the boat is Bingo and Fiesta. It was good to break up the tedium anyway!
We arrive into port the next day, and on the approach we see more ice-capped peaks, which gets us all excited to get into the Torres del Paine national park. We spend the evening picking up last minute items and food for the trek, and then go for the unhealthiest meal imaginable: Pizza with tonnes of cheese, and a plate of chips, chicken bacon and EVEN more cheese. Thank goodness we're going to work it off the next few days!
No comments:
Post a Comment