After we left Torres del Paine, we drove down to Puerto Natales for three hours. We drove primarily on the Ruta del Fin del Mundo. On the way, we passed by Tres Pasos which included three mountains called La Mesa, La Olla, and El Castillo.
Puerto Natales is a small town but is functioning as the base camp for reaching out to various places for a day trip or an extended trip.
The hotel we arrived at was called Hotel Remota. In our first impression, it looked unusual. It was contemporary with an industrial building look. The building did not look like a hotel at all. We had to pass through a long corridor to get to our room, which looked more like a warehouse corridor. Wifi was barely working. It was quite interesting that the travel operator chose this type of lodging as the last accommodation. Hmmm...
The following day, we went first to visit Curva de Milodon, a gigantic natural cave. The inside was humongous that a Boeing 747 may be parked.
The scale of this cave may be more apparent with the following video clip:
After the Cuerva de Milodon, we rode a boat to see two glaciers in the region called Ultima Esperanza Fjords or the Last Hope Fjords. We felt a bit awkward boarding the boat late and taking the best seats reserved for us.
The first glacier we visited was Glacier Serrano. After we arrived at the National Park pier, we walked for twenty minutes to get close to the glacier. Since we already looked at the majestic Perito Moreno Glacier, our impression was not as strong, but it was still awesome to see the wonder that showed the collection of glaciers, floating icebergs, and water that was flowing into the river.
Here is a video clip that may give you a better feeling of the majestic view:
We boarded the boat again and headed out to see the next glacier: i.e. Glacier Balmaceda. It was not reachable by foot so we had to see it from the boat. But, again, our appreciation of the beauty has diminished quite a bit after having seen a bigger and more majestic glacier.
Before we reached the glacier, we stopped over at a waterfall and it was worth more than the glacier.
This waterfall may not be big, but it was still beautiful and awe-inspiring. Feel it in this video clip:
After visiting two glaciers, we had lunch at a ranch. It was quite crowded because all passengers on the boat were having lunch together, but the food was very good. The crew even served whiskey on the glacier rocks.
On the way back, everyone went into a food coma exacerbated by the accumulated fatigue.
As we were returning to the hotel, Mr. Yoon, Kristin, and I got off in the town of Puerto Natales to buy some souvenirs. I did not find a particular design of the Patagonia shirt but we were able to buy something similar made by Chilean artisans.
Tonight was the last night the group was dining together. It was the farewell dinner. We all had wonderful memories and exchanged our information.
My own group gave me a Patagonia cap as a token of appreciation for the arrangement I made for our trips.
The following day was the departure date. We drove to Punta Arenas where we took a flight to Santiago Chile.
At the Santiago Airport, we all said goodbye to each other and went our own ways. But, our own group's journey had not ended. We still had a trip to Bolivia and Sala de Uyuni. Patagonia was truly a marvelous display of God's majesty. Praise God! - Jeffrey
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