Países remotos, hechos heroicos, mujeres bonitas,...

Estrecho de Magallanes - Strait of Magellan, Punta Arenas: The strait Fernando Magellan discovered in 1520 during his famous journey around the world, a navigable connection between Atlantic and Pacific Ocean which made it no longer mandatory to sail around the dangerous Cape Horn.

For the first time in my life I am in Chile, and the city of Punta Arenas is the southernmost point that this trip will take me to - from here on it´s all north all the time. And really, there isn´t a whole lot more south to go. Across the strait lies Tierra del Fuego, and beyond that is only Antarctica. Just 200km north of here lies the famous Torres del Paine National Park - considered one of the most spectacular hiking and climbing locations in the world, and an must-visit location for any trip down here. Despite prior concerns whether the weather would allow us to see anything - or even allow us to complete the "W" tour, Nate and I set out with tent and supplies for a few days last week. And we were rewarded with spectacular sights: Glaciar Grey and the Patagonian Continental ice plate, floating icebergs, the Torres. We were considerably exhausted by the end of the trip, but no doubt was this a milestone not to be missed.

Punta Arenas itself is a rather dull place. We are staying in the "Calafate Hostel y Turismo", a moderately priced hotel that has seen better days, but offers clean beds and fast internet service downstairs. When Nate leaves I´ll have to look for another place to stay. The city itself doesn´t have much to offer - indicated by the waitress asking us at dinner yesterday simply whether we are "Heading to the park or coming from it". It´s all Torres del Paine all the time. Before the Panama Canal was opened, Punta Arenas played a major role as refueling harbor for trips between the Pacific and Atlantic, not much of that is left today. A moderate excitement for the town was the visit of the oil drilling rig "GSF Constellation II", which stayed for a few days for repairs before being loaded onto a huge transporting vessel and hauled off to Egypt. Nate and I were lucky enough to be witness to the loading procedure - a painfully slow yet fascinating process. When do you ever get the chance to see a huge 150m tall drilling platform being loaded on a boat?

Getting around overland is easy. As we had read many times before in the countless guide books that we brought along, the bus is the most convenient, fastest, and most affordable means of transportation. For the 5 hour bus ride from El Calafate (ARG) to Puerto Natales (CHI) we paid $16 USD, for the 240km ride from Puerto Natales down to Punta Arenas we only paid $3 USD.

This trip also introduced Nate to "Hostels" - and all the goodness that comes with them. From shared bathrooms and kitchens, to the shared snoring in the dorms and the shred living rooms in which conversations esily start and new friends are quickly made. Incredibly, many of the people that you meet in one hostel you´ll see at some other point during your trip again. Another hostel, another city, another country - the same faces. Many of the people staying with us are traveling for a lon period of time like I am. Some have just started their trip, others are already 9 month on the road and ready to head home - but the itineraries are often similar: See as much of South America as possible. Soak it all up. And maybe pick up some Spanish on the way.

Tomorrow Nate and my time will come to an end - he is taking a bus from Punta Arenas back to Puerto Natales and onwards back to Calafate, while I will remain a few days longer down here and eventually take a ferry 1000km up north to Puerto Montt. He will have to go back to work while I will continue zig-zagging north through Chile and Argentina into Bolivia and Peru.

I haven´t had the chance to upload any pictures lately, but luckily I was able to burn a bckup of all my imagenes on two DVDs, so I can free up some space on my memory cards again. Ah the hassle that traveling with modern deviced brings along. Where can I charge my backup harddisk now?

(The title for today´s entry is a quote taking from Ernesto "Che" Guevara´s book "Notas de viaje" and describes the expectations he had towards his trip: "Remote countries, heoric deeds, and beautiful women".)