The flight into punta arenas was quite terrible. The seats were SO small and had uncomfortable leather. But the airport was super cute and small. We loitered around the coffee area and waited for our bus. The bus was a three hour ride to Puerto Natales. I sat next to a gal from Santiago who was hiking the w. She was so nice! And her English was pretty good. We passed a few animals and the Strait of Magellan. The bus drops us off in town and we wander to find our hostel. The sun was blaring, the wind was strong and we were all getting toasty. My friend bailey from the pct is currently in South America too and kept talking about these stray dogs and I finally saw them! They're everywhere. So many dogs just wandering the streets and following us around. We decided to name our favorite one, el Perro. The air was so fresh and all the houses were so colorful.
Perro, our first wild dog friend.
We walk for around two miles and finally see our hostel. She let us check in but we had to pay for our rooms in cash even though we had thought we had already paid w credit card earlier. We had a six bunk suite hostel w our own bathroom. It was so cute. We get settled and change into shorts and went to look for food. We ended up having lunch at this amazing pizza place. The were making pizzas w fresh ingredients in the brick oven. I got pesto fettuccine that tasted SO fresh. We all loved our food and were very impressed. After that, we walked around their downtown and visited some outfitters and a grocery. I got some salami, cheese and tortilla for my food for the hike.
Our hostel in Natales.
We head back to the hostel as most of everyone was extremely tired and took naps. I just laid on the couch in the sun room and chilled while a storm came through. Matt and joe ended up sleeping for awhile so the rest of us walked around town and visited coffee shops. We loitered until it was time for dinner and we went to a brewery for some burgers. Once again, so fresh and the beef tasted so unprocessed. The sun doesn't set until ten and it was still so bright out. It was so hard to believe! I wanted to take a shower so I stayed at the hostel while the others roamed at sunset. I am extremely sleepy now as it's past midnight and we wake early in the morn for the beginning of our journey, finally!
So windy by the water.