Drunken German singing at silly o'clock in the morning did not allow for a good nights sleep! So late for breakfast again. Packed up my stuff and went in search of Rebecca. We had a few hours to kill before the mini-bus transfer to the coach drop off point so we wandered towards the hotel in search of something to do. A signpost indicated a 2 hour ‘educational’ walk off into the shrubbery, so lacking anything else to waste time we followed this. There were little wooden posts with numbers on every so often, though what they were marking we could not work out, not sure what they really understood what educational means. There was also a contemplation corner, also unfinished and the path led to a fence so a complete lack of corners, it was very peaceful though. This walk killed an hour or so, very un-educational really!
Eventually it was time to get on the first of 3 buses for the day. Mini-bus was very full, was slightly concerned that we would miss our connecting buses, but it all worked out in the end. For some reason, three others and I got to go in a people carrier back to Puerto Natales instead of in the coach. I hoped this would be more comfortable, but it still felt like the vehicle would shake itself apart on the gravel road. The driver also looked as though he had been awake for a very long time. We caught a glimpse of flamingos standing on the shores of a lake, difficult to photograph though, blurry pink blobs was my best shot. Scenery remained impressive for a long time, was sad to be leaving the mountains behind again. Would love to go back and explore this area again, properly, where the tourists aren’t.
Found Rebecca again in Puerto Natales and we went in search of a cup of tea and postcards. Although the postcard selection was good, the tea service was slow, so burnt tongues were the order of the day since we had less than five minutes to get to the bus station. I think I slept most of the way down to Punta Arenas. It was time to get my science head ready to go.
Found my way to the hotel where everyone was booked in for the night, checked in, then went in search of the hostel and my heavy bags. Had to wait around for a while for the owner to turn up, my bags were stored in their house rather than the hostel part. I considered getting a taxi to the hotel from the hostel however I struggled along with both bags whilst getting some odd looks from everyone else. This is when I wish I had a bag with wheels and slightly less weight in my bag. Made it to the hotel in one piece and dragged my stuff upstairs. There was a group of people sitting in the foyer, speaking English, so I decided to see if they were headed for the Melville too, which they were. I met the principal scientist, Barney, and the rest of the Bigelow crew. They were heading out for dinner very soon, so I got the destination from them before I went to wash Torres del Paine and bus dust off me. Rebecca also turned up at the hotel, but was quicker than me and left with the rest of the group before I had emerged.
After several tries at the desk I got directions to the restaurant ‘La Luna’ and wandered down towards the waterfront, past many dogs out for their evening stroll minus owners. After doing the usual subtle glance around a restaurant without sighting anyone I knew, I was worried I’d missed everyone, but at shout from the upstairs section I went to join them. Luckily talking science was not allowed at the dinner table because the cruise had not officially started, my brain was not ready to cope with that. After a tasty meal and some drinks we headed back to the hotel. It was going to be an early morning start, rubbish, I was hoping for a lie-in!
No comments:
Post a Comment