Got in so late last night just so I could do a tour today. Originally I planned to have 5 nights in Puerto Natales to do 3 tours including crossing the border to Argentina to see Perito Moreno Glacier. Because of the fog interruption at Antarctica, I lost 1.5 hours to spend in Puerto Natales. Argentina is the obvious choice to drop. Then I found out that there are no tours running on Christmas Day. So, my only option is to go on a tour on Dec 24 and another one on Dec 26. So, despite only sleeping 5 and a half hours, I got up at 6am this morning for the tour.
I was told that the tour would start in front of the loft, so I just walked out standing in front of the loft and waited. I was thinking maybe they would come and pick me up, that is usually how it went. But across the street, there is a tour agency called Turismo 21 de Mayo, there is a line of people going in to get a ticket at the counter. The tour was booked by my DT Loft on my behalf, I only know that I am going to see the glaciers today and I was told in her exact words "Glacier Balamaceda y Serrano at 7am in the office in front of the loft". I waited for 15 mins, already past 7am, no sign of anyone coming to pick me up. I even shamelessly flagged down one of those tourist van, "are you looking for me?" I thought I saw him looking at me.
Anyway, I had strong suspicions about this Turismo 21 de Mayo, the line is just shorter, so I went in as well, and just checked, I said "no tengo boleta, I stayed in DT Loft..." The woman knew and looked at the next page, and she found my name. Oh geesus, she could have told me exactly that to get my ticket at the Turismo 21 de Mayo office first, that would have been helpful. I picked up my ticket and went to the bus parked a block away. I was the last 2nd person/group to get on, and I sat in the very last row. The bus started to move, no one talked, it was quite a big tour group. We arrived at a small pier where there are only 3 boats, and we were told to get one of them. Finding a seat was a bit chaotic, but I managed to grab the first opening I saw and sat down. I later found out that the family of 3 I was sitting with, the father was Chilean, the mother was German, they lived in Germany. They came to visit their son who lives here. They spoke english to me, after I told them mi espanol no bien.
The boat took off, and we were cruising along a channel towards the mountains, the channel was called Channel of Last Hope I later found out. I was standing outside and braved the wind for almost 90% of the time. It was a beautiful day, but extremely windy. The mountains are stunning, I could not stop snapping photos of the mountains over and over again. Before we even got to the first glaciers, the battery of my camera was already draining. We saw some bird colonies, a hole in the wall with many baby sea lions, and countless waterfalls. We got to Serrano Glacier, where we did a short hike to the glacier, 20 mins there, and 20 mins back, and there is a different hike for 5 mins. The whole thing was completed in just less than an hour with the extra time spent snapping photos. The view of the glacier, the trees around it, the lake and the ice. I decided to scatter some of Scott's ashes in this location as well, I think he would like that. Though that wind was so crazy, as soon as I let go of my hand, the ashes flew in all directions. Not sure how much actually stayed in this location.
We got back to the boat, we cruised along to the other side of the mountains to see Balmaceda Glacier which was mid way up the mountains. It was definitely melting fast and turned into creeks. After that, we had lunch in some fancy looking restaurant where we all had lamb, so far, all the tour meals are set meals, I don't have a choice. I typically would never choose lamb, thanks goodness it was actually not gamey and in fact kind of tasty. The combination of the lack of sleep, the wind, the excitement to see the glaciers, and the long meal (1.5 hours). It was ready to put me to sleep. It was good that we were on the way back already. I was satisfied, I got some good photos of the glaciers, and the sun was shining. Everyone's happy. It is Christmas Eve, and I have been warned that it would be challenging to find a place to eat. Instead I just ordered a pizza and ate in my room.
Day 14 Photos: Here
