Patagonian Wilderness

Welcome back my fearless followers.

I realise that my resolution to keep the blog updated every two weeks has fallen by the wayside a little, but in my defence, there is little or no internet in Patagonia. Where there is internet, you have to sacrifice your first born child to pay for it, and as I had no children to give up, I ended up with very little internet time.

When I first heard talk about Patognia, I thought it must be some country in South America. (This was a very long time ago). In my defence, people talk about going to Patagonia in the same with they talk about going to the Galapacos (also not a country). You could be forgiven for the mistake if you were 12.

When you talk to other travellers about Patagonia, they've usually managed one or two hikes but more likely, they've avoided it altogether because its time consuming and pretty pricey. Everyone says Patagonia takes at least a month, probably more if you really want to see it properly, and they're right. It takes 4 days in a ferry to get from Puerto Montt (main starting point in Chile) to Puerto Natales (starting point for Torres del Paine National Park). There's no way around it, a visit to Patagonia is slow and expensive and you usually end up for days in a place that you had only planned on spending a few hours. Getting around is a pain in the back, quite literally you will develop a pain in your back from all the time on buses. Also, if you're from Ireland, you'll be surprised how much it looks like Ireland. Aside from penguins, snow capped mountains and glaciers, you could acutally be in Ireland. Right down to Fuschia and Foxgloves!