Month: October 2023

Blog post for Monday October 30

It rained all day today. We found coffee at a park visitor center not too far from Ensenada then drove to Futrono where we are tonight. Last night at Cabañas Ensenada Bosque Nativo we were in a very rustic small geodesic dome. Bonnie and Brian had to get up every two hours to put wood in the wood stove. Our stove was a bit bigger so we only got up a couple of times.

Tonight we are in a lovely new three bedroom dome with a washing machine and an automatic pellet stove. It’s called Domos Futronhue. We tried to find a place for pizza in town but gave up and ended up cooking grocery store pizza in our oven. We played cribbage, rested and read for the rest of the evening. The big downside of the place we are staying is that there is no wifi.

Blog post for Sunday, October 29, 2023

Sunday morning we took a taxi to the airport and flew an hour and 45 minutes north from Puerto Natales to Puerto Montt. It was a good thing that the airport was nearby because the taxi had the propane tank it used for fuel in the trunk we each had one of our bags on our lap.

As we approached the airport in Puerto Montt the plane was being bounced by turbulence. Just as I was thinking how glad I would be to be on firm ground the pilot aborted the landing and we went around to try again. It was still pretty rough the second time but luckily we made it.

In Puerto Montt we rented a car, stopped at the grocery store and drove about an hour north to Ensenada. The place we stayed was unique. We stayed in a geodesic dome with a wood stove for heat and LED lights from two 12 volt batteries. It was an adventure. We played cards and had wine, cheese, salami, bread and chocolate for dinner. There was lots of laughter.

Blog post for Saturday, October 28, 2023

Today was wet and cold in Puerto Natales. We returned our rental pickup truck and then explored the town for a bit.

When we were ready to head back to the hotel we decided to walk the three miles along the waterfront. Much of the walk we were entertained by a pack of dog that were having a marvelous time playing catch the car. They never actually caught a car but it wasn’t for lack of trying.

We had a wonderful dinner at the hotel.

Blog post for Friday, October 27, 2023

When I commented to our waitress in El Calafate that the wind was really blowing hard she said “That’s Patagonia!” We definitely had more Patagonia weather today.

Before leaving El Calafate we mailed postcards and then used the last of our Argentine pesos to buy chocolate.

The weather was quite pleasant in Calafate but as the day progressed the wind kept getting stronger. We drove for about three hours through a real gale and about 30 minutes of driving rain before we got to the Chilean-Argentine border.

Luckily this time there were no tour buses in front of us and we crossed into Chile fairly quickly. Less than an hour later we were at our hotel in Puerto Natales.

After resting a bit we braved the wind to go up to the main building for some games.

For dinner we went into a Puerto Natales and ate at JAU Natales Restaurant. We are kind of hooked on Patagonian lamb. That’s what three of us had. I had a crab stew. It was good but I kind of wish I had had the lamb.

Afterwards we had some chocolates in our room from our collection.