NEC Patagonia

Day #2 - January 5th, 2020 - travel day to Puerto Natales
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Greetings!

I am writing this blog post from my hotel room in Puerto Natales. It is a bit before dinner, and the end of our 30 hour journey from New Hampshire to Patagonia. We are so happy to be here! Everyone is a bit tired and grubby, but excited to finally be in the place we've been dreaming about for so long.

Our day began during the overnight flight from JFK in NYC to Santiago, Chile. That flight lasted about 12 hours and included two meals. After exiting the plane, we passed through immigration, retrieved our bags, passed through customs, walked to the domestic terminal, rechecked our bags, passed through security, and finally made it to our gate with about an hour to spare. We took advantage of the amenities in the airport, such as an ATM (which dispenses Chilean pesos),  a Starbucks, and even the ultimate taste of home:

We boarded our second Latam Airlines flight, which lasted about 3 hours and touched down in the southern city of Punta Arenas, along the Straight of Magellan in the far southern tip of South America:

We met our tour guide for the week Francisco and boarded our large purple tour bus:

The bus is quite large (with a capacity about 3X what we need) and comfortable, with a bathroom, thick recliner seats, and lots of room for everyone to stretch out:

We drove about 30 minutes into the city where we stopped for lunch at a BBQ lamb restaurant. This is a very common food in the area since sheep are the major livestock. The meat was roasted over coals and then served in large platters, along with salad, rolls, and a spicy salsa spread:

The meal was finished with a nice tiramisu. We all felt fortified and very glad to be enjoying this wonderful meal together.

We boarded the bus for a 3 hour drive north to Puerto Natales. We drove through the fascinating landscape of the Pataonia steppes, with large flat grasslands bordered by the Magellan Straight on one side and mountains on the other:

The land was dotted with grazing animals, including sheep, cattle, horses, and some less familiar varieties. The landscape was dramatic, with multicolored lupine flowers and a "big sky" of clouds:

We arrived in the town of Puerto Natales, gateway to the national park. We arrived around 6PM, giving us enough time to check out the town before dinner.

An ancient extinct giant sloth is the mascot of the town! We checked into our hotel (rather nice, and right on the water), and we are now gathering for an 8:15PM dinner.

We are all fatigued from the travel but in good spirits and quite happy to be here. We can't wait for our real adventure to start tomorrow! Stay tuned!

Everyone is well and happy and ready to hike. I was able to access Internet in this hotel, but I don't know what the next stop will bring, so never fret if you don't hear from me! Please comment below if you like what you see or if you wish to pass along any messages.

Best wishes,

Prof. Eric Simon