The crossing from Chile into Argentina is abrupt. The land changes dramatically within the span of a few miles. Suddenly we found ourselves no longer in the mountainous, dramatic landscapes of Chile, but instead in the dry, windy, dusty pampa or grasslands of Argentina. It felt like driving through Wyoming. Ugly, but necessary to get to some more beautiful spots. So, needless to say, we quickened our pace and tried to race through this part as much as possible. We had about 520 miles to go down to Puerto Natales, which was our next and last Airbnb and our southernmost destination on the entire trip. We broke the drive up into a few days, as, again, we drive slow.
The highlight of driving through the Argentinian pampa was the wildlife. We saw dozens of these ostrich like birds called rheas that were very cool to see.
We saw more guanacos than we could count.
And lots of condors which are magnificent as they are incredibly large. Their wingspan is 9 or 10 feet, and they love to glide around on thermals high overhead. I'm not a bird person, but these guys are amazing.
Finally by the end of the second day, we started to see some mountains again, and we passed several large lakes that were aqua in color.
On our second night we made it into the town of El Calafate, which is a town that sits outside of the Perito Moreno Glacier, a very popular tourist attraction. The town felt it too. Very Estes Park. Don't get me wrong; it was cute and had all of the souvenir shopping one could ask for and all the fancy dining that one can miss while in the more remote sections of the Carretera Austral. But it didn't feel very authentic, so it actually wasn't our favorite place. We basically had good burgers and beers at a local brewery, restocked, and headed out the next day. I don't have a single picture of it either.
There we go. Now we're talking.
On our third night, we wild camped off the side of the road at this little shrine surrounded by some trees and bushes that provided some wind protection. After setting up camp, a bike packer who we had passed on the road stopped to camp there as well, as there is not alot of options along Ruta 40. He was a super friendly guy named Benjamin, and we had dinner with him. The next day was our final stretch along the rest of Ruta 40 after which we would be crossing back into Chile and going down to Puerto Natales. As we left our little refugio, the wind was roaring, and poor Benjamin was making basically no progress. So we asked if he wanted a ride, and he gratefully accepted. He was headed to Puerto Natales as well, so we took him the rest of the way.
We had actually arrived in the Puerto Natales area a few days early, but Benjamin recommended we camp at Laguna Sophia, which was about 30 minutes north of town. So we stocked up at the grocery store, and then headed out there for two nights. It turned out to be the perfect location for us. We could camp right on the beach, the water was the crystal clear blue, and there was a perfect hike for us to do that got us up above the surrounding cliffs with lots of condor sightings.
Views from the hike.
The second day we were there, it was the sunniest and warmest day we've had the entire trip. So warm, in fact, that I actually got completely into the water, which hadn't happened once so far as these glacier fed lakes are silly cold. It was actually a really fun day because it seemed the entire town of Puerto Natales came to the beach to enjoy this one glorious day of summer. But they all left by bedtime.
After our lovely couple of days at Laguna Sophia, we went back to Puerto Natales to spend three nights at our Airbnb. Our goal was simply to cook as many frozen meals as we could, as crossing back into Argentina it's much easier to take food that direction. The customs officers are much stricter on the Chilean side. And to do all of our laundry, we were running low. The town of Puerto Natales itself was nice. It's a decent size and felt like a nice mix of locals and tourists. And there is an airport. If people are coming down to Patagonia to only see Torres del Paine, they fly into Puerto Natales and then drive/bus in from there, which is exactly what we would be doing in 3 days time.
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