Mar 02 - Farewell Patagonia - hello Paul and Mandy !!

Tomas drove us down to Puerto Natales the nearest town where we said farewell and took our transfer down to Punto Arenas for our flight to Santiago. We were very sad to leave this beautiful place and the thought of the largest city in Chile does not have too much appeal at the moment !!

The drive took 4 hours through the flat and seemingly endless steppes of the Andean plains. We were already missing the mountains and views of Patagonia but looking forward to meeting up with Paul & Mandy in Santiago this evening.

Our driver was a real character. He was a chef who had been working in Antarctica on the Worlsley expedition where Worlsely who had tried to follow Shackleton’s path across Antarctica but had to be medi vac’d to Punto Arenas and sadly died. 
Cesar had also worked in Santiago and was full of useful recommendations & suggestions.

When he heard we had seen a Puma and a Huemel in Torres del Paine, he dropped us off saying he was off to buy a lottery ticket as he was channelling our luck !!

We arrived in Santiago after a 4 hour flight, this country is so long & thin, the distances are immense.Flying in over it, the city is vast. It has a population of 8 million (of a total Chilean population of 16 million !) and is surrounded by the Andes as a dramatic backdrop.

At 26 degrees and humid, we were already desperate to get rid of our hiking boots and thick socks !!

When we got to the hotel, Paul and Mandy had decided to deal with jetlag by self medicating with Pisco Sours at a local hostelry !!  We caught up with them at round two and tried our best to catch up. Great to all be together again & ready for the next stage of our adventure !!