Trapped by Puerto Natales

Hotel on the Sound of the Last Hope

City hall and church

I was surprised!!! Puerto Natales is now known to the world.  Tourists got caught in a strike (sparked by a government plan to raise gas prices by nearly 17%) and were prevented to get out.

Puerto Natales is a little village (founded exactly 100 years ago / less than 20.000 inhabitants) in the south of Chile near to Argentina. It lies on the land side of the famous Torres del Paine. A perfect place from where to visit the Torres National Park or go for boat trips on the Última Esperanza Sound. This sound is called the “Sound of the Last Hope” because they hoped to find there a more northern route from The Pacific to the Atlantic. But you guessed… even the last hope was in vain.

Sound of the Last Hope

In the evening a friend and I went to the shore looking at the boats, taking pictures and watching the sunset. The telephone boot with a “roof” that looked like an umbrella. There we were rewarded with the most spectacular sunset imaginable.

It was always one of my dreams to go to PN and stay there for at least a month. Just sitting, looking and enjoying the sunset. I was there for only three nights, but they were enough to fall in love with this little spot on the earth. But that was me a “western tourist”. I expect that being born there makes you see the place in a different light.  It isn’t a rich place. Life in South America is not rich. The people struggle to get by. And when it gets to much they might go for desperate actions.  Maybe they lost their last hope.

But I am still dreaming of going back there. 

See: http://patagoniabagual.blogspot.com/