Semi-cama to Atacama: Glacial treatment

4^th March was uneventful. Sarah and I took a bus up to Puerto Natales, 250km north of

Punta Arenas. A wet and drizzly day and a 3 hour bus ride through what looked like flat brown terrain (the bus windows were streaming with water) with a few estancias along the way. Puerto Natales is a shivering little town with a truly spectacular setting on the aptly named Ultima Esperanza Sound (Sound of Last Hope). It was a dead Sunday afternoon w

hen we reached – the only people around were some tired looking backpackers carrying (what else?) enormous backpacks. Not surprising given PN has a population of 19,000 and annual tourist numbers in excess of 120,000. Sarah was looking for a partner for her hike into th

e Torres del Paine (I on the other hand was planning on a comfortable day trip!). She found a long-haired Scot (who had just come to SA after spending 6 months doing voluntary work in Pune!) and a no-nonsense American. They were off the next day, so we parted ways with the usual exchange of email addresses.

I found a nice hostal run by Patricia and Maurizio Robertson – a reflection of the migrant nature of Patagonia’s population! Very friendly couple who had a nice timber house littered with photos of the family (they had two angelic looking children). They had a middle-aged retainer who helped with the housekeeping – another of those lined but handsome South American faces! Bright-eyed Patricia seemed to be the boss managing the finances and organising all my trips while long-haired Maurizio was generally mooching around or taking their son on shopping expeditions to the local market…

Went on a boat trip the next day to see the Balmaceda and Serrano glaciers – upstream on the Ultima Esperanza. There were two large groups on the boat – a noisy group from Nivea (on a sales junket with some key clients) and a crusty elderly group from France who kept darting dirty looks at the boisterous Niveans. I had interesting company at my table though.

There was Pablo – a classical guitarist from Santiago. He had come down to perform at Costa Australis, the local 5-star hotel and this trip was a freebie. He reeled off names like Trilok Gurtu, Bismillah Khan, Ravi Shankar, L. Shankar, Girija Devi; talked about how North and South Indian music sounded very different and expounded at length on Satyajit Ray. He also gave me advice on Chilean music and poetry (Violeta Parra : “she’s the madre of nueva cancion”, Vicente Huidobro – “he’s a much better poet than Neruda”). Then there was a Brazilian nurse from San Pablo (Sao Paolo to all us non South Americans), Fachema. I discovered Portuguese and Spanish are really quite different and Fachema often struggled to pick some words. Pablo and Fachema did some Portuguese-Spanish jugalbandi to keep themselves amused. Finally there was Manuel, a short, broad shouldered brooding boy – very Mestizo in appearance. He was a student at Punta Arenas and originally from Osorno in central Chile.

The trip itself was wonderful – a 3 hour boat ride up and another 3 hours down the Ultima Esperanza. Both glaciers are at the edge of the Bernardo O’Higgins National Park (that man again – he’s to Chile what Mahatma Gandhi is to Indian cities, everything’s named after him!). Parque O’Higgins is the largest national park in Chile and is on the edge of the Campo del Hielo Sur – the Southern Patagonian Icefield – a huge expanse of ice that separates mainland Chile from its disintegrating South. Campo del Hielo Sur is the world’s third largest fresh water reserve (after Antarctica and Greenland).

It was bitterly cold on the boat but I decided to layer up and head out on deck – the scenery was too beautiful to watch from inside with Niveans and the crusty French for company. Alas, I paid the penalty and by the time I got back to Puerto Natales, I had a raging fever and chill (despite four layers of clothing including a heavy duty jacket). I also ended up missing Pablo’s evening performance at the Costa Australis – for which he had kindly extended an invitation.

Spent all of last night totally frio. My room was a corner room and was incredibly cold in the night (timber walls look attractive but can’t seem to keep out the Patagonian cold). The first thing I did this morning was to get Patricia and the friendly housekeeper to move me to a warmer room. They were quite solicitous and also offered me their first aid kit. I relied on the power of Panadol and slept through most of the day. Feeling much better tonight and catching up on my diary. Tomorrow is Torres del Paine and its El Calafate and the Perito Moreno glacier after that.

A little side-track here on O’Higgins considering how often I come across his name. All of 4’10”, O’Higgins makes it to the list of the world’s most famous short men. He was the illegitimate son of an Irish colonial official and a prominent Chilena. Along with Jose de San Martin, he was instrumental in kicking the Spanish out of Chile and became the first leader of independent Chile. Curiously enough, there’s a sculpture of him at Central Station in Sydney. He forms part of the triumvirate Chilenos keep naming their squares, streets and parks after; Lord Cochrane and Capt. Arturo Prat are the other two.