Estancia Rio Verde to Puerto Natales

Avoiding Construction

The next morning we headed out of Estancia Rio Verde, and made it nearly to the end of the road. There was a lot of construction going on, as Chile is attempting to extend that road. We camped in an estancia’s woodshed so we wouldn’t have to deal with the construction worker’s stares or the dust their vehicles were kicking up.

Setting off early, again to avoid the construction, we finally lost the road and were relying on beaches and old dirt roads to take us around Seno Skyring towards Puerto Natales. We were also looking forward to meeting Manuel. As the evening approached- though here ‘evening’ is relative because the sun doesn’t set until after 10pm- we found Rio Pinto which is near Manuel’s estancia. After crossing the river, we sat for a snack and were postulating which direction the estancia building would be in. I heard a noise behind me and looked up to find a man on a horse surrounded by 6 dogs coming up along the fence line. He looked as surprised to see us as we probably looked to see him. He was even more taken aback when we knew his name- it was Manuel! "How did you know I would be here? I never come this way. The only reason I'm over here today is because a cow was lost."

Manuel kneading bread for dinner

Manuel invited us back to the estancia, where he and another man, Pablo, were preparing to leave the next week. As we approached, all of the horses and dogs came out to greet us and Manuel talked with Fidget about the countryside. The evening was spent talking about our planned route across the next valley, eating, and sharing thoughts and ideas. Manuel is a kind soul, a wanderer who spends most of his time with his animals, and we felt right at home with him in the middle of the Chilean woods. He told us about the valley we were planning on walking through being all turba, which is what they call peat bog-like ground here. 

Heading into the valley of doom

Leaving the next morning I was in good spirits, feeling like we were going to crush these next couple of days through the turba. We got to an abandoned house at the end of the valley and made our plan, to go along the lake and then head generally northwest from there, following the valley and seeing where we could get. The turba around the lake and for the next couple of kilometers was harder ground than I had expected, and it raised my spirits more. Then we hit the tough area- at the end of a swampy area, where we picked our way through high grasses and scrubby trees, then the turba became the soft, sink-into-your-shins-every-step kind. We then went into a span of trees that was nearly impassible, thick brush under standing and fallen trees. That was a wake-up call and commisurate to what we experienced the rest of the valley, which took two long, wet, hard-fought-for days. The turba we sank into, like trying to walk through a field of different-firmness of damp mattresses. Fidget deemed it ‘turba-tory’, after purgatory. The trees we pushed through while getting scratched on the legs by scrub and whacked in the face with branches, usually taking us about 20 minutes to get a quarter of a kilometer. At the end of each day we were exhausted and ready for a huge dinner and bed. Thankfully we were able to find good campsites both nights or it could’ve been much tougher.

Turba up close. It even looks like wet carpet

Coming out of that valley, we followed Seno Obstruction north and found the other end of the road Chile is allegedly building to go through the valley we had just come through. We talked about why they would need a road to go through such an untouched wilderness, also how the hell would they do it? We eventually decided the road’s just going to sink into the turba, and mother nature will reclaim her lands.

Coming out of the valley of doom across the bog.

 From the road, it only took a day to walk into Puerto Natales, Chile, which is the jump-off the Torres del Paine National Park. We (of course) walked past the dump to get into town, and were immediately aware of the differences tourists can make. Outdoor shops and hostels abound in this town, and it seemed as though everyone wandering around town was wearing a backpack.