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.

Punta Arenas to Estancia Rio Verde

Punta Arenas, Chile is a large port city along the Strait of Magellan.  It was a bustling metropolis to us, coming in from being solitary for about a week. The number of people, for me, pushed me towards small errands and then the want to get out of town. We did meet (through friends of friends, of course) a man who was able to help us with planning the next section of our journey. He also introduced us to a map maker who gave us- yes, for free- his maps of the area up through Torres del Paine National Park. It is hard to find good maps here because everyone just knows the area they live in so they don’t use maps. We were also able to get more information for a route to Puerto Natales that wasn’t more road walking (yes!).

While in Punta Arenas, we did get the chance to go with our new guide friend to  a provincial park near the city- you could tell the way he shared with us how much he cared about the land and its future, thanks Matias!

Heading out of town, we walked and walked until pavement turned to gravel turned to dirt, then continued along a 4×4 road westward. The weather went from sunny and warm to cold, windy, and snowy. As they say down here, “4 seasons in one day.” During the windy snow, we got turned around and were trying to right ourselves. We ended up backtracking for over an hour to a wrong turn we had taken. Once righted, we made dinner and were trying to get some more kilometers in, pushing against the gusting wind, when Fidgit noticed her water bladder was leaking- profusely. Thankfully, we found a stand of trees to protect us from the wind and set up camp so we could both warm up and get some sleep.

Waking up the next day to freshly fallen snow was not expected, and our wet, muddy shoes were less pleasant than usual to put on. We trudged on and the skies cleared up a bit, though the wind perpetuated. As we neared a bahìa, we noticed an estancia in the distance. We came down a cowpath to the estancia, and decided to ask for some water, as the bahìa was salt water. Fidget approached the gentleman standing outside, and he ended up inviting us in for coffee.

Coffee turned into a plethora of food being set before us by the man’s wife, Diana, and the man, whose name is Marcos, insisting that we put our soaked shoes into the oven to dry out. We were taken aback by their kindness and generosity, though it seemed completely natural to them. They plied us with food and drink, and filled us in on many aspects of an estancia, including how climate change has been affecting their plants. They also suggested a different way to get to the penguineria (a protected area for penguins), that we planned on walking to that evening, and they knew the people there. We parted a few hours later after they made sure we had enough water and had filled our bellies with enough food. Again, I was reminded of the amazing kindness of strangers.

The wind was strong, as was our determination as we crossed along the bahìa towards the penguineria. Every building in the distance we would go towards with high hopes, only to find an abandoned barn or house. Then we finally came into a fenced-off area with a path down to the water- a lookout for the tourists to see the penguins. We were so glad to be out of the wind, we sat and took a break before heading over to meet the owner, who happily chatted with Fidgit about how the trip was going so far. Unbeknownst to us, the employees and owner were conspiring, and we were soon shown a small out building with 2 beds and a heater to stay in for the night- wow! It was just the kind of rest we needed after a cold, blustery day of walking.

The next couple of days passed similarly, the wind became less after we crossed to the northern side of the bahìa, and we began walking along a dirt road, passing an estancia every 10 kms or so. Road walking can sometimes be hard on your soul because it becomes tedious, though not this time because the road we followed was along a beautiful body of water and there were few cars to bother us.

We walked into Estancia Rio Verde and two kind caretakers took us in and gave us some information on our planned route, including the name of the man who worked at the farthest estancia- Manuel. We also realized at Rio Verde that we didn’t have enough food for the stretch, so we would have to sidetrack into the tiny town of Telhuiches for some supplemental food. We walked for a couple hours towards Telhuiches then ran into a few people moving cows from their winter area to their summer area. The boss (we found out later) offered to give us a ride into town, where we were able to resupply and come back out. The resupply consisted of mostly more snacks, since we had so many kind souls share their dinner with us along this stretch.