Puerto Natales, in Patagonian Chile, is most often used as the jumping off point to the fabulous mountains of Torres del Paine National Park. It is also the Navimag terminal for the 3 day boat trip from Puerto Montt. There are some other interesting sights though and the opportunity to stay in one of South America’s coolest hotels.

 

When the disused, ruined dock is amongst the top ten things to do on TripAdvisor, you know you are in trouble. Actually as docks go, it is quite a scenic one, with lots of uprights and only the end still having any horizontal boards. This has been colonized by cormorants and with the backdrop of the glacial mountains of Balmaceda and Serrano, it is quite photogenic. Especially at sunset apparently, though this was happening too late for us, given the long summer hours.

Just down the road is a rather joyous celebration of the wind, a metal sculpture with two people flying through the air in the manner of trapeze artists. You may laugh, but of all the countries in the world, it could happen in this one.

I actually liked Puerto Natales with its buzzy, rather ramshackle air  and atmospheric cafes. A backpacker hub for those en route to Torres del Paine, it has a surprising amount of decent restaurants. However, there isn’t much to actually do there, other than catch one’s breath between excursions.

Sleeping in the Slaughterhouse

The smarter accommodation seems to be centered on Puerto Bories and it was here that we found a very singular hotel indeed: the Singular.  Bizarrely it is sandwiched amidst the ruins of an old sheep slaughtering factory – dead sheep seem to crop up everywhere on this trip – and amazingly they have done a brilliant job of it.

It is owned by the descendants of a John MacLean Fraser who was one of the founders of the Sociedad Explotadora de Tierra del Fuego along with our old chum from Punta Arenas, Jose Menendez; this was sheep business and in 1906, they bought the 1896 factory at Puerto Bories that had originally been built by a German settler for processing sheep. It included a slaughterhouse, a fat rendering plant, sheds for drying hides and baling wool, various houses and a pier.

The Sociedad added a cold storage plant so the meat could be exported to Europe and by 1915, were able to process between 150,000 to 250, 000 sheep a year. It operated at full capacity for nearly seven decades and greatly contributed to the development of Puerto Natales.

Declared a National Historic Monument in 1996, it was bought by the owners in 1998 and developed into a hotel which is now one of the Leading Hotels of the World. A discreet three tier layer of bedrooms now stands where the old cold storage units were, enjoying superb views out to sea over the old dock, and walkways lead through the original complex between the old fittings.

The reception desk sits at the end of an old sheep shed and two cool elevators run you down to the ruins, public areas and bedrooms. En route, you pass the boiler room, the Victorian engine room and the compressors which together could generate enough heat to refrigerate cold chambers and warehouses storing some 850,000 tons of frozen meat. The coolant used was ammonia propelled by the compressors.

Now I am not greatly interested in historical engineering, but this was a pretty impressive display of machines in their original situation. Other intact buildings include the lathe and blacksmiths shop, – now rather a cool bar – a fat rendering building and the huge open spaces of the tannery. The bar and restaurant areas are housed in a corner of the ground floor of the tannery and the industrial theme is carried over into these. Check out too the brilliant old radiator chairs in reception.

The whole thing is superbly done. Rooms start at around US$500 or if you just want to visit the museum, it is 5000 CPL though I would suggest spending the money at the bar instead and just walking in from there. They have a spa and goody bags come with a sheep on – what else?! Guanaco is on the menu if you want to eat the wildlife. The only minor drawback is that they are  little way from town but those lovely views over the sea will make up for that. They also have bicycles and it is a lovely spin round the bay to town.

The Balmaceda and Serrano Glaciers

The Campo de Hielo Sur, or the Southern Ice Field is part of the Parque Nacional Bernardo O’Higgins and these two glaciers, along with some smaller neighbors, can only be reached by boat.

This meant signing up for a trip with the only concessioner. Turismo 21 de Mayo whose boats leave from Puerto Bories after an early 7.30 am pick up at their office.

I am not a great enthusiast of organized tours, but this one did enable us to fully enjoy the fabulous scenery of Seno Ultima Esperanza, or Last Hope Sound – so called by the 1557 explorer, Juan Ladrilleros, as he searched in frustration for the western entrance to the Magellan Strait.

Wrap up more warmly than you could ever believe possible to enjoy the mountain scenery from the decks. We passed isolated estancias, an imperial cormorant colony – one of the highlights of the trip was hearing the American next to me telling his video that these ‘were the first penguinos that he has seen – and a little cluster of seals cosily hanging out in a rocky niche.

High dramatic black cliffs had tall waterfalls and condors overhead, until finally we reached the Balmaceda Glacier. In 1981, this glacier met the sea but now it has receded by about a third , though its icy blueness is still impressive.

Even better was the Serrano Glacier , for which we alighted in order to walk the 1.2 km to its base. This one does still reach the water and completely fills the valley. Occasionally one would hear a roar as another piece of ice broke off and fell down the mountain. In the lake below, large chunks of ice floated towards the outlet awaiting their turn to head out to sea.

As the boat turned for home, we were given a whiskey on the rocks to enjoy, made with the glacial ice. Thousands of little air bubbles were trapped inside and one wondered when the snow actually fell that created this.

Our final port of call was a lunch stop at Estancia Perales, owned by the same family as the boat business. Lunch was a sit down affair in a large wooden framed hall and was largely awful: dry bread, watery flavorless soup and slow service. However, it was rescued by the BBQ sheep plate that was put on our table with the most unctuous and flavorsome fat imaginable. After we had eaten half a delicious sheep each, the trip began to seem much better value and I was ready to forgive them for only allowing one free coffee on the boat per person.

Afterwards we had a wander round the perimeter and gazed sadly on the sheep grazing obliviously round the houses. The place is in a beautiful location but I don’t know how much of a working ranch it is these days. The passengers were largely asleep for the final hour of the trip back to Puerto Natales.

Cueva del Milodon

For any Bruce Chatwin fans, the Milodon cave is justly famous, the end of his epic quest as detailed in his In Patagonia book. Strangely enough, although there is plenty of information on the cave and its prehistoric inhabitants on site, Chatwin rates nary a mention.

It is only 24 km from Puerto Natales and a good stop if you are driving towards the southern entrance of Torres del Paine National Park.

The cave is more impressive than I had expected. First of all, it is big: some 200 m long, 80 m wide and 30m high, and secondly, it is situated amidst some beautiful country and there is a great outlook from its mouth. We has great fun trying to find the spot where Chatwin took his ‘mouth of the cave’ photo – you will know it when you get there.

Unlike most caves I have visited, this one is made entirely of conglomerate rock, created by rock and gravel under a distant sea. So there are no other caves running off it, it just is.

For those of you wondering what a milodon actually looked like, the powers that be have thoughtfully provided a lifesize plastic model at the cave entrance. It was basically a kind of giant ground sloth which has been extinct for 8,000 – 10,000years.

However, in 1895 Hermann Eberhard discovered some milodon skin and other bits within the cave which looked so fresh they thought it must be from a living animal. A piece of skin made its way to England and ended up inspiring Chatwin’s book and pilgrimage and a previously non existent herbivore was identified and gained belated recognition. I actually like the image of his neighbour, whose bones were also found,  the sabre toothed tiger called a smilodon!

From the cave, it is an easy 45 minute walk to a lookout above the cave and there is a slightly longer circuit which takes in two smaller caves plus the devil’s chair, a huge rocky outcrop further up the road and virtually on its edge.

Ruta Patrimonial Milodon

The walk in this region which really interests me is the Ruta Patrimonial Milodon, number 29 on the Sendero de Chile website which lists various walks of interest round Chile. It starts near the milodon cave and runs for some 45 km to the Torres del Paine southern park entrance over about 4 days.

It actually parallels the road, but sufficiently far off it that one would not know. While a fairly straightforward walk, it does lead through some quite rugged lake dotted country that looks to be quite attractive, with the added plus point that any walker would likely to be alone. It is free to do, no booking is required, there is wild camping in route and it would be an interesting route into the Torres del Paine park.

Oh yes, did I forget to mention the number one attraction from Puerto Natales: Torres del Paine National Park – but that is deserving of a piece on its own…