4. Giant Sloths

21st Nov 2013

     Day two in Puerto Natales and after yesterday we knew we didn't have to get moving early, so it's coffee then a bike hire shop where they speak no English and we speak no Spanish but none of us see that as a real barrier and we get two bikes for 6hrs for $20 so we can ride out to the Miladon Cave. This is a 48km round trip via quiet country roads with beautiful scenery and I was luck enough to see an Andean Fox some 50m away. It rained on us on the way back but in typical Patagonian fashion it soon stopped and we were dry by the time we got back to town. Once back in town we sat around waiting for 1/2 an hr for the bike shop to open, when the owner arrived he explained via charades that he went home for siesta and slept in!

Sign Photo!

Always got to have a sign photo or two

One of many Gauchos we saw along the way. 

Andrew loves a good sign photo

The snow caped peaks in the distance had me wondering if we were going to be warm enough.

The wide open road

The Miladon ( pre-historic sloth ) in all his glory

Inside the Miladon Cave

No need to worry about getting lost

     Puerto Natales is a lovely town, the bars and shutters that all businesses have belie how safe the town felt. The stall holders and shop keepers are not pushy, there are no beggars, as long as you don't count all the street dogs. The main area of town is a collection of small business including many adventure shops, none of which are one stop shops each seems to have a small and eclectic array of items so be sure to come prepared for any adventures you intend to undertake as there is no guarantee that you will be able to find what you need in Natales. We were setting out on our 8 day hiking adventure in the morning so it was time to stock up on the necessities. We brought 10 dehydrated meals with us from Australia ( which we declared and had no issues with bringing through Chile customs ) and thank goodness we did because there were no good camping foods to be found in Natales and very few foods that we recognised. Thank goodness we found some Lindt chocolate, ( the main brand available, Costa is revolting )  milk powder, porridge, lollies, nuts, baby belle cheese, water crackers and dried fruit. Getting a gas canister for our Jet Boil stove was easy but getting batteries for our Steripen ( UV water purifier ) was a challenge but eventually we found them in a cheap shop. We booked a boat tour up to the Torres del Paine National Park for the morning and we were all set to go.