I had a nice slow morning and made my way to catch the 10am
bus to Puerta Natales only to find that Cheryl and Rowan were on the same bus
as me.
As has become normal now after reading a few pages on the
bus I fell asleep only to wake up every now and then to see some more karoo
landscape and a few sheep.
We arrived in Puerto Natales which is another small town
surrounded by mountains with snow capped peaks and next to a lake. We were all
staying at the Singing Lamb hostel so followed the google maps blue dot in a
spiral and eventually found our hostel.
We settled in and then took a quick walk around town before
making our way to Base Camp for a free info session about the trails in Torres
del Paine. Here we had a few beers and my first pizza in over a month! After
the info session we made our way back into town to see where I could hire some
gear and also find a hip flask for some whisky on the trail. I finally found
one and grabbed it immediately, now to find something to put inside...
After a little more walking we went back to the hostel to
book the connecting bus to El Calafate and some accommodation there. Instead of
continuing to bump into each other Cheryl, Rowan and I decided to just book
this leg together. We booked buses and accommodation in El Calafate and El
Chalten and then went for a walk to the pier to watch the sunset where we
played in the park and enjoyed feeling like a kid again!
At the hostel I met Rebecca who was a fellow solo traveller.
We got chatting and then went to Base Camp for a few more beers and decided to
do the W-trail together.