Leaving Puerto Natales

Our last day with the truck was mostly spent arguing about what to do with our last day with the truck. Ordering important tasks like shopping; returning the truck; eating; getting our luggage to the ferry terminal; filling up with diesel and going on a litle jaunt south which all vied for our attention. In the end we went south for a bit - got to a bridge and then turned around.

We went just over 100km (62 miles) and saw one turning; one 'town'; a statue of Jesus; a bridge; an old road; a posh hotel and a couple of army checkpoints. We also saw a shrine-y thing.

Bottle Shrines

We are not sure exactly what is going on here, as the guide-book seems to be more interested in being clever about the relative fortunes of the Chilean and Argentine tourist industries than actually saying what the shrines are, and, perhaps more importantly, why they are surrounded with Coke bottles.

We also saw the ferry arrive.

Our ferry, arriving

Once we had done our chores we found a nice Internet cafe and coffe shop.
Unfortunately their DHCP server wasn't handing out any addresses, so we just bought chocolate and books and moved on.

We had decided to eat in a pizza restaurant that had been recommended to us. It was full of people with English accents, ready to board a ferry. We had nice pizzas.

We went down to the ferry terminal at 9:00 and boarded our boat. Unfortunately, my Leatherman somehow didn't manage to stay in my bag from the ferry terminal to the cabin. It's annoying to have stuff pinched - but, as things go - touch wood - that's the first issue of this sort we have encountered in the three months (yes - we are half way through) so far.

We attended the welcome talk, but were too tired to stay up for the film. This was a real shame, as it was "The Motorcycle Diaries" which T has just read and which has footage of the Andean Lakes crossing that we are going on when we arrive in Puerto Montt.

A reasonable nights sleep was punctuated by the periodic noises of the crew lashing down the cargo in the hold. I think I know what it would feel like to be a mouse living in a Timpani.