Butch Cassidy & The Sundance Kid, Explora Then Santiago, Chile

From Eolo, Patagonian Argentina en route to Explora, Patagonian, Chile, we passed the Parador Leona.  I felt as though I was reliving Bruce Chatwin's book Patagonia.  In 1894, a family of Danish immigrants, the Jensens, constructed the country lodge La Leona (Patagonian slang for Puma, which you find all over Patagonia, except I never saw one). The lodge offered shelter to settlers who had to wait to cross the river La Leona.

In 1905 three "gringos" stayed for several days at the lodge. Later, they were identified by the police to be Butch Cassidy and the Sundance kid with his wife Helen Page, continuing on their fleeing journey. It seems they continued their journey to Bolivia, where they died of self inflicted wounds, when cornered by the authorities.

We proceeded on our long 4 hour drive to Chilean Patagonia and were greeted by this view of the Torres Del Paine.  There is a famous trek in this area, called the "W" and I was hoping to do a section of it during our stay.  We stayed at the Explora hotel, which caters to trekkers and horse enthusiasts,  wanting a range of hikes or rides for the duration of their stay. I'm not a big fan of the Explora, since I find it too big, the food isn't good enough, and there are just too many herded tourists. Considering the high ask prices, perhaps the Singular in Patagonia is a better alternative. 

 Torres Del Paine

 Guanaco

And the wind! I know I do go on about it in Patagonia,  I could barely stand when the gusts hit me! It also meant that many of the areas of the W were inaccessible due to boats unable to depart for certain areas or just the possibility of being blown off some ledges at the base of the Torres.

Windy down the Alto Torre route.

 The "W" section called French Valley. Weather was pretty awful, with hail, rain, wind for 22 km.

View of the Torres from our hotel

After a few long hikes (how many half marathons up and down hills have I done on this trip?!) it was time for another long drive to Punta Arenas to take the trip back to Santiago.  Here, you feel you are at the end of the world, and we took the route that is even called end of the world! This is the point where the boats take off to Antartica. Just looking at the waves in the water made me reach for my Dramamine.  If I didn't suffer from motion sickness, I'm sure I'd be on my way to see the penguins.

Instead I flew to Santiago, which is surrounded by the snow capped Andes. Unfortunately, I arrived during a massive demonstration which involved tear gas and fire bombs.  We were barricaded into our hotel and later. when we finally went out, in our restaurant.   Never mind.  There is always Chilean wine tasting (wonderful) to counteract the painful eyes and difficulty in breathing. Just as well the Singular hotel in Santiago is pleasant, otherwise being locked in would have been a painful experience.

Teargas outside our restaurant.

I tried Chilean cuisine, some Chilean pisco sour and cerviche. They drink piston here, more often,  a cocktail with pisco and tonic.

Cerviche with Pisco

It's now the end of this adventure in South America. It's been fun.  Until the next adventure, hasta la vista!