Puerto Natales, Marble Caverns, and Patagonia National Park

 Many pics of the Marble Caverns, worth a detour. And, if you go and have extra waterproof layers, wear them. THB was operating on few hours of sleep before our boat ride and then traveled rest of way to Patagonia National Park on a gravel road and wet clothes. After arriving at the Explora, he spent a day in bed recoveering. And, both spots (and even part of the ride) were exceptional! 

happened a few tuines: delays due to sheep herds

THB and DB are revisitng a trip tin 2007(?) o the Cueva del Milodon Caves near Puerto Natales

Cristina the guide needed to add about 30 to 40 words to her English vocabulary, the names of the sights, flora and fauna along the trail

there are mushrooms growing in this tree, pic not great

Big improvement over the Santiago branch, at least in terms of functionality 

Boat ride excursion, view of hotel from the water. It got rough as we moved up through the fjords and the boat ride and hike in middle were curtailed due to wind

before lunch, lamb cooked over open fire. Those watching as the lamb was remobed from the "cross" were treated to the tastiest tidbit ... YOWZA!!!!

Now flying to Balmaceda: Will we need to be removed by the "jaws of life"? Our flight is 3-4 hours late leaving Balmaceda and even one of the airline maintenance staff is aboard and gets called to the cockpit. After landing, we wait at least half hour for our bags. There are three gates and our plane is the only one on the ground. There must be a severe shortage of ground crew (did our maintenance guy go out and help?). That sets us back oncisderably, it is past midnight when we get to a "quaint" apartment/hotel next to the Marble Caverns boat laundh. The last two and half drive had been in the dark, rainy, on graveo. DB had worked with our agency just before we left E0-ville  to change the plans around or we would have driven another hour to aother hotel and then back the next morning again to the launch site. 

On the fringes of the Patagonia National Park (or nearby), there is a rare sighting of some of the last 200 deer of this type; some people jumped the railing to get a closer look (or these are park rangers)

only draft beer on the trip: yummy

small panini

Marble Caverns: DB, Hans our guide/driver from Balmacredfa Airport to Patagonia National Parque; we are not wearing enough warm clothes and our 2.5hr private boat trip has been changed to a 1.5 hour tour on a common boat.. Due to the winds, the waves are up on the lake and splashing the paying custommers is part of the fun!

PLAN B? vVisit the Caverns in a kayak

Some  couples get married here (weather permitting>)

Panoramic pic, and yes it is even prettier than this in person (those clothes we are wearing are still damp)

Maybe this is the panoramic view!

A number of bikeriders are on the gravel road, riding to towns closer to the national park. Some are camping along the route

Golden Gate knockoff

How far is the tech world's reach? Therre is one menu in this place thousands of miles from anywhere... and it is a QR code onb  the wall...

DB and THB have made it to the Parque!! Our kidneys are lightly bruisewd, our appetites are suppressed, and THB thinks he has a slight fever. After checkinig in at the Explora, a few miles from the Parque entrance, DB goes to dinner and THB takes a hot shower and gets in bed.

The room iis lovely, and not all the lights are working. Staff thinks it is due to issues with their solar system. 

Guanacos roam freely on the Explora grounds. 

Maybe someone has been feeding the livestock

There is actually a kilometer or two of paved road amontst the 6 hours of gravel

At first THB thought there was a spider in the middle of this fower

One of a pair that hands around the main lodge so often the staff has given them names

Dinners are cooked on a wood-burning grill; tonight it is eggplant and chicken

There's a long story about how the park came about, and the short version is that Doug Tompkins of Esprit and Patagonia clothing business fame bouight a huge amount of property in Chile. Eventually (after he died nearby of hypothermiai n a kayaking accident), his widow fulfilled the donation of the property to Chile as a national parque. This is about 10,000 words short of even a decent version of what happened,as there is a lot of controversy that goes along with the facts. A few hundred  meters from our room at the Explora (part of the controversy), Doug's tombstoine is next to a cemetery with mostly infants 

Our room has a mudroom at the entrance. THB has left Santa cookies, hoping for gifts under the tree.