What happened on our way to Argentina ...

When we arrived in Punta Arenas on november 24 we're planning to pick up our rental car and making some distance on our way to Puerto Natales, the gateway to the famous Parque Nacional Torres del Paine.
So far our experiences with rental cars booked via rentalcars.com (how convenient ^^) were good to very good. This time the agency providing our car was Alamo simply because they allow entering Argentina with their rental cars. To do this, one has to plan 2 to 3 weeks ahead so all papers for crossing the border are valid. I did so and was heavily disappointed when the bitchy agent at the Alamo counter told us, that there are no such papers. Bummer!
Long story short, we spent nearly 2 hours at the airport waiting for our car, signing tons of papers for additionial insurances (which we shouldn't needed because we booked the car with full insurance in the first place) and hoping that we would get the papers on the next day. Not the best start of our Patagonia adventure.
Nevertheless we're heading to Puerto Natales and arrived there 3 hours later. At least the Hostel (Patagonia Adventure Hostel) turned out to be a good one. Additionaly we found a very good restaurant called AfriGonia where we had the best diner of our trip (I highly recommend a visit!).

The next day started with good news because the papers were sent to our email accounts. We took a copy with us, got some supplies and headed north to Torres del Paine. Unfortunately our plans didn't cover a long hike at the national park, because we simply had other plans. At least a one hour walk (one way) to a mirador (scenic viewpoint) gave us a very brief impression of the beauty of Torres del Paine. But see for yourself!

The gravel road to Torres del Paine offered great previews of the park

The short walk to the mirador lead along a waterfall and turned us into exciting .. well .. whatever

Soaking in the beauty of Torres del Paine

Time to fool around & meeting friends *wink*

The afternoon was reserved for crossing the border to Argentina and heading to El Calafate, the hub to the famous Perito Moreno glacier. It's been said, that this is a must-see when one comes to Patagonia.

Back to overview ..

Pictures copyright by Dennis Willam. All rights reserved.