Travelogue :  Round the world in 90 days!

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Jo, Bob, Kelli, Julius and I (from herein The Fab 5)landed in Punta Arenas airport in the afternoon. We had a 4WD waiting for us in the parking lot, so after a bit of paper work we were handed the keys and a map - our Patagonian adventure had begun!

First stop was Puerto Natales which is about a 3 hour drive north of Punta Arenas. PN acted as our ´in between´ town. We stayed there for the night before pushing further north and over the border to Argentina´s El Calafate and the Perito Moreno glaciar and also stayed there before and after our W trek.

The first thing that strikes you on the road in Patagonia is the vast open spaces and the seemingly endless horizons and skies. The second is that there is a whole lotta nothin´ between Punta Arenas and Puerto Natales, including radio reception.

We arrived in Puerto Natales in the early evening. A very small town which serves mostly as the launch pad to Torres del Paine National Park. It is set on a beautiful sound which makes for good photos but the town itself is quite small (/dull).

Patagonia is renowned for its incredible winds, particularly in summer time. On our second day we got a taste of it. The winds were so bad that we had to wrestle with car doors to make sure we weren´t flung into the street every time we opened the door. The winds are so bad that we saw trees that look permanantly wind-swept.

At first the town seems quite sleepy but we managed to find some pretty happening places to drink and have a good time.