Day 90: Sunday, December 30th
Shuttle!!! to Laguna Armarga then bus to Puerto Natales, Chile
Stayed at: The Singing Lamb

Dear Obiwan,
We did it Obi! Today was our 5th and final day of the W-Trek. We had our first successful breakfast (for me that means- good bread and eggs!) and thanks to Will I learned the secret of how to aquire COLD MILK (yes, they only had HOT milk at every breakfast), so I would never eat cereal because that sounds disgusting to me! BUT all you have to do is ask for lactose free milk and boom, cold glass of milk!!!

After breakfast Kelsey, William, and I headed to the hotel gift shop, Kelsey has a thing for gift shops and I also love them. After this we relaxed for a little and then took our SHUTTLE (we were going to walk but when we found out there was a shuttle, we took it!) to Laguna Armarga and then took a bus to Puerto Natales.

This was one of the most tired I have ever felt in my entire life. We dropped off our hiking poles and laundry, then had dinner at Kawesquar Cafe where they had the LAMB sprawled out in the front WINDOW!

I got nervous that it would be all charred so I got sirloin steak with papas bravas and Obi- it MOST AMAZING PAPAS BRAVAS OF MY LIFE, CHEESE AND ONIONS AND OMG OMG SO DELICIOUS.

Kelsey got the lamb and it was so amazing and not charred! But it had bones so still happy with my choice. We then did some souvenir shopping for a little and went to bed! I sadly didn’t sleep too well due to the wind wildly shaking the window all night and I also awoke to people leaving early in the morning, it looks like I will never get a good night sleep in Patagonia my dear Jedi!

Day 91: Monday, December 31st
Puerto Natales, Chile
Stayed at: The Singing Lamb

Today is New Year’s Eve Obi! We made sure to have today be a rest day after the last 5 days. We had breakfast at this huge souvenir store ‘Nandu’, the food wasn’t the best but the coffee was good and the store was amazing. After this we headed to a cafe to relax and write. I dressed poorly and was NOT prepared for the windy weather, but I survived.

We ended up at this beautiful cafe on the water!!! It was called ‘The Coffee Maker’ and had a gorgeous spacious set up with a wrap around window and many seats to choose from.

We had trouble finding a place for dinner due to so many places being closed for NYE. We ended up eating at this pizza and pasta place in the main square. I got gnocchi and sadly, it was bad, they over cooked the noodles so they were mushy and the sauce had no taste. Kelsey got Guanaco!…Which is… this adorable llama that lives around here…and…I tried it 😣. I feel kinda bad, because they are so cute…but it didn’t taste much, it might have been how they made it though. The meal ended with a yummy hot brownie with ice cream!

After this we initially did not know what we were going to do tonight to celebrate the new year, but once we got back to our hostel we met all of our roommates, and as group went to the bar across the street!

Our NYE crew was me and Kelsey, 2 French girls- Ingrid and Pauline, 2 people from Brazil- Marcela and Lucas and then the 2 young Holland guys joined later. Our crew was amazing!!! Everyone was so nice, warm, funny, and they all were doing or about to do the W-Trek so we bonded over our adventures.

We went across the street to the bar of The Singing Lamb, we were worried there was karaoke till 2 am…due to reading a sign that said that, but it was just a DJ with a playlist titled ‘The Singing Lamb’ and he played a great list of music!

At the bar Kelsey had her first pisco sour (!) and we all had drinks. We hung out and talked and talked and it was such a fun night Obi! Everyone was nice and warm and funny and ready to celebrate.

Later in the night the Holland guys had us play ‘ride the bus’ the drinking game, which had the same rules we do for that game in the US!

At midnight there was no count down, which was a first, but all that mattered was that we were all together and it was great!

We left a little after midnight with plans to drink some of the bottle of wine the Holland guys bought, but someone was asleep in our dorm room and we aren’t allowed to drink alcohol that isn’t from the hostel so we went to bed, which I was sooo happy about, I was still just, so exhausted from the W-Trek! The Holland guys went out on their own and didn’t return until 5 am!

Day 92: Tuesday, January, 1st
Puerto Natales, Chile —> El Calafate, Argentina
Stayed at: Folk Hostel

Happy New year Obiwan! I wish I could have kissed you at midnight but we will be together soon enough. The morning began with us all watching the Holland guys over sleep and miss their tour bus! It was awful! They hope to get a refund or possibly go tomorrow, they had to wake up at 6am and got in at 4am…so it didn’t work out🤦🏻‍♀️.

After this I missed breakfast at the hostel on purpose to catch a few more hours of sleep, with the plan to eat somewhere in town.

I was not prepared for THE WHOLE TOWN BEING SHUT DOWN. It was a ghost town! It was almost noon and there were no cars, no people, and no stores open. I saw a few dogs and that was it. I was starting to panic and fell into hunger despair in the park. I sat down on a bench and put my head in my hands and began to give up. When I lifted my head up, directly in my eye sight was a small blinking neon sign saying ‘abierto’ OPEN.

I ran over and it was a small restaurant that sold candy, burgers, and hot dogs! I wanted to cry from relief. I got salchipapas, which is cut up pieces of hot dogs on top of french fries, and I couldn’t have been happier!!!

I then joined Kelsey at a new cafe and this place, was SO CUTE. It had art everywhere and old books. It was as if you were in your grandparents living room. And while you wrote or read the owner was working on making jewelery! I ended buying a beautiful copper necklace there of the famous tree that is unique to this area, the woman and her husband MAKE IT!

We then took the bus from Puerto Natales, Chile to El Calafate, Argentina!

We had the most seamless passport stamping too. You first get it stamped leaving Chile, and then drive up the road and get it for entering Argentina, they moved the line from the bus trough SO QUICKLY. Fastest boarder crossing yet!!!

Once we got to El Calafate we checked into our new hostel, Folk Hostel, it was SO COOL and nice! It had this new and clean feeling with white walls and black floors and large windows. They had chairs hanging from ceiling! And high stools and high tables with people scattered about on their phone, computers, or chatting. They also had normal size tables and chairs too 😀.

We then walked to town and it was so cute! El Calafate is a small mountain town with tons of cool stores and restaurants.

We finally decided on a restaurant, San Pedro Restro Bar. I got pizza with pancetta which was actually pretty good (pizza has been rough in South America Obi)! After this we headed back to the hostel and passed out.

Well welcome to 2019 my dear Jedi, I’ll be home in March, so don’t forget me yet!

Love you,
Tú Madre,
Carly