Puerto Natales

Puerto Natales is a town of wooden and tin houses on the Última Esperanza sound, a long arm of the Pacific fjords that reaches into the steppe, with the snow of the Andes on the far shore. It grew around the sheep farms and the meat-packing plant of Puerto Bories, whose brick buildings still stand on the bay just north of town, and the rows of old pier pilings along the waterfront, with cormorants on top, are what is left of that time. A short drive inland, the Cueva del Milodón is the cave where the remains of a giant ground sloth were found at the end of the nineteenth century.

It is the gateway to Torres del Paine, two hours north by road, and the place where most journeys spend a night on the way into the park or on the way out. Boats leave from its pier up the fjord to the Balmaceda and Serrano glaciers, in the Bernardo O'Higgins national park, a full day on the water that reaches ice no road goes near. The town itself is the reward after the trails: small hotels facing the sound, and restaurants that cook lamb, king crab and fish from the channels. Punta Arenas is three hours south on a paved road; El Calafate, five or six hours away across the border.

October to April is the season, when the boats to the glaciers sail most days and the light lasts until late. Winter is quiet, with fewer boats and snow on the hills around the sound. The wind blows hardest from December to February.