I woke up at 7am alive in Punta arenas, opened my curtains to see exactly what was outside and checked that my rucksack (aka door keeper shutter) was still in place and thankfully it was.

There were birds squawking outside my window, cars were passing on the road, there was someone moving around outside my door and I could see the ocean through my opened curtains. What a dreadful night of letting my imagination run riot!

OMG, I was wrong, I got it completely wrong. I’ve just ventured outside of my room and this is the most beautiful quirky little hotel I’ve stayed in. It still does remind me a little bit of the Bates Motel but only due to the fact of the ancient relics dotted round the rooms

I headed outside into the garden before breakfast and the grounds were littered with wildlife – a natural pond with ducks, frogs, rabbits, 5 gorgeous cats and a field with 2 lapwings and three amazing newly hatched chicks.

Yes the hotel is situated not far from the road, but it is also situated right beside the ocean and I can see quite a variety of sea birds gliding up and down the coast – how wrong was I to misjudge this little jewel!

I spent ages photographing the parent birds and their chicks and the driver that was taking to me to the bus station arrived 20 mins early and caught me off hop.

On the way to the bus station I noticed that a lot of the shop windows had been vandalised and multicoloured graffiti was on every wall, seat, pavement anything that was a solid structure – a sign of the unrest in Chile – why they had to deface other people’s property I’ll never know.

I’m sure these business owners want the same quality of life and equality but don’t go round painting slogans on peoples houses!!!

Just my bloody luck, I had the most rubbish seat in the whole bloody bus. I have no window and the person in front has reclined his seat so bloody far back and I now feel as though I am in a tiny wee box – and we’re not even out of the bus station!

So, 11am and I’m off on the next part of my adventure.

3hrs later I arrived in the town of Puerto Natales, reminds me a bit of Aviemore with all its outdoor clothing shops, bars and supermarkets – totally geared up for those outdoor enthusiasts. So full of vibrant people of mixed ages – bet it comes to life in the evening. Might just be adventurous and go out to one of the many music bars or, the other option is to stay in my room with my newly purchased bottle of cheap wine and have a party 🥳 for one.

I went in search of a few knick-knacks: an adapter, CD card, money and +/- a waterproof warm jacket as it’s pretty cold here and I need something to keep me warm as I have a few journeys out on the open sea! Got three out of the four 😬 plus two I didn’t really need.

The craft shops have so many beautiful items and I my shopping basket just kept on getting bigger and bigger e.g hand woven throws, large pottery bowl crafted out of larva stone, gorgeous crystal impregnated stoneware and a most amazing hand designed wall plate – so excited to see these around my home.

I took them all to the till and explained that I couldn’t take them in my ‘no room at the inn’ rucksack and requested that she send them back to the UK. “Sorry madam, not possible” she said 😱 devastate doesn’t begin to touch on how I felt. If I was going straight home after Patagonia I would have put up with the struggle but I wasn’t, I still had 2 weeks to volunteer at the turtle conservation sanctuary over in Uruguay and there was no way these items wouldn’t get damage on the way home. I didn’t even put them back, I left the shop in dismay.

When walking up to explore the rest of the high street I saw a cafe that sold ‘delicious pizza”. All I have ever eaten when I’ve been out is either omelette, chicken or burger and chips so that was perfect – something completely different! So after my adventurous shopping I went back to the cafe, ordered a pale ale and asked for the menu.

When the menu came, there was NO PIZZAS listed 😤 …..fantastic, now I was sitting with a delicious pint of pale ale and no pizza. It was already 5pm and I hadn’t eaten since 8am and the thought of swallying my drink and going to hunt for somewhere else was too much to bare so chicken and chips it was !

Can’t believe it, as I was heading out the door some guy was eating a pizza, there was no pizzas on my menu!!! Thought about becoming bolemic for a nano second !!!

Bloated and lethargic, I walked round the town popping in and out of shops to admire the beautiful quality of goods. I was only frustrating myself so I took a different road back to the hotel and ended up on the shoreline looking across to the high snow capped mountains on the other side.

There was a cold beeeze but I was wrapped up well and sat a while on the bench staring out a across the water when I spied an icecream van. The thought was hardly in my head for a fleeting moment when I found myself sitting back on the bench smoothing off the rough edges of a pistachio nut ice-cream cone with my freezing cold lizard tongue 😛 .

It wasn’t long before I caught the attention of a hungry individual who came and sat by my side and concentrated on every lick

Of course I left him the pokey bit and he thoroughly enjoyed it too! 🍦

I wandered back to my hotel taking photos of unusual buildings in the way

Eventually I was back where I started earlier this afternoon, back at my hotel and I began to unpack this ruddy rucksack again as I watched a B (maybe even Z) movie on the TV.

10pm, up at 6am tomorrow to join the tour group. We’ll see what excitement tomorrow brings.

Nite 😘

Oh and by the way, I had a party 🥳 for one