Blog post 13 - Last day in Lima and Patagonia

October 28, 2023

Our last day in Lima revolved around getting packed and prepared for our trip to Patagonia. We did fit in one last Museum on the way to the airport however. It was the Museo Larco. A private museum of Pre Colombian Pottery, textiles and metal work dating way back before Christ through to Inca times. It was set up by Rafael Larco Hoyle who at the age of 25 began a life long passion for archaeology in Peru. The pieces in display were like new. He must have had an amazing time finding these in the excavations. The best ones and there were lots of them were beautifully displayed but you could also checkout the store room where all the other item he found were displayed. There were thousands of them. Quite extraordinary. See photos.

Our flight to Puerto Montt at the northern end of our Patagonia trip went via Santiago where we had a stopover between midnight and 6am. The international terminal we flew into was very flash but the domestic where had to catch the flight to Puerto Montt ( PM ) from, was old and cold. We did manage to lie down for a couple of hours on some seats and we may have slept but not sure. It was along day by the time we got to bed in Puerto Montt about 40 hours later.

We got the local bus into Puerto Montt City ( 280,000 ) and then a taxi to the rental car place where we picked up our brand new Kia Sportage, 4WD. Very flash even though it’s a basic model. Seems very big but I am getting used to it.

Our accommodation in PM was an Airbnb in the suburbs. It was comfortable but was constructed much like an old kiwi batch as were most of the houses in the street and like many other we saw in town.

We have shopped extensively here for food and a few other bits, including a cork strew so we can get into the wine at last. We have had a 2 month drought as wine in the other parts of South America is very expensive.

We have had a slight delay in out trip as the first long ferry ride south was booked out on the day we planned to catch it on the 28th. Now sailing on the 30th

We are staying in a place in Lenca about 35 km south of PM. We did a walk yesterday into the Alerc Andino National Park for about 2 hours to check out the very big Alerc trees and waterfalls. It was drizzling when we started out so it was on with all the wet weather gear thankfully as in the last hour the rain fell like there was no tomorrow. We also saw out first little fox wandering in the car park at the National Park entrance.

We are all tucked up in our Airbnb with the heater on having a quiet day with the wind and rain beating down outside. It’s my birthday so a good day to just stop and catch up before we head off for our 2000km drive through Patagonia. It will be great. Cold and hopefully not to wet.

The map below shows our route down through Patagonia ( dark blue) and back through Argentina. (Disregard the hours - we’re doing it at leisure and enjoying the outdoor experiences along the way).