what is slow and red?

Damn this South American sun! I arrived in Puerto Natales yesterday, and had about 45 minutes to kill before a neighboring hostel was holding its daily orientation on the Torres del Paine park, so I wandered about some.

I was gone about 30 minutes, seriously. And my neck and ears are BRIGHT RED. It is terrible. The rumor is that at this time of the year, the hole in the ozone (that I thought was mostly gone now? Is that industrail propaganda?) is directly overhead, so that´s even more encouraging. Once again, damn you, global warming! Today, it is much more cloudy, and I am earing my SPF 50. Get through that, sucka!

Anyway, so Puerto Natales. As a town, it is cute enough, if a bit run down. it does, however, have the major, distinct advantage of location. Not only is Torres del Paine a couple of hours off, which makes this a major hub of the backpacker trail (and all the troubles that involves - hosteling here is very annoying...), but it is also perched on the Last Hope Sound (what a name, huh?).

In traveling, as in real estate, it is all about location:

Other than that, though, it´s still slow internet (that picture took like, a millenium and three tries to upload - appreciate!) and not a lot of sights. I am going to spend the afternoon packing for my trip to the park and sitting in a cafe. I won´t be online at all for a few days, but when I get out of the park I will be sure to update.