From South to South with Navimag

It was 9o'clock a.m. I was sitting at the doctors to get a certificate for the yellow fever vacination when my phone rang. "The ferry from Puerto Montt to Puerto Natales will leave one day later..." Ok, but what would I do one more day after I had my farewell from Puerto Varas the day before?! In the afternoon I went around the third biggest lake of South America - the Llanquihue - with my to Spanish Couchsurfers. We had a blast though it was raining a lot-hitch hiking became a very wet experience. On Tuesday-one day later-we went to the harbour of Navimag-the company that runs the ferry. The ferry originially was only for cargo and is now earning money also with tourists. As planned we boarded at 14:30h being suret the ferry would leave at 16:00h as scheduled-but no. It took them about another eight hours to get the cargo loaded and even more to secure the cargo. We left around midnight and started our 4Day/3Night journey among the 14.000 Islands that we would pass until the arrival in Puerto Natales. After 45 minutes the boat stopped and a small boat came racing for us-immediately I though of the delicate situation in Somalia with all the pirates attacking the ships. But of course it was not so-they only repaired the chain of the anker-this is at least what they told me. We went forward and backwards and saw ourselves already back on chains in Puerto Montt. Que suerte that we continued our journey after another hour.

The night was quite and the following day a little boring as the canals were so wide that you could see barely anything. The weather was good and we enjoyed the time on the observation deck. Meanwhile, my two Spanish Couchsrufers and I met an English guy from New Castle, an Aussi that now lives in California, and another Spanish guy from Madrid-together we made the best team which I realized once I was leaving Puerto Natales to the Torres del Paine National Park. On the second night we were prepared for the twelve hours on the open ocean. They sold sea-sickness pills-which I did not take. After dinner we played cards and the sea indeed started to ber rougher. A littler it was even rougher and the ferry was moving up and down. Two English guys and I went up on deck where it got two big chess fields on the floor. Each of us had four squares that we must not leave while jumping on one leg-loads of fun considering the movement. But in the end the staff said that it was not too bad and that it is worse most of the times. The next day was beautiful. Very close to the boat were the islands mounting like hils. In the afternoon we reach Puerto Eden where we stopped to load a couple more passengers. As the sun was shining on one side and rain on the other we had an amazingly strong rainbow that would only cover on littler island above the sea-amazing!!! After we left we ate, played card, took fotos, and enjoyed the time on the observation deck. On Friday at 10:30h we arrived in Puerto Natales looking forward to get back on mainland-but noooo. The wind was too strong for the ferry to get into the harbour. Now we ankered...The good thing about was that we got another lunch ;) After a while we could move on and once the engines stopped we were positive again that we can desembark-but once again-noooo. We were the victims of the Chilean Marinos searching the ferry for drugs and other forbidden substances. Including our luggage and the passports. After another three or four hours we could finally leave the boat.

It sure was a journey with a lot of obsticles but in the end very panoramic and full of nice people travelling through South America and the world. The Dutch couple with whom I was sharing the cabin e.g. was using the Round-The-World-Ticket to do their honeymoon. How nice of a honeymoon is that?