We are leaving Patagonia and flying back to Santiago this morning. Basically it is a travel day. Unfortunately the airline broke up our group and booked us on two separate flights. Five of us are leaving on the earlier flight, the rest on one that leaves three hours later. As a result the hotel must shuttle us separately to the airport which is three hours away in Punta Arenas.  I am in the earlier group so we had to leave at 6:30 AM. The good news is Wladimir is also with us so if there are any glitches he will be here to deal with them. Although we have to get up very early we do arrive in Santiago at 5:30 PM, a decent hour. As the flight to Santiago is over three hours I can catch up on amy missed sleep on the plane.

It is 46 degrees this morning with no rain at the hotel; however within 30 minutes of leaving we started getting some rain showers and, of course, there is that wind, although it was minimal this morning (so far). Thus is the weather cycle and the way of life in Patagonia. I think it would be tough to live here.

Unless you are into extended trekking, kayaking, fishing or horseback riding, three days seemed adequate to see the major sights in the Patagonia region. Two of our three days of sightseeing had great weather conditions so I feel lucky. It would have been a big disappointment had it rained the entire time we were here. 

I was impressed with the way the hotel handled our days of touring the area and I assume other hotels in the area do likewise. The day excursions were well planned and executed. I talked to a couple from Canada who were there on their own; excursions and activities were available for them as well. There is a team of local guides readily  available to show people the area. They know their stuff.

It was a three-hour drive back to the Punta Arenas airport, but it went smoothly. However, once we got to the airport the laid back attitude of South America kicked in. The check-in line at the airport was very long and there were only two people working the check-in process. It seemed quite chaotic and I was glad we had a local to sort out the reasons for the delay and find out which line we had to be in. It seemed to take forever (actually over 1 hour) to check our bags and get boarding passes. Even Wladimir was shocked at the lackluster attitude of LATAM. Luckily we had ample time and we made our flight which was on time.

Wladimir changed seats with me so I could have a window seat on the mountain side of the plane as we headed north to Santiago. I was able to get a bunch of pictures of volcanoes (Chile has about 500 active volcanoes) that seem to line the Chilean coast, including an aerial view of the Grey Glacier we visited yesterday, which is immense when seen from the air.

Santiago was hot (90 degrees) but at least there was not much humidity. Wladimir, who lives there, said it has been hotter than normal all summer. Global warming? We are staying that the Intercontinental Hotel in the financial district, where there are plenty of restaurants and even a big shopping center nearby. I had managed to catch a cold while in Patagonia and was in no mood to wander off looking for dinner and I chose to simply have a drink and a bowl of soup in the hotel bar, followed by an early departure to bed.

Tomorrow the group has a walking tour of Santiago and our farewell dinner. The base trip ends tomorrow night.