I Cave In: Puerto Natales, Chile

In the cave looking at.

It was a full dat trekking through Torres Del Paine, but there was one more Chilean national park on the day's agenda: Monumento Natural Cueva del Milodón, or the Milodon Cave.

The Milodon Cave is (1) a cave, where (b) the milodon used to live.

Here is a milodon:

OK. It's only a silhouette of what a milodon looked like. The milodon is an extinct giant sloth. It lived in the cave, along with its pals the saber-toothed tiger, the Patagonian panther, an early horse, and the still plentiful guanaco lived in peace, love, and harmony, except when one was the meal of the other. THe milodon and the saber-toothed tiger, at least, not sure of the others, became extinct somewhere after the end of the last period of glaciation ended. Like the Woolly Mammoth in North America, there is debate among scientists as to what led to the extinction of "megafauna," as the large animals of that era are now called. What is climate change, which most certainly was occurring at that time with the retreat of the glaciers back to Antarctica where they belong? Or was it the arrival of the super-predator homo sapiens? There is no scientific consensus on this.

The cave is not go deep into the rocks. It's deep enough to offer protection from the elements. But it's not a deep underground chamber of tunnels.

It's only a short hiking loop to see the entire cave.

Humans did not live here. There is a very interesting, fairly-recently discovered Early Man site in Central Chile near the City of Puerto Montt that is around the same age as the Meadowcroft Rockshelter outside of Pittsburgh, both of which have destroyed the notion of Clovis, New Mexico, being the site of the earliest known human habitation in the New World. Clovis was the cornerstone of the "Land Bridge from Asia" theory as to how man arrived in the Americas, as the archaeological findings found there aligned perfectly with when the so-called "Land Bridge" would have been open during the Last Ice Age. The theory made no sense. Early crossed a "land bridge" between Siberia and Western Alaska and, suddenly, without leaving any trace of having been anywhere else, ended up in New Mexico? That makes sense. Both Monte Verde in Central Chile and Meadowcroft Rockshelter pre-date the opening of the "Land Bridge" and both have unique characteristics that led to the preservation of the historic record. No one is claiming that either Monte Verde or Meadowcroft were the very first places humans colonized the Americas. The claim -- and right now it is a very viable claim -- is that these are the oldest "known" records. Anyway, the Milodon Cave is younger than Monte Verde (and Meadowcroft) and was not the site of "Early Man." Just the home of fascinating and now-extinct megafauna.

And that's good enough.

The tourists visiting the cave do not seem unduly concerned by the presence of a milodon at the mouth of the cave.

(Actual size)

Time to head back to Punta Arenas. But, first, a stop in downtown Puerto Natales, to gas up.

Puerto Natales is a small city between Torres Del Paine and Punta Arenas. They love their milodon here:

What a nice way to be welcomed into town. By a mega-predator.

Puerto Natales, being a port, is located on a gulf off the Pacific Ocean. It has its own mini-version of "Los Dendos," the Fingers, also known as the "Ahogados."

Who does "Los Dendos" better? Puerto Natales, Chile?

Or Punta Del Este, Uruguay?

By the way, the name "Ahogados" is Punta Del Este refers to "The Drowned." This is a monument to victims of drowning, as the fingertips are the last thing you see,

Anyway, the hour was getting late. Time for the final push back to Punta Arenas.

To get to Torres Del Paine and back, we take Ruta 9, Route 9, known on signage as "La Ruta a la Fin del Mundo." The Route to the End of the World. Ruta 9 ends at the southern tip of the South American landmass, just south of Punta Arenas. One of the great names for a road anywhere.

Road Trip Uruguay!

Downtown.  Somewhere in Uruguay

The Montevideo portion of this vacation has ended.  We're now in the second half of this trip.  I will now take to the open road.

From the roof of the My Suites, looking south to the Rio de la Plata

The sun came out for realsies this morning in Montevideo. It's a shame I'm not going to see the city in the sunshine. Montevideo is a nice little city. It's quiet. The people are shy. They listen to a lot of American soft rock from the 80s, apparently, if what I heard in cabs and coffee shops is any indication. Thirty places went into the cookie jar. One by one, 29 got eliminated. I have zero regrets that Montevideo was the survivor. And I have lots and lots of regrets in life. This ain't one.

From the other side of the roof.  Which means this is looking north.  To no place in particular.

PS: It's actually the second time I put multiple places in a cookie jar and picked out one at a time until there was one. That was to pick a fun place to go for my 45th birthday back in 2005.  I put in 10 destinations in the USA, places like Colorado Springs (the first eliminated), New Madrid, Missouri (to see the earthquake museum, which I eventually did in 2006 -- you should go), and South Padre Island, Texas.  I put in 10 international destinations, such as Vatican City and Belem, Brazil.  I ended up not going to the one that the left in the jar.  Money was a little tight in 2005 and the international trip that I selected wasn't going to happen for the 45th.  The trip to that place had to wait.  Until November 2013.  Yes, I seriously picked Montevideo that time, too.  Only since I didn't tell anyone I wasn't "committed" to it.  Seriously, what were the odds?  600 to 1, actually.  About the same as the sports books would offer for the Miami Marlins to win the World Series.

So now I've been to Montevideo and I'm happy that I did.  But now was the time to put Montevideo in the rear view mirror of a rental car and drive.  To the open road!

The open road!  Uruguay style!

And what is my steed of choice for the open road, Uruguay style? A Chevrolet ... ummm ... got to check the rental car key ring.

OK. I checked. It's a Chevrolet Corsa. Stylin'!


Mi Chevrolet ... ummm ... something or other

Time to hit the road.  The only problem, of course, was that I took a wrong turn out of the airport, or I missed the turn I intended to take, and I found myself a little north on "Ruta 8" instead of the 1B, the expressway to Punta Del Este.

Sin problemas!  Thank Dios I bought an Uruguay roadmap on Amazon before I left.  Turns out, Ruta 8 is not a bad route to take.  It's just inland, but heading in the right direction.  I would need to exit onto Ruta 9 to pick up the 1B right before Punta Ballena, my stop for the right.

I did see a nice looking old church on Ruta 9 so I stopped for some pictures.  It smelled of florals and grilled meat.  I love Uruguay!  At least, I love the aromas of Uruguay.  Turns out, there was a parrilla just up from this church.

Stepped into a church / I passed along the way

Actually I didn't "step into it".  I was only Uruguay dreamin'

So it was a pleasant drive through the hinterlands.  Soon enough, I was merging onto the 1B Expressway and, only a short way down the road, I caught this view of the Rio De La Plata:

View of the Rio De La Plata, upscale side, off the 1B

Upscale!  Side note for my fellow geography nerds:  it's still the Rio De La Plata estuary officially until Punta Del Este.  And the scenic viewpoint was being guarded by this gentleman:

Statute of someone Uruguayano

 I should've made note of who he was, out of courtesy, but I rudely drove on.

But not too far!  Soon I was at my destination, my abode for the night.  The Casapueblo in Punta Ballena.

Entance into the Casapueblo

 But before we make the turn into the Casapueblo, here's the rock formation that puts the "punta" into "Punta Ballena":

The tip of Punta Ballena