Hiking Above Laguna Sofia Patagon - Day 498

On our second full day in Puerto Natales, our friend and guide Luciano took us to a promontory above Laguna Sofia, a favorite place for campers. I had met Luciano on the Hurtigruten voyage (the Roald Amundsen) that had taken me through the Panama Canal. Luciano had been working as the ship's historian, and I learned he grew up in Puerto Natales. He arranged Navimag and promised to take care of us once we made it to port because he too would be off the ship by that time.

It was a fine hike above the lagoon that got you breathing. At the top we were treated to high winds and this breathtaking (in every sense of the word) view (see video). High winds nearly knocked us down and we had to fight just to stay planted.

The Milodon Cave Patagonia

After the hike above Laguna Sofia, Luciano took us to Patagonia’s famous Milodon (in Spanish, but Mylodon in English) Cave.

The Mylodon were huge sloths up to 12 feet tall that roamed Patagonia and Tierra del Fuego during the last ice age tens of thousands of years ago. You didn’t want to mess with them. Hides from the animals have been found and that was the inspiration for Bruce Chatwin’s excellent book In Patagonia. His great uncle had brought a piece of Milodon back and Chatwin saw it as a kid in his grandmother’s house (she thought it was a brontosaurus skin). His journey through Patagonia was a kind of quest for the source of that hide and eventually he landed here.

You can see how immense the cave is when you realize how tiny the people walking through it are. (See the video.) Before we left the cave Luciano treated us to a haunting song he played while we were inside. I told you he was talented.

Learn more about Chatwin’s book and other great Adventure-Travel books here. Please leave a comment below with YOUR favorite travel-adventure book and we’ll send the first five people to add their book ideas a free copy of any digital book in our Vagabond-Adventure.com bookstore.