Month: August 2020

It seems ironic that during this global pandemic which has seen me at home for the longest continuous period of time since 2001, this post is about a place called the Last Hope. This was one place that was most certainly on my list of things to do in Puerto Natales before I left.

That evening I planned to go to the Last Hope Bar and Distillery. This was a bar that did free tours of their gin distillery in English at 5.30pm, five days a week. This distillery in Chilean Patagonia is the most southerly gin distillery in the world.

I love gin, I’ve tried gin from all over the world, particular favourites being Ungava gin, a Canadian gin that is bright yellow because it is flavoured with Arctic herbs such as Labrador tea, Australian Ink Gin which is naturally bright blue thanks to the addition of petals from the butterfly pea flower and the Slovenian gin which probably has the best name in the world, Broken Bones!

A Chilean gin, and more specifically, a Patagonian gin, was something I had never tried. I’m not a foodie, but I do enjoy trying local drinks. In Futaleufu I had tried Trakal, which is a Patagonian spirit. I loved it and I had tried in vain to find a bottle to bring home with me. So if I wanted to bring a bottle of a local Patagonian spirit home with me the Last Hope was literally going to be my last hope!

The Last Hope bar and distillery is in a small house along Calle Esmerelda in Puerto Natales. It opened at 5pm and so to be sure to get there in time for the distillery tour at 5.30pm, I was there at about ten past five. This bar had a bit of exclusivity to it. Even though it was technically open, you couldn’t just walk in. The front door was locked. You had to ring the bell to gain entry. Unsurprisingly this small bar had very few people in it when I arrived. I chose a comfortable chair with a small table in front of it close to a window so I could enjoy looking outside. I wanted to try both gins and didn’t know whether there would be a free taste or not. I got my answer straight away. Matt, one of the owners, immediately came over to me with a bottle of Last Hope original gin and a bottle of Last Hope Calafate gin and two shot glasses so that I could sample their product.

I can confirm that both of these gins are really good. I have subsequently done a taste test with other gins in my kitchen cupboard at home, which I’ve had plenty of time for during this enforced stay at home period due to Covid 19, and the original and Calafate gins ranked very highly. The original gin was my favourite amongst the others I had in my cupboard.

If you’re confused about Calafate gin, let me explain. Patagonia is a cold place. Puerto Natales is almost 52 degrees south. That doesn’t sound that far south when you compare it to 52 degrees north. Where I live in Yorkshire, I’m 53 degrees north. But the furthest south you can get on New Zealand’s mainland is 47 degrees. So once you’re at 50 degrees south you’re in cold territory. In common with other cold places, most plants don’t thrive. But plants with berries tend to do quite well in cold climes and Patagonia is no exception. Anyway, that was a very long winded way of telling you that Calafate gin is made from the native purple coloured Calafate berry, only found in Patagonia. Calafate gin is uniquely Patagonian. And it’s purple.

Enough of this rambling. The bar and distillery is owned by a couple of Aussies, Matt and Keira, who went trekking in Patagonia and ended up settling in Puerto Natales when they found a gap in the market. The tax breaks for businesses in Chile made it a very viable proposition.

Matt explained that when they travelled in Chile there were no gin distilleries in the country and so he and Keira had decided to start a business distilling gin and also whisky. Whisky takes longer to produce than gin, so they didn’t have any of their own whisky to taste in the bar as yet, but they did have the gin. They were also a gin and whisky bar, so they had a vast array of gin and whisky to choose from all over the world, as well as a menu of cocktails. The cocktails were very reasonably priced. Matt said if they were in Santiago they could charge more for them, but around £5 was the maximum they could charge here if they wanted to attract locals in as well as tourists. When you could get a bottle of Pisco from the supermarket for £4, no one was going to pay £10 for a cocktail.

I love cocktails, and the cocktail menu was extensive, including several cocktails that are changed every month, so you could only try these cocktails for a limited time. That was largely irrelevant for me as I had much more limited time in Puerto Natales than a whole month. I ordered my first cocktail of the night, it was called a Petrichor, a combination of gin, dry vermouth, black garlic, celery shrub and dill. The addition of black garlic intrigued me, this was the one I absolutely had to try. It might sound odd, but it was my favourite of the night, I really enjoyed the taste.

A tour group came into the bar just after I had got my drink, filling the place up. Once they got their drinks, Matt said the distillery tour in English was about to start and invited us to bring our drinks with us.

Usually when I’ve been on a distillery tour or a wine tour, you do the tour and then have the tasting, this was the first time I’d taken my drink on the tour with me. I also invite you to dismiss any preconceptions you might have about what commercial distilleries are like, the gin here was made in the back shed! It was very much like a home brewing operation. But that was all they needed. They weren’t a multinational corporation, they were a small business in Patagonia. The back shed was all that was necessary to produce great gin.

Matt was very open about the distilling process and the ingredients they used to make their gin unique. We got to smell them all, he explained that they had to experiment with the proportion of ingredients to make the best flavoured gin and that had got them the product they had today. He said they took into consideration what it tasted like with a mixer in it, because most people drank gin with a mixer. He asked if anyone on the tour today drank gin without a mixer. Out of approximately 20 people on the tour, I was the only one who raised my hand. Oh dear! I would argue that makes me the connoisseur of the group…

The whisky was in the barrels at the moment, they hadn’t decided how long they were going to distil it for. It was a gamble because until it came out of the barrels they didn’t know how it would taste.

After the tour I went back into the bar and ordered another cocktail, a Legendary 75, similar to a French 75 and made with Calafate gin. Certainly the prettiest coloured cocktail I had that evening.

I decided I was going to eat here too. They only did bar food, but that was fine for me. A cheese plate was one of my favourite meals. They did a very good cheese plate, with a variety of breads, fruits and vegetables as accompaniment. You only got one type of cheese. Keira, the other owner of the distillery, explained to me that this is what sold. Again, their base was local customers and they didn’t like different cheeses on a cheese board. I do like a variety of cheeses on a cheese board, but I happily accepted this single cheese plate, I was enjoying the atmosphere and the cocktails.

My third cocktail of the night was the aptly named Globetrotter, which I had to try, particularly since it was made with gin and celery, my favourite vegetable. This tasted heavily of celery and the alcohol in this one was very subtle.

I ordered the sticky toffee pudding dessert to go with my cocktail and Keira came and sat and chatted with me for a while. I was very impressed that both of the owners made an effort to talk to their customers. I especially appreciated the gesture as I was on my own. Even though I enjoy travelling on my own, it is nice to chat to people every once in a while so you don’t feel too lonely and I enjoyed talking to Keira. She told me that the men at the next table, one of whom had a jacket with the words “Sacrificial Blood” emblazoned on the back, were a local band. I had been watching them, they were there enjoying a drink, just like everyone else in the bar.

Keira said there was room at the bar if I wanted to sit there, but I was comfortable where I was, so I ordered a final cocktail to round off my night. She’ll be Apples was a mixture of gin, sherry and Benedictine and was much drier than I expected. Benedictine is a favourite liqueur and I know it’s very sweet, so I was anticipating the addition of this to the cocktail would have made it sweeter. Instead the skilful mix of ingredients meant it was very dry.

I enjoyed all of the cocktails, although as I mentioned, the first one with the black garlic in it was my favourite of the night. But the main thing for me was to try something different. I wanted to drink cocktails that I hadn’t come across before and while some of the cocktails were a twist on more traditional drinks, such as the Legendary 75, others were unique. I had thoroughly enjoyed my evening and Matt and Keira had made me feel very welcome. This was also my reward for completing the W Trek, something I hadn’t been sure I would achieve. All in all it was a brilliant night. It was easily the best night out I had on this holiday.

I couldn’t leave the Last Hope empty handed. The temptation to buy Patagonian gin to take home with me was too great to resist. How many kitchen cupboards in Yorkshire would have bottles of Last Hope gin in them? Probably just mine. Last Hope gin isn’t mass produced so every bottle had a batch number and a bottle number on it. It’s a bit special.

And did I buy the Last Hope original gin or the Last Hope Calafate gin? I bought a bottle of each! Of course I did! I loved their original gin, but I couldn’t pass up the opportunity to buy a bottle of uniquely Patagonian Calafate gin. I certainly wouldn’t find that anywhere else in the world.

And I end this post by saying, that as I continue to sit at home waiting for the opportunity to travel again in the future, I never give up my last hope. We will all travel again and see amazing sights throughout the world soon. And I hope, one day, I make it back to the Last Hope Distillery to try the whisky sitting patiently in that barrel. That would be something to celebrate.

I travelled to Puerto Natales in February 2020

Puerto Natales is located in southern Chile and is the gateway to Torres del Paine National Park.

Last Hope Distillery and Bar is located in the centre of Puerto Natales. It is open 5 days a week during high season. Distillery tours are free. Separate tours are conducted in English and Spanish.

I stayed at Pire Mapu Cottage in Puerto Natales. Breakfast is included in the room rate. They also offer baggage storage for hikers for a nominal fee. This accommodation is within easy walking distance to the bus station. It is a 10 minute walk from the centre of the town.

I travelled to Puerto Natales by bus with Bus Sur who offer transportation by bus throughout southern Chile and Argentina. I travelled to Puerto Natales from El Calafate in Argentina. My onward journey from Puerto Natales was to Punta Arenas.

Read the three part series about my hike on the W Trek in Torres del Paine

The Lazy Writer’s W Trek – Days 1 & 2

The Lazy Writer’s W Trek – Days 3 & 4

The Lazy Writer’s W Trek – Day 5 & Glacier Grey

Read my experiences driving the wild, rugged and remote Carretera Austral.

My Tips for Driving the Carretera Austral

Driving South on the Carretera Austral

Read about my other adventures in Chile

Rafting and Canyoning in Futaleufu

Ascent of Volcan Villarrica

Read about my morning wine tasting experience in Liechtenstein

Wine Tasting in the Prince’s Cellar

I was now on the last day of the W Trek. Day 5.

After spending a rather horrible night in the final hostel, an idea had come into my head. I hated the hostels and really didn’t want to spend another night in one and then I realised, maybe I didn’t have to. If I walked fast enough I might be able to make in to my next hostel in time for the afternoon boat back to Hotel Grey and then get back to Puerto Natales a day early. And if I did that I’d be able to make it to the Last Hope.

I didn’t lounge around for too long. I hadn’t paid for any food so I packed up my stuff and headed off on the last part of the W Trek to Lago Grey.

This was a fairly quiet section of the W Trek. As mentioned in my last post, some people do miss this part out, they simply start at Paine Grande and head east. There were a few hikers and one guided group, but this was a path less travelled. Anyone who was doing the O Circuit was walking in the opposite direction, so the first part of my hike was very quiet.

I think I had recovered my energy somewhat, I seemed to be walking faster, I was feeling refreshed. If I’d felt like this on Day 4 I might have managed the Mirador Britanico hike, but there was nothing I could do about that now.

As usual the path wasn’t flat, but I was coping with the hills better, my body had finally got used to this demanding terrain. As I got to the top of the first section of today’s 11km I was greeted with a view over Lago Grey complete with a multitude of icebergs floating in it from the terminal moraine of Glacier Grey. I stopped to take a few photos, but I didn’t want to mess about for too long or I might not make it to the boat in time to head out of the park today.

As I progressed, further along the trail there was a view point where you could see the lake and glacier in the distance. The guided group made a stop there. You could see it almost as well from the trail and I didn’t have time for detours. The 11km hike was supposed to take three and a half hours and it was going to take me a bit longer than that, so I couldn’t afford to waste 10 minutes, especially as I had no way of knowing what the path was going to be like further along the trek.

As it turned out, there was one section that was very difficult for me, a steep section where I had to climb down a stream. I was struggling with that. I always managed, but it was very slow going. However, I never tried to rush the difficult sections. If I didn’t make the boat this afternoon and had to spend another night in a hostel, which I had a reservation for anyway, that would be a disappointment, but not a disaster. If I slipped and broke my leg or my neck, that would be a disaster. I wasn’t going to take any unnecessary risks. If I had to spend another night in a hostel, so be it.

After that difficult section, it did get easier and I was able to pick up a bit of speed again. The scenery was as spectacular as ever, most of the time I had a view of Lago Grey as I was hiking this last stroke of the W Trek.

And as I continued along the trail I saw the sign for Refugio Grey. I was going to make it in time for the boat to take me out of the National Park today. I had a confirmed reservation on the boat for the following day. There was still no guarantee there would be space for me on this afternoon’s boat. However, there were some short hikes I could do from there and there was a beach by the lake, so my fast pace to get here wouldn’t have been completely pointless.

I went into the reception of the hostel and was greeted by a very friendly lad on reception. I explained I was booked into the refugio for tonight and had a boat out the next day, but wondered if it would be possible to change my reservation onto the boat for this afternoon. He helpfully made a phone call and it was confirmed that there was space for me on the boat this afternoon. He said he couldn’t give me a refund for my night in the hostel, but I wasn’t worried about that. I hadn’t been expecting that. He gave me a voucher to get a free Pisco Sour, so I went into the bar and downed a cocktail in the space of about 5 minutes. The boat didn’t go from right outside the hostel, it was a 10 minute walk to the beach, so I needed to make sure I could make it to the boat in time.

The signposting on the W Trek was exceptionally good throughout and the only time I took a wrong turn was on the 10 minute walk to the beach to get to the boat, after I’d completed the rest of the hike! I got to a signpost and turned in the wrong direction. I realised I was going to the wrong way after a couple of minutes. If I’d missed the boat because I’d taken the wrong path from the hostel to the beach, now that would have been bad. Thankfully I made it to the beach in time.

I had been on a lot of boat trips to see glaciers on this trip, starting in Northern Patagonia, continuing into southern Patagonia, firstly Los Glaciares in Argentina and just before I embarked on the W Trek I had been on the Serrano River. This was going to be my final boat trip to view a glacier and marked my success of hiking the W Trek. If I hadn’t completed the hike, I would have missed the boat trip.

This was another reason I wasn’t too concerned about not staying at the hostel even though I’d paid for it in advance. I hadn’t been sure I’d successfully complete the hike and make it to Refugio Grey anyway.

The boat trip to view Glacier Grey was run by Hotel Lago Grey and it was possible to travel from the end of the W Trek to view the glacier and then on to the hotel or vice versa. For anyone not wanting to hike, it was also possible to just do a round trip from the hotel and it was possible to leave from the hotel on an early boat, spend some time near the glacier and then get a later boat back to the hotel. So there were a lot of variations. This meant that the boat was quite busy, probably the most people I’d seen since I left Puerto Natales. The hike to the Torres was a fairly heavily trodden path as this could also be done as a day trip without the need to overnight in the park, so I did see a fair number on Day 2 of the W Trek, but less than this.

Despite there being a lot of people on the boat, it was large enough for everyone to get a view of the glacier. If you had been hiking and had a large rucksack, you had to hand this over on embarkation where it remained in a luggage pile until the end of the cruise. This meant that the indoor seating area wasn’t full of enormous backpacks, which was useful as there were a lot of families on day trips who had a lot of stuff with them. I didn’t need any money, because I got a free Pisco Sour and that was enough, especially as I’d already had one in the hostel earlier.

After I’d drunk my pisco, I went onto the outside deck to view the glacier and take some photos.

I have to give top marks to the staff for making sure everyone got a turn at the front of the boat to get their photo taken in front of Glacier Grey. One of the crew was patiently taking photos of everyone and she asked them to step aside after they’d got their photo so that other people could get a photo in front of the glacier. This included me. And she took a very good photo as well.

The boat got quite close to the glacier and as the boat moved you could see it from different angles, from the extend of the glacier going up and disappearing into the mountains to close up views of the jagged pieces of ice that comprised it.

After spending time viewing the glacier and everyone who wanted to see it had been able to get a close up view and take plenty of photos, we headed down to the lake to Hotel Lago Grey where the cruise would end.

I mentioned that I’d done 4 glacier boat trips on this holiday and this one was better than the one at Los Glaciares in Argentina and in a tie with the one I’d done on the Serrano River, but the cruise to see the San Rafael Glacier in Northern Patagonia was easily the best. In that one, they took us all out in zodiacs to get a close up view of the glacier and we were singing karaoke on the way back. We also got food and as much free alcohol as we wanted! That was a really fun filled day!

However, if you don’t make it to Northern Patagonia – and most tourists don’t because it is much less visited – then this is a good glacier trip to do. The main reason I would recommend Rio Serrano from Puerto Natales over this one has nothing to do with the quality of the trip or the number of people on board, but the difficulty getting to Hotel Lago Grey if you don’t have a car. An all inclusive package at the hotel includes transport from Puerto Natales, but if you’re an independent traveller without your own transport, you have to pay for a private transfer from the hotel to the bus stop and then get the local bus out of Torres del Paine. If you’re hiking the W Trek and finishing at Glacier Grey, it’s worthwhile, if you’re not hiking and don’t have a hire car, take the boat trip along the Serrano River from Puerto Natales instead.

We got off the boat on the shores of Lago Grey and then we had to walk across a pebble beach to get to the hotel. The walk across the beach took about half an hour, so it’s not a 5 minute stroll. On the other hand this wasn’t a difficult walk. After hiking the W Trek for the last 5 days over terrain that was, in a lot of sections, quite challenging for me, half an hour across a flat pebble beach wasn’t going to pose a huge problem.

The building I got to after hiking on the beach was a shop and a café. So I still wasn’t at the hotel. I had to walk a bit further and I finally reached the hotel.

Now as I wasn’t meant to be here today, I had to make sure that everything was in place to get me out of the park. I had already asked the staff at the hostel to check that my transfer reservation to take me to the bus could be changed to today. It had been paid for in advance and I was told it wouldn’t be  problem, but I went to the front desk when I arrived at Hotel Lago Grey and double checked. They assured me it was fine, so I went into the restaurant, took a seat by the window and ordered some food to pass the time. While I waited for my food to arrive I had to rearrange my bus ticket and find somewhere to stay tonight.

I couldn’t alter my bus ticket online. I had booked it and paid for it in advance before I left England more than a month ago. However, I wasn’t really concerned about that because even though I had been advised to book in advance if possible, the buses were never full and it was easy to turn up and buy a ticket an hour or less before departure, which is what most people did. So I would only have problems in the highly unlikely event that the bus today was full.  Otherwise I’d already paid the bus fare, I was simply travelling on a different day.

Accommodation was more of a concern. I had no reservation and the place I was staying in Puerto Natales the following evening was fully booked.  I went on Expedia and booked a bed and breakfast in Puerto Natales and sent a message to the property through Expedia explaining that I would be arriving on the last bus into Puerto Natales and wouldn’t arrive until after 11pm. I got no response, but assumed that everything would be okay.

And now I could relax and enjoy my food and the view of the mountains from the restaurant window while I waited for my transfer to the bus stop.

The transfer itself was comfortable and in a comfortable vehicle, but it got me to the bus stop far too early, so yet more waiting around for the bus.

The driver wasn’t too concerned about the date on my ticket being the next day as the bus was nowhere near full as I had suspected. I did quite enjoy the shorter and more comfortable bus rides and certainly Bus Sur had comfortable, clean buses and were a reliable bus company, unlike the bus company I’d used in Argentina, Taqsa Marga buses who were absolutely appalling and I would only recommend if you had no other choice.

I am a big fan of the self drive holiday and I drive as much as I possibly can when I travel because I like to visit remote destinations and it’s the easiest way to get around. I do also really enjoy driving whilst on a trip and I love the freedom it gives me, stopping to take photos as often as I want, exploring a side road, all things you can’t do on public transport.

However, it was completely impractical to use a car for the W Trek as firstly I would have a car that I wouldn’t be using for several days which was a waste of money and, more importantly, since it was a one way hike, the car would be in the wrong place at the end of the trek. So I would still have needed public transport to get to my parked car. Anyway it was quite nice to sit back in the bus and relax two and a half hour bus ride to Puerto Natales.

It was late when I arrived back in Puerto Natales and I had to try and find this bed and breakfast I’d booked into. It was further from the bus station than my other accommodation had been, but I only had my rucksack to carry and not my enormous suitcase to drag through the streets.

A lot of things had gone wrong for me on this trip and my luck wasn’t about to change. First of all the map on my phone wasn’t doing its job and I was having problems finding the property. When I did find the property it was in darkness. I banged and banged on the door to no avail. I was both furious and desperate. I had sent a message when I booked my room at Hostal Lago Condor that I would be arriving on the last bus at approximately 11pm. They had accepted my booking, but evidently didn’t care about being at the property to let me in even though I had advised them immediately of my arrival time. But it was after 11 o’clock at night, even this far south in Patagonia in summer, it was now dark. Where was I going to find a bed for the night?

There was a property next door where the lights were still on. I thought it was perhaps a bar or a café. Maybe they could help me. Actually this place was a hostel. The mother and son who owned it couldn’t help me with the accommodation next door, but they did have a bed available here. It seemed that I might be sharing a dorm room for one more night after all. She offered to show me what was available and said it was very small. As my Spanish is pretty rubbish and her English wasn’t too clever either, I had interpreted her words to mean she had one bed in shared room, but actually it was a single room. The room was a box room with enough room for a single bed in it and nothing else. The bathroom was downstairs. It was £20 for the night.

My choices were simple. I could pay £20 sleep in the box room or I could go back out onto the dark streets of Puerto Natales and try and find somewhere else to stay. I was getting desperate and this was a perfect solution. The room looked clean, I would have it to myself, which was more than I’d had for the past 4 nights. The bathroom looked decent and even though it was downstairs, again it was better than the refugios in the National Park. £20 was not a lot of money, I was tired, I was fed up, I said thank you very much, handed her the equivalent of £20 in Chilean pesos and went to my room.

I was very grateful. Hostal Galvarino had saved my life tonight. I’d be spending tomorrow night in the Last Hope.

I travelled to Torres del Paine National Park and hiked the W Trek during the first week of February 2020.

To hike the W Trek in Torres del Paine National Park you must book all your accommodation in advance. There are hostels and campsites you can stay at along the route. There are a few free campsites run by the National Park Service. All hostels and the other campsites are run by Fantastico Sur in the east of the park and Vertice Patagonia in the west of the park. I was able to book the refugios with both companies through their websites from the UK using Paypal to secure the reservation.

You can get information about hiking in Torres del Paine National Park including the W Trek, the O Trek and the Q Trek, on the Conaf website.

I hiked the W Trek independently. I hiked from East to West starting from Torre Central to El Chileno to hike the eastern stroke of the W first. There are various tours available, but the hike is easy to do on your own without a guide and allows you to go at your own pace. The hike took me 5 days with 4 overnight stays at Refugios in the National Park.

My boat trip to view Glacier Grey is run by Hotel Lago Grey. You can book the Glacier Grey Cruise on the hotel website.

You can email Hotel Lago Grey to arrange a transfer from the hotel to the bus stop if you do not have a package booked with the hotel. The transfer to Terminal Administracion costs approximately £20.

I travelled in and out of Torres del Paine National Park with Bus Sur. At the end of my trek I took the 2000h bus from Terminal Administracion which arrives into Puerto Natales Bus Station at 2230h.

There are several buses each day departing from Puerto Natales Bus Station into the National Park. I took the 1200h bus from Puerto Natales to Terminal Laguna Amarga which took 2 hours.

Everyone must disembark the bus here if they are hiking from East to West in order to register with CONAF Park Services and pay the National Park fee which was approximately £25 for 5 days.

My emergency accommodation in Puerto Natales was Hostal Galvarino.

Read about the rest of my hike along the W Trek

The Lazy Writer’s W Trek – Days 1 & 2

The Lazy Writer’s W Trek – Days 3 & 4

Read my experiences driving the wild, rugged and remote Carretera Austral.

My Tips for Driving the Carretera Austral

Driving South on the Carretera Austral

Read about my other adventures in Chile

Rafting and Canyoning in Futaleufu

Ascent of Volcan Villarrica

Last Hope Celebration

Read about my day hikes in Argentine Patagonia

Down Argentine Way – Los Glaciares