Punta Arenas, Chile, South America

I got up this morning and got in touch with Laura straight away, but she didn’t have good news for me. She had gotten in touch with a few of the companies, but it looked like they were all completely full for their next trip, so no chance Ryan and I could jump on. I was really hopeful that this was going to work out, but I should have known that cruises that get booked a year in advance would probably be full a few days before departure. I just couldn’t imagine that we had planned this so long ago and it could be snatched away from us at the last minute.

Laura is still waiting to hear back from Tucan, but they don’t offer camping on land or kayaking, and those were the two most important things to Ryan and I. We don’t want to spend this exorbitant amount of money to just go sit on a boat. We have to get out there and experience Antarctica for ourselves.

I had breakfast at the hostel, got packed up, and the owners gave me a ride to the bus terminal for 10:30am. I got on my bus and had an easy three hour ride back here to Punta Arenas. I got a couple of messages on my way back from Laura with some alternative options that Ryan and I are mulling over. I really wanted to talk to him on the phone, but when I got to my new hostel, Hostel Family Del Rey, their internet was broken. I’ve become so accustomed to having wifi everywhere, that this felt like a major hassle. Especially with the timing. I dropped off my stuff and went out to find a place for lunch that had wifi.

I ran into the five Mexican students from my Torres Del Paine trip in the center of Punta Arenas and they pointed me in the direction of a cafe that had decent wifi. I headed over there and got a sandwich and was able to talk to Ryan about our options. We’re both still really keen to make this work because we’ve been so excited about this trip for the better part of a year.

Laura has found a couple of options for a couple of weeks from now that could work. It’s not ideal, but the options are there. I talked to Ryan about the flight options and everything and we have tonight to think about it. It’s been such a pain to not have wifi at this hostel though. Right now there’s a lot of research I need to do and there’s no way for me to do it here.

I’m going to call Laura in the morning and find out what our final options are, and then I’ll talk to Ryan about it. We have to make our decision tomorrow, so I’m hoping to get that done in the morning and then I can get out and do some hiking at a park near Punta Arenas. These last few days have felt like a complete waste because I’ve not actually been able to see anything, or get anything done. I’ve just been coming up with tentative plans for the possibility of things working out a certain way. I’ll be really happy to figure out for sure what we’re going to do so I can get organized. And right now I have no idea what’s happening after tomorrow…