Kayaking the Chilean fjords

We'd originally been planning to just hire some kayaks and go exploring the fjords for a few days but decided in the end to go on a guided trip...and we're very glad we did.

Our French guide Richard was excellent, enabling us to do much more in the kayaks than we would have done by ourselves (including going down some pretty serious rapids), telling us all about the development of the region, and meaning that we stayed overnight with a lovely Chilean farming family in the middle of nowhere!

The first day we paddled down a large river, with another pair and Richard. Stunning scenery, better than expected weather (the sun even came out for a while!) and the occasional excitement of some rapids made for a fantastic day.

Late in then afternoon the other pair were picked up (they had only booked for one day), and we were left with our own personal guide, to paddle the remaining section now on the fjord, to a lovely remote bay - our campsite for the night:

The Chilean family who lived in a little farmhouse were extremely welcoming - despite not being able to speak a word of English (they are a 45 mins hike from the nearest dirt road, so don't get many visitors!), giving us tea, taking us for a nice walk up the steep sides of the fjord to collect their sheep and cows (and enjoy the fabulous views), before settling down to a simple but tasty dinner of lamb legs and potatoes (yes, even Sam needed to eat some of the lamb!!!).

The next morning we paddled down the length of the fjord, up a side river (only just making it against some pretty strong flows at times) to a nice little refuge for lunch. Another short paddle took us to our pick up point, and a car ride back to Puerto Natales - where we even got our first sight of the top of volcano Osorno (which we hadn't been able to see because of cloud for the whole previous week):

(This picture is from a later day - but I'm sure you'll excuse the editorial license!).