Arriving by plane, I look out the window to see the small Chilean city of Puerto Natales surrounded by vast unforgiving terrain. It's not quite the end of the world - another city, Punta Arenas, is about 200 kilometres south and Argentina's Ushuaia is even further down - but it sure looks like it. Set on the shore of Patagonia's fjord network, I can see the icy water disappearing amongst the snowy mountains that stretch towards the horizon, their serrated peaks cutting through the clouds.
Remote... and wild. I wake up early in the morning, well before sunrise, and join a group heading from the city into the surrounding wilderness for the day. With our guides from local tour company Chile Nativo, we're focused on finding one thing: pumas. There are thought to be about 300 in the region and, for the best chance to spot them, you need to be up early when they're hunting.
The van first comes to a quick stop on a desolate road, where our guide puts his binoculars to his eyes then ushers us out into the crisp air, pointing at a ridge about 150 metres away. I can see a slinking spot of yellow-grey fur with my bare eyes, but using my camera's zoom, it more clearly resembles the young male, possibly a new alpha, I'm told it is. In the opposite direction is a silhouette atop a crest of a guanaco (a native llama-like animal), the sentinel for its group, but we leave before either spots the other.
Because we've had a heads-up that a short drive away another puma, an older female, is sitting under a tree closer to the road. When we get there, I can easily see her licking her paws, perhaps cleaning after a meal. Occasionally she looks over at us. "You feel the power of nature when you see its eyes," our guide says quietly.
Out here, you also feel the power of nature in the colossal. We're on the edge of the mountainous Torres del Paine National Park, a huge expanse and a huge drawcard. Most people staying in Puerto Natales use the city as a base to explore the park, with the nearest entry about 80 kilometres away. While I'll spend four days within its borders, hiking the famous W Trek (a story for another day), it's possible to do a day trip to the base of the towers for the most iconic view. Across a glacial lake of milky green, surrounded by a basin of gravel and snow, the three towers of jagged granite rise up more than a kilometre high. It's an incredible sight... and an adventure. Even the day trip is a steep round hike of about eight hours.
From Puerto Natales, plenty of other tours explore the park in a more relaxed way, with interesting landscapes and viewpoints accessible from the road. In fact, our puma-tracking trip with Chile Nativo stops for a while on the southern shore of Lake Nordenskjld for the panoramic vista of the whole Paine Massif, the 24-kilometre-long mountain group of sharp spires that, along with the Torres (Towers) I've already talked about, also include the aptly-named Cuernos (Horns).
By land... and by water. Another morning, I discover some of the national park by boat on a cruise of Grey Lake, about the size of Sydney Harbour. There's no life in the lake because the thick sediment that gives the water its grey colour blocks the sunlight. Yet it still feels so alive with rich blue icebergs drifting across. At the far end, I am supposed to go kayaking but the wind is too strong, so instead I'm taken on a zodiac right up to the face of Grey Glacier. "The Southern Patagonian Icefield is like a hand with 48 fingers and this is one of them," the guide explains as I look in awe at the hulking wall of ice shimmering and cracking.
Back in town, you rarely forget that Puerto Natales is a remote refuge. Wind and rain often howl down its streets, most of which are lined with low-rise houses made of weatherboard and corrugated iron to suit the elements and painted colourfully as a contrast to them. But there are also worthwhile things to see, like the handful of heritage buildings around the main square, Plaza de Armas, and the promenade along the water.
I walk this coastal path quite a few times from my hotel, Remota Patagonia Lodge, because it's about two kilometres from the city centre. A gorgeous property with a design inspired by Patagonian barns, it feels rustic and modern at the same time, full of local furnishings, high ceilings and large windows to stare out at the fjords and the snowy peaks.
And despite - or perhaps because - so many of the people in Puerto Natales are simply using the city as a base for adventures, there's a friendly and warm atmosphere when you enter its small businesses and close the door on the cold air outside. The beers and burgers hit the spot at Slowly Bar, and some of the best food is at Lenga Restaurant, where a fine-dining chef serves well-priced Chilean dishes in what feels like a family dining room.
But before you leave for your Patagonian adventures, pop into Last Hope Distillery, set within just another house at the end of a residential block. Inside you'll find a quaint little cocktail bar run by two Australians who arrived here in 2015 to hike the W Trek and fell in love with the region. In one of the most remote places on Earth, the Last Hope will feel like home.
Michael was a guest of Sernatur (Chile Travel). You can see more things to do in Puerto Natales on his Time Travel Turtle website.