Cont. ... The 26th dawned cloudy, and a little cool, but not too much wind. It would turn out to be a long hard day. This was the day we went to the Valle Bader (Bader Valley). Felipe had only been their twice before, on his own, and had never taken anyone there, let alone a client. There was no real trail; the climbers have made a rough trail some of the way, but we didn't take it on the way in. We basically went straight up a ridge, then across a scree field, then across a boulder field (the difference [View Full Entry]

---

---

Geez Popp, relax. Pictures are coming. I'm back in Punta Arenas and have my USB cable now. Technology willing, this blog should have pictures. On December 23 I drove into Torres del Paine again, with my guide par excellence Felipe Goreux, from Santiago originally but now living on a fjord on the coast of Chile, about midway down. He and I were off to hike for seven days in Torres del Paine, and what a week it was! For starters, we had six days of great weather, and one day of pretty good weather. Felipe said he had never had so [View Full Entry]

---

---

Hey everyone! Sorry for the delay in getting an entry up. Things have been very crazy since my first foray into Torres del Paine. And, to make things even worse for you, this will be a short entry. I seem to have left my camera's USB cable back in Punta Arenas, so I can't download pictures for few days. Instead, I'll give you a brief outline of what's being going on the last two weeks, and then you can tune in later for the more details. Over Christmas, I spend seven days hiking the Paine with my guide, Felipe. We had [View Full Entry]

---

---

Ah, back in civilization! OK, so an overnight hike is not the longest time I've been in the bush, but it's always nice to have a hot shower and a shave. And not have to squat. The last two days I ventured into the famed Torres del Paine (pronunced "pi-nee") National Park. This is the park where the massive towers that you always see when tourist agencies advertise Patagonia, whether it's Chilean or Argentinian. Here's my picture of them. They kind of appear out of nowhere. Turns out that some time ago there was a rupture in the Magellan plate (one [View Full Entry]

---

---

Hey all! Just a quick blog because I'm stuck in Pto. Natales for another day before my quick two-day trek to Lago Zapata in Torres del Paine National Park starts. Seems that all the kayak trips for today were booked up when I tried to book yesterday, which, looking at the weather is fine with me. Does mean I'm a little at loose ends - turns out there's not a lot to do in Pto. Natales in a cold, windy and rainy day. (The tiny Museo Historico can eat up about and hour, if you really stretch it). Did discover two [View Full Entry]

---

---

¡Olá! Wow, everyone at work on Monday is going to get a whack of notifications about this blog! Sorry, but there's not a lot to do on a Sunday in Puerto Natales, so the blog is getting updated a bit more. Popp, to answer your question, when I do the Paine circuit I'll be camping; ditto the trips on my own. The rest of the time (i.e. when I'm in cities) I've been in hostels or hotels. So far, it's been a good mix of luxury and roughing it. Although I broke down here in Puerto Natales. I've been in a [View Full Entry]

---

---

So, let´s see if we can get the photos working ... OK, they are!! Right now, I´m now in Chile!! Beautiful sunny day, and no wind! The border crossing was pretty good, although it took a while. Surprisingly, the Chilean border police looked inside all of our bags. Not for drugs, which I´d expect, but fruits and vegetables. They are very protective of their native fruits and vegetables. And meat. It took a while to go through 46 backpacks, suitcases and assorted boxes, as you can imagine. Puerto Natales is a lovely little town. I´ve got a few days to burn [View Full Entry]

---

---

Hi everyone! Just got back from Los Glaciers National Park. It was fantastic - although much colder than I anticipated. And the wind was worse. Sorry about the pics in the last blog. Seems that the internet in El Calafate is particularly slow (dial-ups and satellite don´t mesh well) so I couldn´t upload the pics like I thought. I´ll try to get a bunch up when I get to Chile - it may be better. The trip was four days of hiking in the Los Galciers N.P. Spectacular scenery as you can imagine. I can just guess what it would´ve looked [View Full Entry]

---

---

Hey all! Well, made it to El Calafate in Patagonia. Wow, it was like a brown moonscape flying into the tiny international airport, but you could see the moutains in the distance and the glaciers sparkling in the sun. For those who don´t know, El Calafate is the gateway to Los Glaciers National Park. Oh, and it´s windy. So very, very windy. OK, so I forgot about the wind. Yes, I´ve read Chatwin´s "In Patagonia" and the tour guides, but it seemed have to slipped my mind. Or I didn´t take them seriously. But it´s windy - Flashman at the Charge [View Full Entry]

---

---

OK everybody, (in my best Samuel Jackson impression), hang onto your hats. I´m trying to upload some photos. Right, well, it´s kind of working so I´ll get writing while a few download. This´ll be a quick entry - I´m getting hungry from some Argeninian beef at a paillia (grill house). Supposedly they can cut the thick filets with a spoon. Looking foward to that, I have to say. Today was an interesting day. Still gorgeous, and the usual smell of urine and pollution wafted away on the gentle sub-tropical breeze. Honestly, no irony intended. It was a lovely day. Anyways, spent [View Full Entry]

---

---