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Hello all,
We completed our five days of trekking in Parque Nacional Torres del Paine yesterday and returned to Puerto Natales safe and sound late last night.
A few additions to our last email: El Calafate, Argentina is named after the calafate berry. It is a purplish-black berry similar in appearance to a blueberry, but darker. It grows on bushes in Patagonia. The taste is akin to a mix of blueberry and black grapes. Mild, not too sweet, slightly astringent. We had calafate flavored icecream in the town of El Calafate. Also, they make chirimoya (cherimoya) flavoured yogurt and icecream here.
Back to our trek: We did a five day trek known commonly as "the W". We rented gear (tent, 2 sleeping bags with mats, stove, pot, backpack) from our guesthouse.
Day 1: 7:15 bus to park, paid entrance fee, boarded combi (minibus) to first campsite (Las Torres). Set up camp and headed out on our first hike. Dayhiked approximately 19 km uphill, gaining 1000m elevation, to the Mirador (view point) de Las Torres. The trail was rocky and pretty demanding. We had pretty good weather. A bit cloudy and windy, but good views of the torres.
Las Torres with Ryan and Ana
The height from us to the top of the Torres is about 6000 feet. At Las Torres, there is a hosteria (hotel and restaurant), refugio (refuge), general store, and campsite. All have running water, hot water, and showers.
Day 2: Hiked about 16.5 km from Las Torres campground (at the base of the mountain) along Lago Nordenskjold (rolling terrain), then uphill to Campamiento Italiano. This was the least scenic day of the trek since we stayed mostly along the one lake and then headed into the woods up to camp. However, we did see several Andean Condors soaring high above the park. Campo Italiano is a free campground. This one only had public bathrooms with running water. No showers, no restaurant nearby, no refugio to enter in case of lousy weather.
Day 3: Dayhiked (without big packs) 5.5 steep, rocky km up the Valle del Frances (Frenchman´s Valley) for panoramic views of the Cuernos and other peaks that ring the valley. Then back down (another 5.5 km) to camp. Packed up and headed 7.6 relatively flat km to the next camp, Campamiento Pehoe. This camp had a huge refugio, a quincho (translated as kitchen/dining room), public bathrooms with running water and hot showers. It was set along Lake Pehoe, where a ferry
Lago Nordenskjold
It can get quite windy at times. picks up and drops of visitors to the park. The weather did not cooperate with us that night. It started raining as we were setting up our tent. We headed into the quincho to cook dinner (on our rented stove, though they had 2 public burners inside) and eat. It was crowded inside with people escaping the rain. We met a pair of Brits that were about a third of the way through a yearlong around-the-world trip. They had just finished both the "W" and the Circuit and were waiting for the ferry out the next afternoon.
Day 4: The morning was rainy at Pehoe. The sun broke through as we were getting ready. Started out on the 11 km hike up to Lago Grey. The first section was relatively flat and sunny. Then started heading uphill and hit rain. Stopped for lunch. Continued on uphill and hit frozen rain/wet snow (sleet?). Downhill and rainy again. Finally hit camp approximately four hours later. Four seasons in one day! People in Puerto Natales kept telling us that the weather in the park was very unpredictable. We finally experienced all four seasons. Sat in the refugio and chatted with other travellers
Ryan in TdelP
It can also get quite wet. This picture is about a half hour after the previous. for a bit. This was the first day we hit camp well before 7pm (got in around 4pm) and had time to relax before dinner. We met another pair of Brits that were also on an around-the-world trip. (Where do the Brits get all this travel time from?) As well as a pair of Americans, Ben and Alana, that were married in December and have been travelling in South America since January. Ben and Alana will be on the Navimag trip with us as well. They´re in South America for another two months and then will head to Southeast Asia, Australia, and New Zealand.
Day 5: Dayhiked up to the Mirador for Glaciar Grey. It was quite impressive, though a fraction of the size of Perito Moreno. Here the wall is "only" 1 km wide. Returned to camp, packed up, and hiked back down to Pehoe. This time we had beautiful weather the entire way. Sunny and overcast for the most part. Made better time, too (approx. 3.5 hrs). Waited in the quincho with three older Americans (Jerry, Ursula, and Judy) for the 6:30 ferry out.
Jerry, Ursula, and Judy are all in their sixties and from Las
Cruces, New Mexico. Jerry is an ex-Marine. He lugged wine, cheese, pate, bread, salami (the "delicatessen" as they referred to it) around for the four days they were in the park. Ursula is wife. She was born in Germany. The two of them have travelled around Europe and South America extensively. They´ve even been on a few trips to Panama. Anyone heard of the Coca-Cola Cafe? They told me it was the oldest continuously operating cafe in Panama City. Judy is their friend and was travelling with them for several weeks. All three will also be on the Navimag with us.
We (Ryan and Ana) decided to take advantage of the showers at the campground before boarding the "luxury" ferry. $20 US each for a half hour ride on a catamaran ferry across Lago Pehoe. Free hot water and mugs for instant coffee, creamer, hot chocolate included! After the ferry, we boarded the bus back to Puerto Natales. Arrived in town after 10pm and went out to dinner.
A few discoveries about the park: 1) We encountered mostly English-speaking foreigners (Americans, Brits, Australians, Italians, Germans, Israelis, etc) as we were trekking. 2) The water in the park is
safe to drink. We asked the people at the guesthouse, storekeepers, guardaparques (park rangers), and refugio workers and everyone said it needed no treatment. We drank it and have experienced no ill effects so far.
Today has been a lazy day. Dropped off laundry at the lavanderia (laundymat), caught up on our journal writing, chatted with people at the guesthouse, wrote postcards (let us know if you receive one), etc. Here the lavaderias do the washing and drying (and pressing) for you and charge by the kilo. There are no places where one can go to do laundry by oneself.
Tomorrow we board the three day Navimag "cruise" north to Puerto Montt in the Lakes Region. If anyone wants to find out about the sailing the website is : www.navimag.com. We´re in cabin #307. We arrive in Puerto Montt on the 4th of April and will let you know about the "cruise" then.
Ciao,
Ana and Ryan
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