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Published: February 13th 2006
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Another early start - today we cross the border from Argentina into Chile. We´re all ready, by the bus, except one of the Italians, Juliano. Unfortunately he´s got to dry his hair, brought the hair dryer and everything. So we wait, and learn a little more about the ranch instead. It´s 27,00 hectares, with lots of sheep (MerinoX), which they breed for fine wool and meat. There´s a few cows, and 70 odd horses for working. They started rural tourism to earn some money, after a horrendous snow storm in 1996, which left the place covered in over 1m of snow for almost 2 months. Almost all the animals died, so they have had to rebuild and try other methods of earning money to attempt to get back the stock they had then. They´re still trying to get back to that level now....
We finally set off. After a beautiful day yesterday, today is the quite the opposite. The clouds are completely covering the sky, looking grey, becoming darker and more menacing in the direction we´re heading. We arrive at the Argentinian border, pile off the bus, hand in the form we were given on arrival in Argentina, get our
Icebergs
My first Iceberg... passports stamped, and get back on the bus. We then drive 1km into presumably no man´s land to the Chilean border. There they are more strict, we fill in another form (S. America is reknowned for it´s forms), and get our passports stamped again, then it´s time for the bag search. The search is mainly for....
fruit. Yes, that´s the forbidden item. Fortunately I´ve eaten my last apple at the Argentinian border, I´m safe, and allowed to cross.
The Torres del Paine is a UNESCO reserve, a fantastic area of lakes, valleys, wildlife, glaciers, and most notably the granite massif, the Torres (towers) and Cuernos (horns) of Paine. These oddly shaped peaks are remains of frozen magma in ancient volcanoes, and everything else has been eroded, leaving these peaks standing, dominating the surrounding area. Well apparently that´s what they do, at the moment all we can see is cloud, oh and rain. In fact it´s quite reminiscent of the moors without the heather. We drive from one scenic viewpoint to another "Here you can see the horns - well you should see them", we all stand in the rain loking at the grey in front of us. Admittedly the
Torres del Paine 2
Slightly different outlook with the sunshine! lake in front is a gorgeous aquamarine blue, but the ´horns´are not at their best. The initial plan had been to drive in the morning, and hike to our hotel in the afternoon, but the rain is persistent, the view non existent, and as we eat our packed luch on the bus we decide to forget the hike, and drive to another lake.
´Lago Grey´is much as it´s name describes, a grey coloured lake. However, what makes it worth a visit are the icebergs floating in it. The first ice bergs I´ve seen and not big ones, but spectacular nonetheless, and breathtaking in colour. A brilliant turquoise, soft, moulded shape floating, radiating light in the rain. It´s a long walk along the beach, but worth it, and a further trek along the headland brings us within sight of the iceberg´s origin, the Grey glacier. As we are leaving there is even a window of blue sky, the rain stops, and the parrots come out. Yes I did say parrots, green ones. They have all sorts of birds here!
By the time we are back at the bus the sun is out, and we revisit the photo stops, and
Guanaco
See how the upper lip just curls a little... can actually appreciate the towers, with the sun reflecting off them they´re vast peaks. The afternoon sun light creates beautiful colours, and it is worth all the rain in the morning to see the mountains in this light.
On out drive back we spot a guanaco by the side of the road. We stop the bus and he looks at us with a haughty expression adopted by all camelids. The nose is raised, the upper lip curls, and the eyelids half close. We take photos whilst he nibbles the scrub like grass, posing, as if he knows that he is worthy of all the pictures being taken.
Today is David´s birthday, and to celebrate we have Calafate sours (like Pisco, but pink), and champagne. Well all except David, who doesn´t drink. Maybe chocolate cake would have been better?!
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