The Torres del Paine(ful)

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After 3 weeks and a lot of south-bound travelling, we have eventually made it all the way down to Puerto Natales, home to the Torres del Paine National Park, a well sought after place amongst South American travellers. This is the furthest south we will ever get, probably ever in our lives, being only a thousand kilometres away from Antarctica. Safe to say its chilly on a night.

The first thing on our long list of things to do was to hire out the gear that we needed for the up and coming few days. We scouted around some of the hire shops before settling on the 'Across Patagonia' option, giving us good quality at a good price. They kitted us out with all that we needed; sleeping bags, a tent, stove and pans for just over £10 a day, not bad in comparison to some of the others. With the kit in the bag, we then searched for some more high energy food and cheese. It didn't take long either, a quick lap of a supermarket and we were out of there. The last thing we had to do was to get the bus ticket from Puerto Natales into the park and then we were done, nearly.

Bus ticket; Check. The last part of the day was to unpack and then pack our bags with all that we had just got in the hope that 1. It would all fit and 2. It wouldn't be too heavy. This was where the first bout in the string of bad luck hit us, the padlock we used to lock our bags away for the day had changed the combination in our absence and refused to open. Out came the hack saw and pliers, 1/2 an hour later we were in. Between the 2 of us it took nearly 2 hours to get everything out and then back in again, but we did manage it in the end. We were ready to rock and roll.

With the alarm set for 6am, we had plenty of time to have the big breakfast that we needed and then store away all the things we didn't need to take with us. By the time it was 7.30am we were waiting by the door for the bus whilst watching the sun slowly rise out over the town, illuminating the sky red. It was set to be an awesome day. The bus rolled in a mere 30 minutes late and then it was another 2 hours before we actually made it to the park entrance.

At last we were nearly there, after waking up at 6am it was now 11am, park tickets were purchased and we were ready to go. Of course there is one more step to go! We had to watch a 10 minute video on what to do and not to do in the park, and not to feed the pumas because they might bite and to not light fires because they might star a bigger fire and so on.... Another 20 minute bus ride and we were in.

We started out as a four, the other two being a couple that we met in El Calafate and also stayed at the same hostel as us. And then we also met a couple of girls that had been in the same hire shop as us the day before. So we were a 6. Roll on day one.

Everyone had underestimated the first hill, we saw it on the map and thought it would be a breeze. 2 hours later and we were still going up hill, with no signs of it stopping any time soon. We were making our way up to the Torres, the highlight of the walk. Not only was the first hill hard, we were also just getting used to wearing a bag filled with 15-20kg of gear. I didn't think it would make as much difference as it did, it certainly took a bit of the spring out of my step. We made it to the first check point, the Refugio Chileno and stopped for a breather and some lunch. From there it was another hour or so to our campsite, which we were to hopefully hit by 4.30ish. 4.30pm came and went and we started to find ourselves heading back up a pretty steep old hill, we couldn't see a campsite anywhere. We passed numerous people with a smile on their face but none of them said anything about a camp to us.

The reasoning behind the many a smile soon became clear. We had missed the turning for the camp and were now half way up the hill to the Torres (the iconic 3 peaks), still with our heavy packs on where as everyone else had set up camp and gone up pack free. We enjoyed the extra training, given it was a lot harder and sweatier. Once we rounded the bend to the top we were hit with the incredible view of the peaks, and lake sat right in front of them with a receding glacier slowly and constantly keeping it filled. The clouds and mist that was around made it all the better and what capped it off were a pair of condors sailing around above the peaks. By the time if changed the camera lens they disappeared off into a crack in the mountainside, nesting up for the night. We made our way back down, bags on tight, and tried for the second time to find the campsite. It turned out that Dennis had even taken a photo of the camp sign when we passed it, he just didn't realise it was for the camp. Needless to say, we found it quickly the second time.

Night one in the tent. It couldn't have been any easier to set up, 2 poles, 2 lines and 8 pegs and she was good to go. The size of the tent was a minor issue. More like a large one manner rather than a two person one. We gave it a test run and figured if we had the bags as a pillow our feet would be touching the bottom of the tent. That will have to do. It was now time to test out our cooking gear. Out came the pots and pans, out came the pasta and sauce and out came the tuna. 15minutes later we had one of the best, most satisfying 'macaroni cheese with a hint of tuna' I have ever had. Once we had done that and got everything sorted, night was upon us at the extremely late 9pm.

6am and we were all up ready to summit the Torres again for sunrise. It was set to be a good one right from the start as when waking up we were treated to a sky full of stars. We set off up once again at 6.30, making it up this time in a fraction of what we did the day before. Wrapped up we then waited for the sun to slowly ascend into the sky and reveal the towers once again. It took another hour before that eventually happened, however it was well worth the wait as slowly the towers went from red to gold and then merging with daylight. It was a stunning sight and a good sign for the day ahead! It was a quick pitstop at the campsite for breakfast and then with all packed away we set off for most probably the longest walking day.

The first section of the walk was the same as what we covered the previous day, backtracking down to the start point and then curving delicately round to the French Valley. We needed a bit of pace about us in order to cover the 30km over the next few hours, which would give us enough time to enjoy the views and to have a good lunch stop along the way. 2km in though and we had an accident, one that we didn't foresee. Thurid fell!

It was a bad place to fall too, just as the slope began its decent, she slipped on a corner skating down a meter or so of gravel with her backpack on. Luckily for the group a guide wasn't far away and within 10 minutes her was there. Thurids travel buddy Laura was also a trainee medic, so she was in safe hands. A hour and a half later we had Thurid on a stretcher and we began the 5km plod down to the hotel, where we started the walk. It was a gruelling 2 hours for the hands and shoulders with the stretcher being about 50 years old, weighing possibly as much as she did and not made for the smaller handed men. But we made it and Thurid was still intact, we crossed the final bridge where we were met by the hotel owner and an ambulance (the hotel owner grabbed hold of the stretcher for the last 100m.....for a heroic photo!). She was in the ambulance and on her way, and although Laura was confident at the time it was a sprained knee, the guide didn't want to take any risks rigging her up with the neck brace. We've spoken since and it was a sprained knee, so no more trekking for a while!

What we did get in return for our valiant effort was a 3 course meal at the hotel, courtesy of the hotel owner. Time was already an issue but when your offered free food it just cannot be passed up. Therefore we sat down to a fresh chicken soup, marinated fish and then a Chilean sweet drink dessert. Better than the cheese wrap we were going to have.

It was then 3.30pm and we had a lot of distance to cover, 7 hours according to the map. We slicked back our ears and went for it. 3 hours later and a lot of beautiful scenery passed we hit the Refugio before the campsite, leaving us with only 7 km to go. We had worked up a sweat and with beer and wine on offer at the Refugio, it was an offer we simply couldn't refuse, even with the extortionate plane priced drinks. They say red bull gives you wings; well beer and wine gave us more, completely warping our sense of time and making the remaining journey in the ever fading light all the funnier. We were drunk off 3 cans of beer and fresh air! And even though the walk was rushed we still loved it. A 8.45pm we arrived at the camp, utterly knackered and more than ready for bed. Up went the tents and down went the heads.

We had made it to day three, usually not the biggest achievement but we felt like it was. Awakened by howling wind and rain, yesterday's good luck was set to continue. When we first planned the walk today was going to be a biggun, clocking over 35km of up and down but we were shattered from the day before. We chose instead to take a more leisurely pace and camp at the Paine a grande that night, giving us only a 20km day to do. After a couple of bowls of porridge, we left the bags in the tent and made for the valley. It wasn't long until we were hit by the brute force of the wind, knocking us over at times and making life all the tricker on the way up. Even with the wind and the rain, the views up the valley were spectacular, glaciers on either side, rivers forming from the melt and towering mountains in every direction. Walks up the valley also gives you the opportunity to see the Torres from the back, and it still looks as awesome as it does from the front.

Our turnaround point was a big plateau, giving panoramic views of the whole valley, from the highest peak down to the lakes in the bottom. The wind alone was unbelievable, and on this day, more impressive than the view. If we opened up our coats we would have flown, it was a huge challenge to stand still never mind get a good photo. I managed a video, although like I just said, the views there weren't great, mostly made up of rain and mist. It was then back down the valley to the camp to pack up, have lunch and move on further round the 'W'.

The campsite by the time we returned was wet, to say the least, and the tent was about to get some tough love. We quickly rolled it up, with no care as to the condition it was in because it was already dripping wet and muddy. Into the bag! Lunch was a home made Quesadilla, giving us both the warmth and energy that we were in need of.

And so the rain continued, but we had another 8km to go before the next campsite. This was when things got miserable. For the next two hours we were battered by the elements, rain and wind heavily defeated Goretex, leaving us drenched and cold. But in the midst of hell there were some incredible scenes to be seen. As the swirling winds hit the lakes, it whipped up miniature typhoons spiralling 20-30m into the air. The wind would then change direction and hurl a mass of water right towards you. This day let us know who the real boss was, it wasn't Goretex for sure.

The Paine Grande was where we called it a day. With bags sodden, shoes squelching and clothes saturated the prospect of setting up a wet, muddy tent and then sleeping in damp sleeping bags didn't appeal anymore. I wouldn't like to say we failed, I think we definitely picked the right choice but we were gutted we couldn't carry on.

With our minds set on home we then waited 3 hours in the cold Paine Grande hotel, restoring bodily functioning through Hot Chocolate and a free cheeseburger from a vegetarian, until the catamaran arrived to take us back to the bus pick up. In our heads now were three steps to warmth; 1. Get onboard the catamaran 2. Get on the bus 3. Get to the hostel. Slowly but surely step 1 became 2 and then 2 became 3. By 9.30pm we were back at the hostel, partially warmed by the bus and more than ready for a warm shower.

We couldn't have a shower before one more helping of bad luck. Our room mates, after a very short while, asked us if the locker 3A was ours, to which we responded 'yes'. Now everything was going through my head, why would she want to know if that was ours, my guess was that we had been robbed. Oh but it was worse. The morning we left, we had an alarm set for 6am to the tune of "All Shook Up" by Elvis which did the business and got us out of bed. As we left we locked everything in our locker, 3A, which was in the room. In that locker we put all our clothes, copied documents, other bits and the iPad. We came back 3 days later, cold and desperate for a shower, to some angry looking room mates questioning us about locker 3A. What we had done now became clear. The alarm had been left on, going off every morning in the locked locker, at 6am. What made it worse was that I always have a snooze on, just in case I press OFF and fall asleep again. This meant that every 5 minutes from 6am until probably 7/8am, Elvis was pumping out "All Shook Up". Good work James.

After a lot of apologising, a shower and food we were in bed ready for a cracking sleep.

The morning came around and the bad luck continued. After a spot of breakfast I started to feel a bit queasy but thought I was just tired. Queasy started to become sick, and then sick grew a lot of kidney pain. I spent the day in bed with it growing worse and worse, agreeing with Laura that if it continued I'd go to the hospital the next day. However at 6pm and a good relief later, it stopped and pretty much vanished. And then Laura started to feel unwell. In the day I was in bed, Laura sorted out the bus tickets to El Chalten, changing them to the day after when seeing I was getting sicker. So we had a destination set.

Now it was Laura's turn for a day in bed, feeling sick all day, refusing to drink but similar to mine it faded away into the evening. It faded away so much so that we even managed to go out for a pizza. I think she felt like she was missing out on a bed day! I'm in trouble now, she was I'll really!

That was our bad luck ridden time in the Torres Del Paine region and even through the string of bad luck we still loved it. Its going to be one of those times that we look back on and laugh, we survived......narrowly.

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Comments

[Grandma]

What a Paine!!
You poor things. How much can a body take!! You must be extremely fit to endure all that. We are so proud of you,you both deserve a medal!! What an experience & wonderful sights too. You explain everything so well!! Hope you had a happy birthday, we missed you. Carry on enjoying yourselves,we are both well again & back at work. Looking forward to the next chapter. Lots of love & great big hugs from Grandma & Grandpa xxxxxx