Blogs from Torres del Paine, Magallanes, Chile, South America - page 7

Le bus vient nous prendre à 7h30, nous arrivons à l’entrée du parc à 10h avec un brief des gardes forestiers sur les dangers des feux (incendies malheureux en 2008 et 2011 causés par des touristes qui ont complètement détruit des hectares de végétation). Comme nous voulons faire le circuit d’ouest en est (comme un vrai W qu’on écrit ), nous restons dans le bus jusqu’au prochain arrêt d’où nous allons prendre un catamaran qui va nous amener jusqu’à notre point de départ. Il est 11h20, le bateau ne part qu’à midi, nous avons tout juste le temps d’aller jusqu’à Salto Grande, une cascade à 1km de là (avec retour en courant, un peu stressant pour démarrer mais bien pour la mise en jambe, sans le sac je tiens à préciser) Puis traversée d’une demi-heure, où ... read more

Today is not only day 6 of our trek, but also Mojo's birthday! I wake early after getting a so-so sleep. The additional mat has made a world of difference and provided some welcomed padding. But, as we had the backpacks in the tent during the night (to provide some extra weight so we did not fly away!) it was cramped. Also, as the tent is not as it should be, i was hit in the face with one of the tent walls during the night each time the wind blew, which was constantly. It is dumping with rain, & Mojo is out for the count, and i think to myself that today is a good day to rest. We are all tired, my knee's are shot, Mike has blisters upon blisters (impressive) and the weather ... read more

Woke up on day 5 sore & cold. Sore in the legs as well as from the permanent bruises we have formed on our hips and shoulders from sleeping on the hard ground. We want to walk to Refugio Grande Paine today, a total of 21km over a slightly undulating landscape. More oats and dolche de leche (getting rather tired of this for breaky now) and a cup of tea to get us going, plus some anti-inflammatory tablets... It has rained fairly steadily overnight, and the tent is wet, making it a pain in the arse to pack up, as well as freezing our hands. But we manage and hit the trail by 10.30. The start of the walk is similar to the end of yesterdays walk, making our way through the dense and damp forest ... read more

Hi everyone, I'm writing this part of our adventure from our bus to Puerto Natales to Punta Arenas, a 3 hour bus journey that will take us to our next departure point tomorrow for Puerto Montt, further north in Chile. But for the time being it is time for me to tell you a little bit more about our trek in Tores del Paine and reflect on this beautiful 4 days we spent in the Chilean National park. We set off on the 18th with Rex (US - Arizona) and Elsa (France) with whom we decided to share this part of our trip after meeting them along the way trying to cross the Argentinian border from Rio Turbio. The trek we opted for like most people going to Tores del Paine was the W, a 4 ... read more

Day 2 begins nicely with the sun shining, but very fresh. We knew from the weather forecast that today was going to be a bad weather day, with wind over 100km and heavy rain. We quickly scoff down some breakfast and make tracks before we freeze as it takes a while for the sun to rise and heat up. We have 19km to cover to get to Refugio Dickson. The first hours walk is similar to the day before, quite flat and following the river Rio Paine down the east side of the park. At one point when we stop to get some water mojo finds some pretty big puma paw prints in the mud, that were fresh from the night before. To get to the north side of the park we encounter our first pass, ... read more