Chilly Chile.

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Following our very very tiring overnight flight from Ecuador via Santiago we arrived in Punta Arenas. Shockingly cold and windy at first after several weeks sunning it in warmer climes. Punta was so depressing we left after 1 day, following a visit to the nearby penguin colony at Seno Otway, cold and horrendously windy (bringing tears to your eyes), but none the less cool due to the ever entertaining penguins, you cant help but smile when you see them just walking around and surfing the waves playfully. Our guide explained that we had arrived during the windy season which can last for months and has no definitive start and finish. Apparently the main square in town has ropes set up to hold on to and to pull on to get around during the gusts.One of the main goals in Patagonia was to trek the W in Torres del Paine National Park, best attempted from Puerto Natales, so thats where we headed next. However, the weather had not improved here and the forecast was not good for a few days. We decided to try our luck in Argentina and visit the Perito Moreno Glacier from a town called el Calafate just over the border. The glacier was quite cool but it hurt our wallet! Everything seems really expensive out here in Patagonia but el Calafate seemed worse than anywhere else as it is set up for Americans with wallets as big as their bellies (sorry, not very PC!). We had planned to stay longer on the Argentinian side but got sick of being ripped off (at the hostel where you had to pay extra to get clean towels, at the bank where the exchange rate for changing Chilian money was really bad, etc...) so we decided to get back to Puerto Natales and attempt the Torres del Paine trek. After stocking up on all sorts of dried delights, we arrived in the park and started the ascent up to the torres (towers). The weather was fantastic in fact too much so I knew that the mountain gods would get their revenge later on. Anyway the view from the cirque was sublime with a slight dusting of snow, it could not have been a better start. The 1st night's camp was a bit crap in some mud amongst the trees, and the night was very very cold. I (Laure) was defenitely glad I had splashed out on some fleecy trousers as even with those on and my thermal trousers I still had cold knees! I also had to sleep with my two thermal tops, my fleece, my scarf, my buff and my hat on... I am certainly looking forward to camping in Tahiti now. The 2nd day started well, the weather was still good with blue skies. However, this did not last and we got to try out our newly purchased waterproof matching trousers, which weren't fully waterproof after several hours of trudging through rain and sleet and howling winds. From then on, the weather got worse and we walked through snow on the 3rd day and sadly didn't see much of the supposedly amazing views from Vallee del Frances. We persevered for another day in the rain and high winds but finally decided, on the 5th day, that we had had enough of walking in the mud with wet boots on and no views to look at so we bailed out and walked the 18km to the bus pick-up point. A French speaking Swiss guy joined us for this last stretch after being let down by his friends who decided that one day and one night in the park were enough for them (we weren't such big puffs after all compared to some!). We are now back in Puerto Natales, drying out all the gear in our cheap hostel which starts to feel like home. We have another day to spend around here before our flight to Santiago as we have managed to change the date of our flight, we couldn't bear staying another 5 days, we're missing the sun too much.

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