Torres del Paine, Patagonia.

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A beautiful wilderness area of Patagonia and home for the next four days was a dome in an ecocamp. All power from water and sun, everything recycled and all human waste composted - eco poos as they came to be known. Each dome was quite luxurious with very large comfortable bed, wood burning stove, bathroom and balcony overlooking the Torres ( four granite towers formed millions of years ago.

Unfortunately a large part of the National Park was destroyed by bush fires but still plenty for us to see. We did three hikes, one up a vertical slope with no marked path ( no exaggeration!), one a recovery 5 mile nature safari and finally an eleven mile fairly mountainous hike, just to prove we could still do it. (Suzanne was sharing her paracetamol with a charming American psychoanalyst). Lots of animal pics to follow.

The highlight of each evening was pisco sour(G&T doesn´t exist here) and meeting fellow travellers from all over theorld.

A glorious four days and a real sense of achievement.

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Photos

Rhea
Wogan says -tastes like chicken

Hikers on day 1
This was before we had done the vertical climb

Great crested caracara
What a beauty!

Day 1 trek
We saw a condor here. They only fly where it's steep and rugged!

Fellow hikers
By common consent this was the end of the walk - the leader a little unrealistic.

Triumphant
Suzanne now started worrying about the journey down

Our dome from home
More luxurious than some hotels. We'd have slept anywhere!

Pygmy owl
Quite unconcerned about us.

Guanaco mother and baby
Head like a camel, neck like a deer, body like a llama.

Guanacos
We walked straight though this herd. Close to glaciers in number of photos.

Woods in front of the Torres
Lucky to get this shot as the road only opened that morning after the fires.

Torres - pretty view 3
John trying to get mean and moody with his camera.

Pretty view 5
We had a picnic here.

Comments

[Emily]

Hey there my hiking parents! Just been reading your recent blog, impressed with all the hiking, hope mums knee holding out ok? Like the sound of the ecocamp, loved your previous pictures of all the penguins. All good here bump growing nicely Molly into everything and Tim working hard. I'll keep chevking

[woodsinsa]

Hiking parents
We had to try and keep up with the serious hikers. Look out for photos as we now have wifi xxx

[Emily]

cracking photos, if I had the time I would love to paint some of those views, sadly I feel time is something I will only get once all said little ones have grown up! Liked the look of your eco dome - dying to know what it looks like inside, did you get a choc on the pillow? Ps how many hats has Dad need on this trip so far? does he need a new one yet? xx

[woodsinsa]

Torres del Paine
Your time will come to travel and paint. No new hats for dad but so far 2 new T shirts. Mum bought a sun hat (rashly) at Heathrow but it is in danger of being left behind (not used). We have photos of inside ecodomes so will show you on return. Love to all family xxx