Viaje Al Fin Del Mundo (2 de 2)

South America » Argentina
March 22nd 2008

Published: March 28th 2008

Edit Blog Post

Laura and Andy

Torres Del Paine (Chi)

What the photo doesn´t tell you is that there was a headwind of the likes only normally experienced on Saltburn beach.

We arrived back in Chile at the town of Puerto Natales, edging ever closer to the bottom of South America. Having survived for the previous 4 months of our trip in a uniform of shorts and t-shirt we were shocked to find that the temperature had plummeted to a point where even Andy had to put on a coat.

Puerto Natales is the gateway to the Torres Del Paine national park, which is famous worldwide for its spectacular scenary and trekking. Although we are not really "the strap a bag on my back and leave me for 4 days" type we thought that we should go and experience the park.

After attending a hilarious and very informative free briefing from an incredibly friendly local hostel (The Erratic Rock) we set about preparing supplies for our trip. Laura bouyed by the recommendation that we should not have meals, but just snack on chocolate/biscuits/crisps all day was starting to look forward to the trek.

The standard ´W´circuit takes 5 or 6 days but we didn´t have that long so opted for more of a Greek Letter Meu circuit in 4 days. About an hour in, having been knocked over several

Torres Del Paine (Chi)

Laura raring to go on Day 1.

times by the relentless hurricane force wind we were discussing how we could shorten the trip. We rallied on and the next 3 days brought some nice scenery, very little sleep, blisters on top of blisters, the ability to walk only like a hobbling monkey, and a grand total of 60km´s (that´s 40 miles to you non metric folk) of which about 1% was flat. It was a challenge. It was an adventure. But we wouldn´t do it again.

A mere 3 hour bus ride took us to Punta Arenas, a city disappointingly lacking the charm of our previous stay. Our hostel however, was better than most hotels in Britain, with the owner cooking us up cracking cheese toasties for breakfast, follwed by homemade pie. We did do an excellent trip from here though to Isla Magdellena and its 120,000 resident Magellan penguins. Nothing but penguins as far as they eye can see is indeed a sight to behold, and not easily forgotten. Oh yeah, and they´re really cute too.

Armed with cakes stolen from breakfast, which turned out to be croissants apparently filled with butterscotch flavoured Angel Delight, we set off on our last bus journey to

Torres Del Paine (Chi)

View over Lake Pehoe to the Torres.

the southernmost city in the world, Ushuaia. Despite the security guard at the border running off with Laura´s passport and coming back laughing, we successfully made it into Argentina once again, and the island of Tierra Del Fuego.

Our first trip was to try and spot some of the beavers that were introduced here about a century ago. We had an excellent evening, seeing 5 beavers up close, playing with the resident pooches, and eating some local trout in the amazing log cabin, whilst chatting to our guide who used to play footie with Carlos Tevez at Boca!

The next day we went for a hike and a canoe in the National Park. While the viewpoint we hiked to was a little disappointing, the canoe down the river was incredibly peaceful, despite Andy´s positioning at the rear causing us to ground on several occasions!

Finally, we sailed down The Beagle Channel watching the strange bleak landscapes pass by together with some sea lions, more penguins, and the amazing running-on-water take off of an albatross. Ushuaia happily markets itself as El Fin Del Mundo, and it certainly has that feel. It is also the start of most trips