Blogs from Torres del Paine, Magallanes, Chile, South America - page 11

This is part three of my account from Torres del Paine National Park. You might want to read them in order. Part One: http://www.travelblog.org/South-America/Chile/Magallanes/Torres-del-Paine/blog-673779.html Part Two: http://www.travelblog.org/South-America/Chile/Magallanes/Torres-del-Paine/blog-674890.html Day 6 - Cirque du Escondido Possibly the first of the campers to leave the site today, less faffing as we can walk up the valley without our tents or anything else we won't need for the 4 hour round trip. The walk went really well with some fabulous views all round accompanied by the thunder of collapsing ice bricks from the glacier and subsequent powder shower down the cliff. ... read more

We headed out to Puerto Natales in Chile from El Calafate in Argentina. Border crossings in Patagonia are quite common and so we expected this to be a well organised experience, given the bus company does it every day. What was meant to be a 5 hour bus ride (tolerable!) turned into 7.5 hours as we wasted time at both the Argentine exit point, and also the Chilean entry point. I´m not quite sure why this happened, but the bus driver sat for at least 45 minutes at each point waiting for something, while other buses came and went before we did! It meant a very frustrating day, and we were glad when we reached Puerto Natales. The scenery on the way did not disappoint - more Patagonian steppe, sweeping landscapes, and finally huge snow capped ... read more

Yes, we survived it! During seven days and six nights, we were wondering if the meaning of "Paine" is "pain"! We found out, that there is no signification for that word, but for us, "Torres del Paine" still means "Towers of pain"! Let me explain you shortly our incredible adventure! We first arrived at laguna amarga (see the map of the circuit) on a sunny day by bus and paid or entrance fee to the park. As we decided to hike the whole circuit, which was supposed to be much better and wilder as the touristic part of the circuit (which forms a "W"), we directly began to hike, with ours backpacks with rented sleeping bags, pad and tents and the food for the seven days we planed. After 15 kilometers and about 5 hours walk, ... read more

Day 12 - Torres del Paine We went down for breakfast, which was a little disappointing, during which our chocolate biscuit offering was repaid in the form of the chocolate buscuit box from the LAN flight and a thank you message from Roger and Lynn that read "To services to the community with grateful thanks, repayment with intrest" which we found very amusing. We went downstairs and there were three mini buses waiting to take us out for the day. Our guide was called Carlos, and he explained that our first stop was to be at a bridge to see some of the flora and fauna. On our way out of the hotel, towards the entrance to the National Park, we saw a condor, which everyone tried to get a good shot of. At the park ... read more

Day 29 - Wednesday 9th November Up at 6.00am to have breakfast and final preparation which included Scott running 5 blocks into the centre of town to the ATM for a top up of money. We waited in the sitting room for our bus which apparently always runs late but when a mini bus turned up and we asked if this was ours, Paula, the woman running the hotel said no and quickly got on the phone and a couple of minutes later a car turned up and she said “go”. We were driven to the bus which was just about full, we jump on and were on the road to Torres Del Paine, but along the way we stopped at a local souvenir shop in the middle of nowhere. After that the scenery started to ... read more