Blogs from Torres del Paine, Magallanes, Chile, South America - page 14

I tried to think of something cute and funny to name this entry (I know - it would be the first time) but there is really nothing else I could possibly call it! It's gonna be about Torres del Paine and anyone who has ever been there, wants to go there or otherwise knows about it, those words sum up so much! It is just a spectacular National Park! Dominated by the three horns (middle, north and west I think - I really should go check) the stark beauty is apparent straight away. Until now I hadn't really commented on the weather, which to be fair is a bit of an injustice to the weather. Patagonia weather is typically windy, windy, windy, rainy and cold. I'm very happy to report that we had ONE day of ... read more

"The Yeasayer - 2080" "The Doves - Last Broadcast" "Modest Mouse - Trailer Trash" At ten am on the second day of my hike at the famous, Torres Del Paine I found myself on a boat back home to my hostel. There were not many others on the boat with me! A girl from the United States with a sprained ankle, a man from Israel with a blown knee and a handful of others that had taken on the Torres and are now heading home defeated. As for myself, a knee injury! DAMN you Torres Del Paine!!! I arrived late to Puerto Natales thanks to my near Navimag disaster! I was greeted at the Tin House Patagonia Hostel by Pato, Laura and David. Those three would represent my Patagonian family while I volunteer at their hostel ... read more

We were up early this morning to begin our first trek, during which we will complete most of the W Circuit. We took the coach to a port on Lake Pehoe (pay-ho-ay) and took an hour long ferry across.  The lake is a beautiful milky blue glacier lake.  Its like nothing I have ever seen before and, I'm sure, quite cold.  We were served hot chocolate and cookies, an unexpected but welcome treat. We dropped our dry bags (with toiletries and clothes for the next day) off at the Refugio (hostel) on the other side of the lake and started hiking the Valle Frances (French Valley); it is our guide's favorite trek - it was HARD.    We hiked 19 kilometers - much of which was steep - in the Patagonian mountainside.  It was amazing.  Because of ... read more

Moin! Nach dem sehr geilen Trekking am Fitz Roy, wollte ich auch noch das andere Wander-Mekka in Patagonien mitnehmen. Nationalpark Torres del Paine in Chile. Ich bin dann mit meinem Travelbuddy Daniel aus der Schweiz nach Puerto Natales in Chile gefahren. Das ist der Ausgangspunkt um in den Park zu gelangen. Waren "nur" 4 Std mit dem Bus, weil es direkt an der Grenze zu Argentinien liegt. Ist ein kleines Backpackerorientiertes Oertchen, 1,5 Std suedlich vom Park. Man hatte nun die Qual der Wahl, welche Route man im Park wandern will. Man kann die grosse Runde machen und das Massiv umrunden (ca. 8 Tage), oder das "W" machen. Das W ist die halbe Strecke (Hat die Form eines Ws) und dauert 5 Tage. Daniel wollte die grosse Runde machen und ich die kleine. Also haben wir ... read more

In the morning we did nothing, and thoroughly enjoyed it. The bus back to Puerto Natales didn’t arrive until 2:30pm so we enjoyed the view from the couch and chilled, letting our poor suffering feet recover. ... read more