Blogs from Torres del Paine, Magallanes, Chile, South America - page 32

Entering Patagonia was like being on another planet. The skies were bluer, the mountains higher, the winds windier and the animals saucier and fearless. Leaving Puerto Arenas, the southern most town in Chile, I got my first glimpse of the Straights of Magellan. It gives me chills to see things I only read about in my elementary school geography book or heard as a query on 'Jeopardy'. But there they were bluer than cobalt and throwing up whitecaps like a can-can dancer waving her skirt. Before I go on I have to tell you about the wind in Puerto Natales. We had stopped to have lunch at a sheep ranch, known as an 'estancia'. Getting out of the bus, dressed in as many layers as I could load on, I thought I was well prepared (afterall ... read more

Hi welcome to our first Travel Blog, which we hope you enjoy.We are now in Puerto Arrenas, since our last email we have been exposed to all that Patagonia can throw at us - sun, snow, rain, wind and even more wind!Last week we arrived in El Calafate in Argentina, where we had the most amazing day walking with crampons on the Perito Moreno Gacier, along with walking in the adjoining forest and taking a cruise down the lake seeing bits of ice floating past. Whilst on the ice the ony view more spectacular than the one we saw, was the one around the corner. The hike reminded us of the old Baileys advert where he finishes by saying - You want Ice, You've GOT ice. The walk finished with a glass of whiskey overfresh ice ... read more

We arrived in Puerto Natales and arranged to do a tour around Torres del Paine national park. We had an early start as it was 2 hours away. The park was very beautiful but unfortunately because of the weather we could not see the 3 famous towers until later that afternoon when the sun came out. The mountains were totally different to the mountains we had seen before. There were valleys between the mountains and glaciers on them. They were pointed and very jagged in shape. For lunch we tried peanut butter and jam (jelly) sandwiches because we were with an american guy called Kelly. They were gorgeous!! The next day we boarded the Navimag ferry from Puerto Natales to Puerto Montt. It was a 3 day trip with beautiful views of the chilean islands and ... read more

After a couple of great days in Ushuaia I had to make the hard decision to get back on a bus again, this time heading into Chile to try my luck again with mother nature and try to get to the infamous Torres Del Paine National Park. After only just catching the bus after being told to go to a different location and managing to get a seat as I had not booked a ticket I was off towards Chile. Mind you this was all 5am in the morning and all done in spanish so I was not doing too bad to get it sorted! So can´t remember how long the bus journey was but there was a change over and it would of consisted of a double figure amount of hous. After a couple ... read more

Torres Del Paine I arrived in Puerto Natales, Chile after a 15 hour bus ride from Ushuaia. The bus actually sat on a ferry and we crossed the Strait of Magellan. It was interesting. And very cold. After my travels here I don’t’ understand how the first explorers here survived. I came to Chile to enjoy Nacional Parque Torres Del Paine. I know I said Ushuaia was beautiful but the beauty here usurps that of fin del mundo. It’s a different kind of beauty; I normally wouldn’t associate bleak and desolate with beauty but this place manages to do just that. My friends and I were starting the “W” trail. It’s a 5 day circuit in the park that affords beautiful views of Torres Del Paine, especially at sunrise when sun hits the spirals and ... read more