Blogs from Torres del Paine, Magallanes, Chile, South America - page 4

Torres del Paine As the weather is so variable at the Torres I waited until there was an accurate forecast before booking my trip across the border and back into Chile. Unfortunately by the time I had worked out the best time to go the only accommodation available was $500 US a night, hence this became a day trip!In hindsight this was the right call. The guide told me they had only seen the towers two days of the last seven, while I had a bright morning with some cloud on the tops which cleared into a glorious sunny afternoon with amazing views of some of the most stunning mountains I have ever seen.The day started at 6.45 in an 'overland' type truck for the drive across the steppe, mainly on dirt roads. Apart from the ... read more

If we still needed anything to detach from work then our hiking in Torres del Paine did it. A wonderful park with mixed weather and beautiful sights! When we arrived in Puerto Natales a bit past midnight, we did not have a place to stay yet. Luckily we slept an hour or two on the bus so we were fit to find one. Walking around the dark streets of mostly residential neighborhoods we knocked on any door that said Hostel, of which there were quite a few. Full, full, full. After a bit over half a hour we found a nice place though. Ricardo, the owner of the hostel didn't seem to mind the late hour and elaborately helped us with suggestions of how to best go to and hike in Torres del Paine. The two ... read more

We arrived in Puerto Natales late and treated ourselves to dinner at url=http://www.tripadvisor.com.au/Restaurant_Review-g297400-d1650862-Reviews-Afrigonia-Puerto_Natales_Magallanes_Region.htmlAfrigonia, a delicious blend of African flavours with typical Patagonian dishes created by the Chilean husband/Moroccan wife owners. We explored the town the next morning and picked up some critical supplies for our days trekking the Torres del Paine National Park: gas, a good thermos, plenty of wine and 10 packets of 2min noodles. After an afternoon of souvenir shopping and sending messages back home to loved ones we left Puerto Natales and drove to the entrance of Torres del Paine NP. Torres was one of our top highlights for the trip and it was with great excitement that we approached our time there. Entering the park towards sunset meant... read more

We leave our luxury lodging in Cerro Sombrero and set of on the no so bad gravel road, once we're past the road works the going gets good, after a while you get confidence and start going faster, and no doubt about it Chilean gravel beats Argie ditto easily, it's cold and miserable but a mans gotta do what a mans gotta do. Th Chilean ripio was good and we got to the border on fumes and lo and behold they had petrol. A quick stop in Rio Grande, allegedly a city of dreams, night mares, a 1/4 dozen empanadas later saw u on a icy run down to Ushuaia from now on known as U. About a 100 km from U in Tolhuin the flora changes, suddenly there are trees higher than shrub or grass ... read more

Promptly at 6AM on Friday morning, we met in the hotel Lobby to check out and go in to breakfast. As it was during my previous trips, the breakfasts consisted of an orgy of foods too extensive and varied to describe. In this particular instance, they had smoked salmon with cream cheese and all the trimmings, in addition to the cold cuts, cheeses, every type of bread, water crackers, pastries (including cake), a large assortment of fruits and a couple of different kinds of scrambled eggs. I thought that having Happy Hour foods for breakfast was brilliant. I had Mango juice. Brilliant! I ate until I felt guilty, but was glad later on in the day, since our dinner that night was again late in the evening, and we had only some snacks during our long ... read more