Day 8 - Horse-back Riding and Laguna Azure

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For a change, today’s activities were organized by Daisy as she had gone straight to the reservation desk after her tour and decided it was best I have a rest from hiking which was an excellent idea as I woke up this morning with pretty sore muscles. First activity today was horse-riding. Those of you that know me would know that horse-riding wouldn’t be my first choice of activity. I don’t think I’ve ridden a horse since doing a pony ride as a child. However, it turned out to be a very nice experience. The horses are very well looked after and sure-footed so there no problems whatsoever despite some of the terrain and tracks looking quite precarious at times. Deanna was our tour leader and gave very good instructions on how to handle the horse. My horse was always very hungry and would chomp on bushes as we went by. The ride was about two and a half hours and was a route going anti-clockwise from the hotel. We went quite high and were able to see the top of Los Torres at one point and we had great views of the park in general. We got back around 11:45 and then had a lovely lunch and more cocktails in the bar before Daisy decided to have a nap before our next tour at 3pm. I used the time to catch up on this blog.

At 3pm we met at reception for our Laguna Azul excursion. First stop was to Laguna Amarga and then Laguna Azul which both had views of Los Torres in the background. We also stopped at times to see birds and watched a herd of Guanco (a species of llama) who are the main diet of the pumas who roam the park. The last stop however was the best, the beautiful Paine waterfall which is split in two and also has Los Torres as a backdrop. This excursions was a great way to see the east section of the park without having to do much hiking.

We have been very fortunate in our three full days here in Torres del Paine National Park as the weather has been much better than we had expected. It was generally cloudy but at times sunny and the forecast rain only amounted to a few light showers. Our timing was lucky as well, because for today and tomorrow, the Grey Glacier cruise has been called off because of the strong winds. Today in fact, is the only day where we have experienced the famous Patagonian wind and our activities weren’t really affected at all.

We again had the 7:15 dinner booking and a smaller gathering today with Ron, Maria, Joseph and Marta. We bade farewell to Ron and Maria as they will be heading back to the US but Joseph and Marta will be traveling with us to El Calafate, Argentinian Patagonia tomorrow morning.

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