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Published: March 16th 2007
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Lago Pehoe
The spectacular view from the catamaran across to Los Cuernos Located at the southern tip of South America (straddling Chile and Argentina), Patagonia is the southern-most land in the world, only a hop, skip & jump across to Antartica. And boy did it feel like the end of the earth getting there - a 5 hour plan ride south from Santiago to Punta Arenas, followed by a 3 hour bus ride that night to Puerto Natales - and we were still not even there!
Ashleigh scored herself an admirer on the bus - the mute bus conductor who found any way possible to touch her skin and hair - creepy!! Even though he was mute, he insisted on coming up to our seats to ¨talk¨to us and keep trying to touch Ashleigh. Luckily I fell asleep which was the only way to get rid of him for a while, but as I started to wake, I felt Nath´s hand pushing me back down. Turns out the creepy conductor was hovering next to us, so I had to pretend to be asleep the rest of the trip to avoid him! Anyway, we eventually made it to Puerto Natales late that night, had a quick sleep and jumped on another bus at
Are we there yet?
An unexpected rock climbing adventure 7am that morning for the 4 hour trip on gravel road to Torres del Paine National Park, a UNESCO world Biosphere reserve, and one of the most famous parks in Patagonia due to its rugged scenery and great trekking. As we approached, we were in awe of the jagged mountains with snowcapped peaks which rose so suddenly out of the vast windswept plains. The area is also reknowned for its extreme weather - even though we were here in ´summer´, it was still freezing and winds get up to 100km/hour. The weather is also extremely changeable, sunny one minute and rain or galeforce winds the next.
The main ´must see´attraction of the park are Las Torres (Towers) which are 3 massive granite pillars which give the park its name. However, the only way to see this is by an 8 hour round trip trek. This trek is only rated as ´moderate´ compared to the other treks in the park so we thought, oh yeah, how hard can it be, even Ashleigh can probably do it!
So we set out quite relaxed and with not too much concern. We did have some time pressures ahead of us though. We
Finally There!!
After 5 hours of trekking, we finally made it to Las Torres mirador set out at 8:20am but needed to be back at the hostel by 4pm so we could get the shuttle bus to our next destination in the park (most people trek this - we get the bus) So already we needed to compress a good 8 hour walk into 7 and a half. Ashleigh wasn´t too concerned but boy was Nath cracking the whip!
The start of the walk was flat and we were making great pace, until we rounded a corner and discovered we had to actually weave up and around these two giant hills - around 500metres up. What a surprise, Ashleigh struggled, while Nath of course wanted to charge off into the sunset, knowing that having to stop repeatadly was going to result in no shuttle bus for us. No rest breaks allowed - what a taskmaster!! Anyway, we eventually made it to the top of the first peak and surprisingly discovered we´d done it quicker than the map stated. But we were still less than halfway there and Nathan the Time Nazi was cracking the whip again. At this point though, we were still looking like we might be able to make our bus.
Then somehow our usually very well orientated 'city´ minds took us down a path that seemed to go on forever and we started thinking surely we are there already? Plus, the absence of any other people whatsoever was starting to make us a bit suspicious. But we were enjoying the serenity and kept on plodding ahead. After an hour we stsrted to think we may have got it wrong…and wrong we had it. We hit a campsite, asked the guys there and they confirmed it, we had just wasted an hour, and needed to trek back another hour to reconnect with the correct track.
On our return trek, Nathan was fed up with following the red markers as instructed, as he believed it was their fault we ended up the garden path so to speak (no fault of his own of course). So he created his own path over these massive boulders clinging precariously to the steep side of a mountain - we were literally on all fours at times climbing over these rocks. This managed to get us lost from the main track AGAIN. Not to mention, Ashleigh was nearly being blown off the boulders like a feather
The Track
The easy part of the track on the left hand side by the gale force wind. Nath started to become concerned with being stranded there at night time, and possibly getting attacked by a Patagonian Puma. Of course by now the dream of getting the bus was well and truly over. We finally found our way back to the main track - certainly not via the easiest or most direct way - and commenced the hardest part of the trek that we´d heard people moaning about at the hostel the night before. Already we´d walked 5 hours and climbed the side of a bloody mountain, and still the hardest part was yet to come!! It was a steep ascent up a side of a mountain riddled with more boulders, so it was basically an hour of rock scrambling, which got us to a small rocky point on top of the mountain and finally a glimpse of the million-dollar views we´d done all this for! You could almost say it was worth the physical and mental anguish!! Look at the photos - spectacular granite cliffs and boulders, aqua lakes and snow capped mountains in the distance.
We collapsed on rock for an hour and admired the view, trying to put off
the return journey home which was another 4 hours. Luckily, when we finally returned to our hostel they had space for us for an extra night and we indulged with nice hot showers and a glass of Chilean red wine. Much better than spending the night in the Patagonian wilderness.
So we´d managed to turn a trek that everyone else had done in 8 hours, into an 11 hour mammoth expedition. As we sat contemplating that night, we realised that no matter what grandiose ideas we had of matching it with the hardcore trekkers flooding this place, we were seriously out of our league, we didn´t belong. But we´d covered 25 kilometres and a 1 kilometre ascent so we were quietly pretty happy with ourselves.
So the next day, with aching muscles, we declared it a trek-free day, and got a catamaran across Lago Pehoe, a spectacular clear green lake that is fed by glaciers and backed by the jagged Los Cuernos (Paine ´Horns´). We were planning to camp by the lake that night, but even in the day, wearing just about every piece of clothing we had, we were absolutely freezing. It was -3C and the wind was relentless. We spent the afternoon in the lodge with hot soup & decided to head back to the comfort of our hostel in Puerto Natales (still about a 3hr trip away that night).
Next day was a well-deserved rest day, pottering around the cute Chilean town of Puerto Natales which actually has quite a German/Swiss influence due to immigrants. Found a cosy place with the best pasta & pizza (pizza made it into Nath´s all time top 5) then went to a chocolate café to sample some of the famous Patagonian chocolate - again, some of the best ever!!
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