Torrid Torres del Paine

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8am for the bus again! We drove down the valley, then up the side - I was expecting to drop into another valley, but we seemed to be on a huge dry plateau, with occasional sheep and rhea, but not a lot else. Eventually we turned onto a dirt road and headed for the mountains again. As we climbed towards the border it became greener and greener, and the sheep looked far healthier! A full 3 course meal just the other side of the border and we continued to the Park. Our guide spoke some English, but even the Spanish guys were having a hard time understanding him.... We stopped to take some piccies of a herd of guanaco, and continued to view a waterfall, under the Cuernos del Paine, but the cloud was pretty low and they didn´t seem to be as spectacular as I was hoping.... We drove on to the campsite, this one had hot showers and a restaurant... such luxuries! Having missed the sunrise at Fitzroy, and with the weather being naff during the day I decided to get up for the sunrise (I was awake about an hour before), but about 15 minutes before the sun came up the cloud rolled in again. Grrr

Anyway, we jumped in the bus and drove up to a very flash hotel.... but then we left it behind, walking up the Ascensio valley. It started to snow a little, and the wind was really blowing in places, but we walked up to the viewpoint for the Torres themselves, and as if by magic the sun appeared! Lots of photos later we wandered back down to the bar, but then sadly back to the campsite.

Next morning we jumped up, packed just enough things and took the boat across lake Pehoe; on reaching the other side is started to snow... again... after dropping off non essentials we set off up the Frances valley, but the weather got steadily worse, until it was almost a blizzard, but the snow wasn´t settling. Our guide said nothing and I was beginning to swear and curse about bringing a group of people out in this kind of weather. A food stop under the trees and the weather brightened a little, and so did I. The guide suggested that we walk to the glacier rather than up the valley further to the viewpoint, and just after we arrived, the sun came out. I was beginning to think he was charmed or something! sadly the view wasn´t as goos as at the top, but we all took a few snaps... especially Luis, our keenest photographer. the walk back wasn´t a great deal better than the one up - another snow shower blew through, knocking out the views. Nevermind, the dinner was huge!
It snowed a little overnight, so the tent wasn´t the warmest of places, then a quick walk this morning to the Grey Glacier lookout. The glacier was grey, the lake was grey, and so was the sky, and by ´eck the wind was cold! The cloud lifted a little, then we walked back to catch the boat and a nice warm cuppa.
Back on to the bus our guide started to tell us really interesting things like "there´s the park administration office" so we all fell asleep pretty quickly!
I woke up just before we returned to tarmac roads, and that wasn´t long before we reached Puerto Natales. The town had a real edge of civilisation feel, but at least the hostel was quite homely. Out for dinner at a tango themed restaurant (isn´t that Argentinian?) and I tried the fish - again I was told it was salmon - at least it was pink, but I´m pretty sure it was trout; must have been a pretty big fish, though, and it was pleasant enough.
Walking back at midnight the sky had only just turned to night, but all I wanted to do was curl up in bed - still flippin cold!!

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Photos

the only surviving shot
these are the Torres del Paine in the background

mural
romantic version of the first inhabitants of this area

a bit more of the mural
..these guys were strange!