Torres del Paine

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Beautiful scenery = Exhaustion

Ola!
Buenos Dias

Just back in ¨civilization¨ in Puerto Natales after spending an amazing 5 days hiking the ¨W¨ track in Torres del Paine National Park. Some say ¨Paine¨ is a local Indian word meaning blue, others say Paine was an early Welsh settler. We say its the feeling in our legs after the first day of hiking.

Whatever it means its an incredible place.

Pouring rain, brilliant sunshine and wind so strong just standing up is a challenge. Sometimes all on the same day, sometimes all at the same time !!!

Lots of uphill and then lots of down but the views of glaciers still shaping these enormous mountains was worth all the effort. In between each major attraction - The Towers of Paine (pronounced Pie - Nee), The Horns, French Valley and Grey Glacier, the walking was relatively flat and easy going but theres something rather intimidating about walking next to the vertical cliffs of a mountain, the top of which is 2 1/2 kilometres above us.

Our guide was very knowledgable and helpful and he took us to some great photo spots but he failed miserably when I was photographing a scene of the mountains reflected in a lake. I asked if he could arrange for a few hundred pink flamingos to land on the lake but the best he could do was a flock of condors flying overhead. He redeemed himself later, though, with some icebergs floating in a fiord, but he did say they were inflatable ones just for the tourists 😊

Our accommodation was fairly basic, camping 2 nights and dorms for 2 nights, but comfortable enough. Anyway, after a days hiking, we were too tired to worry.

All the mountains had snow or ice on top but surprisingly it wasn´t that cold, in fact, when the wind dropped and the sun came out (for 2 minutes last Thursday) it was quite warm.

Lots of birds to see. Our travelling companions, Phil and Phoebe, are into birds as well. Everything from Magellanic Woodpeckers to Thorn-tailed Rayaditos !!! kept us amused as we looked for them in forest similar to but weirdly different from what one would expect to see at Cradle Mountain.

The last day of our time in Torres del Paine was spent around Grey Glacier and then a boat trip down Lake Grey. On the beach where we got off the boat, there was a sign that read ¨No Swimming¨ .... just in case the icebergs hadn´t already turned you off the idea. 😊

On our way to El Calafate in Argentina now. Just got back in the bus after standing in the falling snow at the Chile - Argentina border.

And to think in about 2 weeks we´ll be in the Amazon jungle - wow!!

Caio for now !!!

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Comments

[Sarah]

wow the pics are amazing!
hi there - I am still awe struck by the photo of the grey glacier - were the blue / ice blue hues really that amazing? my favorite pic so far. great to read your travel stories... sis,

[Nina]

Wow
Hi Julie and Bob It looks and sounds absolutely magnificent and you are obviously having a wonderful time. Enjoy the rest of your trip. Nina and Terry