Dec. 12th -18th.
Once my friend Mette had arrived from Denmark, we made our way as quick as we could down south, to Patagonia. After flying to Punto Arenas, we made our way by bus to Punto Natales, a small town just south of Torres del Paine national park, where we were going on some serious hiking. We stayed at a wonderfull little hostel run by Chila, whom is seen seated by the stove. She welcomed us to her home with huge amounts of friendly advice, great stories, and fresh fish. Unfourtunately we were also caught up in a family tragedy, as her husband died suddenly the last night of our stay. Despite this unexpected turn of events our stay in Punto Natales was a great experience, and I remain deeply gratefull to the whole family for their hospitality.
Setting out on the first day, we made our way to the west side of the park by bus and by boat, as we had been advised to walk with the wind at our back of much as possible. We got our first good view of the massive peaks of light granite and dark sediment that the park is centered around. It is hard to believe that a landscape can be so full of intense colour. The brightness of the red chilean firebush, contrasting with the tuquoise coulour of the glacier lakes. The white foam of the waterfall against the dark green of the southern beech.
The first day we hiked up to the glacier Grey to set camp, as we were booked to go trekking on the ice the next morning. Coming up over the ridge that overlooked the lake and it's glacier, we got our first taste of the Patagonian wind, full on. It never stops blowing, and the force is impressive. On the same track, heading back the next day, we actually got bowled over, as the wind caught hold of our backpacks.
Ice-hiking. Now that's something you don't do every day. Our guides were great, and as it had been raining in the morning, a lot of people had cancelled, which meant that we were a small group of four, and we got to do a lot more. After getting an introduction to the basic tecniques of walking with our crampons (toilet seat position for going downhil!) we set off to see the amazing shades of blues that were hidden in caves, crevices, and cascades falling hundreds of meters down into the depth of the ice.
Day 3. After much debating, we decided to leave all our gear at camp Pehoe, and give up on the idea of doing the full W. The hours on the map were not coinciding with our pace with the backpacks on, and we were there to enjoy ourselves. So we changed our itenary to a full day to glacier Frances with no backpacks, and then taking the boat and bus back to the Torres on the other side of lake Nordenskjold. This meant hiking an extra 2 hours on this third day, but as we only had a daypack, we were optimistic. The trek to glacier Frances was beautifull, full of uexpected suprises; hidden waterfalls, magical forests, desertic stretches of rocks and ice... We were determined to make it all the way to the top of the valley to the lookout point, and were rewarded with stunning views of the surrounding peaks, a special moment shared in the company of a small brown mouse sitting amongst the rocks, completely uaffected by our prescence.
Day 4 was rather more relaxed, as we made our way to camp Chileno by boat, bus and trek, stopping to see the huge waterfall Salto Grande crashing down into the lake. We were quite pleased with our new plan, as we had spent a rather sleepless night in our tent that had broken in the wind, and had an emergency rigging of strings and bags propping it up. It did not improve matters that I had decided to talk in my sleep most of the night, convinced that there was a bird that had flown in between the two layers of the tent, and then trying to explain in spanish to the guardian why we were found sleeping on the deck in front of the minimarket. Poor Mette!
The last highlight of the tour, the three towers, or torres del Paine is best seen in the early morning, when the sunrise turns the granite faces bright pink for just a couple of seconds. Unfourtunately we were not camped close enough to make it to the base before sunrise, but we managed a few glimpses of colour on the way, and just treking in the early morning was a beautifull, peacefull experience. The peaks and the small lake at their base stay hidden till the very last moment, creating a deep feeling of awe and amazement when the view finally reveals itself.
One of our last sights before leaving the park; the majestic flight of a condor gliding silently above us.
