Torres del Paine

Chi-chi-chi, Le-le-le. After the bus ride across the border between Argentina and Chile we arrived in the small town of Puerto Natales, Chile. There is no bus station there, only lots of trekking guides and adventure tour companies. After meeting up with everyones favorite Chileano, Bryan, we headed toward Torres del Paine National Park to try to get our camp site set up before dark. The drive is spectacular. We drove out of Puerto Natales on the main road only for about 30 min. The rest of the way was on a gravel road through mostly estancia land. We had the Andes on one side and as we got closer to the park the massif of Torres del Paine on the other and wild life all around. Just a refresher for those of you who don’t remember, but Bryan has been a trekking guide in this park for the past 4 years. He is extremely knowledgeable about the history, the flora and fauna and the animals. We were both impressed. We just made it in time to get both tents set up before it got dark. We cooked dinner and headed off to bed to get ready for a huge day of hiking to the Torres del Paine themselves the towers of granite after which the park is named.

The day started out spectacularly. Crisp air, sun and blue sky. The park is in amazing condition and the hike couldn’t have been more stunning. We hiked up about 3 ½ hours to the base of the rock scramble to the view point of the torres which was steep, windy, cold and totally worth it. See the photos from our lunch spot at the lago below the torres. It was truly breath taking. Bryan ran into a friend from one of the resorts, Explora, in the park at the top of the hike who invited us to a party back at the resort to send off one of the managers and we gladly accepted. So, somehow Rawson was able to stand after lunch and slowly make it back down the mountain, just in time for the rain. It chucked it down for the last 2 hours of the hike (total hike ended up taking 8 hours of hard work). We were completely soaked to the bone and freezing once we got back to camp to break down our tents and head on to the 2^nd camp site. The rain was relentless so we decided to stay in the bunks at Campo Serrano instead of in a wet tent. We had a decent, warm meal accompanied by the Piscola (pisco and coke) standard beverage here in Chile. We’re debating the pisco or a questionable cream sauce with her fish, but Rawson went, in 5 brief minutes after dinner, from sitting on her bed talking to emptying her stomach on Charlie’s sandaled feet. As Rawson ran for the bathroom and Bryan vacated the room like it was on fire, Charlie proceeded to do clean-up. Now, clean up of that nature is never a pleasant experience, but Charlie handled it…almost. In the last minutes of cleanup, he made a dash outside, almost knocking Bryan over in the outside door way as he heaved around the corner to clear his meal as well! Luckily, Bryan’s chose were spared! After showering up and rallying, we headed to Explora to check out the party. It was true Chilean style with Piscolas and dancing. Rawson took a few spins on the dance floor with the locals, but only after they asked permission from Charlie. The music was a mix of 80’s hits and traditional Chilean gaucho music. Rawson impressed them all with her ability to agilely flip between the styles!

Wednesday morning we packed up our now dry camping gear, had breakfast and headed to the 12:00 ferry across Lago Pehoe toward Paine Grande. We set up camp right away and the rain wasn’t far behind. After the showers the boys decided to do a short 3 hour hike. Rawson was still recovering from the previous day’s beating. They didn’t get far… Patagonia is known for its quick changes in the weather. About 15 minutes in, it began sleeting in their faces and the hike was aborted in favor of a dry meal. We hit the bar and munched on some canned tuna and saltines and crashed early. The rain pounded the tents all night, but we awoke with only small puddles in the tents. Patagonia camping!

Thursday morning it was still raining, but we couldn’t sit out another day. We got the day started with some Nescafe and oatmeal, packed up and headed off. The sun broke through right away and the entire day was stunning. We hiked the French Valley around Lago Skottsberg on a completely isolated horse trail that Bryan knows about. Bryan gave us several lessons about trees and flowers. We had to traverse a couple of streams and make our way through a bog of glacier water. The water here is so clean and fresh you can drink it straight from the stream; one of the last remaining places on Earth were you can do so without any thought. The glaciers in Patagonia are around 70 million years old but the water that feeds the streams is only about 300 years old. It’s very fresh and VERY cold. We make it to Camp Italiano and had about 20 more minutes of hiking along the river and across the rocks before making it to the edge of the French Glacier to cook our lunch, mac n’ cheese and Mate. Cultural side note: Mate, pronounced Mah-tay, is very popular in South America. It’s a drink made from steeping Yerba mate in hot water. Mate is prepared by the Cebador in a hollowed out gord and sipped through the bombilla, or straw, which is usually metal. Bryan gave us all of the history and a lesson how to prepare mate during our time here. We’re all now quite adept at being Cebador in any conditions, even mobile. Roads make it a little tricky here, but…

Ok, back to the hike. We made our way back through French Valley along a different trail allowing us a nice circle trail instead of an out-n-back. On the way down, we ran into another of the guides from Explora with whom Bryan was friends. She was guiding a couple on a hike and they were cranking! As they plunged ahead we were trailing them for over an hour. As we rounded a steap bending climb, we notice the girl in the group doing a steep hike up an incline off to our left. As we reached the point she seemed to have turned, we all looked at each other questioningly as the trail clearly continued straight and down the saddle we had just climbed. After a brief discussion, we agreed she had messed up and was heading back into the park. Bryan to the rescue! Bryan took of after her and Rawson and Charlie went to try and catch up with her guide and her boyfriend. We caught them shortly and they were wondering where she was. 30 minutes later Bryan returned with a happy if somewhat flustered hiker. Hats off to Bryan for being the perpetual hero of damsels in distress! The rest of the hike down was beautiful, but issue-free. Down to Campo Paine Grande for one last beer before heading back to Campo Serrano. We had voted for one more night in the bunks so we wrapped the evening up with a little backgammon and Piscolas next to the fire. The Campo Serrano isn’t anything super special, but the common room, has nice a lounging area and a big fireplace. We all stuck with the File del Pobre (poor man’s steak) for dinner instead of trying the fish again which Rawson so enjoyed on our previous stay in this establishment!

We set the alarm for 6:00am Friday morning with plans to do a sunrise hike. Did we mention it rains here a lot? Well, we slept in instead. After breakfast we took a leisurely drive back to Puerto Natales and got some fabulous wildlife shots on our way out of the park, Guenacos, Condors and foxes. We had two spots along the way were the Andean Condors seems to be showing off just for us. One in flight in a valley just to the side of the road where we felt like we were watching him from above at points. One spot where a male and female were enjoying a kill. The photos of these birds don’t quite do their size and impressiveness justice. The wing span is 12 FEET across. We said Adios to Torres del Paine for now and a big thank you to Bryan for his expert guiding skills and amazing company.

After returning our camping gear in Puerto Natales we drove down to Punta Arenas to meet Bryan’s Aunt Carol and Uncle John (his lordship). John is the British honorary counsel in Punta Arenas and has recently been awarded the MBE, member of the British Empire, award by Prince Charles himself. We spent the night there before our 6:30 AM flight Saturday morning. Well, actually only Rawson spent the night. Charlie and Bryan pulled an all nighter at the disco. Ahhh, dancing away the night to 80’s tunes! We made the flight with no complications and off to Puerto Montt we go and up to Chiloe, a beautiful island off the mainland where it is known for rain and beauty comparable to Ireland! Hasta pronto!