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We are heading back south on a five hour bus journey to the town of Puerto Natales in Chile, which is the transport hub for reaching Torres Del Paine National Park. The border crossing takes forever, once for leaving Argentina and then again for entering Chile with a bus load of people having to fill in forms, unloading bags from the bus to be x-rayed and then re-loading. About an hour from the border we arrive at Puerto Natales which is a ramshackle town of houses with tin roof's and chipping paint and an ever present grey cloud hanging above it. Hostal Nancy is newly refurbished and the room is fine. Although the town appears to have little to offer, we go to have lunch in a vegetarian restaurant and find that the owner is English. It seems a strange place to settle. Walking back we feel we are being followed, but try as we might we just can't shrug off this pack until finally when we go into a shop they get bored of waiting and retreat and go back to sniffing each other's backsides and wagging their tails.
During the night the rain and wind keep us awake. Praying that the weather clears for our hike we go back to the bus station in the early hours for our connection to Torres Del Paine. With our main packs stored at the hostal, we have our day packs stuffed with essentials only. This is a challenge in itself as we are staying over for two nights and we need to pack for any eventuality with the weather, drinks and snacks. Of course, they are over-stuffed and heavy. The hike is known as the 'W' due to the layout of the trails. We have opted to do the foothills ie the base of the W. This first stage is 11km and starts off walking through gently undulating hills, crossing streams and viewing the turquoise lake. A black cloud is rolling round the peaks of the mountains above and occassionally we get some rain, but it's so brief that we dry out quickly. As we near the lake those intermittent strong Patagonian winds start up and we can see a mist driving across the lake as the strength of the wind whips up the water. Its a great sight to see rainbows set within the mist, but they disappear just as soon as they appear and we are unable to get a good shot of them. As we climb higher we start to feel the snow being swept from the mountains on our face. It feels like cold icy needles but again this is brief enough not to be too much of an issue. It really is four seasons in one day and the layers of clothes go on and off. There are many difficult stretches as we near the end of the trail and some of the boulders we have to get over is a stretch for some short legs. Although our packs feel heavy we are amazed at the amount of people with heads down trekking hard with full packs on their backs including camping equipment. They don't actually look like they are enjoying the amazing scenery, but more concerned about doing this hike within a set time. Must be the thought of pitching up and sleeping in a tent the other end. There are also a few people who pass us on horseback. Due to the rain the animals are slipping on the rocks as they make their way along the track and we try and keep some distance where possible. About five hours into the walk and near the end the rain comes down heavily and we start to walk faster to get to our cabin. We get there to find many people there milling around. We get taken up the hill and through the bush to our cabin - of course the one that's furthest away from the bathrooms and canteen etc. It a spacious cabin, but basic and has a wood burning stove in one corner. Wet and cold, we just sit on our beds for a while summoning up the courage to go back down to the showers in the cold wet weather. Although Steve had hot water in his shower, Suzanne only had a tiny drip of cold water to contend with. At last someone came to light the fire and only then we started to warm up. It's full board here so we went down to the canteen at our alloted time for a three course meal and cheap litre box of wine. Classy! We watched the campers pitching their tents in the wind and rain and suddenly the cabin feels like a palace!
After a broken-night's sleep listening again to the wind and rain, we woke to a drizzly day. After a good breakfast we start on the next part of the hike, which is another 11km. With some more steep sections, some wide streams to cross and aching muscles from yesterday's hike we are finding it a little tougher today, however, the scenery remains just as stunning. Over a final hill we see the refugio ahead of us. We are in a dorm tonight and not looking forward to sharing, however, on being taken to our dorm it is a welcome relief to see just one bunk bed. We sit in the warmth of the wood burning stove down in the main area and chill out for a while reflecting on a tough walk, but one with so much dramatic changing scenery that it was all worth it. After a buffet dinner we are both exhausted so have an early night and leave the Eastern European's getting hammered on Pisco Sour's.
Its a shame that the weather isn't so good and that some of the trails were closed but otherwise its a great place to be.
The following day we get the Catamaran to the bus point and notice a car turned on its roof on the hill above. Left wondering about the fate of the occupants we go back to Puerto Natales and back to Hostel Nancy. There we meet a Brazilian who speaks a tiny bit of English, we can't speak any Portuguese but he wants to show us a photo on his camera. We learn that it was his friends in the car on it's roof and through many gesticulations we understand that although battered and bruised everyone made it out alive.
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