An extremely active couple of days in the Torres del Paine!
Two horse rides: The first was the beginners' class which the gauchos insist upon for everyone so as to assess their competence on a horse. No surprise when Charlotte was told that she would be fine for the advanced riding trip the next day. John was, however, amazed when told that his prowess in the saddle had impressed the gauchos enough for him to also be invited onto the advanced riders' trip. Despite this being just the third time he had ever sat on a horse (!). It was exhilarating to canter across the pampas towards the mountains in the bright sunshine with several rainbows in the middle distance. Afterwards we shared mate tea with the gauchos in the stables all huddled around a wood burning stove.
Our muscles hurt from the horse riding but, nonetheless, we decided to hike to the "base of the towers" on our last full day. Up at 7am and then an hours drive to the beginning of the trail. It was four hours to the base where we had a lunch under a rock so as to shelter from the ferocious wind. A guide had been swept over the side very near here only a few weeks ago.... Then the weather changed for the better on our return leg which is fairly typical for Patagonia: the locals describe it as " four seasons in a day". In all we had hiked almost 20 km up a very rocky path with some extremely steep ascents. But the views and scenery were jaw-dropping. Exhausted but proud, we eventually got back to the lodge at 6pm.