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Our bus to Puerto Natales (back in Chile) took 6 hours including a very frustrating border crossing where the authorities confiscated my apple! Despite this being the 3rd time we've crossed into Chile I'm not getting used to it - we'll miss Chile but not the border crossings. We arrived in Puerto Natales just in time to find our hostel and make it to the free Torres del Paine National Park talk at Erratic Rock hostel. The information session lasted for nearly two hours and told us everything we needed to know for our 5 day trek. Although later on we found that some of the things we had been told were slightly wrong.
We had decided to trek the 'W' (or as Katy called it; 'The Bum') called this because of how the route looks on a map. We had also decided to go East to West - the opposite of what Erratic Rock recommends but we decided to do this as it would give us more bag free days and put off the longest days with a bag till the end when we would have eaten most of our food.
We were a bit worried that Erratic Rock said that we were going to have wet feet the whole time and that we should jump in the first puddle we saw to get it over with. Luckily we didn't follow this advice and our feet remained dry the whole trek.
We spent the whole of the next day preparing; we bought bus tickets, booked camping equipment, hired other equipment, bought food and most importantly ate big burgers for dinner to stock up.
Our packing list included only two sets of clothes (one for hiking the other for resting or sleeping in when it got cold), a 3rd T-shirt for Katy which she 'accidentally' brought, a mess kit, a stove, valuables and walking poles (something I thought I would never use). On top of this for food we bought; Cup a soup, cookies, cereal bars, snickers, more chocolate, 1kg of dried fruit and nut mix, pasta, rice, tuna, sauces, salami, tea, hot chocolate powder and marshmallows. We brought no water because all the rivers in the park are glacier fed and no camping gear as we had reserved it at the refuges - this was a big weight saving! The rest of our stuff we left in Puerto Natales.
So finally, the next day, we were off on the 7:30am bus to park. The bus took a road that was called "Ruta del Fin del Mundo" (Route of the end of the world), which it felt like in the bleak wilderness with battering winds. We passed a group of Gauchos (local cowboys) herding cows, in their black berets - it must be difficult to live out here, particularly in winter. When we arrived at the park everyone was made to watch a video on fire safety - you can go to prison for up to 20 years for starting a fire in the park! Then we took a shuttle bus further into the park, left our big bag at our camp site and started our first walk at 11am. (The walk was 20km from Las Torres campsite to Mirador Las Torres and back. It took us 3:40 hours up and 3:20 down with a climb of 700 metres.) It had been cold and very windy in town so we were surprised that we had reasonable weather but unfortunately little sun. We wound our way up a rocky valley passing all kinds of people on the busy trail from families with kids to people with very large backpacks. We were glad to just have a small bag. The elderly hikers were generally the slowest and the most likely not to let people pass - very annoying. We passed a refuge and then a campsite before a steep climb brought us to a blue lake below the Torres (towers) that the park is named after. The tops of the towers were hidden by cloud although it was still a great sight. As the clouds moved I tried to get a photo of the highest peak but it never quite cleared enough. We ate the rest of our snack lunch including a congratulatory snickers bar and then when we got too cold we headed back down to camp.
Although it had been a good walk and an impressive final view it turned out to be our least impressive day in the park, despite it being considered the park's main highlight. After a hot shower (luckily every camp site we stayed at had them) we cooked pasta with tuna, carrots and sauce and had hot chocolate with marshmallows. We then chatted to a few people round the camp site and went to bed but not before hanging our food from a tree so the mice didn't get it. But we didn't sleep well - a theme that continued because of the cold and the ultra thin sleeping mats we were provided with.
The next day we had a late start as we didn't have too far to go so after a cuppa soup and biscuits for breakfast we eventually set off. (This walk from Las Torres campsite to Los Cuernos campsite was an 11km walk that took us 4:20 hours, with lots of up and down.) The sun was out making the colours shine and after about an hour we started to see the real beauty of the area. We reached a wonderful blue lake, passed beautiful waterfalls and saw trees with leaves starting to change to yellow and orange. It was really great despite having a heavy bag. And the view got better when we got our first sighting of the Cuernos (granite towers with a black layer on top, 'horns' in English) and a glacier hanging off the side of another mountain. The walk was harder than we thought it was going to be; probably due to getting used to the bags. We had actually thought it might have acted as a rest day but this certainly wasn't the case. The walk also took as long as the map had said it would - the day before we had knocked 2 hours off the estimated time because we didn't have heavy bags.
Anyway we arrived at the refuge and were eventually shown to our tent. The sun was out and the place was very social so I bought an expensive cold beer and chatted to a few people who weren't camping. In addition to tents and dorms the refuge also had beautiful cabins with a hot tub (!) and domes that looked like green mushrooms from Super Mario. We also got jealous when we saw everyone eating a posh meal with wine while we cooked on our little stove but we ate a really good meal of curried rice with salami. While cooking we chatted to some nice people; particularly a Chilean girl who was having a rest day as she had slipped and hit her head the day before. (Chile and Argentina are the first countries we've visited where young people can afford to go on holidays.) We slept a lot better with a much nicer sleeping bag that night but this turned out to be a one off.
We awoke to the sound of thunder but luckily later found out it was massive chunks of ice falling from the glacier that we had seen the day before. We packed up our stuff and set off for the next camp along the lake shore. This was only an hour away and here we left our big bag and headed up the middle of the 'W' - Valle de Francés. (From the Los Cuernos campsite up the valley and back to the Francés campsite took us 7:30 hours for 16.5km with a 700m climb.) The valley was very impressive; we watched large chunks fall off the glaciers on the other side of the valley and then a few seconds later heard the thundering sounds. And when we eventually scrambled our way to the top we were surrounded by a ring off jagged peaks including the Cuernos: a really great view. Unfortunately it was cloudy all day and started to rain when we were at the top which was a shame as the sun enhances everything. At the bottom of the valley we had to back track for 30 minutes to reach camp. We were looking forward to this one as it was new. In reality it was half built but had very impressive bathrooms that could have belonged to a hotel. The cooking area was less impressive; a large work bench in the entrance of the women's bathroom! We had lots of food to eat to make the bag lighter for the next day - the longest with the big bag - so I was very happy. After chatting to a Swiss couple who were just starting their year long travels we went to bed with the sounds of a nearby stream and avalanches from the glacier. Cue another cold and sleepless night.
On our fourth day we started walking through the area burnt by a massive fire in 2011/12 where 68 sq. miles (or over 35,000 football pitches) were burnt down. This fire was apparently caused by an Israeli who tried to burn his toilet paper. And since then we have read about two other seperate incidences where Israelis started bonfires! What is wrong with these people? Luckily these other two bonfires didn't lead to anything apart from them being thrown out of the park and heavily fined. This day was probably the most beautiful day we had in the park. A strange thing to say with all the destruction but the new flowers, the black dead trees, and the snowy mountains all in beautiful sunshine were a great contrast. (This section from the Francés campsite to the Grey campsite took us 7 hours for 19.5km with only a small 300m climb.) After we rounded the corner to take the last arm of the 'W' we passed beautiful lakes and saw vertical mountain peaks above us with a layer of ice stuck to them. Then we saw the beautifully white and blue glacier named Grey. It comes from the same ice sheet as all the other big glaciers that we've seen in Patagonia (despite being many hundreds of miles apart) and advances to a lake after it is split in two by an island blocking its path. We dropped our bags when we reached camp and continued another 10 minutes to get a closer view of the glacier. There was an even closer viewing point but this was a 3 hour round trip away which we didn't fancy so we rested our tired legs.
The facilities at the Grey campsite were pretty poor. Hot water was only provided for 2 hours a day but for us it only lasted for one. So when over 100 smelly campers tried to use 4 showers in one hour the queue was pretty long. I remarkably got a hot shower with no queuing as it had gone cold for everyone else but came back for me. Katy wasn't so lucky. The camp also only had 4 sinks for washing pots, brushing teeth etc. so these got very messy very quickly. Cue another cold and sleepless night.
We struggled to get up on our fifth and final day in the cold but had a boat to catch to take us out of the park. We eventually got moving and retraced the last section of the previous day's walk. The wind at our backs was strong but this pushed us along. (We made good time and from the Grey campsite to the Paine Grande refuge took us 3:15 hours for 10.5kms.) We stopped to take one last look at the Glacier but the cold wind made this a quick stop. When we reached the Paine Grande refuge we had time to use some of our remaining gas to make a hot chocolate and then caught the boat to where the bus was waiting to take us back to town. From the boat's top deck we could see most of the park highlights all laid out before us in a great overview showing what we had achieved. We also thought this was another great reason to go from east to west. If we had gone the other way we would have seen everything on our first day!
On the bus we were exhausted but I managed to stay awake and saw Guanacos (related to llamas and the fourth and final member of the Andean camel family for us to see) and ostriches. That evening we went out for a salmon ceviche followed by lamb for dinner where we celebrated civilisation with Pisco sours, wine and beer.
Torres had been our final physical challenge on our trip and what a way to finish the Andes Mountains. The weather had played a big part in seeing the best of the area; the sun really brought out the best colours and made our favourite days. Our walking poles were good especially on the steep sections and for crossing rivers but we did feel silly when we passed people with massive bags who didn't have them.
The next day we rested in town, got our washing done, ate cake and packed for our early bus the next morning.
So we left Chile and the Andes Mountains behind us for the last time and headed back to Argentina and to the Atlantic Ocean for the first time in our trip. Looking back into Chile we could see the national park and within it the hanging glacier, the Cuernos and the Paine Towers looking beautiful in the sun.
Simon
- comments
Dad xx I hope by confiscated your apple you meant a piece of fruit and not your apple phone or I-pad!