Torres Del Paine National Park
Dragoman Day 16 - 20
January 8th - January 12th
Day 310 - Day 314

The drive to Torres del Paine meant that we had quite an early start, it was quite far away, plus we needed to cross the border back into Chile and pick up our park guide which was mandatory since the fire.

We got to our campsite adjoined to a hostel with hot showers. The field we were staying in was filled with guanaco poo and we had to search long and hard for a 'poo free' patch. The view to the towers from there was amazing though helped by the atmospheric clouds and sunset.

Due to the fire at Torres del Paine national park, we were unable to complete the 'w' walk. However we were allowed to hike to see the Torres 'towers'. I was feeling extremely lazy about doing more hiking but since the rest of the group did I felt obliged to as well.
What they say about Patagonian weather is completely true. The weather changed consistently; one moment it was rainy, windy and freezing cold and the next it was sunny and hot.

The last part of the walk was an uphill incline, poor Chris had to put up with me moaning about the weather and how tired I was etc.. When we reached the top there were no views of the towers due to the cloud, Chris and I didn't wait for the clouds to clear but started making our way back.

Back at camp we were joined by another overlanding group of Germans. They completely overran the toilets and showers locking us out!! We were not happy but the situation was sorted very quickly.

Day 3 we packed up our tents and went to visit Laguna Azul nearby, it was pretty with a view of the towers. We had lunch there before we drove for about 4 hours to reach the south of the park. The south entrance was closed and we were unable to go into the park instead we stayed just outside the park along the Rio Serrano with beautiful views of the Cuernos 'horns'.

We decided to do a 6hr horse riding trip the next day with a few of our group (Patrick, Irini, Michael). I was looking forward to it but very scared as well. That night I could hear horses fighting which didn't bode well for the next day.

What was nice was that everyone hadn't been on a horse before so we were all in the same boat. The next day we met by the horses where the girls were given small ones and boys huge ones. Mine was brown and called Fresa. We each mounted our horses and began the journey.
Mine was very slow, and it was always at the back until the guide decided to tie my horse to his! I always end up with a problem!! We crossed a deep river where we all got wet; chris' lower half was submerged in the water. I don't understand how since he had one of the bigger horses.

Not long after we hit a little problem, a tree had fallen across our path and we had to climb across the hill on foot leading our horses. The guide then swapped horses with me, now I had a dark brown horse called Moscow. The guide had tied the horses together and he led me all the way, we passed through forests and climbed up into the mountains, the views were amazing, some of the ride was scary, some of the paths were steep.

On our way back I was no longer tied to the guide and I loved it! This horse was much better behaved if not a little fast. They all knew we were on our way back. As we approached the plain near the ranch, I again was tied to the guide this time with the reason 'mas rapido'. Now the horse would be too fast for me too handle!

It was a great day and I want to do it again.. The day after though my body was in pain especially my lower back. For this reason I spent the whole day sitting by the fire playing card games and eating snacks.....it's hard life!

Xxx