Our bus ride into Torres Del Paine was actually on a tour bus that was doing a one day visit of the national park before returning to El Calafate, as a result we had a tour guide - George (pronounced Horhay).

Horhay was a jolly fella in a bright Jimi Hendrix hat and intoduced himself over the loud speaker system 3 times. Once settled he would point out things we drove past (not a lot as there is nothing in Patagonia) and talk at the rate of around 5-10 words a minute, the whole time just sat in the front of the bus with his feet on the dashboard looking out the window without a care in the world. Despite the shocking level of information Evan and I thought he was the best tour guide we had seen in south america because he came up with the following lines...

"On the left is dark rock. You can tell because it is dark in colour".

"Here is my favourite lake, the PH level is neutral".

"Here is guanaco. Sometimes there is male guanaco, sometimes there are female guanaco. Sometimes there are baby guanco and sometimes there are families of guanaco".

Anyway, we arrived at Torres Del Paine around midday and walked for 10 minutes into the first refugio. Refugio's are like log cabins/hostels that you can stay in for 50pd a night and they are dotted around the national park every 4-8 hours walk apart. What most people do is take a tent though and camp next to the refugio for around 10pd a night, as we didn`t have a tent though we were hopeful of renting one. Upon arrival we were told that booking a tent for the first night was not a problem and it was soon sorted.

However, for the second night,which we had heard was a much smaller camp andthus prone to being fully booked, we were told that it was not possible to book ahead unless you did it from Puerto Natales (the town outside the park on the Chilean side). As this was obviously not possible we were told we had to turn up and hope for the best, an idea I wasn't all too keen on. After 30 minutes we discovered that there was a phone in reception though so asked if it would be possible to ring the office in Puerto Natales. When we suggested this it seemed that logic suddenly struck and within 5 minutes we had booked a tent and sleeping bag for the second night too. Chileans so far have not been very good at finding solutions.

Evan and I started trekking at 12.45pm and wound our way up a steep valley carrying all of our bags (I later found out mine weighs 26kg!!). After a couple of hours trekking (and battling the strongest winds i have ever seen) we reached the second refugio and dropped our bags off before continuing with just a day sack to see the Torres themselves. The torres are a set of rocks which stick up vertically in the middle of the park above a large glacial lake. We got to the top after another 2 hours of trekking and enjoyed the view for an hour. Unfortunately, when we arrived the fog was quite thick and the view was obscured but after 50 minutes the sun came out and it made it all the more impressive, especially with the condors circling above. On the way back down we stopped for some vodka with a polish girl and then returned to camp to try and scab our way through the evening. In total we had trekked for around 17km that day (I think).

First, we worked on making friends with someone that worked at the refugio and before long Teresy had given us bowls, cutlery, and a saucepan to cook our pasta in. Next we needed a stove which we managed to borrow of some Americans and cooked up a nutritious spaghetti with instant soup mix with a tin of plain tuna. Afterwards though we were treated to a free beer from some Canadians and then Teresy smuggled us about half a kilo of pork chops which were left over from dinner for people inside the refugio. Seeing as we had turned up with nothing we thought it wasn't bad going for the first day.

Next morning we had a sluggish start, managed to get some more free food from Teresy who was by now was considered an angel by the 2 of us and trekked back down the valley. We got to the next camp after 6 hours of trekking and after a game of word association that went on for a total of 50 minutes and a round of what do you hate most about the USA/UK.

When we were arrived after 14km and 6 hours of trekking we were bought another beer by some Australians but unfortunately there was no one that worked there willing to help us this time. We managed to scrounge around enough stuff to cook the rest of the spaghetti and ate it with instant soup again. In the evening we asked a porter how much weight they carry, the response being around 20kg. At this point i asked them to pick my bag up and assess the weight, the verdict was 26kg - a little demoralising considering they were being paid to carry 20kg and i was paying to carry 26kg!

After chilling out for a while we headed to the beach with some locals whilst they drunk pisco sours, but the inability to speak Spanish cut short out evening as we turned in early.

We had a rather broken nights sleep as the winds were incredible during the night. At one stage Evan was nervous that the surrounding trees were going to crush us, but more problematic, particularly for Evan was the side of the tent bending inwards and hitting us in the face. When we finally emerged around 10am the weather was still awful with even stronger winds than on the previous days and the rain lashing down. With 25k ahead of us though we couldn`t afford to lie in much more. After a couple of tough hours the rain cleared, the wind died down and it turned into a pleasant day. It was worth the effort though because the trek up the French Valley was awesome. We passed glaciers, had stunning views and reached the top of the mountain range where we were met with a theatre of vertical rock around us. We got to the next refugio around 7pm, but this is where our luck run out.

The night before we had ensured that the staff radioed ahead to book our tent for the following night. However, upon arrival we were told they had no record of our booking and there were no tents available to rent. Staying in the refugio was apparently not an option despite their error unless we paid the 50pd fee for the night. With no alternatives given it took 30 minutes and raising our voices before we were told we could ask the park rangers for assistance who were a 2 minute walk away. Why it took 30 minutes before this was suggested was beyond me, but again puts meat to the bones on my theory of Chileans not being very good to finding solutions to situations.

After a brief conversation with the park rangers we were allowed to stay in the emergency tent they have but couldn't tell others at the park that we would be getting a free nights accomodation. We started the whole scabbing and borrowing stuff routine again (a little tired of feeling like a beggar) before heading to the bar for a well earned beer and to watch the superbowl. Unfortunately, in the hour and 20 minutes watching the superbowl we only managed to see 2 plays to Evan`s frustration as the half time show and a power outage severely cut into the playing time. We returned to our shelter (held together by velcro) for a rather unsatisfactory sleep.

In the morning we were up early and keen to get to Puerto Natales where the Navimag leaves from. We caught the 10am catamaran across lake Pehoe and then the 1.30pm bus out of the park and back to civilisation. We got to Puerto Natales around 4.30pm and headed straight to the Navimag check in which we were told ended around 5pm.