...and so on to Torres del Paine, crossing from Argentina into Chile as we head further and further south. The drive from El Calafate to Torres del Paine National Park took a full day, with border crossing adding an additional hour or so.

The drive itself went through great scenery across the Patagonian Steppes with mountain backdrops and colours leaching into the land of earth, rust, red and yellow, created by a myriad of tiny alpine flora, blue sky and tricks of the light.

Torres del Paine is apparently a UNESCO Biosphere Reserve. It has dozens of massive granite giants, or massifs pointing into the sky giving a surreal effect. The largest of these slabs of granite is Torres (Lit - Towers) del Paine, thrusting itself 3100 meters above sea level, stripped bare of all earth and softer rocks and finally capped in ice. On to the side of this massif stand two smaller towers (but both above 2500 meters), like silent sentinels overlooking and recording all that they have witnessed over the millennia past and no doubt in the future too.

Well, our 1st day of trekking was a hard slog up the Torres Ascencion...a 13 kilometre up hill walk from valley floor, up across exposed mountains, through alpine forest and finally a long scramble of moraine to reach the inner crater of the mountain and the foot of Torres del Paine and its two silent sentinels. In the valley bottom we left in sunshine, but after a 13 kilometre slog we were surrounded in the mountain crater not by the Torres, but with an endless swirl of cloud, mist and rain.

b*****!

Glimpses of the three towers were visible (as shown in photos page) as the cloud and fog shifted, opening small windows. The presence of the towers, just a stone throw away, was felt rather than seen. We stayed for an hour, but with no change in weather and a chilling damp we trudged back down again and were greeted with blue sky and sunshine as we descended down the moraine, through the forest and finally down the side of the valley.

It was a 26 kilometre slog....and I loved it, while Anni did it and loved it with hindsight! We did two more days of trekking in the valleys of the park, taking in lakes, valleys, wildlife (mainly condor, eagles and guanaco) and Grey's Glacier...all were spectacular and every hour brought us change in weather and views. The 2nd trek was up French Valley, where the views were of avalanches of snow and ice tumbling down the sides of a mountain called Bariloche, named after an early explorer who slipped and died in the same ice, in one of the many avalanches in this same area over 50 years ago.

On our 3rd night we had crossed a lake to a new campsite, so that we could strike out for Grey's Glacier the following day. The wind was horrendous.Our tent twisted, pulsed and contorted with the wind punching in the sides of the tent, from al directions around Paine Grande camp site. We left our bags packed, fully expecting our tent to rip open in the night; but the day arrived and we were OK.

The tent of our Mountain Guide suffered some damage, but fortunately our guide was in tact to lead us into the teeth of the wind toward Grey's Glacier. The view of the Glacier once we got to the viewing point was brief and impressive. The wind was just too strong and the view too raw and exposed for us to stay longer than five minutes, with wind gusting in excess of 50 miles per hour the view open and shut like the lens of a box brownie, giving us enticing views of yet another glacier tumbling into yet another lake. Time to leave.

We left Torres del Paine and went further south to Puerto Natales, where we enjoyed the ambience of four walls, a roof and an early night. Anni and I also discovered the local chocolate cafe, which was very welcome! Our rest was curtailed and short lived as we left Puerto Natales early the next day for 500 kilometre drive across Chile and Argentina, to cross the MagellanStrait and arrive in the most southern part of Patagonia and the world, outside of Antarctica....Tierra del Fuego.