Torres del Paine

The flight to Punta Arenas was uneventful, but the landing a bit rough. There was a gale blowing in this city.  

Punta Arenas is pretty town, situated on the strait of Magellan, named so after Ferdinand Magellan who searched for and found a way from the Atlantic to the Pacific Ocean without going around Cape Horn.
It was from here that we were making our way to Torres del Paine and and a few days later to board the Via Australis for our trip to Ushuaia around Hornos Island, Cape Horn.
We had settled in for the night in a very nice hotel, but then decided to go for a walk before dinner. We had a look at Magellan’s statue in the town square, looked in the shop windows, having a good time, when one of those really, really handsome Chileans caught my eye. Walking past us, he looked at me and smiled. I said to my friend, “I tell you something, there are some good looking men in this town!” He turned around and gave me another dazzling smile. He obviously understood english and was pleased with my remark. Slowly we made our way back to the hotel and there on the street corner on the other side of the road was my ‘friend’. He gave me another dazzler of a smile, bowed and waved.  I was smitten.
The trip to Torres del Paine took 5 hours. Three hours in the local bus, very comfortable, to Puerto Natales, then another 2 hours in a private car.
When we arrived in Torrres del Paine it was raining, and we had no view of the famous  mountain range.
We stayed in the Hotel Lago Grey which allowed us a full view of Glacier Grey.
The first question we asked at the reception was – What is the weather going to be?
The answer – unpredictable, we do not know.
We booked our trips for the next 2 days, one that was suggested to us by the staff of the hotel. It had only been done once before and they were not sure if they should take it up into the programme again. The idea was to go by boat on the lake towards the glacier, then being taken ashore by Zodiac, walk up the mountain until we are directly above the glacier.
This sounded absolutely perfect to us.
It was still raining hard when we went to bed, but when we woke up the sunshine was streaming through the window. We had a hearty breakfast and then set off.
There were 6 of us plus our guide.
We were duly put ashore, had a last “pitstop” and then started to climb. We had to cross 6 waterfalls, some easy, some not so easy, but when the glacier was finally below us, it was a view to behold.

George our guide had brought lunch for all of us, including coffee and tea. We had such a good time, I am sure this trip has been put back into the programme.
On the way back we were picked up again by Zodiac and we could now experienced Glacier Grey close up from the lake. It looked fantastic. So different to San Rafael.

For the next day we had booked the “Waterfall Tour”. Again we were blessed with sunshine galore. This time it was only our driver, guide and the two of us.
We drove all around the mountains, had a delicious lunch at one of the lakes, looked and photographed all the waterfalls, watched Condors and baby Llamas close by, and saw all kinds of other animals.  Again it was a wonderful tour. 

I loved Torres del Paine.  Southern Patagonia, Chile is one of the most beautiful areas I have visited.