Searching for the Towers at the Torres del Paine

After ice climbing and generally freezing our arses off down in El Chalten and Fitz Roy, we returned to El Calafate to sort out the next big tour - Torres del Paine. This is another incredible national park with stunning mountain ranges, except this time just over the border in Chile. It´s possible to do an 8 day trek around the mountain range, but we opted for the slightly easier 4 day ´W´ trek (as it resembles the letter W). We also decided to take our time and do it in 5 days, particularly since we were camping and it was likely that our sleep would be disrupted by the gale force winds, with which we became very familar!

The walk itself is stunning. On the first day we saw glacial lakes and stayed in a campsite at the foot of a glacier. We spent the evening staring out of the refugio window as icebergs floated by and sipping cheap red wine. The second we returned to our starting point and that evening we stared out of another refugio window at an incredible mountain. Again we sipped cheap red wine and chatted the night away. The third day we crossed moors and marshes to reach a valley between the mountains and a fabulous look out point. Unfortunately at this point the weather turned a bit nasty and snow and ice-rain whipped our faces - so no great views today. The fourth day we walked to our final campsite and settled in as tomorrow we were to climb to a high look out point for a close up view of the Towers. In the morning, Stu went alone to the look out as one of my tendons had been acting up and so I rested. It had been cloudy and the Towers hadn´t been visible for a day or so, but Stu was blessed that morning. Just as he reached the look out, the clouds parted and rewarded him with perfect views.

We were quite surprised how easily we found it. The walks are easy to moderate, but there are some steep hills and hard climbs, particularly when you´ve been walking for a few days. At first I was surprised how many people had walking poles, but by the third day I was so envious - I really could have done with some!

The views are stunning to say the least and we were blessed with good weather (well, good for Torres del Paine), so most of our views were clear. Camping was hard. It was cold and very windy, but spending the evenings in the refugios was great. Warmth and red wine - what more can a girl ask for!

On our return to Puerto Natales, we made a beeline for El Living , a small cafe with fabulous food, so we could stock up on fruit and veg after camping for 5 days. The food was delicious, my favourite so far. Yum.

In Search of Accommodation in Puerto Natales

Just a quick note here about Puerto Natales, Chile. It is a very stange place, but the point to reach the Torres del Paine. The houses are all very ramshackled and the town is terribly poor, so the budget accommodation is particularly bad. We stayed in a couple of hostels. The first was filthy and awful so when we returned from our trek, we went out on the search for an alternative.

We were recommended a little hostel called Casa Teresa which we found easily as it was a two floored, bright pink house made from corrogated iron. We thought we´d also check out a few other places, but we found much the same - filthy, strange houses run by people that were straight out of the League of Gentlemen. Our little hostel was spotlessly clean, the owner incredibly helpful, the bed was heaven and the breakfast was lovely (far better then the usual bread and jam).

The Night Sky

Our first tour from San Pedro was a taste of the night sky. The arrid desert conditions coupled with the clear skys and high altitude make the perfect conditions to star gaze. So we set off into the desert in the crisp night air (thermal underwear well tucked in as it can reach a cool, -10 degrees) to learn all about the sky in the southern hemisphere from a crazy French man.

Alain was from Paris and spent his life studying the sky in the northern hemisphere and he now runs his observation centre in the Atacama desert with his wife. His witty chat enlightened us on the milky way, several other galaxies visible with the naked eye and the naming conventions of constelations. It was truely fasinating and only got better when we started to use his telescopes, of which he had seven, all of different strengths. The first star we saw through the telescope twinkled just like a diamond and we then went on to look dead stars, clusters of stars and finally galaxies, just over a 100 million light years away. He could have showed us more, but then they got a bit fuzzy. We left completley frozen, but in total awe. When we return, I think we will find it a bit frustrating looking up at the cloudy, British night sky. Oh hum.

The Gringo Town

San Pedro is a strange place. It was originally an outpost for when the Argentineans moved cattle to northern Chile, now it´s a town that thrives on the souls of tourists. It´s a necessary evil to access the National Parks nearby and one that Stu and I are not happy about. It´s sad when a town tries so hard to rip you off at every possible moment, with touts as you get off the bus to every street corner. Our first disappointment.

The positive thing is that this is the gateway to incredible scenary and tonight we embark on our first excursion...

Crossing the Desert

Leaving Salta we embarked on a 10 hour bus ride across the Andes to Northern Chile and the most amazing scenery yet. We thought that this part of the Andes would be quite similar to that near Mendoza (snowcapped peaks rising from the desert), but how wrong we were. After two and half hours we embarked on the slow upward struggle in our five star coach and the scenery dramatically changed. From one window, we followed what looked to be a canyon with strange rock formations either side and from the other window of the coach the high mountains of the Andes displayed layers of rock of different colours - up to seven colours in total. It was really quite incredible. Unfortunately no pictures as the camera battery was dead (we´re not doing too well on the pictures, but I promise, some will follow). This scenery continued for an hour where it plateaued out on to high plains above the mountains and where only the highest peaks pushed through in the distance. To my amazement we were at 4,000m and the highest we´ve ever been. That explains why we were finding it hard to breathe. We reached the Argentineanan border crossing at the highest point of 4250m and struggled to take deep breaths. It was such a problem that several people collapsed and were rushed to the sick bay in the border offices (actually, not more than a shack).

This is the driest place on earth and rarely, if ever sees rainfall. The flat lands give way to salt lakes, which are dried up leaving vast spaces of white salt. The only living things are a few shrubs at the edge of the road and a couple of llamas, being shepherded by the hardiest people on earth. As we slowly make our way down the other side, flatter land appears, still at a considerable altitude, except now in the distance there are volcanoes instead of mountains and canyons, and the arrid landscapes rolls on.

We arrive at our destination, in awe of our surroundings as the volcano in the distance sits ominously close and shadows the village of San Pedro. We find our hostel and settle in for the night.