Walking to Campamento Torrens

The morning was absolutely beautiful, a worker said he had been here for 3 years and never seen such a day, so the weather gods were smiling on us.  My lovely Serratus pack felt good, and my Leki trekking poles like old friends ( who I was about to get to know a whole lot better).

A Nav mistake meant we walked about 15 mins on a wrong trail, but that was ok because it was flat.  Rejoined the correct trail and started to climb 

Now when I say climb I mean a pinchy continuous climb that had my out of breath very quickly. With some cajoling and lightening of my pack I was convinced to continue. Finally we reached some flatter parts but I was pretty much spent.

My lack of fitness was(is) shameful and I really struggled mentally. However the scenery was beautiful and I convinced myself that we could stop at the first campsite not continue on to base camp as planned. You see on the W circuit there are free campsites, private campsites which you pay for and have showers, toilets and usually a Refugio or hut that you can pay to stay in as well.

After walking along a contour line around the mountain we dropped out into the river and to Campamento Chileno. My inquiry revealed that it is $100 Austalian dollars per person to camp here !!!

A failry major breakdown ensued, including tears, but a banana, a pep talk and really no other option we headed on to Campamento Torres.

Almost immediately we entered beech forest just starting to shoot green, with a deep blanket of snow and pockets of snow in the trees. It was magnificent.

This track was leveller and some of my joy de trek returned. I even found signs of a snow angel.

 We started to get some views of Torres del Paine. It's hard to describe how beautiful the actual Rio Ascencio valley was with absolutely towering mountains on each side, let's just say it was worth all the effort!

We arrived in camp mid afternoon and this was the view from the edge of our beech grove.

Set up and snuggled down to a good sleep ( thanks to my sleeping bag, bag liner, thermRest and cold shield underlay). Oh and icebreaker course.

Rest day

Well after a good sleep but very rough weather we headed to the west end of the park.  It was a light sideways snow sort of drive, with most of the mountains covered in mist.

Lake Peheo is very beautiful, that marvellous blue found in glacial areas.

Lots and lots of guanacos on the road side, they look very healthy and are not at all  scared of people.

 

  Arrived at Hotel Torres in a thick mist And no visibility of the mountain. So a rest and sort gear day was om order.  Oh course this included some trying to the other type of Pisco, Pisco Calafate, made from the local berry.  Bit to sweet for me, so the original is still the best.

Woke in the night to a stillness, that made me look at the window to see an ultra clear moonlit night and the silver silhouette of the mountain!!

Camping, Patagonia style

Camped at Lake Pehoe last night, arriving at around dusk. The now familiar " I speak no Spanish and you speak no English" interchange happened with the lovely Heracle, and we were allowed to just pick a site.

The camp has a frame shelters and we are to have night which proved why.

 The weather report said minus 9 and 90km/hr winds! My gear proved ever faithful and I actually had a great sleep. The wind did wake me a few times, but my icebreaker and down served me well.

I was especially appreciative of my hut bootie, thanks Tom!

With the morning came the realisation that we would be foolish to walk as planned, and so we headed to a hotel near the start of the walk to Camp Torres, and alternated between trying the different types of Sours, and packing bags.

The plan tomorrow is to walk regardless, but be prepared to turn back if it is to rough.

Lago grey

After a splendid drive up from Peurto Natales we entered the Torres del Paine park, with obligatory gunacco sleeping nearby. 

We headed west in the park to Lago Grey, and Lady Grey glacier. We had a restorative drink in th gorgeous hotel, with a view to die for, before  a shore half hour walk through a beech grove and across grey pebble beach with icebergs floating on the shore.

The next few hours were a fabulous meander, past towering mountains and bobbing bergs to the front of the glacier. 

The colour and shapes are amazing, and sadly the amount of obvious shrinkage in the glacier front was easy to discern

Getting to Torres del Paine

Driving north in out new hire car we quickly got out of the city and headed through a massive valley,

It looks like the country in Western NSW, with lambing ewes and Hereford cattle, but then you get these strange juxtaposition of flamingos on a pond,

 the llama like guanacos crossing their road, and the emu like rhea in the paddocks.

Nothing like along straight road and some new wildlife to get the musical association going, think ....pretty flamingo, Chris rhea,and gunacco  on wood:)

We arrived in Peurto Natales enjoying magnificent views of massive mountains. 

Got out to stretch our legs ( and check out all the cool outdoor gear of course!) amd ran into the guy from the plane who is doing the O walk. Or should I thought he was until he arrived here and found out that a new ( and unpublicised ) booking system had been installed in the park, meaning that you have to book, or at least register your trip if you are free camping as we are. Port Natales was in uproar, so we headed in for a beer with him and another hiker, to try and figure out what to do. I produced my topo map, which I would recommend as the best ever conversation starter for a group of Trekkerr!

Dinner watching the dusk overlooking the cooling skate park, and public art, which I titled Freedom and Exhuberance 

Overnight here while we figure out how to work the system.

It's not the end of the earth, but it's close

After 24 hours of travel the touch down at Punta Arenas, Chile was a welcome relief. My first impressions were good, as this was and perhaps still is a rich region, so that airport was nice! Western toilets, toilet paper, and hand soap, oh the luxury !

Met a nice guy on the plane who was off to the walk the O walk in Torres del Paine, I'm now regretting my lack of training will proven me from doing a big walk. Oh why do I let work get in the way of my real life ambitions ?

 The official taxi into town was fine ( you are recommended here to only use the government sanctioned taxis), and the lovely Hostal Beuna Estacnia is super clean and warm. So I think two days have passed of walking town and sleeping.

Being a day behind and 14 hours hours time difference, the fact that everything is in Spanish with few English  subtitles, and the shops open at some random time and frequency that I am yet to understand, means that I feel a little foggy.

Delights include the local beer, which is very cheap ($3 bottled served in a cafe, and sold in supermarkets), the fact that picture on the label is where we head to camp ( sorry not this label as I picked a dark beer), and the availability of peanut M and Ms :)

Downside is that no one seems to serve real coffee!!! Where is the UN when you need them!! It's all Nescafé, and as I haven't yet been able to find an open shop to buy fuel for my camp stove I can't even brew my own. This situation could become dangerous if it persists. And could that perhaps be contributing to my feeling of fogginess?

On the bright side, a visit  to the local cemetery was amazing, with magnificent groomed lines of conifers, and amazing crypts, I even found margarita lane . 

As Punta Arenas is home to explorers, the statues is Magellan abound. I even kissed his toe for good luck! The history here is incredible, think not only Magellan but Shakelton. You can feel the strength of the wind, and as I get a sense of the geography you can imagine how brave there men were.

Next steps , Pick up a hire car and off to Torees del Paine.

No sign of Angelina, Ta Prohm

After breaky we headed to Ta Prohm, the temple where some of Tomb Raider was filmed, and the one which is being reclaimed by the jungle.

Each temple has their own feel, and this one was lovely because you walked quite a way through a track in ether jungle to reach it.

Then you see these massive trees, figs I think, growing over it.

The roots looks like a giant serpant

I keep thinking ashes to ashes, dust to dust

So much of the temple is carved with beautiful pictures

The restoration work, funded by different international governments at different temples, is staggering

Moosie and I found an amazing series of side rooms that you could barely get through

Ad just so you don't think I'm to crazy with my temple pants check out this couple

I find it funny that everywhere us visitors have built little cairns or inukshuks, I guess the urge to pile up stones to say I was here is a human trait, it's just these kings thought on a much bigger scale:)

On the walk in and out through the jungle tunnel there were bands of 5 or so men playing Cambodian traditional music. They were land mine victims and all had limbs missing. Very confronting.