Torres del Paine: Mountains, Glaciers, Forests, Lakes, Trekking & Tired Legs!
Well it's been a while since I`ve updated this sucker, but that's because I have been on the best journey ever through Mountains, Forests, Lakes, Lagoons, Rivers and just some of the most beautiful scenery I have ever been amongst. If you are ever down in Southern Chile/Patagonia, you gotta get into it!
Torres del Paine is the name of the park and hiking your arse off is pretty much the game. 90km over 5 days, 50% of the time sportin a 15kg backpack. If I was really tough i could of camped at any of the beautiful campsites they have throughout the park, but I really could't be arsed lugging food, a tent, a mattress and cooking gear around with me so I went for the much softer option of staying in the refugios throughout the park. These things were alot more than what i expected, certainly no mountain shack that's for sure!
Day 1 saw me boating it into the park, what an awesome journey that was; up the River Serrano on a rubber dingy through some awesome forest and past some big arse glaciers.
Day 2 saw me heading up 1000m worth of boulders to the Mirrador (Lookout) of Los Torres (pictured above), 3 giant granite peaks; the tallest hitting 2850m. After battling rain & wind to get there before waiting 2 1/2 hours for the sky to clear, I was a little disapointed that I couldn't view the peaks, but in the end if I wanted to see that, I can just buy a postcard. You gotta work to see what I saw!
Day 3 was very mellow although it was the first day with the pack. I trekked 2 hours with 2 guys from Barcelona through some pretty fierce rivers before they had to turn back so I chucked the old i-pod in for the remaining 2 hours and trekked on. Fantastic scenery, very beautiful and some excellent air guitaring! Arrived at Los Cuernos, siesta in the arvo, book by the lake, lots of red wine with 2 aussies I met, what a life.
Day 4 was tougher, 22 km with the pack. I ran into a German girl and a Chilean guy I had met back in Natales so we trekked some of it together. Valle de Frances was the name of where we were headed and we were not disapointed when we got there. Sunshine, Mountains, Glaciers & Forest! Awesome! I know had to get back down and across the park to my luxurious refugio at Lago Pehoe though, so it was time to make tracks. Not as luxurious as first thought. They were't going to let me stay there although I had paid and had a voucher for the room because I didn't have my passport with me, some crazy Chilean thing. It took me half an hour arguing with them in Spanish (not so easy) to convince them to let me stay there. Shower time, or maybe not when the hot shower turned to icy cold direct from the glacier fed lakes abound. Always when your completely soaped up, time to move on.
Day 5 saw more beautiful weather and another mellow day, heading up to Glacier Grey. Check into a very cosy refugio (the first of it's kind), a quick siesta and then an excursion to another mirrador right on top of the glacier, very cool. Watched the sun go down over the iceberg filled lake (at like 11pm) with my German and Chilean amigos before heading to bed.
Day 6 up early for some ice-hiking, i love this stuff! Bad weather at first had me a little worried but by the time we got accross to the Glacier, everything had settled. The climbing's the best, I gotta get myself some of those pick axes and head to the mountains!
Then it was time to head back, I swear that the many hills that I had to walk up weren't there before. My body and the elements were against me, my left leg started to cramp up, it started to rain and I ran out of battery on my i-pod. All just another challenge that El Grande was to overcome, making it to the port in time for a beer and a chat before the ferry was off to the bus and back to civilization.
The need to eat saw about 10 of us at the local pizza joint where I consumed the best pizza yet in South America, better than in Argentina (sorry Hernàn) and a very refreshing Ale.
That brings me here, heading out on a crazy overnight bus wait bus combo to Rio Gallegos that sees me waiting around for 5 hours in a tiny town called Rio Turbio until 2 in the morning for my transfer. Time for some dinner and something else, not exactly sure what yet. Got a few hours to kill in Gallegos tomorrow morning before jumping on board a plane to Buenos Aires for a few days. I get into BA around lunch time, just enough time to tidy myself up (I haven't shaved in 5 weeks), make some dinner reservations and head out to the other airport to meet Lil.
It`s gonna be a rocking time in Argentina, can't wait!
Torres del Paine is the name of the park and hiking your arse off is pretty much the game. 90km over 5 days, 50% of the time sportin a 15kg backpack. If I was really tough i could of camped at any of the beautiful campsites they have throughout the park, but I really could't be arsed lugging food, a tent, a mattress and cooking gear around with me so I went for the much softer option of staying in the refugios throughout the park. These things were alot more than what i expected, certainly no mountain shack that's for sure!
Day 1 saw me boating it into the park, what an awesome journey that was; up the River Serrano on a rubber dingy through some awesome forest and past some big arse glaciers.
Day 2 saw me heading up 1000m worth of boulders to the Mirrador (Lookout) of Los Torres (pictured above), 3 giant granite peaks; the tallest hitting 2850m. After battling rain & wind to get there before waiting 2 1/2 hours for the sky to clear, I was a little disapointed that I couldn't view the peaks, but in the end if I wanted to see that, I can just buy a postcard. You gotta work to see what I saw!
Day 3 was very mellow although it was the first day with the pack. I trekked 2 hours with 2 guys from Barcelona through some pretty fierce rivers before they had to turn back so I chucked the old i-pod in for the remaining 2 hours and trekked on. Fantastic scenery, very beautiful and some excellent air guitaring! Arrived at Los Cuernos, siesta in the arvo, book by the lake, lots of red wine with 2 aussies I met, what a life.
Day 4 was tougher, 22 km with the pack. I ran into a German girl and a Chilean guy I had met back in Natales so we trekked some of it together. Valle de Frances was the name of where we were headed and we were not disapointed when we got there. Sunshine, Mountains, Glaciers & Forest! Awesome! I know had to get back down and across the park to my luxurious refugio at Lago Pehoe though, so it was time to make tracks. Not as luxurious as first thought. They were't going to let me stay there although I had paid and had a voucher for the room because I didn't have my passport with me, some crazy Chilean thing. It took me half an hour arguing with them in Spanish (not so easy) to convince them to let me stay there. Shower time, or maybe not when the hot shower turned to icy cold direct from the glacier fed lakes abound. Always when your completely soaped up, time to move on.
Day 5 saw more beautiful weather and another mellow day, heading up to Glacier Grey. Check into a very cosy refugio (the first of it's kind), a quick siesta and then an excursion to another mirrador right on top of the glacier, very cool. Watched the sun go down over the iceberg filled lake (at like 11pm) with my German and Chilean amigos before heading to bed.
Day 6 up early for some ice-hiking, i love this stuff! Bad weather at first had me a little worried but by the time we got accross to the Glacier, everything had settled. The climbing's the best, I gotta get myself some of those pick axes and head to the mountains!
Then it was time to head back, I swear that the many hills that I had to walk up weren't there before. My body and the elements were against me, my left leg started to cramp up, it started to rain and I ran out of battery on my i-pod. All just another challenge that El Grande was to overcome, making it to the port in time for a beer and a chat before the ferry was off to the bus and back to civilization.
The need to eat saw about 10 of us at the local pizza joint where I consumed the best pizza yet in South America, better than in Argentina (sorry Hernàn) and a very refreshing Ale.
That brings me here, heading out on a crazy overnight bus wait bus combo to Rio Gallegos that sees me waiting around for 5 hours in a tiny town called Rio Turbio until 2 in the morning for my transfer. Time for some dinner and something else, not exactly sure what yet. Got a few hours to kill in Gallegos tomorrow morning before jumping on board a plane to Buenos Aires for a few days. I get into BA around lunch time, just enough time to tidy myself up (I haven't shaved in 5 weeks), make some dinner reservations and head out to the other airport to meet Lil.
It`s gonna be a rocking time in Argentina, can't wait!
posted by Sanchez at 3:08 AM
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