Parque Torres del Paine... WOW! what scenery!

So it was off to Torres del Paine in Chile which James was really looking forward to.

We managed to get a lift of a group of French travellers in the back of a 4x4 after only 5 mins hitching from Puerto Natales! Wow that was quick. Maybe it was because the day was sooooo windy and they were feeling sorry for us looking frozen!

Well as we arrived in the park and found wow 26US$ to get in! This was a matter of much discussion with Mariana and the Park guards but they weren't budging on the price!

Well we arrived there late so we started to walk (after dropping off our heavy bag with the visitors centre, phew as we would never manage to carry that around!)

We arrived at the southern campsite just before sun down.

Next morning it was an early start 9am, well for us anyway!, we seemed to managed to get stuck in not being able to get up before 950am every day prior to that!

The Scenery whilst walking was amazing as we were coming from the south. We realised we didn't have enough food for the "Big W" & thought that we didn't really need to see the Grey Glacier there as we were off to Perito Merino Glacier after this anyway. It was also partly as Mariana hadn't been too well as well so wasn't really up to 3-4 days full on walking!

So we found out the campo Italiano & Britanico were closed due to problems with the bathrooms but that wasn't going to stop us. We were off and no one was going to stop us. James was a little concerned re this as Campo Britanico was a long way that day. But still that was our plan!

The weather was great, a little over cast but alot warmer than it had been so far in the trip. James was amazed how cold it was in Punta Arenas, Ushuaia & Puerto Natales (8-13C!) so was nice to find some warmer weather

The trip across to Italiano had some lovely scenery along the lake & we arrived in Italiano late. We hoped to rush past the guard without him knowing so that we could stay at Britanico and were really pleased when he didn't stop us. There we got chatting to some people from no less that Auckland, and one of them was a Medical Obstetrician Consultant at Auckland Hospital!!

It was a rush up to Britanico but we were both amazed by the scenery but ut was getting late with sun down soon. After the big trek up the French Valley, with lots of photos we arrived at camp just before dark!

Day 2

We realised that we wouldn't be able to get to the next camp in time for end of day, so we had to camp in the middle of nowhere and hope we didn't attract the park guards! The weather was rainy & windy in the morning, which was a shame as the scenery from britanico was meant to be the best of the walk. Still at least some nice photos the day before. By the time we got down to bottom of the valley, the sun came out & blue sky..... typical!!! Still the rest of the day had some great views again. By the end of the day we had to find a nice place to put the tent. We eventually managed to find a nice spot.

Day 3... to the end

We started off in high spirits and apart from James going the wrong way we were going well. Then it was decision time.....
Should we go up to the Torres. Now James is a pretty keen hiker and so wanted to go but realised we had to leave the park that night as we didnt really have enough food to last another night in the national park. So we decided that Mariana would head back direct to the visitors centre (which she was pretty keen on as she wasnt the keen hiker James was) and James would go on to the Torres with no bags and almost run it! So we left our separate ways and arranged to meet up at the guard station between 5&6, well that was the plan!

So off went James to run to Torres. It was a stunning day and I was making good speed. Pretty much ran up the rock scramble. When got to the top, wow perfect blue sky with the Torres. So after some photos / going for a chilly wade through the water from the glacier there (my hat blew into the lake...argh!) I met a nice Chilean. We then chatted on the way back to the Hosteria! Me trying my limited espanol and he was doing most of the translating!

.... Meanwhile Mariana was enjoying the hostel at the end of the track & taking her time as she thought she had lots of time! Anyway time flew and then she suddenly realised she had to get the bags from the southern entrance V centre. So off she went but our very successful hitching from the rest of the trip was not going so well in the park. James also found the same problem & we both almost had to hitch 3to4 km in hot sunny day, not good. Anyway to cut it short, we both managed to arrive at the guards station only 20 secs apart! It must be fate!!

After that we got a nice lift off a French couple to Chile-Argentina border, phew lucky!