90 Mountainous kms with Boob Knee, Rugby Ball calves and Doughnut Ankle

Firstly a BIG Happy Brithday to Amelia in Australia :) Wish we could be there to celebrate with you!

AND now - the Torres del Paine blog .... finally!

One last gorgeous sunset in Calafate

Day 87 – January 24

We hopped on the 8:30 am bus for Puerto Natales from Calafate, totally exhausted. It was just a five hour bus ride, but included a very long and tedious border crossing into Chile where they hand searched our bags…. took forever! Thankfully they didn’t make us open our very well packed back (difficult to get everything just so – so it fits) after I said ‘solo ropas y zapatos’ only clothing and shoes, she took a peek in the top and was fine with that (after I gave up the rest of our fresh fruit).

When we arrived in Puerto Natales and took off with our bags looking for our hostel we thought – wow what a quiet town! (I just keep forgetting about siesta time! In all these small towns they pretty much shut down all afternoon for a sleep then reopen around 5 til late). Finally found our hostel and checked in, and headed back out. We popped into one of the few restaurants that was open, and ordered the menu of the day (since everything else we asked for on the menu they apparently did not have). First course soup was super yummy, but the main….. it was like mixed meat offal stew on rice. With really gross 'meats' like blood sausage, hearts, liver, intestines…. I had one piece of sausage and then couldn’t eat any more. Murray took one look and just covered his plate with his napkin. Thankfully the dessert was yummy! The poor waitress felt so bad that we had eaten so little of the meal that she gave us each a coca cola on our way out, that was nice.

After that we took a walk around town, checking out what the camping shops had, what there was at the grocery stores, etc so we could start planning what we needed to get for our trek. Then we picked up our vouchers for our accommodation and transfer to Parque Nacional Torres del Paine. Went back to write up our HUGE packing list for what we needed to take, and then went out for a nice dinner (the boys had a ginormous steak, and I had a great salad) and then it was early to bed since I have a massive cold sore from all the exercise we have been doing lately and the lack of sleep AND I managed to pass it on to Murray as well (kisses - opps)– great! Oh well, a few early nights should sort us out.


Day 88 – January 25

Today we shopped!! Picked up a few camping things that we needed – another headlamp (since I somehow lost ours on a night bus back in Brasil… I think), camping mugs, a sun hat for Murray, etc. We also hit the grocery store hard and bought up 5 meals for the three of us, and some stuff for just Murray and I like cereal, dried fruit, powdered milk and snacks. We decided as well to rent a few things – one smaller backpack, walking sticks for both of us, sleeping bags for both of us and some pots, and a cooker.


We also went off to book our buses out of Puerto Natales for after the trek, and I did it ALL in Spanish (I was pretty happy with myself)! Sorted out what day we wanted to go, had to book with two different companies to get all the way down to Ushuaia because of the days and times we wanted but that worked fine for us. I also got onto skype and booked our accommodation in Punta Arenas and Ushuaia (some in Spanish) while the boys worked on packing – we accomplished quite a bit! Then it was out for a GREAT pizza for lunch (the circuit), blogged some more, packed and packed and packed, had a great dinner at the local vegetarian place, exchanged our books for some new ones, and got to bed for some exhausted sleep! Gosh – packing is tough (especially when you know you have to carry it all on your back for days)!


Oh, and to quote Murray, “What is the best thing to do before going on the biggest, toughest trek of your life? Rest I hear? No. Check all your gear three times? No. Buy all the right foods. No. Duh, it’s Obviously it’s kick one of your toenails off on a chair leg the night before…HELLO!” This is exactly what happened and perfectly runs in tune with our travel theme ‘Night Before Disaster’. For example, our travel credit cards being eaten by an ATM the night before we leave the USA, our laptop being wiped of a operating system just before leaving Australia for South America…..etc.

Day 89 – January 26

Torres del Paine National Park is located 150 km from Puerto Natales on Seno de Ultima Esperanzo (Last Hope Inlet). It has over 180,000 hectares and is one of the major tourist desinations in Chile. It owes its it origins to massive earth movements after which these gigantic ‘horns’ were born about 12 million years ago along with the glaciers which are still present today.

Torres del Paine – Day 1
Laguna Amarga to Refugio Paine Grande to Refugio Gray
Distance: 11 kilometers
Time taken: 4 hours

We had a NICE (not) early wakeup because the bus that would take us to Torres del Paine picked us up at 7:30 am. After circling around town picking people up (surely in such a small town a central pickup stop for all of us would have been quicker…) we drove for about an hour before we stopped off at a shop/coffee house for a bizarre little stop. They had great stuff, tons of post cards and other stuff we would have loved to have bought – but BEFORE the trek? When our bags were bursting? We bought one little patch for our bag, then enjoyed a nice cup of te con leche. While we were enjoying our tea Steve looked up and noticed our bus was leaving!! No head count or anything! We ran outside and flagged the driver to stop, hopped on, and off it was to the park entrance (whew that was close). Finally we arrived at Laguna Amarga, paid our park entrance fees, and then drove on to Guarderia Pudeto where we would catch our catamaran to the start of the W trek.


Me & Steve waiting for the catamaran
Off to the catamaran with our bursting bags (those are sleeping bags on the outside of my bag)

After a nice wait in the hot sun we boarded the catamaran, and enjoyed a lovely cup of hot chocolate while enjoying our first amazing views of Torres del Paine National Park.


Lovely view of los cuernos from the catamaran


Then we arrived at Refugio Paine Grande (formerly known as Pehoe). An older Australian woman asked us to take her photo, and once we said yes she said ‘oh I just need to wait for my other 12 friends….’ Sigh. But we waited, took their group photo, then asked ‘oh can you please take ours as well?’ Then she rushed us!! When we didn’t move fast enough she said ‘do you HAVE a camera’ um yes, then she took it so quickly we barely had time to smile – nice. Ah well.
Murray & I at the entrance to the hiking of the park

Off it was on our first hike. The bags felt like they weighed SO much (they were 14 kg each) and they were SO uncomfortable, but off we went.


Me hiking away with my 2 hiking poles

We hiked North with Lago Gray on our left on a not so easy first day trail.
Our first view of the glacier in the distance

There was a LOT of uphill, the trail was super dusty, and the day was quite hot!

Murray and I overlooking Lago Gray

Steve showing how comfortable his bag is

Contemplating throwing my bag over the side at this point

Lots of ice bergs in the lake!

Murray hiking away towards the refugio

Look – it’s Glacier Grey
Murray & Steve at a great mirador (viewpoint)

Me taking a water break with great views of the glacier

Murray & I

We were getting a BIT hot and tired by this point…..
But the views were sure worth it

So we kept on going

Closer & closer to our destination

We came across some great glacial streams along the way – fabulous for filling up your water bottle with a nice cool drink

Map check time! (although the trails were VERY well marked – we just were wondering how much longer was left!)

We saw these lovely flowers all over this particular leg of the trek

We left Paine Grande at 1pm and got to Refugio Grey at 5pm (which wasn’t too bad considering we took a lot of photo breaks just to enjoy the amazing view).

I think Steve sees the sign for the refugio!!

BROKEN! Thank goodness we are there!!

After checking in we immediately ordered some cool beers and toasted to our sore shoulders and feet (our new group deal is we ALL make a toast when it comes to toasting time – which is good fun).

I think someone just said something like ‘hey let’s hike up to the viewpoint for sunset now’

Our boots on the rack – you aren’t allowed to wear them inside (our 3 pairs are the ones with the smelly socks hanging out….. we had our own room so decided it was best to let the socks air outside).

After FABULOUS hot showers, we went outside to cook dinner (you were only allowed to eat inside if you bought their food which is uber expensive – plus the idea of cooking our own camping stove was exciting for us)!

Murray and Steve cookin’ away

So we whipped out the camping stove, set up some rocks to protect it, and got a cookin!

Murray doesn’t look impressed…. But I was nice & warm!

We had rice, tomato sauce, and mini franks (hotdogs) along with a great box of gato negro (black cat - a type of red wine).

Steve and I with the the can of franks and the gato negro

Yummy huh?

Protecting our little cooker from the strong wind

It wasn’t great – but we were so thrilled to be there at our first refugio (with a room for JUST us three!!) eating dinner while facing a glacier (Glacier Grey). Fantastic. AND that ment one less bag of food in my bag - hooray!!

Me & Steve

That food just looks scary! (don’t mind my sunglasses tan………. Opps)

Still sunny out!

Murray and I by the lake after dinner

Oh and one funny story – Steve and I went off to the camping sinks to wash our stuff after we finished dinner – I washed and he dried. I noticed someone was standing behind him so said ‘Oh Steve, there’s a girl waiting, you may want to just move over a bit’ then opps – I realized it was actually a guy!!! (a very feminine looking guy who REALLY needed to cut his long floppy blonde hair). Then I said quietly ‘opps I meant … guy.’ Steve had to turn around and cover his mouth to not start laughing out loud – ha ha. I don’t think the guy heard me though (and English was not his first language) thank goodness.

Day 90 – January 27

Torres del Paine – Day 2
Refugio Gray to Refugio Paine Grande
Distance: 11 kilometers
Time taken: 3.5 hours

We took our time in the morning (we were not in a hurry after all) and had a nice cup of granola and powdered milk before packing up for our hike back down to Paine Grande.

Gotta love powdered leche (milk) with your cereal! Not too bad actually if you shake it up well in a water bottle first!

First we went up to the viewpoint for a great view of the glacier (um WOW in the heavy heavy wind) then headed off in the spitting rain back the same way we came from the day before. The trail was a bit easier going back, but it was difficult to get those heavy bags back on for another couple of hours of hiking – eeekk.

A lot more ups and downs then I remembered – lots of using those hiking poles to take the pressure off of our hips and legs (amazing how much they help).

Me hiking away

The wind was FIERCE!

But it settled down a bit eventually
Finally arrived!!

We got to Paine Grande and got a lovely room to ourselves overlooking the campground

The view from our room

Gosh am I glad we decided not to camp… we didn’t want to have to carry a tent, sleeping mats, etc etc – but also – we just wanted hot showers and beds to sleep in at the end of the day! We did carry sleeping bags, a lot of food, very little clothing, etc and you know what? that works for us. As we gazed out at tents blowing over from the wind, we were very happy with our decision.

Paine Grande has a great ‘camping kitchen’ so we popped out there to make our dinner (it has windows all around so you can enjoy the view). It was my turn to cook, so I made macaroni and cheese with tuna. It was…. Okay. Then we went back to our room to rest for awhile before the set dinner in the evening (which wasn’t too bad).

Murray making fun of my oh so lovely socks and sandals look (but the socks were SO warm and my trousers were SO dusty – oh well, works for me)!

After enjoying our free ‘welcome drinks’ (pisco sours) it was off to bed early for another exhausted sleep.

Us at the bar (Murray looks SO excited to still be awake….)

Day 91 – January 28

Torres del Paine – Day 3
Refugio Paine Grande to Refugio los Cuernos (via Campamento Italiano and Britanico)
Distance: 27.1 kilometers
Time taken: 11 hours

We got up, packed, had some granola AND some tea (yay for the camping kitchen with it’s own stoves – otherwise it is just SUCH a pain to whip out the stove for only water for tea) and headed off by 9:50 for our first LONG day of hiking. The first bit from Paine Grande to Campamento Italiano with the Cerro Paine Grande mountains to our left and Lago Skottsberg to our right, took us two hours.


Me hiking away

It was hilly, but longer hills rather than great height – so not horrible

Murray and I marching up a hill

The views were so stunning, we had to stop a lot just to pause and look around – gorgeous.

Gorgeous
This is called old man’s beard – you see it growing on trees all over the park

Us hiking with los Cerros Paine Grande in the background (I love how the tops of the mountains are a different color)

View of Glacier Frances

Hike, hike, hike
It is hard to describe, even with photos, just how gorgeous this place is….

Me taking a well needed break

Murray crossing the bridge over the glacial water to Campamento Italiano

Me crossing


Had to hold on a bit since my bag was so back heavy!!

The view up Valle Frances

The Rio Frances is so pretty

That is Steve & I on the bridge

Goofing around

After we arrived at Campamento Italiano we whipped out the camping stove to have a snack and a rest before setting out on what we heard was a tough hike (yuck pot noodles really are not good). And wow was it tough. The hike from Italiano up the middle of the ‘W’ to Campamento Britanico took us two hours (minus the bags, we only took our valuables with in one bag and left everything else at Italiano).

The view up Valle Frances

It was literally rock hopping for the whole first stretch, very steep uphill, and the path was just marked by orange spray painted dots on rocks here and there to keep you going in the right direction.


Steve & I posing on a big rock

Picture time

The last part of the hike was gorgeous, through the hilly woods, up and down through valleys and over streams.


Murray huffing away

Gorgeous

View back down to Lago Nordenskjold

Stopping for a break

Not many people were camping at Britanico – just one tent (I can see why – gosh that hike would be awful with big bags) so we just pressed on to the Mirador (viewpoint).


Nice crisp cold water

It was another 1.5 km (20 minutes) straight uphill to the big rock that served as the viewpoint and WOW was it worth it. We were completely surrounded by mountains at the back of Valle Frances, looking back towards where we started at Italiano campsite




It’s hard to see just how amazing the view is in just one photo…


Me at the mirador

Murray in his new hat


Steve posing with Frances Valley

Murray & Steve
All three of us – enjoying the view!!


Just a bit of posing

And more amazing scenery




Me filling up our water bottle


Murray contemplating the view


And hiking back down!

Murray & I

It was just a BIT rocky!

Had to be quite careful

Then it was two hours back to Italiano to pick up our bags and press on.

Murray looks thrilled to have his turn with our rented horrible awfully uncomfortable bag


It was a crushing 5.5 km more to Refugio los Cuernos – SO much uphill, exhausting.

But once again – gorgeous, amazing views.


Steve & I

Towards the end the path came right up to Lago Nordenskjold
and we HAD to stop to dip our super duper sore feet (wow – cold)!

When I finally spotted the refugio I swear I said out loud ‘oh thank goodness’ and upped my pace by like 200%.

Murray crossing one last stream



A very odd looking powder puff cloud

I was never so glad to see a place to stay – so so so tired.

We were assigned beds in a room with 8 bunk beds (but thankfully there was only 2 other people in there), and then went off for our ice cold shower (booooo). You would think that since the showers were ice cold and the refugio is right next to a glacier river that they would have cold beers – but alas – they were all super warm! So the boys bought three, and went and hid them under rocks in the river while I started boiling water for our dinner.


Steve hiding the beers

It was our best meal yet (by far) rice, plain and olive infused tomato sauce, white beans, and salami sausage that we cut up into little bits. It was so saucy and lovely and went fabulously with our ice cold beers – fab! The staff was really friendly and let us use their plates and let us help ourselves to the kitchen to wash our stuff up, etc.

We even saw a humming bird in our window!

Day 92 – January 29

Torres del Paine – Day 4
Refugio los Cuernos to Refugio Chileno
Distance: 14 kilometers
Time taken: 7 hours

After tea and granola (that last of our granola!!) we headed off for our next refugio – Chileno. It was a very tough hike – LOTS of uphills, up and down and up and down and up again and again – completely exhausting.


Murray taking a break

Gorgeous flowers we saw on this part of the trek

It was also a really hot day – dry and boiling sun (especially when you are hiking with a hot bag and warm shoes).

Can you spot Steve in the distance?? He had pushed on ahead of us!

We also had a ropey unexpected river crossing as well which took quite a bit of time because there was not a clear easy route.

Normally I can get across fine

But it’s HARD with a big heavy bag on your back throwing off your balance!

After taking this photo Steve put down his camera and came to help me over the second deep and rough bit so that I wouldn't end up completely soaked!

Eventually though we all made it across fairly dry (my waterproof boots finally got put to the test – but only half way up my laces) and Murray and Steve helped another girl across who we had met at the refugio.

We also discovered a great way to cool down – dip your sunglasses in the river (glacial of course) cleans off the dust and feels so nice and cool.
That along with a quick hat dip in the river was quite cool and refreshing!

The route was NOT easy either!

After a few more hours of tough trekking we came across a gorgeous little lake and

Murray and Steve jumped right in for a very chilly swim (I just dipped my feet – that was cold enough).

Murray somehow managed to cut his wrist on the rocks on the way in (they were super sharp) but other than that it was a nice relaxing spot.

We saw tons of people we knew from the hike so far trudge on past, everyone was in such a hurry! We figured – why rush? We were there to experience everything, not to just rush on to the campsite and eat! Although we wouldn’t have minded one of those fabulous dried pineapple rings that Steve was hoarding…. (just kidding – Murray made a fabulous dried fruit and nut mix for us – but there was no WHOLE pineapple rings).

Then after the swim it was on to a massive uphill hike to the refugio (crushing – just knackering)!

Steve & I

Still quite stunning scenery though

But HOT and exhausting!!!

But we kept on & on & on

And we were rewarded with some stunning views of Valle Ascencio

>On the way up we came across our Italian friend Antonella! (who had been with us on the gap trip from Rio to Buenos Aires) Unbelievable!! She was on a day hike up to see the Torres and we just happened to cross paths – bizarre! We made plans to catch up with her back in Natales, and then continued on.

Final bridge to the refugio Chileno - Hooray!!

We arrived at the refugio at 6:30pm, checked in and ordered tres mucho frio cervezas (3 very cold beers). And WOW were they good – best beers we have ever had I think. We ordered dinner, had a nice hot shower, another cold beer, and inspected Murray’s hugely swollen knee (now renamed the boob knee). After a good dinner (that we ordered from the refugio cause we were just WAY too tired to cook) and a nice bottle of white wine we all shuffled off to our bunk beds to read until we fell asleep (which I admit was shockingly early – but hey we had hiked ALL day). I had the top bunk of 3 – like right up at the ceiling – which meant I slept terribly. At first I was so exhausted I just fell asleep, but then I kept waking up in the night, thinking I was going to roll off the side and it was just SO high up *sigh*. Plus there was a loud snorer in our room, just a terrible night’s sleep really.

Day 93 – January 30

Torres del Paine – Day 5
Refugio Chileno to Campamento Torres, Torres Mirador, Campamento Japones and Valle del Silencio and back to Refugio Chileno
Distance: 24.8 kilometers (for the boys – 18.8 for me)
Time taken: 11 hours

Today we left the refugio at 10:50 am and hiked up to Campamento Torres and then on up to the Mirador (viewpoint) of the famous Torres del Paine.


Me filling up our water bottle on the way
Had to get RIGHT in there to get the largest stream of water

And now- finally the real explanation of the Rugby Ball name (written by Murray)...see pic above of Mo's new calves!

cue 70's TV theme style music.....

"Deep in the heart of a secret military research facility, located within the head of Abe Lincoln Mt Rushmore, an experiment took a turn for the worse. Lab assistant Monique, a devout patriot, suffered extensive injuries from the atomic blast within the sports ESAFODDD unit. (Experimental Sports Advancement For Olympics Domination without Drug Detection). Barely alive, and most certainly unable to walk, the scientists seized the opportunity to re-open the classified 1970's shelved project RBBM. Rugby Ball Bladder Motion. Six million Pesos later (a mexican funded project with some corners cut), and 6 gruelling months of learning to control the new powers from the inserted Ball Bladders, the world gained a new moutaineering hero. The RBBM secret power is located within the ankles where tiny nuclear reactors are fitted to the valves of the Bladders for incredible infaltion and deflation power. These bladders have now given hope to the millions of hikers out there in need of Panzer Tank style assitance. No hill to steep, no mountain to tough, no trail to rocky, no river to wide, Six Million Pesos Rugby Ball Mo can save us all! "

Quite a nice hike – mostly shaded

The hike to the camp wasn’t too bad (we did the 4.9 km in 50 minutes) but the hike UP to the mirador was wow – tough!

There was some massive rocks that you had to maneuver up and over to get to the top. That's me posing with my hiking poles.

The view was completely worth it though – even though it took us an hour just to do that last little bit straight uphill.


Just - wow

The view of the torres was amazing – and the glacier – and the waterfalls coming down from the Glacier Torres into the lake. Stunning. My 'best view of the trip so far' I would say - WOW.

Steve, Me & Murray

Steve & Murray enjoying the view

Me & Murray

After enjoying the view for awhile we went to dip our feet in the freezing water for a bit

Me by the SUPER cold lake

The south, central and north torres (sur, central y norte)

Steve checking out the view

Best picture of the trip so far perhaps? Murray looking like he’s walking on water in front of Torres del Paine
And jumping over to the big rock!

Whew – made it!

But he still had to get BACK…… had to take the boots off in order to keep himself dry!

On the way out he had that big rock to jump over to and fall on to stop himself, but on the way back there was only small rocks - not worth risking an ice bath by jumping rock to rock that's for sure

Burrrr cold!

Eeeekkkkkk ice cube feet!

Coldest water yet – even colder than Mendoza – we assume because the water moves from the glacier to the lake to the streams so quickly that it doesn’t have time to warm up at all in the sun.

Then we headed back down

Murray and I negotiating the rocks

Once again I was VERY thankful for my hiking poles – it really does help your legs and knees while you are going downhill, and they also just help you steady yourself and stay safe.

It was also fabulous to only have small bags with for our little day trip of hiking (as we would be sleeping at Chileno again that evening).

When we got back down to Campamento Torres we stopped and had a bit to eat (we had our the gross packed lunch we had ordered at the refugio which was really just a giant super dry ham and cheese sandwich and some snacks
Steve however made a quick extra pasta meal that he had brought along

Then it was time to push on! We decided to hike on and check out Campamento Japones

Nice view of the Torres as we walked on by

There were QUITE a few dodgy streams to negotiate on the way!

Me using my poles to the full to make sure I didn’t fall!

Steve looking for a way over

Gosh the countryside is so beautiful

Yet another tough crossing!

Murray wringing out his sock after goofing around for a photo and then accidentally dipping one boot fully into the stream

Some were shallow enough to negotiate fine

But there was ANOTHER huge rock bed to negotiate (that’s me)

And another…. Me & Murray

Me & Steve

Me doing my ‘I’m exhausted’ look, Steve pointing at what they started call my ‘rugby balls.’ I have never really had much when it comes to calves – but after a few days heavy hiking they started to suddenly appear – so the boys said my calves were starting to look like rugby balls – nice huh? Ha ha

The water was quite fast moving!

Me stopping for a water bottle refill

When we got there I decided to stay and wait while Murray and Steve pushed on through the Valle del Silencio to get a view of the Torres from the backside.

Steve hiking away

& Murray

Lovely view of the backside of the Torres

Self freezing cold from the wind portrait

AND back down….


Murray stopping for a drink….. since he left his water bottle with me at the camp

Just a BIT steep

It was quite chilly for me waiting at the camp, so I got out my wind jacket, wrapped Murray’s jacket around my legs and decided to make some tea! I got the stove, gas and pot out of Steve’s bag – boiled up some water and threw the tea bags in so I could make as much as possible. I let it boil completely so it would hopefully stay hot for awhile, then had a few cups while waiting and oh was it lovely to have a hot drink! I ended up chatting to a few of the people who were camping there (mostly guys on climbling expenditions) and finally the boys got back from their hike!! By then it was starting to get a bit dark, so we quickly said goodbye and started booking it back to the refuigio. We made it in record time (even after I took back the bag from Murray and he limped a bit) and thankfully we made it before the sun went down.


HOORAY I can see the refugio!!!

One last steep climb up!

We got back at 9:45 and asked (while having a lovely cold beer) if there was any dinner left because it was SO windy out and we didn’t want to have to drag our little camping stove out there. The lovely guy who works at reception named Marcello said they only had soup left, but that we were welcome to use the kitchen and that he already had some boiling water we could have! I thanked him tons of times, got our pasta boiling, added the bolognese sauce and oregano and then served it up along with the grated cheese we had bought. It was YUMMY! And SO fabulous not to have to leave the nice warm refugio.

Day 94 – January 31

Torres del Paine – Day 6
Refugio Chileno to Hosteria las Torres
Distance: 5 kilometers
Time taken: 1.5 hours

We left the refugio quite late (11am) because we wanted to sleep in (even though I had moved to a bottom bunk I still slept terribly again). Then it was our last 5km hike to Hosteria las Torres. A good chunk of it was downhill (thank goodness) but the uphills were still a killer! We were excited though and had some energy left – enough to pass most people on the same trek and even up to jogging at some points. When we got to Hosteria las Torres we just could not imagine hiking the final 7.5 km down a VERY dusty road (not trekking path – but road) to the bus pick up point (especially since it was cloudy and looked like rain was on the way). I went inside the hotel and inquired about transfers. They said there was a bus that would leave at 2pm, and that it only cost 1,000 pesos (about 2 US dollars). Um yep – done. So we took our bags up to the restauarant and enjoyed a fabulous chicken, avocado and tomatoe sandwich, some yummy miny empanadas and diet cokes (for a ridiculously expensive price) for an hour and a half until it was time for the bus. While we were in the restaurant – it started to rain ...


and the valley we had just hike through that morning (Valle Ascencio) filled up with fog!

We sure were thankful that we had SUCH fabulous weather for our 6 day hike – amazing! We didn’t even break out our waterproof trousers or umbrellas – unbelievable! Apparently fog and rain is the kind of weather people usually have to deal with (like 80% of the time). But we had hot sun and no rain for the entire thing – we sure do feel lucky.

The bus was super duper crowded, but SO worth it in the pouring rain. It took us up to our big bus that would take us back to Puerto Natales. You could tell everyone on the bus was exhausted – let’s just say there was lots of very loud snoring (but NOT from us)! We got back to Puerto Natales at 5pm and checked back into Patagonian Adventures – our hostel. Unfortunately they dind’t have any double rooms free for that night, but we got into a nice small 6 bed dorm room with one other guy, and an older French couple, so it was nice and quiet. We returned our rented equipment, showered and then went out for one last dinner with Antonella before she left that evening for a boat cruise up to Puerto Montt. Murray and Steve finally had the chance to try lamb – Patagonian style (i.e. cooked on a rack and rotated around a fire – quite bizarre looking). I did’t really like it (too fatty tasting for my taste) but they said it was good. Then it was back for packing and another early night (just a BIT exhausted after all that hiking).

SO in total – Torres del Paine
Murray and Steve hiked 87.9 kilometers and I hiked 81.9 – not bad! We had such a great time as well – you had to work HARD for the best views – but it was totally worth it. And it wasn’t just those two big mirador views – every day – every hike – had stunning views. We didn’t expect that – it really was quite amazing. The experience of a lifetime for sure.

We just finished a week in Ushuaia, and now we are on our way up the East coast to Puerto Madryn where we'll spend a few days HOPEFULLY viewing whales!! Blog on the last week + to follow asap.... (if we have some wi-fi in our next hostel)!