After returning from Argentina we made our way to what actually had driven us to visit Patagonia: the Torres del Paine Park!
This is one of the biggest parks in Chile (if not the biggest) and features several glaciers, prairies and mountains, which can be hiked through over several days following diverse paths. Being the professional hikers we are, we opted for the one day hike to see the stars of the park, the Paine Towers (you guessed it).
We made it to the entrance of the park to be met by a blizzard. Then five minutes later in was brilliant sunshine. The Ranger told us they had just had 50cm of snow at the base of the towers and advised us to start the trek in the other direction and wait for the snow to clear. Typical! Our "good-luck" was still with us, throwing an unseasonal bit of snow just to make things more interesting! As we only had a couple of days, we decided to do the trek that was open up to a refuge near the towers and spend the night there, in hope we might reach to towers the following morning. We were able to appreciate a little bit of the beauty of the park on our way to the refuge. At some point it started snowing again (not a good omen for the next day) but we just put our ponchos on and had a snowball fight!
This photo always reminds me of Master Yoda fighting Darth Vader, I don't know why...
At the refuge we met other people as frustrated as us. It turns out that the walk to the base of the towers had been inaccessible for a few days - people just waited and looked out of the window for a glimpse of the top of the towers. The Torres del Paine were living up to their name! Fortunately we had artists amongst us, so we could have a nice sing along around the fire. Reassuringly six doctors also happened to be staying there, should we have any trekking mishaps!
The following morning we woke up to find the towers were still inaccessible. Like the others in the refuge, we took the advice of the Ranger and didn't even attempt to try and get nearer the towers. At least we managed to see their top, so we can say we saw a little of them!
Still, in all his expertise Tom managed to get one great photo of the Torres del Paine in their full glory! To do so he risked himself out in the cold for hours and bravely faced the elements.........
.......Actually no, he just took a photo of a poster they had in the refuge... not that you'd have known the difference! This is what the towers supposedly look like, in case you were wondering.
We left with the feeling Patagonia is a place we'll visit again one day... in the summer!
Beijinhos,
Vania
.......Actually no, he just took a photo of a poster they had in the refuge... not that you'd have known the difference! This is what the towers supposedly look like, in case you were wondering.
We left with the feeling Patagonia is a place we'll visit again one day... in the summer!
Beijinhos,
Vania
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