Parque nacional Torres del Paine

A local agency - Antares - organised a 2-day tour to this park, yesterday and today, and it was just great. This area is certainly one of the most beautiful places I have ever seen - the mix of mountains with special forms, lakes with different colours, vegetation, glaciers, light, a nature still untouched by man... all contribute to make this a very special and beautiful place. That is why it attracts people from all around the world in particular people who like mountains and trekking, because there are some special trails. Yesterday, after travelling the 110 kms north to the park (most of it by gravel roads) we walked (a group of five plus our local guide) for eight hours to reach the base of the actual 'Torres', nearly 10 kms each way to go from around 100 meters above seawater to 1100 meters. It wasn't easy... in particular at the end... stones and stones, 45% inclination or more and no trail anymore... But wow... what a feeling at the end, when reaching the small lake at the base of the three towers (like 3 fingers)... Somehow we were lucky, it didn't rain although it wasn't very sunny, the weather seems to be very unstable here. We only reached the lodge (Tyndall Cabanas) at nearly 11 pm... because the distances within the park are huge and the roads are of gravel... Today the tour continued with a boat tour on Lago Grey and visit the Glacier Grey (beautiful ice rocks with amazing blue colours) all this in a magnificent setting, beautiful lanscapes here, anywhere one looks. And this morning the sun came to say a big hello! Finally I visited some lakes like Lake Pehoe and Nordenskjöld which have different colous and shapes (these two communicate by some waterfalls) and enjoyed some great views. I also saw where Explora hotel is, very well located on lake Pehoe - a very expensive hotel (some 300 US$ a night and they only book for 4 nights...) but the best thing here is nature and it is everywhere you look at. If you have the chance, come here, it will certainly be one of the most beautiful landscapes you'll ever see.

So that's it about today... tomorrow further to El Calafate for another highpoint of the trip (Glacier Perito Moreno) and back to Argentina! :-) This is some 200 kms north of here and is still part of the Glacier region of south Pastagonia. The chilean say they have 80% of the glaciers while Argentina has the other 20%. Let's say what the argentinian say... in any case, they have Perito Moreno, which everybody agress is THE glacier.