Sun, rain, snow and wind
Ok so the hostel computer has broken and along with it has gone my draft I wrote up last night, so sorry this can only be brief.
If you ever get to go to Chile, go here - Torres del Paine National Park. What an incredible, beautiful, challenging, fun, adventurous, breathtaking 5 days, 4 nights we had. We stayed at a great hostel - Erratic Rock - owned and run but a neat American guy Bill who can talk for hours and makes good coffee & homemade bread. These guys pretty much kitted us out with all we needed, from information about the park, how best to complete the walk (the 'W'), hiring gear, and letting me know I can use my nalgene waterbottle as a hot water bottle as well! Very exciting.
Day 1 - Bus to the park, catamaran across a picturesque lake in sunshine followed by 5ish hours of trekking to Grey Glacier and a free campsite overlooking it.
Day 2 - Backtracking our route in more glorious sunshine, equally amazing views from the very windy lookout point, and then heading round to another free campsite at the mouth of Valle Frances. All going well, only one blister and aching shoulders.
Day 3 - We beat the mist into the Valle to catch some more spectacular sights, even free trekking up some scree just for a better look. Finished the day in strong winds heading to a Refugio (where we had to pay to camp - boo) and had a 'little incident' with our tent (see below...)
Day 4 - Now tentless, trek in first rain then snow up to the next Refugio. Planned to stay just for lunch, but heavy snow stopped us for the night.
Day 5 - Up at dawn hoping to see the Torres, but mist and snow still there. Waited as long as possible before heading back down to catch our bus out.
The highlight - if you can call it that - was our tent blowing away on night 3. Yes it was as dramatic as it sounds! Sitting all cozy inside the Refugio having paid for camping, a shout went up that a yellow tent had blown away. The winds had picked up that day, but not so much as to take a pegged and rocked down tent, or so we thought. It ended up about 300m uphill in a tree by a waterfall and upon being rescued by the helpful staff, we found that the fly was ripped to shreds. Their replacement tent lasted even less time so camping had to be abandoned. We ended up sharing a top bunk! Also meant that our plans for the remaining night had to be changed, but the snow came in and the view of the Torres was blocked anyway. All in all a great story and made us the talk of the walk.
OK must go. Know we are safe and still loving this travelling life.
Write again soon,
Sarah
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