Hotel Rio Serrano Torres del Paine

... fazed, we decided to trek clockwise instead of the normal counterclockwise route; doing so, we would first complete the southern side of the circuit, a route called the 'W' for the shape it traces, the more popular and scenic part of the whole circuit. We would also then give the north side another few days to hopefully clear up; when we got to the end of the W, we would then decide whether to continue on or cut things shorter than planned.<br><br>Beginning our clockwise ...

Hiking x Camping + Snow + Sun + Wind = Torres del Paine National Park!<br><br>Well, first we had a 5 hour bus ride from El Calafate in Argentina, across the border to Puerto Natales, Chile. The border crossing was fine. The night in Puerto Natales was just for food, sleep and stocking up on supplies for our three days camping in Torres del Paine National Park. We made sure we had clothes and gear for weather that could be sunny, snowing, and definitely windy. Glad we did.<br><br>What an ...

Blue sky´s, light winds, and a fair tempurature that would make a guanaco (llama) sweat. This was our first day at hiking the ¨W¨within Parque Nat´l Torres del Paine in Chile´s southern patagonia. <br><br>From the very beginning, the views were breathtaking and we knew that they were only going to be bigger and better as the kilometers ticked on. It was an interesting approach to the park via bus. I don´t know if it was the frequent stopping for crossing guanacos or the fact that after ...

... jour1. bateau sur le lac pehoe et on pars pour 11 km de marche enrviron 3h et demi.<br>ca passe bien. le sac est un peu lourd mais heureusemt cest christoph qui porte la tente, je crois que seule ca aurait ete un peu dur!<br>il fait pas tres chaud, mais avec un bon rythme de marche, on ne rend compte que lorsqueon sarrete. cest philipp le canadien qui donne la cadence... une bonne cadence dailleurs, ms lui na pas un gros sac car il dort en refuge. la nous decouvrins nos ...

... for a 4 hour hike around one of the large lakes. <br><br>There were very few visitors in the park as its the low season (things pick up from Oct / Nov), which suited us perfectly as we felt we had the park all to ourselves.<br><br>We have now headed further south to the town of Puerto Natales where we will take the cargo ferry north to Puerto Montt through the Chilean fjords.

... is that the campsite at the end of this path - and therefore this entire route - is technically closed for the winter at the moment, and so we were completely on our own with nature. So much so in fact, that just after we turned around, about 30 horses entered the field running past us, all well fed and clearly owned by the park, but essentially set free around these fields. Quite an impressive sight - especially when you remember our backdrop. The walk got even more ...

... the plan was to cross the straight of Magellan to Tierra del Fuego and back in Argentina towards Ushuaia but due to a dia feriado in Argentina (Dia de las Malvinas), it will not be possible to cross the border, therefore, I will make a little detour a spend the night in Punta Arenas, the most southern city of Chile, home of the very good Austral beer (la cerveza del fin del mundo), especially the Austral negra is worth a try !

Have just spent the last four nights in the middle of Torres Del Paine national park camping. It was brilliant, but the weather was tempestuous and now I have a cold :). I went on an eight hour trek on Saturday, got soaked to the skin, even my waterproof boots were soaked through, I almost lost the will to live trying to get up the mountain and back with a few of the others....it was below zero on the torres and it was snowing and hailing across ...

... stamped with the Torres del Paine stamp in my childish anticipation. Of course I didn´t realise my folly until we were halfway back to Laguna Amarga (where we were supposed to disembark to make our ascent the next day). Now this was a problem; and our usually nonchalant guide knew it - we were out of season and hitching was necessary. Fortunately he hailed an oncoming tourist bus and negotiated with the driver to take us back to CONAF; where the warden ...