Martin Gusinde Puerto Natales

... the park with tour guide. The trip took us all the way through the park, stopping at various points so we could take short walks to different look outs and admire the panoramic views. The wind was rather strong at certain times and was a real struggle to walk against but it was funny watching Daniel try and take a picture of the waterfall and stop himself from being blown over the edge. The weather held out for us until our last stop when it started to rain ...

... The weather in Torres del Paine park is changeable but the wind is a constant. Rain, sleet and snow can follow a day of bright sunshine in spring or early summer. Even in summer, there are strong winds (up to 80 km/hr) and rainfalls." We thought we would be on a heavily tourist beaten track with kiosks, viewing platforms, pleasant walks and a bit of camping. We thought it would be a walk in the park. We were actually about to embark on one of the most famous trekking ...

... thick cloud behind me. Tedious! Lesson #2: if the conditions are ideal, take the photo &#8211; you don&#8217;t know when the next opportunity will arise. Lesson #3: you can NEVER count on the<br>weather.<br><br>The trek up the valley was steep and long. We did the return trip with our day packs in 5 hours, it probably would have taken a gruelling 6 hours one-way if we&#8217;d have been carrying our big packs, but it would have been so worth it! Especially since we heard ...

... it didn't actually depart until 2:30. All was good. The boat trip was incredible. A bit pricey, but well worth it. First, we took a short walk up to Grey Lake and a raft ride out to the boat. Then, we spent about three hours on the water, going straight up to the face of the glacier and back again. They even served us pisco sour on the boat. We took the shorter route back to Puerto Natales, which was a bit fun after the sun set, but was pretty okay. The rental car held up ...

... entrance there is a life-size reproduction of the beast. There's not much to see actually, the remnants are in a London museum, but it's a super-cave where our Cro-Magnon ancestors must have been really comfy. :) It all started well, but the further we went into the park the stronger the wind, with rain and other pleasures. Finally to see the overflow of a lake falling into another one, normally a 10-minute walk, it took us 40 minutes of being hurled down and face ...

... ice calve off the front and sides of it, regularly. We do meet an Israeli-American girl called Avigail on the bus to El Calafate, the local town beside the glacier. Very expensive here though (touristy parts of Argentina are expensive) so we decide to try to hitch a lift to the glacier park which is like 40-60 km´s away. Starts off as great fun but after waiting for over an hour with no joy, we all descend into a state of boredom and fatigue. We end up dragging ...

Puerto Natales in Chile is a Big tin town thats friendly and not overly touristy like El Calafate. this is the base for heading to the Torres Del Paine trek. We decided to do the "w" which is five days and takes in all the best bits. After the first night in town enjoying some drinks with some drunk Chilean venture scouts who were very impressed that we liked torte a milhoja the Chileans favorite cake and Completos, their hotdogs, we got the bus to the national ...

... 2 hours on to the next free campsite. As we walked the weather began to improve which lifted our spirits cause if it had not we would have immediately gotten back on the Catamaran and skipped the rest of the trek. So another 2 hours and plenty of bush whacking due to no trail upkeep we eventually arrive at our camp. Over the course of the next 3 days we continued hiking averaging over 12 kilometers a day, with a cup of soup in the morning, snacks, cookies ...

... middle of it.<br><br> <br><br>Like most beautiful attractions down here there's clearly a lot of tourist development taking place and no doubt the place will look very different in 10/20 years time. <br><br>The hostelria grounds were massive, but even then they are putting up some large buildings ...

... chocolate cake. It was called Patagonia Dulce (http://www.patagoniadulce.cl/) and we can highly recommend it! It also sold small gifts. <br><br>After more of a walk to work off the cake and another rest (!) it was time for dinner. We ate at a fish restaurant overlooking the Sound called El Maritimo. The food was good and well priced but service was rubbish and SLOW. Even by tourist ...