Weskar Patagonian Lodge Puerto Natales

... Natales and not having had time to see them on our original itinerary was a shame. Most people go on a 2 - 9 day hike to get up close and personal with them, but with snow falling and icy winds howling we were happy with the views available from within the national park on yet another overpriced tour bus.<br><br>The area is apparently also quite famed for a little fury bear like dude called a ''Mylodon ...

... on the trail although the most popular part of the trail is the "W" which is pretty much overrun with people just like Yosemite Valley. When I got on the other part of the Circuit there were far fewer people and a group of 12 or so of us got to see each other and catch up at camp each night after our days of hiking. I met a cool couple who are in their late 50's/early 60's ...

... responsable des locations s'occupe de rassembler tout le matériel et nous réserve les billets de bus aller et retour entre Puerto Natales et Torres del Paine. Elle nous fait même une bonne réduction sur le prix de la location, probablement une manière de s'excuser pour notre réservation ratée. Nous réservons également une nuit pour le soir où nous rentrerons à Puerto Natales et le billet de bus pour retourner à El Calafate en Argentine le ...

... my way back up the other Argentinian coast to a town called Puerto Madryn, gateway to the Valdes Peninsula (24 hours solid on a bus but at least a good bus). This is a wildlife cornucopia which you might have seen on National Geographic for the Orca Whales breaching phenomen where they snatch baby seals off the beach. A must see on my trip from the start so I coughed up a bit of money to rent a car (on my own - Jesse is beating his way all the way up to Salvador ...

... we were looking for. However we did see a serac break off and send a big avalanche down the face of one mountain, very impressive. Once up and walking in the valley you can see the entire valley is surrounded by 1000m granite walls. This is a climbers paradise as hardly any of it has been touched. We headed up to the British camp and on to the head of the valley way beyond where most of the trekkers go. We ran into a young American climber who had been ...

... our sleeping bags at 4 30 in the morning to hike up in the dark if it was cloudy. As it turned out, the alarm went off an hour late and it was already light and cloudy. Teresa and I stayed tucked in the tent and Mick went out to see if the others were headed up. We heard talking then fell back asleep. At 9am we woke up, 3 hours after Mick left at 6 am. He still wasn´t back yet. We were a little concerned but figured he was with someone from the other group. By ...

Breakfast was some homemade buns by Teresa with her homemade strawberry and rhubarb jam. Absolutely Yummy. We packed our gear and headed out on the bus to the park. When we got there, the weather was not great. Very overcast, cool, and threatening to rain, but no rain. We estimated about a 4 hour hike to our campsite at the base of the lookout to the Torres, and hit the road. As the trail started to rise steeply, the rain picked up, and the clouds dropped ...

... boarding the shuttle bus back to the entrance we 'enjoyed' a rather extraordinary bridge crossing, where the bridge seemed to be custom-made for the mini van, with literally not an inch to spare on either side! <br><br>Aye carumba... <br><br> <br><br>The driver got a roaring round of applause when ...

... League game against Inter Milan. <br><br>After a great result in the 1st leg at Anfield, we only had to not lose by more than 2 goals and we would be through to the 1/4 finals. Again ;)<br><br>Katie promised me that we were staying somewhere which had cable tv, but until I saw it for myself I would be a nervous wreck.<br><br>As always it was pretty horrible walking to the bus station with all our bags, especially as the last 5 minutes involved ...