Mountain Lodge "Paine Grande" Torres del Paine

Well after 9 days in the wilderness amid hailstorms, hurricane style winds, blisters, falling in rivers, mice (the list could go on!) we walked about 80km (approx 50 miles), completed the 'W' and made it back in one piece!! It was absolutely fantastic. We both had such a great time - the landscape, scenery, views - everything - it was all just so beautiful and breathtaking. Our first stop was Pehoe. The bus picked us up from our hostel and we drove for over 2 hours to the administration centr...

Currently we sit in Colonia de Sacramento in Uruguay, north across the river from Buenos Aires. Since our last entry we have traveled all the way from Puerto Iguazu (further north on the Brazilian border) way down south to the (very nearly) bottom of Argentina, west across into Chile, then back north and east halfway up the coast to Puerto Madryn, then all the way north to Buenos Aires, and then finally here. We flew down, but then took bus after bus, after bus, plus several days of trekking ...

Km 7595 - Torres del Paine National Park After the wonderful day in El Calafate, it was time to leave Argentina and cross the border into Chile to visit one of the most famous national park in the world: Torres del Paine, classified by Unesco as Natural heritage site for the beauty of its scenary. The plan with the group was to spend 5 nights in the park allowing time for those who wanted to trek the W trail. For those not wanting to hike or prefering shorter hikes, the possibility was offere...

Back to Chile We're back over in Chile, apparently a much more expensive country than Argentina. However, down here in Patagonia, there's not that much difference, and we find ourselves paying less for accommodation in our first stop, Puerto Natales, than anywhere over the Argentinian side. Torres del Paine Puerto Natales is a town in the south of Chile, a short distance from the famous Torres del Paine national park. Here the town, with it's wooden houses, it's cool climate, and it's long da...

Itīs not often that we can actually boast that we have "Been there, done that, bought the T-shirt", but in the case of our trek in the Parque Nacional Torres del Paine, itīs actually true. We arrived in the sleepy Chilean town of Puerto Natales in the mid afernoon after a long, draining drive across the border from El Calafate. Fortunately the "bohemian" hostel weīd picked was just around the corner from where the bus dropped us. We marched over there, checked in, dumped our bags and settled ...

Fantastic 5 day hike in the national park. Spent 4 days doing the "W" route and 1 day hiking out avoiding the Catamaran - the hardest way to save $40! We were really lucky with the weather. Day 1 - Refugio Las Torres to Base Las Torres and back. Snowed for about 3 hours but it was fine because it was sunny for almost all the time and it never settled! Saw quite a few Condors but all from a distance - at least that meant that there wasnīt anything too dead near us! Breakfast and evening meal w...