Lodge Cerro Guido Torres del Paine

... That was her said the hotel owner. 2 minutes later the jimny appeared 200 metres down the street and raced into a farm entrance. I was about to give chase on the Beemer when she then appeared back out of the gate and came over to the pump with me wondering whether she would stop. She did. The whole incident reminded me of that Chevy Chase movie where the mad postie charges passed his house every morning but he never actually sees her.

Torres del Paine, Patagonia, Chile stevekiwibelton

Set off this morning for Puerto Natales and made good time. The scenary was very Scottish, except for the heather. On arrival at the town we found there was really nothing to do, the wind was blowing a gale and so we decided to set off for the Parque Torres Del Paine. It as only 24 kms to get to out first stop, the Cave of the Millodon ( a prehistoric type of sloth.) This was first discovered in 1895 when a couple of local Germans found a couple ...

... By the time we got to the national park I was absolutely knackered!! However, we did get to see the three fingers of the Torres del Paine itself, a couple of waterfalls and other spectacular views of the nearby mountains and glaciers. Unfortunately the weather was poor with it blowing a gale; however it was Patagonia.

Then we had the comedy of getting back into Argentina. First Chilean customs but this must be done in a Chilean registered bus ...

... br>
Our next stop was to a small farm where we watched a sheep being sheared; saw ostriches, llamas, guanacos and some more penguins.  We then had a traditional Chile barbecue, which was meat, meat and more meat and was delicious.

During the next part of our journey Patty put on a CD recording she had made of one of the last Yamana natives.  The contents of this recording were the stories she had learnt from her grandparents on the myths, true ...

... Rio Turbio, which may or may not be in the business of renting rooms to strangers, we are told that the bus to Puerto Natales (just 50km away but across the border in Chile) will not be going tonight because the Chilean immigration officials have closed the border, possibly temporarily, possibly not. They are either on strike, or politically motivated, or maybe just tired, depending on which of my confusing translations can be believed. The bus might go tomorrow ...

... to see that the risk of avalanches is too high. Looks like it was a good choice, we heard about some guys who got trapped by an avalanche later on. They were saved, but still that`s no fun....

So we enjoyed the floating ice sculptures and deep blue crevasses of the glaciar Grey, the towering mountains of the Valle del Frances and the Torres and the condors flying over us. Patagonia is beautiful!

... a trek we hoped to complete in seven days. When we arrived, we were told that the northern part of the circuit was officially closed, meaning that none of the refugios (warm, indoor centers for various amenities at campsites) were open and that, if some emergency were to happen, people trekking up there were pretty much on their own. Also, there was apparently still pretty bad weather up there (the north side always gets more cold and snow than the south side). Only ...

... uitzicht. Ik ben daar gelijk een uur voor de houtkachel gaan zitten om wat te ontdooien. Ļs avonds hadden ze hutspot wat de dag wel helemaal kompleet maakte. .

De dag erna was gelukkig een klein stukje van 3,5 uur van los cuernos naar refugio torres. Na te zijn bijgekomen kon ik gister daarvandaan op en neer naar baso torres om de W te voltooien.
Alles bijelkaar een hele avontuurlijke wandelroute ...

... that my hat was still on her head!

The wind was like nothing I had ever experienced before in the mountains. Plenty of times we had to crouch down just to stop being blown off our feet. We later learnt in Puerto Natales that the wind had been recorded at 110km per hour...thatīs nearly 70 miles an hour!

A good deal of the day was spent walking alongside Lago Nordenskjold. The wind was so strong that it caused huge waves to form ...

... 20 people staying there, all frozen and soaked to the bones after being caught in the blizzard. The entire place was covered in wet trekking clothes hung out to dry and everyone was slowly warming their bones around the wood-burner in the common room.

That day we'd trekked just under 30km, with large bags on our backs; it had taken around 9 hours. After eating, we rolled into our bunks for some well earned shut-eye.