Torres del Paine and Puerto Natales

It’s windy!

We have spent over a week in Chilean Patagonia and have seen no signs of the political unrest that continues at least in Santiago.

Puerto Natales is a small town, and tourism is probably the most important industry here. Our hostel is very basic, but totally nice - Craig is able to sleep well, we have warm showers, and a large & clean kitchen in which to make our own meals. The staff is very friendly, flexible and helpful - they offered us free storage for stuff when we left for the Torres del Paine National Park, and even lent us a lock for the locker. Coffee & tea are free throughout the day!
But using the laundromat across the street after returning from hiking, cost almost $20 for our 4.2 kg of clothes...

We can see the ocean from the hostel, and despite the town being sheltered by islands and peninsulas, there were white caps the 1.5 days we spent here before heading to the Park. Fortunately the rain let up the morning we walked to the bus which took us there.

Craig’s Monkey Puzzle Tree - as mentioned in The Ghost and Mrs. Muir

Link to TdP & Puerto Natales pictures



I sort of knew we were running out of time to plan our visit to this popular Park. The indoor lodging options had mostly filled up for the season by mid September. So we came when they had availability, in the early season. Logistically planning is challenging due to several different companies offering lodging, and around 9pm the night before we set off, we realized we had a 25km walk, instead of around 18km on the 2nd day. This is more than my body currently can handle.

But luck was on our side when unexpectedly another Refugio had space - and we had no decisions to make because the trail we were supposed to hike our first day, was closed due to bad weather. This was a gorgeous sunny day where we were then, and we got to experience the Patagonian wind without suffering in any way. Goes to show how isolated bad weather can be in the mountains.
Altitude is not an issue in the Park.

Am afraid our stats are not very impressive. We hiked 4 days, each 11-13 km. Some people did twice, even 3x this some days. Again, the footing was a challenge in many places because the park is popular, and they get a lot of rain, which contributes to erosion. The wind gusts were forecast to be 45-60+km/hr a couple of the days, but we were never in danger of blowing off cliffs. One day was miserably cold and rainy, and drying out our stuff even indoors afterwards was difficult.
Can’t imagine sleeping in tents - and met a girl, about 7 years old, who had completed a longer loop where this is a necessity. Hopefully I contributed to her feeling proud of herself!
Most of the tourists were 20-30 year-olds; a few were older than we are; people came from all over the world, and now we also met several young Americans!

What we should have brought, but didn’t:
⁃ Gortex overmitts and gaiters
⁃ Better pack covers and EVERYTHING in separate plastic bags

Saw lots of people using hiking poles, but except for a few stream crossings, we didn’t feel we needed them.
We didn’t ‘get to’ see Pumas, but there were pretty spring flowers, glacial lakes with ice floes, snow capped peaks (often in the clouds), and we saw the Grey Glacier - not as big as Perito Moreno, but big enough! Leaving the Park, we saw  guanacos - larger than the vicuñas, and they also live in the wild.
A nice break for me: the staff at the Refugios speak English!

The food was OK. Am not sure if my memories from ~25 years ago from our White Mountain huts at home, are correct - but at least their gooey cookies were way better than anything we have ever had dessert-wise in South America.
We were a little surprised at the amount of alcohol for sale at the Refugios - it’s a huge money maker for them, but we were never bothered by unruly people.
There is no cell cover or WiFi in the Park - instead Craig was well supplied with podcasts and articles.

Grey glacier photosphere

So all went well, and we enjoyed a leisurely day of walking around Puerto Natales after getting back - in bright sunshine and no wind!
Next we fly to Puerto Madryn in Argentina, after first taking the bus back to El Calafate tomorrow morning.

Grey Glacier

Puerto Natales