March 26th-28th 2015

A car rental haven proven impossible we’re left trying to decide what to do with our last day of big time activities in Torres del Paine. Russell and Clara  are set on doing another hike to Glacier Grey (blog coming soon) so my dad and I are left trying to figure out what’s best for us.

We end up settling on a day tour of the park and  even manage to find a place selling the tour for 20,000 CLP instead of the standard 25,000.   You might be able to find this deal too by turning onto Arturo Prat street from Manuel Buines and heading towards the main square before going into the first tourist agency on your right.

Our tour booked we relax for the rest of the night and wake up with Russell and Clara for their early departure towards Glacier Grey.  Once they leave my dad tells me that he hasn’t slept and is having traveller type stomach problems. He won’t be going on the tour, and I won’t be going into further detail.  Either way, he insists I go.

As the minibus drops by Yagan house to pick me up just after 8:15 I climb in and chat with the driver as we wind through Puerto Natales picking up the other members of our family for the day.  Travelling in shoulder season pays off, as our group is small, two lovely Chilean girls from Santiago, an Austrian guy who has been living in Chile for a year, and a friendly older Brazilian lady.  Our guide Juan completes the group, he is a volunteer firemen, a tour leader, a staff member at Hotel Grey in the park and, to hear him tell it, countless other things.

We chat in Spanish as we drive out through a crowd covered town with intermittent rain all hoping that the weather clears.  In Southern Chile a blue sky makes all the difference.  The conversation keeps me awake and very engaged, a necessity to converse in your third language.   Over the course of the day I only speak Spanish which is refreshing after a while travelling with my family and speaking too much English.

We make a quick stop at a souvenir shop halfway to the park and I snap some pictures of a lonely road winding off into the mists before entering the tourist trap to conspicuously warm myself standing next to their huge wood stoves doing my best to look interested in geographical history books written in Spanish.

20 minutes later were continuing on our way. As we enter the National park the group all seems to be looking up longingly at a sky blanketed in dark grey clouds.  We make a few quick stops to look at some Rhea’s from the mini bus.  Later we are allowed out of the bus to take some photographs with a small group of Guanaco’s grazing lazily on the grass.

There’s no sign of the sky clearing up but our spirits do get a bit of a boost as we pull up to Lago Amarga and see a bunch of flamingoes on the near side of the small lake.  There’s a few young ones too and they way they stand almost on top of the ducks amuses me to no end.

Perhaps a tad over-exuberant we get a little too close and the flock takes flight, only two brave pink creatures staying close to us.  I love both of the following photos.

As we walk back along the pebble beach, crusted with salt at the edge of the lake, I shake my head, only just then realizing that with a blue sky from here we’d have been gifted a stunning view of the Torres and their reflection in the still green water. Oh well, I can’t really complain with the weather I’ve gotten in the park so far, and at least it’s not raining yet.

We stop at the administration to enter the park and I explain my situation to my guide Juan.  Basically a standard ticket to Torres Del Paine is good for three days of consecutive entry, but as our plan’s changed it’s now been three days since we first entered.  Juan just smiles and says no problem, registering the others and telling the park rangers that I have a ticket.  I’m allowed in without having to re-pay the 18,000 CLP fee or present any sort of documentation.  Now that’s a tour guide!

 

From the Park offices we continue along the road back towards Lago Pudeto where my family had such a great first day in the park.  We arrive at the parking lot to Salto Grande, a waterfall I’ve promised myself to get to, and I’m brimming with excitement, jumping out of the van and leading the way.  About halfway up the  twenty minute trail I see Clara and Russell and grin, knowing they must be waiting for their 12:00 catamaran.  Russell beckons me with strange urgency for him so I sprint up to join him and Clara.

He is bubbling with an excitement, which is rare for Russell, and quickly leads me to an armadillo in the grass just left of the trail.  I’m now bubbling too, since I’ve never seen an armadillo before, not even in a zoo.  I grin as I watch the little creature, so utterly reminiscent of a dinosaur, digging at the grass and watching us wearily.

Sadly, the pictures aren’t the best from here on out because Russell and Clara forgot their camera, and, since what they are dong today should be more impressive than my plans, I’m forced to give them mine.  When I tell them it’s 11:42 they take off running back down towards the catamaran which crosses Lago Pudeto (24,00 CLP)  and I call the rest of my group over to observe the armadillo, who seems to have suddenly forgotten it’s fear, advancing until it stands just a few feet away from us, foraging for insects.

Eventually it takes off down the hill and we continue on to the waterfall.  Unfortunately there’s strict rules on where you can and can’t go, and the first time I try to get close to the roaring falls I’m whistled back.  Luckily that disciplinarian guide soon disappears and before long I’m dipping my head into the waters just a few feet upstream from these stunning cascades.

As I climb back up to join my group feeling utterly refreshed, despite a cut sustained on my knee while lowering myself onto the jagged rocks, the Chilean girls laugh at my special breed of insanity.  They have no idea that this is only the beginning. I take to cold waters… well like a fish to… water.  (Sorry)

The sky clears just a little bit, allowing us glimpses of the up to now invisible mountains that make the park so famous.  As I stand there gazing up at them, the waterfall crashing against the rocks in the background, I reflect on how lucky I have been to see this park in all it’s glory, sun burning bright, a clear blue sky crowning the other worldly mountains.

Our allotted time run out and then some we hurriedly head back to the parking lot, climbing back into the van and carrying on along the road around Lago Pudeto before stopping to eat lunch at one of the park refugios. I enjoy a homemade salami sandwich before climbing thigh deep into the waters of Lago Pudeto, before deciding to save the effort for the Glacier Grey lake, since I had so much fun swimming amidst the icebergs yesterday.  Besides I’ve already swum in Pudeto.  The others in the group don’t believe me when I boldly declare I’m going to swim with the icebergs, but I’ll show them.

I doze off on the almost hour long drive to Lago Grey and wake up feeling sick to my stomach.  I held off longer than my father, but whatever got him is knocking at the door for me. It might even have the key.

I’m frustrated but at the same time I’m not going to let a whiny stomach ruin my chance to see the glacier, however far away it ends up being. The sky is again partially clear making it well worth the half hour  walk. About halfway down the trail i realize i have no idea where my go pro is.  I’ve either left it on the bus, or lost it where we ate lunch, but there’s no time to find out now and I continue on, my stomach still doing somersaults, as painful as if I’d been doing them myself.

We cross a fun suspension bridge over a rushing glacial river, and then head out onto a sprawling shale beach, the Torres and Cuernos looming in the horizon ahead of us, shining blue icebergs, half diamond half sapphire glowing in the green water to our left.  Even here, entirely across the sizeable Lago Grey, at least 5 km from the vast ice fields, the air is noticeably colder thanks to the distant glacier.

I cross the entire distance of the beach to get closer to the icebergs and allow myself a better view of the glacier in the distance, all the while battling a very frustrating stomach.

Still, I’ve talked a big game, so now I have to back it up, and the Chilean girls cue up their go pro for a video that I’m still hoping to get my hands on, as I disrobe and climb into the near frozen water, once again wading out to my belly button and dunking myself entirely under the water.

The moment of blissful frozen truth sweeps over me and I explode up out of the water, all ailments forgotten for that brief moment before the cold really hits, then I’m climbing out of the water fast as I can and drying myself off with my towel, which I finally have remembered to bring with me.  Friends and strangers alike laugh at me and offer their befuddled congratulations and we turn the video off and set to trying to pick up some massive chunks of ice out of the lake.  Believe me when I say this one was so heavy it almost killed me.

We start heading back and my stomach issues become a lot more urgent after a momentary recovery.  I make it as far as I can, to a small grove of trees a fair ways back from the path, and then…. well we need not go into what happens next.  That said my detour makes me take a different path back up to the main trail and I manage to catch sight of a massive hare darting away from me into a thicket.  Always search for that silver lining.

We eventually climb back into the van my stomach still killing me but a smile cutting across the entirety of my face as we start our journey back towards Puerto Natales, stopping at a scenic view point or two before making our final stop at Milodon Cave some 18 km from the city centre.

We pay the entrance fee of 4,000 CLP for foreigners 2,000 CLP for Chileans and walk along the short trail together to the big cave.  It’s interesting enough, and somewhat pretty, though as I learn of all the fossils that have been discovered in the cave and general area I’m suddenly a lot more interested.  Still, as we leave 20 minutes later, I’m unsure it was worth the 8 dollar entry.  Oh well.  Live and Learn.

Juan at the wheel we speed back to Puerto Natales and I’m dropped off at Yagan house just after 6 o’clock.  My father is looking rough and I, feeling terribly guilty for having enjoyed my day, hurry out to the pharmacy to get him some Gravol, hoping it might help him get things under control.  We fly to Puerto Montt in two days, then he has an overnight bus to Santiago.  Neither of those things would be much fun with stomach problems.  I’ve done both, and hated them deeply.

Luckily the Gravol seems to do it’s job and he eventually falls asleep.  I slip out just before Russell and Clara get back from their exhausting but rewarding day hike to Glacier Grey and we enjoy a late dinner at Masay Sandwiches. I still can’t recommend the Barros Luco Tocino highly enough, and I relish the greasy, tasty chilean steak and bacon sandwich, just thankful the stomach pain has faded to the background.  Somehow my 26 year old digestive tract seems to have held up better than my father’s which, rumour has it, is a little older.

Trooper that my father is he wakes up the next morning feeling endlessly better and the four of us enjoy our last day in southern Patagonia with a calm day exploring more of Puerto Natales.  I get a haircut taking me from travelling hippy to stereotypical cop courtesy of Clara’s skilled scissor wielding hands.

 

 

The next morning it’s back to Punta Arenas airport by bus (6.000 CLP) for our flight.  We flew with Sky Airlines return from Puerto Montt for roughly 230 CAD each.  Check out there website here as booking in advance will help you keep costs down.  After a smooth landing and a quick taxi transfer to the bus station all that’s left is a hard goodbye.  I leave my dearest family in the bus station bound for Santiago as I head to Puerto Varas for more South American adventures.

It’s been one hell of a trip, and I’m impressed my Dad not only made it down to see me but did so damn well keeping up with Russell and I.  It was a pleasure to have the whole family together again, and I’m definitely still missing them as the bus pulls into Puerto Varas, that said I’m  excited to get back into the groove of Solo travel, something I love with all my heart.