Torres del Paine

Following the battles with the wind we took a few days "rest", trekking around Torres del Paine. This meant we had to ditch the bikes and the gear in Puerto Natales and hire some rucksacs.

As it turned out it would probably just have been as easy (and less painful) to use plakky carrier bags from Abu-Gosch (big supermarket).

Our aim was to see Glacier Grey, the French Valley and the Towers themselves (at sunrise).

It only took us 5 days to squeeze these in. Why they built all these things so far away from each other is bewildering. Also, the treks were endless miles of up-down, up-down, up-down which Gemma reckons is what happens when walking in mountains. Personally, I came here for the bike ride and was therefore expecting cable-cars at every hill.

The highlights were brilliant, we enjoyed some good clear views on most days until the last morning. Back in Puerto Natales we were assured that the trip would not complete without waking up at 4am to start the 1 hour walk up loose boulders and rocks to sit in the freezing cold surrounded by other shivering folk. The sun came, rising above the mountains behind us, everybody excited about the prospect of seeing the awe-inspiring towers light up in magnificant pink and orange and gold and allsorts of lazers and tooting. Anyway, the cloud up at the top of the mountains made sure that all we saw was lots of scrambling back down the loose boulders and rocks to get back to the bus first. The sunrise was still nice but just not the postcard picture we´d hoped for.

A couple of notable sightings included watching 3 kids chase a rat with a sharp pointy stick and watching a man trying to cut the grass of a field the size of Yorkshire with a strimmer. He apparently started in 1985.

Next we are going to be in El Calafate (back in Argentina) where we will be heading out to see the absolutely massive Perito Moreno Glacier. No waking up at sunrise this time though!

Lots of love Ian and Gem xxx