1-3-20 - Chile - Torres del Paine Nacional Parque
/“Honey, it’s time to get up.” Says Kyle at 6:30 a.m. Leanne must have been in one deep sleep as she’s as groggy as could be. She peaks outside to see it’s pouring rain, maybe one reason she couldn’t get up so easily. Today we sojourn to Torres del Paine National Parque in Chilean Patagonia.
Mathias, a tall Argentine guide originally from Buenos Aires, picks us up at our hotel. The bus ride is very long and we also have to go through very crowded passport control for both exiting Argentina and entering Chile. All told, it ends up taking us 6 hours to get to the park.
During the ride, Mattias encourages the bus to get to know each other and make new friends. He announces where each of our fellow 34 passengers hail from. Leanne and I check whether we have or will visit the country during our trip. Argentina, Peru, Brazil, Japan, China, UK, Spain, Germany, Italy, Mexico, US – all check, check, check. Then we get to Poland – strike out! The only country on the bus not our list. Kyle is sorely wishing he had squeezed Poland in during the first half. We look back an hour later and nearly the entire bus is knocked out sleeping. International friendship making apparently far less appealing than a bus nap.
About halfway through the ride, we turn off the paved road and head out on the “shortcut” which is an unpaved road that apparently cuts a couple hours off the drive. The road quickly becomes a rocky dirt path. The bumpy ride jars our backs something fierce.
The sleeping passengers start bumping up and down — nap time is definitely over. The Polish guy falls on the Japanese guy who accidentally pushes the glasses off the wife of a now deeply annoyed Italian guy. It’s a game of international dominoes here in the bus while Mattias is happy sipping his Yerba mate completely oblivious, readily handing his metal cup back and forth with the driver to take his sip.
We reach the Chilean border town where we get cappuccinos, empanadas and souvenirs from Chile. Empanadas are very efficient — it’s like a Hot Pocket except it’s made with fresh dough and real meat. And it’s tasty. During the stop, Mattias told us they have to let some of the air out of the bus tires. As we are traveling up to a higher altitude today on partly a dirt road, the air in the tires expands and no one on the bus wants exploding tires during our 4x4 expedition. Hmmm?
Torres del Paine National Park measures approximately 181,414 hectares. It is one of the largest and most visited parks in Chile averaging around 250,000 visitors a year of which 54% are foreign tourists.
At 1pm, we reach the park and our first stop is at Sarmiento Lake. We take in the beauty and take our pictures. From there, we head to the Paine River Watershed. The Paine River is approximately 19 miles long and links the five lakes belonging to the melting Dickson Glacier. The Paine River watershed beings in the cold Southern Ice Fields from which the Dickson, Zapata, Tyndall, Pingo and Grey glaciers are born. We soak up the natural beauty surrounding us.
It’s 2:32 pm by the time the bus reaches the main stopping point of Torres del Paine National Park (9 ½ hours after being picked up) and we file off the bus. Usually by 2:30 pm on a bus tour day we are finishing up. But not today on this trip. We are running behind schedule but not a soul - from the guide to the driver to the fellow tourists seem phased. Kyle notes that at this pace, we will arrive back somewhere around 4am. It’s a culture of slow pace that is welcomed as a tourist — too often we feel rushed. This is good for the blood pressure.
We start off on a two hour hike through the park. In the valley, the trail passes through different landscapes, between steep slopes and forests and moraines. We come upon a herd of guanacos, which are camelid animals similar to llamas, grazing in the grass next to the path. Kyle had guanaco for dinner in El Calafate. He now swears one of the guanacos is looking at him cross-eyed accusing him of eating his long lost cousin from Argentina.
The trail ends at Torres Lagoon in front of the imposing granite peaks of “Torres del Paine” from which the park derives its name and providing one of the most iconic views of the park. The Torres del Paine are the distinctive three granite peaks of the Paine mountain range or Paine Massif. From left to right they are known as Torres d'Agostini, Torres Central and Torres Monzino. They extend up to 2,500 meters (8,200 ft) above sea level and are joined by the Cuernos del Paine.
The sky is a royal blue with white puffy clouds stretching with the wind. The sky and clouds make our pictures “pop” providing us with some of the best photos on the trip so far.
On the hike back we stop at the Paine Waterfall at 49 feet tall. From the lookout point, we can appreciate the enormous flow of the Paine River and the formidable rocky platforms sculpted by the water. The waterfall also has panoramic views of both Torres del Paine and Almirante Niero mountains. We listen to the enormous sounds of crashing water running down a turquoise river. It’s both majestic and peaceful; the boys walk along the river’s edge throwing stones into the river.
After the hike, we head back following our long journey out in reverse. Passport control is a lot less crowded and hectic given the later hour. We finally get dropped off around 10:30pm completing our 15+ hour journey. A very long day indeed but well worth it as Torres del Paine jumps into the top five parks and places of natural beauty on most of our lists.
