Lunch and Mirador Condor

The second day we were all a little tired and on point it was raining and cold. We had booked a catamaran tour to see the glacier at the top end of Lago Grey but when we got there, we were told it was cancelled due to the weather. The safe bet was to rebook the next day, so sadly we would miss it as we were headed back to Santiago. In retrospect we should have stayed one more day in Torres del Paine.

Anyway, after hanging around the Hotel Lago Grey and taking a quick walk around in the rain, we decided to find a lunch place followed by a hike as the forecast was for a couple hour weather window.

The (late) lunch stop was on a little island with a walkway to it and some guest houses. This seems to be one of the few places to eat actually in the park. No doubt was grandfathered in when the park was created. It was a nice stop and surprisingly not particularly crowded given it was the only thing around. We had driven by it on the way to Mirador Las Torres so was cool to stop there.

The food was good and the view amazing. And right on cue after lunch the sun came out so we went just down the road to a short hike up to a view of the area - Mirador Condor. While it stopped raining, the wind was howling and the higher we got, the stronger it got, maybe blowing 40 knots at the top. It was hard to stand against it and frankly was a little scary to get up. It was such an amazing 360° view of all the local “Lagos and Riós” as Lisa put it. The crazy puffs on the lakes were interesting. Well worth the effort.

We eventually scampered down as the rain started again and drove a bit further into the park to see a waterfall that connects two lakes and then headed back to the lodge. Even though the distances in the park are on the order of a few to 10km, it takes a while in the gravel at 20-30 km/hr. We had a nice dinner with Steve, Janet, Kim, Carol and Laura for our last night.Read more