A day in Torres del Paine National Park

I didn't sleep well, so I really wasn't ready to get up when the alarm went off.  However, our 5am breakfast turned out that to be one of the best of the trip and set us up for the day.  There was coffee, fruit juice, watermelon, cereal, yoghurt, a selection of pastries, brown or white toast, cheese, ham, and jams.  It was all very good!

We were on the truck by 6am to drive the 150 kilometres to Torres del Paine National Park.  It was raining quite heavily and was still dark when we left.  We were pleased that we didn't have to take tents down!

On the truck with us were the two guides who were going with our 14 group members who were doing the W trek.  They had each paid £1500 to do the 4-day hike, and some of them were already questioning their decision, especially as some of the group who hadn't paid anything extra at all were doing day one of the trek today independently.  What's more, those of us who weren't doing either of these things, were staying with the truck and waiting for the day hikers to get back before we were all driving together to our campsite for the next three nights!  None of this had been made clear as an option before the 14 paid all the money! 

We drove along the Ruta del Fin del Mundo (the road to the end of the world!) to get to the park, arriving there at about 8.30am.  On the way, we saw more guanacos than we have seen anywhere else!

Once we were in the park, we said goodbye to the trekkers and the day hikers and then decided what to do with ourselves for the nine hours we had to wait for them to return from their 20 kilometre Three Towers walk!Read more