Arrived in Puerto Natales and found a good place to live with a
really helpful guy who also rented out equipment...equipment for doing
a multi-day trek...ooh scary stuff. So the next day we got our gear
together and booked all the bus tickets to do the W circuit of the
Torres del Paine National Park. We spent half the day shopping for food
to take with us - mmmmm flavoured rice for 5 days, and then hurredly
packed all the things into the two backpacks, which by the end were
full.
Next day we got the bus early to the park. When we got to
the start of the trail we realised how heavy our bags were. We were
pretty much exhausted by the time we´d walked to the other side of the
car park and looking at the map 6 hours of walking with the packs up
hill seemed even further than we imagened. We made the smart choice of
camping half way up the valley towards the Torres and then made the
trip to the top in the evening to see the sun setting over the towers -
absolutely amazing even though it was like scrambling on our hands on a
proper trail! The next day we set off early trying to get to the camp
at the base of second valley. It was another beautiful day, warm and
sunny, and we saw loads of condors circling around - some we though had
the´re eye on us waiting for us to drop half way along. The walking was
tough, always up and down, but we made it through with the aid of many
chocolate breaks. On the way we saw an avalanch as part of the glacier
on the mountain we were walking to collapsed and fell down. It was the
most amazing sight we´d seen - just so powerful. All day long we heard
cracks as the glacier moved. We camped next to the river - we were
drinking the river water as it´s all clean and really cold and it
tastes so pure. On the third day we made our way up to see the
galaciers up close. On the way down we spotted a woodpecker and then
it´s mate. Then on the way down Rosie managed to twist her ankle about
300m from the camp. That slowed us down a bit - in the afternoon we
took our time to the base of the last valley and camped there - waiting
to see if Rosie´s ankle was good enough to walk on for the final day.
We decided not to risk the last part of the track up to the Glacier
Gray, and got the coach back to Puerto Natales in the afternoon a day
earlier than we expected. We came back exausted and fell asleep early.
All in all, a rather gruling trip, but we´re proud of ourselves for
having made it as far as we did.
