Chilling in Chile

It's ten o' clock on a moonless night. My aching legs testify of a long day of hiking. The mixture of raindrops and snow make me shiver. I'm wearing thermal layers under my hiking clothes, and a knitted beanie on my head. My headlamp shines a few feet in between the trees surrounding our campsite. I am trying to think like a mouse. If I were a mouse, where is the least likely place that I would look for food? Together with my new Israeli friends, I'm hanging plastic bags of food and backpacks on ropes in trees. The previous night we had been victims of an ambush by mice. Tonight, we will be prepared.

How did I end up here, at a deserted campsite, trying to think like a nibbling, food stealing mouse?

This encounter with rodents feels oddly out of place in one of the most beautiful settings on earth, a hiker's paradise that was recently voted 'the eighth wonder of the world'. Torres del Paine is a sparkling gem in Southern Chile's Patagonian crown. The Torres del Paine National Park offers awe-inspiring natural beauty in the form of waterfalls, rivers, turquoise lakes, mountains covered in trees and snow, and glaciers. Like many adventurous travellers, I have made the long journey south to hike the legendary 'W' trail. The 'W' is a five day hike during which you encounter the majestic Glacier Gray at the end of Lake Gray and the blue 'Laguna Los Patos' surrounded by colourful trees. During the hike you experience four seasons in one day, from sunshine to snow. Your reward on the final day is the sight of three 'torres', the breathtaking granite towers after which the park is named.

Autumn is a fantastic time to experience the splendour of Torres del Paine. The dense forests are ablaze in colours of red, yellow and orange. It's the end of the hiking season, so you get to breathe in nature's glory without meeting hundreds of people on the route. Unfortunately, it is also around this time of year that the mice that live in the park loose their source of food. Any human the mice encounter is in danger of falling victim to a ruthless attack.

Sadly, I have to admit that my Israeli friends and I were outsmarted by the mice. They stole our bread and we have holes the size of large pebbles in our backpacks. Souvenirs from an unexpected night time encounter with mice in the glorious Torres del Paine.