Torres Del Paine

OK so some of this blog is written retrospectively and some I wrote at the time. I am only now getting around to putting it up as a blog because I wanted to get some pictures on this one - you'll see why below. So, even though Torres was pretty much my first stop after leaving Rothera it is only just going on the blog now...

Rothera is receeding behind me following my whirlwhind departure on Monday 3rd Jan, from there I managed only one night in Punta Arenas in a hotel courtesy of BAS before heading further north the next day to Puerto Natales. Its a nice enough town, fairly small and windswept and the gateway to the national parks here in Patagonia. It is for that reason, as the tourist books say, a hive for gore-tex clad travelers lugging huge rucksacks in readieness for treking in the mountains. I was one of these people and after a couple of nights in town I was prepared to head for Torres del Paine national park.A two hour bus ride took me to the park boundary from where I caught a catamaran ferry across one of the many lakes to take me to to the start of the trail. On the ferry ride I got chatting to Dave and American and Kate an Austrailian, since each of us was travelling alone and doing the same route we decided to travel together.

The mountains of Torres del Paine from the catamaran.

The scenery on this first day was stunning, from the boat we got great views of the mountains as we approached and once on the trail the peaks towered above, glaciers on their summits cascading down into waterfalls and the trail winding its way though the warm hills and forests below.

Looking back across the lake to our start point.

Waterfalls, glaciers, and forest.

Each day we hiked from one campsite to the next on our circuit of the mountans which covered about 140km, some days were harder than others with long distances (22km being our longest distance) or steep climbs up into the mountain valleys.

Looking back down the valley.

The first four days of the trip were spent walking the 'W' trail which took us across the south face of the Torres range and into two of the deepest valleys.

Our campsite in the Torres valley.

The most spectacular of these was the Torres Valley itself, from the campsite at the top of this valley we got up at 4am and climbed up to the base of the towering granite peaks. From our vantage point on the huge morraine above the lake we waited for the sunrise. For a while it appeared that clouds on the horizon would ruin the sunrise but just in time they parted and for a brief few moments we were treated to a great view of the face lit up by the orange glow.

Early morning at the foot of the Torres spires.

The circuit now took us around the 'back' side of the range - this is less frequented by most travellers and so the days walking in this area was often very quiet.
It may have been tranquil in terms of fewer people but this terrain brought us some very strong winds. At one stage Dave was blown over by a strong gust and I felt as though I were walking at a 45 degree angle. This was fairly shortlives though and as we descended from the exposed mountain slopes to the sheltered valley floor the wind eased and the temperature soared.

Warm and calm down in the valley.

We were now nearing the end of the trail with only a couple of days left but one big event to look forwards to. This was the mountain pass which climbed high towards the peaks and allowed us to break through into a glacier filled valley. There was some low cloud as we crossed the pass but even so the views were amazing and we now started our long decent of about 700 meters to our last campsite.

Views over the Gray Glacier from the mountain pass.

The last day had been kept purposfully short and was quite plesant with a great deal of decent and fantastic views back over the glacier.

Last views of the Gray Glacier.

It was now though that we became more aware from chatting to other trekers that all was not well politically in the area and we reached the end point amid rumours of road blockades and the potential that we may be trapped in the park - these all turned out to be true!
Plans were made, changed, made again, and in the end Dave decided to chance the offer of a lift in a car and an attempt to get through the roadblocks, whilst me and Kate walked a further 17km to and administration center in the park which was near a road. From here we were still trapped but in a better position to get information and to get out once a bus could get through, which one did the very next day courtesy of the Red Cross and the blockade organisers themselves.

Red Cross and Chilean Airforce arrange things in Puerto Natales.

Ascuncion

Its hot and humid. Arrival at the airport came with its customary attack of the taxi drivers wanting my custom as I left immigration. Looking for a cash machine and finding none I could get to work I went for the money exchange instead - closed, a boy tagged onto me at this point and took me to a money exchange that was open. I changed some dollars into Guruani - He waited, I had found my new local guide.
A taxi to town was going to be expensive so I asked him to take me to the bus stop, he got me on a bus to the city and in return got a tip of about $4 and went on his way (the taxi was going to cost about $20 so we were both happy, plus the bus only cost 20pence.
The bus driver was a fan of the accelerator and brake in equal messure. Embarking or disembarking this bus was all about timing and split second reactions.
I was going to throw the scrap of a ticket the driver had given me away - lucky I didnt - it was checked twice on the short trip into town, they really dont like fare dodgers.

I wasnt entirely convinced I was on the right bus until I passed a landmark that was shown on my map. The Plasa de Uraguay, a green park the size of a city block - one of the largest in Ascuncion, and it seemed, home to the down and outs and vagrants on the city. It resembled a refugee camp with shelters made of sticks and plastic leaning against the trees. Entire families appear to be living there, cooking, sleeping, eating, existing, all in the park.

Thinking I might be getting close to my hostel I got off the bus, I was facing a sign saying 'Black Cat Hostel', I had arrived

Evacuation

Although I have been in South America for a couple of weeks now and have just finished trekking in Torres del Paine national park, due to rather strange and interesting circumstances I am going to have to start at the end rather than the beginning.

Right now I am in Santiago a few days earlier than expected so I am staying in the city waiting for my flight to Paraguay. This has come about because at the end of my trip in Torres I discovered that there was a strike on in the area so no busses were running – in fact there was no road transport whatsoever as roadblocks were in place around all the towns as part of the protest over fuel price increases by the government. Anyway, this meant that I was stuck in Torres for a couple of extra days until a bus was allowed through by the protesters to evacuate the tourists from the park (food was running a bit short so the authorities were eager to get rid of us). This got me back to Puerto Natales where I was once again trapped due to the roadblocks. The Red Cross had set up in the local school and were organizing buses to the boarder with Argentina (some folk chose to walk the 24km) and had linked up with the Chilean airforce who were putting on flights to Punta Arenas airport. There were hundreds of tourists in the town by this point some sleeping in the school and being fed by the Red Cross; who seemed to be very twitchy about getting foreigners out of the area. I managed to find a hostel but did have free lunch in the refugee camp served by the local scout group – all good fun. It was the most affluent and multicultural refugee camp you are likely to see, with most of the ´refugee backpackers´ sat around using iphones, blackberrys, laptops, etc. Some had been stuck there for over a week.

So I had a couple of nights in Puerto Natales, checking in with the red cross each day to get myself a flight (free by the way!) to Punta. On the morning of the third day I made my way to the Red Cross only to find the place almost deserted, the last few tourists were being ushered onto on of the last buses to the airport, so, like the fall of Saigon I grabbed my backpack and ran for the last bus from the besieged town lest I be left behind. At the airport the Chilean airforce took over and a military plane flew me to Punta Arenas airport which was also surrounded by roadblocks so nobody could get to the town about 30km away without walking. The airforce had put on a soup kitchen and somewhere to bed down for the trapped tourists. I did consider walking to town but I was able to get my ticket brought forwards by a few days and so get out of that mess and to Santiago – which by the way is not suffering from any protests. Unfortunately I got here at 4am and so had to spend a great many of the early hours walking the deserted streets looking for a hostel. I got quite a nice place in the end and so I am sorted for the next few days.

I’ll have to get around to writing about the Torres trip later.

Escape from Rothera

Rothera in winter snow

Well I have now escaped the confines of Rothera and left Antarctica far behind me on my journey into the wider world. I am currently in Punta Arenas (4th Jan) and am heading to Puerto Natales this afternoon. From there I should be going to Torres del Paine national park for about a week before heading back to Puerto Natales and then to Punta for the 21st Jan for my flight to Paraguay. I am planning to be in Paraguay for about 6 weeks so hopefully I will have a chance to add to the blog more once I am there.