Days on the trip: 256
We were extremely excited about visiting Patagonia, especially Andi, and finally it was time to go. She was now quite anxious – what if it didn’t live up to expectations? Anyway, step one was to get up very early to go to the airport for our flight to Ushuaia. The small domestic airport in Buenos Aries was a little bit chaotic, but we had plenty of time, so there was no need to worry.
After about three hours we landed in Ushuaia, the southern-most city in the world at 55 degrees south – astonishingly, only the equivalent of Belfast in the north [comparison noted by Wikipedia]. When we landed, there was beautiful sunshine and as soon as we got out of the airport we found some beautiful photo opportunities. Everything looked really pretty.
Our time in Ushuaia would be limited, due to the bus schedules and our need to head further north, so we had made a plan to fit in as much as possible. First we went to the hostel, checked in, chatted to our lovely host (who only spoke Spanish), and then checked out the town. It’s a small town with one main street with shops, restaurants and plenty of tour companies selling staggeringly expensive trips to the Antarctic.
For the afternoon we had booked a tour on the Beagle Channel, where we would hopefully see plenty of birds, sea lions, penguins, lovely scenery, and the lighthouse. The weather didn’t quite play ball, but it was still epic. During our time here, we would learn that the Patagonian weather is rarely helpful, and changes very quickly.
The next day the plan was to go to the Tierra del Fuego national park. The weather had worsened, and over breakfast we were chatting to a pair of Lithuanians who were definitely not enthusiastic about the park in the miserable weather. However, they were at the end of their Patagonia trip, while we, on the other hand were still fresh and keen, so we wrapped up and got a bus to the park. With nice sunshine, the walks through forests and past lakes would have been amazing. With clouds and a constant threat of rain, the best we could do was imagine what it would be like with blue sky, but it was still a nice day out.
From here our plan was to go to Punta Arenas, and then head to Puerto Natales. Since the busses only run three times a week, we had to leave Ushuaia earlier than we would have liked. Definitely a shame, but suppose we’ll just have to come back when we go to the Antarctic. 🙂
The bus to Punta Arenas took about 12 hours, including a short ferry ride, and a border crossing to Chile. The scenery was pretty and getting into Chile was reasonably smooth – although Chile does some pretty thorough checks to see if people are bringing fruit, seeds, meat, etc. into the country, and we were delayed because some Germans tried to smuggle an apple into the country.
In Punta Arenas we had plenty of time. Way too much time really. It wasn’t as nice as Ushuaia and didn’t have much to offer – although we felt safe having spotted the tsunami evacuation route. The main attraction was a boat ride to Isla Magdalena, an island with another light house and more penguins. Unlike the Beagle tour however, we were allowed to get off the boat and walk amongst the penguins – although we had to stay on a path, so there was no penguin chasing. Also on the boat we saw some dolphins and whales, an unexpected highlight, but pretty difficult to photograph. Other than that we did some admin/bookings and then caught the bus to Puerto Natales.
Puerto Natales also doesn’t have the most fascinating tourist attractions. However, it is the starting point for hiking in the Torres del Paine national park, so we spent the day getting ready for our first ever multi-day hike. This meant hiring some gear (cooking equipment, backpacks for the hike, and walking sticks) and also buying some food (5x breakfasts and lunches, 3x dinners), and snacks, to take into the park.
We had five nights in the park and were doing the popular W-trek from west to east. Accommodation gets booked up very quickly, so by the time we booked – 2 months in advance – we only got the last few spots. It turned out that we did very well though, because the majority of the people we met in the park hadn’t got the accommodation they wanted, and some didn’t even get any, which meant they weren’t allowed to stay in the park overnight.
From Puerto Natales we got an early morning bus into Torres del Paine. Andi was super excited but we still had a reasonably long way to go. The bus ride was about 2.5 hours, then we had to pay and register at the entrance to the park, and then continue on the bus for a bit until the catamaran stop in Pudeto. From there we got a 30 minute ferry to refugio Paine Grande. The weather was very cloudy and misty in the morning, and even though it had cleared a little bit on the ferry, the visibility still wasn’t great, but it didn’t dampen our excitement and the ferry ride was still nice with lots of pretty views.
Our first hike was to refugio Grey, which we would have to do with our full backpacks. The views were lovely as we were walking through a dry forest, past a lake, a waterfall and then towards the glacier. Happily, the weather began to clear as we were walking, so by the time we reached the glacier and the refugio four hours later, we had a stunning view of the cold blue icebergs and the glacier. At this point we were also quite tired from carrying our bags, but at least this would be the heaviest they would be during the trip. Every time we ate a peach, piece of chocolate, bonbon or a sandwich, we counted the grams that we don’t have to carry any more.
At the refugio, we stayed in a small but comfy room that we shared with a guy from California. He was doing the full loop trek, and we’d keep bumping into him for the rest of our hike. We hadn’t booked dinner at the place, so instead we went to the camping kitchen and cooked some pasta and tuna on our stove – another 600g out of our bag. And then we slept like a log.
The second day we just had to do the same hike back to refugio Paine Grande, where we left the ferry the day before. Since we had a full day to do this and we were now a bit more trained and had less weight on us, we decided to spend the morning going a bit further in the opposite direction – towards the glacier and a suspension bridge. It was recommended by several people who did the full loop, and since we were so close and could leave our bags at the refugio, it was an easy (and reasonably flat) walk we had to do.
Afterwards, we headed to refugio Paine Grande, again enjoying the glacier, the icebergs, the lake, and the dry forest… but this time with even better weather. And once more we had a comfy night at a refugio in a private room. For dinner: pasta bolognese. Yummy, and 600g out of Martin’s bag!
The next day we had a relatively early start to ensure we could cover the distance to camp Frances before dusk. The first bit of the trek was quite easy and flat and so we made really good progress, but got a little wet after some rain. By the time we reached the italiano campsite, the weather started to clear a little. Not much, but enough for us to try the hike up to the French Valley – without our bags as we left them at camp italiano. The path was steep, went over rocks, past a reasonably big stream and through a forest until we got to a super windy clearing. The wind almost blew us away but luckily the rain had stopped and so we could admire the beautiful view over the French valley with the lakes, mountains, and glaciers around us. Absolutely stunning!!!
The path continues further up, but since we didn’t trust the weather and we still had quite a trek to camp Frances, we headed down. It actually turned out that our campsite was not too far away, but the luxury of refugios was over – from now on it would be camping for the rest of the trip. But we still had a little bit of luxury – we hired the tent, sleeping bags and mats from the campsite – so at least it was already setup for us and most importantly, we didn’t have to carry the tent. After another yummy dinner of tuna pasta, we listened to a podcast and then tried to sleep on the hard camping mats.
After a passable night, our next trek was to the Torre camping site, which was the only place still available in the eastern part of the park. The weather was beautiful (almost too warm) and the walk was nice – but nothing in comparison to the Grey glacier or the French valley. We stayed in a tent again, but our luxury was a three course meal at the refugio next to our campsite. The meal was nice, although a bit random. We got a random sauce, but nothing to use it with and a random bowl of cold beans for the table to share. Anyway, we weren’t complaining after three nights of pasta.
Our final full day of the park was the trek up to the iconic Torres. Some people go for sunrise, but we didn’t fancy leaving the campsite at 2am, especially not when the weather forecast wasn’t great. So after breakfast we made our way up: first a reasonably steep hill, then a flat area through a forest, and then the final 1km straight up over rocks. 1km may not sound like a lot but it took us 45 minutes, at quite a good pace. Fortunately, we were well aware that this section was going to come, so there was no real shock. We reached the misty Torres just in time for lunch.
Since the weather really wasn’t that great, this final trek was mainly for completeness and achievement points. And whilst we didn’t get to see the Torres in beautiful sunshine with blue sky, we still got to see some of them – actually more than we were expecting from the weather. Also, whilst they are the main icon of the park we actually thought the glacier and the French valley were much prettier.
Happy with our completed trek through Torres del Paine, we went back to our campsite and then to the refugio for some celebratory drinks, games, and our final 3 course refugio meal. We also found out how much it would have cost to hire someone to carry our backpacks – $100 for a 2h walk. Maybe we should stay longer and earn some money?
The following day was all about leaving the park. We hiked – passing some guanacos – to the entrance of the park from where we would catch a bus back to Puerto Natales. Back in Puerto Natales we dropped off our rental equipment and, contended, chilled in our comfy airbnb.
Road Monkeys 