Torres del Paine

We went hiking in Torres del Paine a very famous National Park in the Chilean Patagonian region. We went from Punta Arenas to Puerto Natales on a four hour bus ride and stayed in a hostel for days making sure that we were prepared to go and hike for seven days. Every bus station in Punta Arenas told us that there were no buses to get to the park from Puerto Natales and that we would have to hitch-hike. Then we arrive in Puerto Natales and find out there is a mini-bus that goes to Torres del Paine every morning at 8am, which made us really happy knowing we had a reliable ride to get there. It also added to our frustration of the South American people who lie to us all the time and say they know\don´t know something when they really have no idea!

Jason and I bought fleece neck warmers from outside the supermarket the night before we left which was an amazing purchase because our ride in the morning and all our days camping were so super cold! We rode in to the park on the mini-bus with two other girls traveling by themselves and we hiked the first day with them. The first two nights we stayed in a camping area that had a covered gas stove for the campers to use and flushing toilets, it was nice but extremely cold and the camp site area never saw sun all day and had a permafrost! Our first day we hiked from the Administration center, the second day we hiked without our packs to glacier Grey and saw icebergs floating in the lake it was Amazing!! On our third morning we were supposed to hike up to camp Britannico but we had to hike up a super steep iced over river it was too scary and steep for my liking so we went a bit lower and camped in a different site. That day we witnessed three avalanches and heard nine all throughout the night. On the fourth day we woke up and there was gas in our stove and Jason came to the conclusion that our container leaked gas into the stove and we now had less gas then what we need for three more days. We then decided to cut our seven day trip down to a six day trip, because I wanted to be able to eat food and boil water for warm soup, the only thing I look forward to when camping in below freezing temperatures!! On the last night we were in the park we were in an organized camp site and during the night there were mice everywhere they pooped on our tent. We had our trash and food tied up in a tree but the mice were all over the place and Jason even got out and tried tramping one particular mouse under the trash can he was so serious and set on trapping the mouse I almost peed my sleeping-bag laughing so hard. Hiking Torres del Paine was a rewarding gorgeous experience and was very hard at some points but I am glad we did. Now I know that I can hike in below 25 degrees and enjoy doing so. Life is good in Chile and now we have made it to Argentina where EVERY bathroom has a bidet! Who uses a bidet ?