On Tuesday morning Matt woke up early to return our rental car and we met Alejandro at the bus terminal. We took a bus ride to Puerto Natales. It was a scenic bus ride and the seats were for sure more comfortable than airplane seats. Once in Puerto Natales, We took a taxi to the rental car place and picked up our truck. First step was eating lunch. I was finally able to get a Chilean Completo- their fancy yummy hot dogs. You can’t go wrong with adding avocado and mayo to a hot dog.
After lunch, we stopped by a grocery store to purchase all of the food for the next few days. We were going to be staying in an area that has no grocery stores and very few places to eat. We stopped to explore the waterfront area. Puerto Natales sits along one of the many fjords in southern Chile. It was so windy we could hardly stand without being blown over.
Next to the Puerto Natales sign they had a large statue of a Mylodon-an ancient ground sloth. Just out of town there is a Mylodon Cave where they found the skin and bones of a Mylodon in 1895. We didn’t take the time to stop at the caves, but the statue was interesting.
It was about a two hour drive from Puerto Natales to the place that we were staying. We had been warned about potholes in the road as we got closer however, most of the road here was a bumpy dirt road. When we first picked up our rental car I was kind of annoyed that Matt had gotten a truck. It was raining and so we couldn’t put our luggage in the back of the truck. We had no trunk to put it in to keep it from getting wet. Poor Alejandro was crammed in the back seat with all of our luggage. However, as we ended up driving on bumpy rocky, dirt roads for the next three days, I was very thankful for the four-wheel-drive truck Matt had rented. We were able to get a rental in an area called Rio Serrano. We thought it was going to be an apartment however it turned out to be a cute little cabin house in this lovely lovely valley. As we arrived, I knew it was gonna be a good place because this cute little guy was there to greet us at our door.
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| The view from the couch |
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| Cute/fun tire swing |
We were able to spend the rest of the evening just resting and exploring the area around our cabin. The area is stunningly, beautiful. We made a nice dinner with the leftover empanadas from the restaurant the night before. It was such a relaxing lovely evening. We also took time to teach Alejandro how to play phase 10 dice. He was a fast learner as it is so much like games that he’s played before.
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| View from the back porch |
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| View from the field in front of the cabin |
The next morning, we began our first hike in Torres del Paine. The area we were staying in is right next to the entrance to the park, however to get to the trailhead for our hike it was a one and a half hour drive on yet again another bumpy dirt road. Glaciers it was a beautiful drive though. We even got to see a guanaco looking very majestic walking alongside a mountain ridge with the sun behind it. I didn’t get a great photo, but I did get a short video.
Our hike this day began at the Hotel Las Torres. Our goal was the Mirador Las Torres. It’s a hike on the right side of the famous “W”. The hike was beautiful, but somewhat brutal. Alejandro and I were not in the best shape, but we made it 4.3 miles up to the Refugo Chileno (a small resting lodging).
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| The start of the hike, walking from the parking to the trailhead, added about 1.5 k to the hike ugh |
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| Close to the refugio they had all these horses that they use to bring up supplies. Really wished we could have ridden one if these up. |
Alejandro and I decided to hang out at the Refugio while Matt hiked the remaining three miles up to the lookout. Much of that three miles was extremely steep. It would have pushed me beyond my limits for sure. Matt sure enjoyed it though even if clouds were blocking the best view of the towers.
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| Can you tell how steep it was? |
After resting for the few hours it took Matt to climb up and come back down to meet us (yes he did six miles more than us), we started back down. 3/4 of the way down was downhill so the last 4.3 miles was much easier than the first. It was windy and off and on rainy though out the day, but that did prevent us from getting over heated.
So thankful to be finished with our almost nine mile hike. That’s the longest I’ve hiked in a while and a first ever hike like that for Alejandro. Go us!
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| Beautiful waterfall we passed on our way back to the cabin ( the same one Matt and Alejandro visit in two days) |
Like I said, it was a beautiful drive!
Thursday morning we were able to have a slow start to our day since our activity was in the afternoon. Matt got up and did a 10 mile run. He had some incredible views while he was out on his run. This photo he took of Torres del Paine and the horses looks like it came straight out of a National Geographic photo shoot, but no, just an iPhone photo.
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| Matt enjoying his morning coffee that he made with his new aeropress |
About 1:30pm we headed out for our excursion, a boat ride on Grey Lake to Grey Glacier. We checked in for the excursion at Hotel Largo Grey and had to walk 1.4 miles along the beach and a VERY windy sandbar to get to the boat. A very interesting and amusing experience for sure. When we started hiking my body was not happy to be hiking again. It thought I had hiked plenty the day before.
Although I will say, the mile and half walk was well worth the reward of seeing the glacier.
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| One of many icebergs |
The first part of the boat ride was quite adventurous. We had to stay inside the boat until we were close to the glacier because of choppy water. At one point water even splashed completely over the front of the boat. It was pretty cool. Once we got to calmer waters they served everyone drinks with a piece of glacier ice in them. You could have a pisco sour or Calafate sour. The three of us all chose Calafate sours. They were quite yummy, mostly juice.
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| Chunks of glacier ice |
Once we were closer to the glacier they let us go outside. I have to say there’s nothing much like seeing a huge glacier up close. We’ve seen in glaciers in Alaska and this was just as spectacular. Although today our smaller boat took us much closer to the glacier than the cruise ship did. It was cold, windy, and rainy, but 100% worth it for the view we were getting. We even saw some calving. So cool!
When Matt hiked this area 10 years ago, this is the glacier he did a hiking excursion on.
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| Holding a chunk of glacier ice |
What an incredible lifetime experience! Grey Glacier is one of the edges of the third world’s largest ice field-the top two being Greenland and Antarctica. In a few days we will be in Argentina and we will get to hike on the other side of this ice field. So excited for that! Especially now that I’ve seen it from a boat.
All too soon it was time to say goodbye to the glacier and make our way back. Not sure how, but the winds were even stronger as we hiked back across the sandbar.
Friday brought a lazy day for me and another hiking day for Matt and Alejandro,
It was very lovely to have a relaxing day at the cabin. Just what I needed. A good book, a good view, a good area for a walk- yes please!!!
I’ll Matt share what he spent the bulk of his day doing. Matt writing now. Alejandro and I did a short hike to a spectacular waterfall called Gran Salto Pehoe. So beautiful and there was a guanaco on the other side of the river. It was extremely windy and we had to hold onto the railing to not get blown over. After that, I did a solo hike to Laguna Verde that took me five hours. Alejandro enjoyed waiting at the truck and walking around and exploring. I’ve had a great time doing long hikes and runs in Torres del Paine
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| Las Torres del Paine |
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| The windy waterfall |
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| Look closely for the guanaco |
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| Holding on for dear life |
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| Lago Toro |
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| Laguna Verde |
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| Evenings spent playing games |
And that’s a wrap for Torres del Paine. We head back to Puerto Natales early in the morning and then, after saying goodbye to Alejandro, hop on a bus to Argentina-about six hours.
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