Torres del Paine with Dave and Rachel

Dave (my brother, in case ya didn´t know) and his girlfriend Rachel arrived as planned the night of February 13 in Punta Arenas. We caught a 3-hour bus the next morning to Puerto Natales, and then a 2-hour bus into Parque Nacional Torres del Paine. We were there for an incredible 6 days and 5 nights. It is truly a magical place. And we were really lucky with good weather. Incredible peaks, glaciars, lakes, raging rivers, and a huge variety of flora and fauna within the park.

All told, we logged about 95 km in our 6 days in the park, including day hikes. There are designated campsites in the park, so one camps near a lot of other backpackers. You can also buy meals in the albergues (kind of like mountain huts in the US), but I´m proud to say we always cooked our own.

We camped first first at Camping-Alberque Los Torres, then Los Cuernos, then Campamento Italiano, then two nights at Albergue-Camping Pehoé (formerly known as Paine Grande). We day hiked up to the base of the famous Torres and were rewarded with a very well-timed clearly of clouds for a fantastic view. We hiked around the base of the granite-basalt Cuernos, and dayhiked up the Valle del Francés. We also dayhiked up to Lago Grey and the Glaciar Grey - the only time we weren´t rewarded with a clear view, but the windy, rainy weather was so amazing we didn´t mind. The last day we hiked out and away from the Torres and Cuernos to Pudeto (the park administration headquarters) and caught a shuttle out.

We spent the night in Puerto Natales where we consumed impressive amounts of pollo, churrasco, papas fritas, and cerveza, then back to Punta Arenas again. And then , sadly, Dave and Rachel had to leave!