Tag 7 - Puerto Natales/Torres del Paine Nationalpark

At 11 a.m. we had to check out of the hostel and passed the time until the bus left for Torres del Paine National Park with a walk and in a small café with delicious pastries.

The bus to the national park left promptly at 2:15 p.m. and was fortunately sparsely occupied. During the two-hour journey we got our first impression of the nature of Patagonia with snow-capped mountains, turquoise lakes and endless landscapes in which a few llamas (or alpacas) roamed around.

When planning our trip to Patagonia, we came across the so-called W-Trek, which was supposed to be a small or even bigger challenge for us, covering around 75km in 4 days.

The availability of overnight accommodation in the park is very limited, but we still opted for the more comfortable option, foregoing camping and just about managed to get places in shared rooms.

Given the potential weather conditions at the end of the season, we didn't want to take the risk of getting completely soaked in our tent and losing our enthusiasm for hiking in stunning Patagonia.

In the late afternoon we moved into our accommodation for the first two nights and, while enjoying a welcome beer, we were able to catch our first glimpse of the mountains, which were mostly still shrouded in clouds.

The next day we were planning a hike to the “Mirador Base Torres”. We were advised to set off early so that we wouldn’t be faced with a thick blanket of clouds at the top - “early” meant 4:00 a.m.

At dinner we got chatting to a Canadian and Dutch couple who were also planning to climb early in the morning to see the Torres at sunrise. So we arranged to meet up with the four of them and tried to get a little sleep.