Travel to the most beautiful place in the world

After having seen so many beautiful and impressive landscapes, this week we had a very special national park on our agenda: Torres del Paine in southern Patagonia. During our trip to Argentina eight years ago, we already visited this national park, and for Jutta it was already clear back then that it is the most beautiful place on earth. At home, we had a huge poster of the rock formation for many years, and Jutta also has a copy in her office in Frankfurt. It was very impressive back then, and of course, that was one of the reasons why we included this region in our current trip.

We took our time getting there. First, we flew from Puerto Montt to Punta Arenas. We stayed there overnight before taking the bus to Puerto Natales the next day. We can't say much about Punta Arenas, except that it is located right by the sea, more specifically, the Strait of Magellan, and on the other side is the largest island in Chile, Tierra del Fuego. We had some time and visited the cemetery. Supposedly a replica of the famous "La Recoleta" cemetery in Buenos Aires. Well, certainly not, but somehow the cruise tourists need to be lured ashore. But it was still beautiful, and the graves teach you a lot about the history of immigrants. Many Croats, as well as English, Swiss, and Germans, settled in this part of Chile. For example, we came across the grave of the employees of the German health insurance company. However, we did not find the grave of the captain of the Graf Spee, who is buried there. But since our cruise ship stops there again, we will have another chance.

Then we took the bus for about three hours, a little further north, to Puerto Natales. This small town is the starting point for Torres del Paine, which is hidden about 100 km further inland. So everyone gathers here, and accordingly, there is a lot going on. The next morning, we picked up our rental car and drove to our accommodation. There aren't many options here. Either you stay in Puerto Natales and drive to the park and back every day, which takes about 4 hours round trip! Or you book one of the rare accommodations directly in the park. But these are unaffordable, at least when you consider what you get for a horrendous amount. We opted for something in between and booked a stay near the park on an estancia. It was certainly not cheap either, but it was worth every dollar. It's about 30 km to the park entrance, but the road is an unpaved gravel road, and you couldn't drive more than 15-20 km/h. But there was an incredible view of the Torres peaks, and you drive through the typical untouched landscape. It is barren here, the ground is dry, even though it often rains, and the Patagonian winds are both famous and infamous. We encountered huge herds of guanacos and rheas, as well as sheep, cows, and horses. In addition, foxes, armadillos, various birds like vultures, and last but not least: condors! Yes, several! All around our estancia and also as a view during breakfast. Our room was spacious and almost luxurious, the bathroom was nice, and breakfast and dinner were good. We couldn't have had a better place to stay, even though the drive to the park entrance took about 45 minutes due to the road conditions. There was no internet or cellphone reception there, and electricity was generated by a generator that only ran in the morning and evening. But that's exactly how it had to be there. The only difficulty was that there was not a single gas station along the entire way. So we had to go back to Puerto Natales once because we didn't want to risk running out of gas on the way.

So on Tuesday, we went to the park. The weather was typically Patagonian, meaning cloudy, windy, and not very sunny. But we were lucky because the rain only started in the afternoon. I can only say that our memory didn't deceive us: This national park is definitely something very special. In any weather. We were amazed at every turn, every hill, offering us incomparable views of the rock formations, glaciers, and lakes. The colors were unbelievable, and the photos don't do them justice. Attached are the photos from the first day.

And the next day, we had the unbelievable luck of being able to spend a day in the park with radiant sunshine. It was an incredibly beautiful day, and we are very grateful that we had the privilege of experiencing such a day here. As I said, the first day is usually more typical. Therefore, we decided to simply repeat the tour from the previous day. The photos will be included in a separate section so that no one gets confused 😉. But I must also say that the colors we saw are not even close to being captured in the photos. This spectrum just can't be represented. The stay in Torres del Paine was unbelievable. I can't think of a better word.

Finally, we visited the Cueva del Milodon, a cave near Puerto Natales. Extinct animals lived here until about 10,000 years ago, such as the Milodon, which is also the symbol of the city of Puerto Natales.