Torres del Paine National Park...

After flying from Buenos Aires to Rio Gallegos in the south with a super cheap flight deal, we are now in Puerto Natales. This small town is a popular starting point for tours to various national parks or glaciers.

We decided to take a guided day tour to Torres del Paine National Park to see as much as possible. There was a lot to admire on the way to the national park itself. In addition to huge ranches (Estancias) with livestock that couldn't be more original, we could also observe rheas, guanacos, and armadillos right by the roadside. Since hunting is prohibited in the area even outside the national park, the animals were surprisingly calm in our presence.

All of this took place against an incredibly beautiful backdrop of deep blue lakes and snow-covered mountains.

In the national park itself, we were dismayed to find that the forest is still mostly destroyed by wildfires, the last one being in 2011. Some areas were completely destroyed and covered with dead trees as far as the eye could see. Fortunately, new life was already emerging in some places.

Of course, in this national park, it is required to take out the trash you produce. Unlike other national parks, this actually seems to work here, we didn't see any litter anywhere.

The highlight was a stop at Lake Grey, where we could walk to the beach and see the glacier tongue of the Grey Glacier. We would have liked to see the glacier up close, but unfortunately, the boat tours there do not operate in winter. So we had to settle for a distant view and broken icebergs.

At the end of the tour, we visited the Cueva del Milodón, where a German immigrant found the skeleton of a giant prehistoric sloth.

We originally wanted to hike to the Base Camp of Torres del Paine, but this had to be canceled due to heavy snowfall.

Tomorrow we will continue to El Calafate to see the glaciers. See you soon and greetings

Micha & Bekki