Torres del Paine (Chile)

South in Patagoina, on the Chilean side, is the national park Torres del Paine. It is named after the three massive granite pillars:


The granite pillars that have given the national park its name.
They are covered in clouds most of the time, in typical Patagonian weather.

 




The hike towards the three peaks, a pleasant walk with shifting nature.

 

A lot of people hike the W circut in the national park. As did we, starting with the hike into the three pillars first. We were lucky and got there on a day that started cloudy, but got better and better as the hours passed. By the time we reached the bottom of the pillars, most of the clouds were gone, and we managed to get some photos with all three of them.

The maps we bought over the park were not impressive, but as the paths are well worn it was easy to find the way and the park has plenty of signs informing you where you are and how far it is to the various camps. One is not allowed to camp in other places than the designated campsites and the area is quite restricted. This is understandable, as there have been several fires burning down big areas of the park (some of them started by tourists, one of them trying to burn his toiletpaper... Idiot!!)

There are a few camp sites with various facilities. Some have restaurants and places to sleep, so you can do the W circut without a tent. We did however bring a tent and most of the food we needed for the whole trip. In retrospect, we could have made it easier for ourselves with lighter backpacks and bought more food at the places we passed. It has however to be pointed out that some places on the map it is marked that one can buy food, but then this turned out to be only biscuits and chocolate. So good thing to have a littlebit of extra food just in case...

The backpack was quite heavy the first days before we had finished some of the food....

The weather was amazing the first couple of days, and it was comfortable temperatures to hike in. But as soon as you sat down for a rest, you got cold from the wind that is constantly blowing in Patagonia. The winds from the Pacific and the Atlantic oceans are meeting at the bottom of South America and this makes this area extremely windy. A few times, I was certain that our tent was going to blow away with both us and all our things in it. But it is amazing what you manage to sleep through when you are tired enough...

The national park is hiker-friendly, with good paths, signs and several small bridges for easier hiking. This makes big parts of it accessible for hikers at all levels.

It is easy to travel in Patagoina, as they are used to tourists and hikers in most places. We do not speak many words in Spanish, but most people we met were eager to help and most times we managed to reach a mutual understanding, often with some funny misunderstandings! We took bus over some fairly long distances. This is a cheap and comfortable way to travel, as the roads go straight ahead through the pampas once you are down from the mountains. It is however time consuming and after 20 hours onboard the bus, you might get a bit restless (even if you are served food and wine if you choose to pay a little bit extra and travel first class!).