However, our time tramping in Torres Del Paine National Park, more than compensated for this, as we slowly strolled around crystal clear lakes and rivers, through woodlands and patiently waited for the clouds to co-operate revealing magnificent views. The eight micro climates in the park make life unpredictable as within a span of an hour we went from basking in the sun to being pelted by freezing rain while taking in the French Valley and Glacier. At 4.00 a.m. the following day, we scrabbled up the last few hundred metres in the dark to catch the sunrise but in the process managed to loose the well marked trail and add some extra excitement to the morning. If you´re lucky you can catch the peaks turning red as the first rays of sunlight hit the rock. We weren´t so lucky!
Having paid a little bit of money to both enter the park and for transportation, we were all about getting our moneys worth and avoid unnecessary costs. We decided to hike to both trail heads thereby avoiding paying for the ferry and comni-bus costs, and stayed at the free campsites for three nights . This did mean we had to hike each day a little further, but there were many daylight hours, the trails were quite agreeable, we were in excellent shape, we had plenty of sweets to eat and the weather for the most part was kind. It was very easy to see why this park receives over 200,000 visitors annually even around Christmas time. Initially, we thought we might have the entire place to ourselves but boy-oh-boy we got it wrong as many other hikers must have had the same train of thought.
Prior to entering the park, we took full advantage of the free lecture at "Base Camp & Erratic Rock" (a youth hostel and rental outfitter), giving people essential information about the trail, transportation times/costs, weather conditions, required equipment, dangers etc. We were very impressed by this fantastic service because it better prepared travelers and increased the chances of them having a positive experience on the mountain. Judging by some of the questions being asked and equipment being used, one quickly appreciates how ill prepared, miss informed and in-experienced some of these visitors can be.
What do you get when you have a Kiwi, a Canadian, two Argentineans, a Chilean, two Americans and three Polish dining together?
Besides what sounds like the opening line to a bad joke, this was our memorable Christmas. In fact we celebrated Christmas with the entire Polish community of Puerto Natales! We learnt about several Christmas Polish traditions like the exchanging of bread and well wishing, and ensuring there are 12 food dishes (sybolising the 12 apostles). There was a 6 year old boy with us too, Diego, and Roland wanted to share with him a Christmas activity he cherishes from his childhood. Izabela (from Couchsurfing) made all this happen even around a busy schedule of guiding work in the National Park. We would like to thank Izabela, her flatmate and friends for being so flexible, chill, friendly and pumped about sharing Christmas with us. We were equally pumped!
Izabela even generously extended her hospitality to Cindy and Dave, our cycling friends we first met on the Carretera Austral. So this festive occasion was further enhanced by being about to geek out on "bike and hike" talk. On a trip like this it's always nice to see familiar faces especially when we have so much in common.
After six days off the bike we now prepare for our final push and try to make sense of our trip actually coming to an end. For Real!
BELINDA IS THE CHAMPION OF CRIB............................... in the Torres Del Paine tournament!
Belinda 5
Roland 2
Total score of South America is currently not available as Belinda needs to revel in her small victory.
More....................
- Quite enjoying the variety of vehicles in the traffic signs for ascents and descents. Sometimes they are trucks, RV's, bugs, lorries or sport's cars.
- If you ever want to relive the 80´s music scene this is the place. At any given moment you are likely to hear Whitney Houston, Rod Stewart, or Phill Collins blaring from supermarket speakers.
- Belinda's Christmas present from Roland was 25 massages lasting 10 minutes each. She still has 21 in the bank. They can be cashed in at any time and are non refundable.
- We've been cycling past the odd minefield of late. Active minefields. It's so crazy! These are remnant of the friction between Chile and Argentina and government feel it's too costly to remove them so they just fence them and plaster them with danger signs.
- As you would expect, the supermarket was intense on Christmas Eve but we did see some curious purchases like 2 shopping trolley's full of just tomatoes and another man just bought a large box of lemons. Would love to see these people's Christmas spread!
- We´ve seen some really giant bumble bees in this region sporting thick fuzzy coats.