Torres del Paine

After a 3 hour ride, during which we’ve seen our first llamas, we arrive in Puerto Natales. We’re much further north and yet, this little town feels more like the end of the world than Punta Arenas. The city mascot is the milondo (some sort of yeti with a long nose… Google definition) and the tribal art is very peculiar. The city feels pretty nice though: there are small colored houses all around and restaurants and small shops on main street. We really like it. 

We walk from the bus station to our hostel. We booked a private room there for just one night. Yes!!! We’re finally staying in a hostel. We would have loved to stay there before, to be able to cross path with other travelers, but unfortunately, many of them do not accept children and those that do (in private rooms) are generally very expensive.

So we settle in and Doo tries to go hire a car so we can explore Torres del Paine National Park at our own pace the next couple of days. We can’t hike for 7 hours a day with a 5 year old and a limping slug (Julia’s nickname since Seoul) and we don’t want to take a tourist bus stopping thrice for quick pictures either… But hiring a car seems more complicated than expected. There are only two agencies open at the moment and both have no more vehicles to rent. That’s alright though, we like the city, the hostel is super nice… We’ll take our time and eventually find a solution tomorrow. In the meantime, we’ll just rest and extend our stay here. Luckily, our room is available for the next two days. 

The next day, after 8 rental agencies, including 4 fictitious ones (thank you Google maps) and a rather weird “unofficial” one, we end up finding the last car available in the city (and the cheapest with that). But there’s a problem with our credit cards. The renter can’t take the deposit necessary for the rental… Oh boy!!!! He tells us that French credit cards never work (what’s up between Chile and France?!?). But there’s no way we’re not renting this car… so we call our parents to see if they have a credit card that might work. Julia’s father has a MasterCard… but it doesn’t work either… Doo’s has an American Express… And it works!!! We are relieved, we can finally relax and enjoy our day with the prospect of a great adventure. Thank you (step) dad!!!

We spend the rest of the day strolling around, shopping for our evening meal but also for the next days in the park (it’ll be sandwiches for 2 days). We’ll spend the evening in the hostel common room/kitchen chatting with other travelers who are also getting ready for their adventure in the park. Everyone is adorable with Côme and we all really like it here.

The next morning, we set off for the park. The journey there is beautiful and we stop to admire the viewpoints anytime we can. Yeah!!! We’re road tripping again!!!! 😄 The sun is shining, the scenery is incredible, we’re just mindful of the wind because it’s blowing really hard here too. After two and a half hours, we reach the entrance of the National Park. It is simply stunning!!!

Our first stop (at Salto Chico), brings us to the edge of a lake on a wooden pontoon. After a short walk, we get atop a hill with a breathtaking view. We decide to picnic there. We’re not gonna lie, despite the view, it is not the most pleasant picnic we’ve had. The wind is so strong, our cheese slices threaten to get lost with every single bite… 😁

We then take the car to another lake, Lake Pehoé. There is a very pretty scenic point of view there: a wooden bridge leading to an islet with a resort. After a short exploration of the island, we stay by the lake for a short while so that Côme can throw a few pounds of pebbles into the waves.

Our next stop brings us to Salto Grande, a waterfall. After a short walk against the wind (and a hilarious picture Julia is preventing Doo to put on the blog), we reach the beautiful waterfall whose flow can fill 100,000 bottles of 1L every second (or the equivalente of a thousand showers of 10 minutes, according to an informative panel… Every second!!!!)… Isn’t that crazy?!

We then retrace our steps for a last walk at Lago Grey. The walk starts in a beautiful forest and continues on the shore. There, we’re able to see the first few icebergs we’ve ever seen, but we won’t be able to get close. Our walk is cut short by the wind that is much too violent. Here, even the birds can’t move forward despite frantically flapping their wings. That too is the first time we’ve seen such a thing. Côme and Doo, will later try to take off with a leap but will only manage to retreat a good meter in the air…

After seeing magnificent landscapes, condors and a few llamas, this beautiful day will end under the milky way, in the car (camping here is much too expensive). It will be two other first times for Côme who had never seen the milky way and who had definitely never slept on a car before. He will sleep like a baby, stretching out on the back seat…

The next day, the weather is not as nice. There are clouds and the winds are even stronger than the previous day. Some hiking trails are even closed to the public. So we go ask a ranger to advises us. He tells us about the mirador del condor. It is not a difficult trail and it has a magnificent view. So following his advice we drive there and start the trail. On the way to the top, we walk through a magnificent forest of burnt trees. Then, the path becomes a little steeper and we end up between two giant cliffs. The wind, which was already very strong, rushes in with such violence that it prevents us from continuing on. Côme is very scared despite Doo’s help and Julia is just no longer able to move forward. Doo takes them both back to a safe place, sheltered behind a large rock. Then, he continues on for a short while, beyond these cliffs and fancies daydreaming he’s a bird. The wind is so strong that with each jump he takes, he’s leaping forward 3 good meters…

But Doo quickly goes back to Côme and Julia who are starting to worry. The summit is still too far ahead (a good 15 minutes walk) and is just out of reach but we’re still happy we’ve made it that far. When we reach the bottom of the mountain, it’s already the beginning of the afternoon, so we decide to go back to the city hoping that there’s still vacancy in our hostel.

We’re in luck!!! There’s a very nice room available. Côme is super happy we’re back “home”. 😊 This time though, the house is empty, everyone has gone to the park and we can cook us a nice meal using every pot and pan just for us. 😉 Tomorrow, our Chilean adventure is already over. We’re going to Argentina!!!

These past few days, Côme:
Did not understand: why the wind was so strong.
Learnt: that car seats can fold really far back.
Loved: seeing the llamas and having a car once more.

Julia:
Did not understand: how people managed to hike with such heavy backpacks.
Learnt: that the wind can be extremely strong.
Loved: the color of the water of the first lake.

Doo:
Did not understand: why the trees were burnt.
Learnt: that there were cows at the end of the world.
Loved: jumping in the wind.