I can’t believe that it’s already been a month since 4 of us departed for Chile and Argentina for our awing Patagonian hikes.

Everything about this trip was refreshingly new and I’m still processing the details.

Watch Part 1 of Travels in Patagonia here. https://youtu.be/xe-StjFTB8k?si=lJy_2yafADToqRFU

Watch Part 2 of Travels in Patagonia here. https://youtu.be/G5Hq5IRv6hU?si=rM4_UC2GcIj65wjA

February 20 – 22

We acclimated in Santiago for a couple of days. On our first full day visited popular urban landmarks. We began with Parque Bicentenario, which had beautiful black necked swans. I didn’t even know these kind of swans existed before we saw them. Next we spent a great deal of time checking out San Cristobal Hill via the gondola and funicular. My absolute favourite site was Castillo Hidalgo. This fort, now park, was built in the early 1800’s to protect the city. Today you can wander the maze like ramps and stairs to the highest part of the fort. It wasn’t busy when we were there, which brought out the feeling of wonder and play while we explored. Sky Constanera, the tallest building in Latin America, was our last stop for the day. It provided us with a 360 view of the entire city and where we had been that day. On our second full day, we started with a visit to the Baha’i temple, designed by Toronto architect Hariri. On the perimeter of the city, it was a jewel of a place to visit and everyone enjoyed themselves. Our Air b’n’b was in Barrio Italia. We had lunch at LaPopular before walking to Avenue Italia. This is the heart of this creative neighbourhood which is filled with vintage shops, open air markets and many restaurants. We all sampled our first Yerba Mate here and subsequently purchased Yerba Mate mugs and straws. We ended our perusing with a cold sweet treat at Montana Gelato. Our vegetarian of the group selected Verde Sazón for our last dinner in Santiago. The food was stunning and delicious.

February 23

Next we headed to Puerto Natales in southern Chile. It is a quaint town and the gateway to Torres del Paine National Park, our ultimate goal.

February 24

The day we departed for Torres del Paine was very cold, rainy and windy. The weather played a havoc on our plans. Our ferry from Hotel Lago to Lago Grey campsite was cancelled. We we were able to pivot and arrange for a shuttle to Lake Pehoe in time to catch the last ferry to Paine Grande campsite. Paine Grande had been reserved for our second campsite of the hike for night 3. We looked into staying there instead of our reserved Lago Grey site and leaving early in the morning to Lago Grey in time for our glacier hike, but Paine Grande said they were out of room. This site like Lago Grey is managed by Vertice. They said that we couldn’t even stay in the cafeteria overnight. We had no choice but to go on to Lago Grey. At 7:00pm, we buckled into our our 40lb backpacks to hike in the rain and snow, with the wind pushing against us through rugged mostly uphill, terrain all while racing the sunset. Sunset was just before 9pm. We arrived in the dark at 10pm.

The Lago Grey camp office had been alerted of our late arrival. They checked us in and told us to find our tents by pointing into the dark. We navigated the multi-forked path to find a field of yellow tents and eventually found our tents at the back corner of the group. Between the raging cold wind and the surround sound snoring of neighbouring campers, sleep was hard to come by that night.

February 25

Drifting in and out of sleep like one does on nights like this, the call of the owls announced morning was on the horizon. We arose to realize our surroundings. Our field of tents was set against the backdrop of a large jagged mountain. We prepared for the day by cooking at the Refugio with the other campers. It was still raining and windy when we set off for our hike of Glacier Grey. We could see it snowing up on the part of the “O” Circuit know as John Garner pass. Harnessed, cleated and equipped with ice picks we followed our guides through the icy glacial landscape. At times, it felt like we were walking on sapphires. 

By mid morning, Patagonia decided that our initiation was over and though the wind never let up the rain stopped and the sun came out. 

In the afternoon, we hiked part of the “O” Trail just past the second suspension bridge. Imagine raging winds, and being chased by a random wasp while trying to cross one of these long swaying bridges. The second suspension was unusual in that it didn’t symmetrically “smile”, but sloped in one direction across the span.

We closed the day observing sunset while perched above the ice bergs at Mirador Glacier Grey.

February 26

The next day we officially began the “W” Trail and headed back to campsite Paine Grande. The wind persistently beat upon the landscape, but this time the wind was at our back. At Paine Grande, the wind threatened to blow tents and belongings into the wilderness. Setting up a tent was a team sport that required one person to lay across the tent like a starfish to hold it down as the other person added the poles and pegs. Fortunately, we had booked pre-made platform tents. Once we were checked in, we were guided along the boardwalk to our tent row.

The wind howled throughout the night, often feeling like a train rushing by us. No snoring was heard. Listen to black screen video for the milder examples.

When we returned to Paine Grande, we saw a sign that said that hikers should not leave after 6:30pm – yet the camp staff told us we had to go on.

February 27

In anticipation of a big hike day, we got up early only to find the kitchen/dining hall was closed. We packed what we could until the kitchen opened. Our friend the wind, returned to escorted us on the day’s travels. When I lifted my foot to take a step it cleverly would sneak in there and try to move it from under me. It once succeed in blowing me into the hillside. We reached the lower mid point of the “W” at former Camp Italiano. Here, we deposited our big packs in the shelves with everyone else’s and headed up the Valle del Frances. By up, I mean ⬆️ 📈.

We heard the rumbles of the glacier breaking off before reaching the midway lookout of Mirador Frances. We stopped to take in the hanging glacier for a while. I really loved this look out, perhaps more than the top lookout. We continued  ⬆️ 📈 again. Terrain included dirt, roots, rocks, pebbles, scree, boulders, streams, cascades, … basically everything. Sometimes we were in a forest sheltered from wind, sometimes we were in the open and exposed to the elements. Eventually we reached Mirador Britanico. We stayed here a while to take in the view and eat our snacks.

What goes up must come down. We threw on our big packs at the bottom Valle del Frances and hiked on to Camp Frances. This campsite is managed by Las Torres Patagonia and noticeably different than the previous two campsites. All of the pre-made tents are on raised platforms like those that could sit on top of a truck. Also notable are the see-through shower change rooms. The women’s of course is right at the intersection of everything, while the men’s is sheltered by shrubbery.

February 28

We got to sleep in a little that morning as we had a shorter day. “Undulating trail” was the description for the section that we were embarking on that day. This was indeed the case. This up and down trail was occasionally fringed by late summer flowers and large boulders. The landscape was wide and open. We could see predictions of our future ascents as indicated by the specs of bright jackets edging their way up the mountainside trail in the distance. 

Chileno, also managed by Las Torres Patagonia, also had raised tents. We had our own dehydrated meal, but decided to treat ourselves to one of their pizzas. It may have been one of my favourite pizzas of all time. 

If you like people watching this is the place to be. This may be the busiest campsite as day hikers, overnighters and tour groups for Torres del Paine must all pass through. 

If you are there at the right time you may see Gauchos with their train of horses port supplies for the restaurant and remove the trash from the campground.

March 1

Our alarms went off at 3am. We packed up and left our large packs in the corner of the restaurant. We departed at 4am in the pitch black, made darker still by forest cover. We relied on reflective markers as we again climbed📈. We climbed all the terrains again and there were many big steps designed for giants in my opinion. We reached a clearing revealing a moonless star filled sky divided by the Milky Way.  Upwards we continued following the zig zag of lights bobbing high above us. All details of the trail were unknown and unseen except for the challenge immediately below our feet.

My thoughts were deeply inward and spiritual.

At last we summited. We found a large snow dusted boulder next to the lake to sit on and waited for the show to begin.

The clouds rolled in for the morning. This meant we didn’t get the famous pink light flashing against the faces of Torres del Paine, but we did get a show of golden light and a condo of 7 or so soaring condors.

Then we hiked down to camp Chileno to get our packs, eat another pizza. From there we began our descent to the end of the “W” Trail and to the park welcome centre.

We waited for the shuttle to take hikers from the welcome centre to the National Park Office. It is first come first serve and cash paying passengers are given precedence over credit paying passengers. We got the first shuttle and it seemed that all passengers made it on the rest of the following shuttle trips.

There were two back-to-back busses taking people back to Puerto Natales. Both were late. We arrived back in Puerto Natales around dinner time.

March 2

The next day we crossed into Argentina by bus. We rented a car in El Calafate and drove to El Chalten. Guanacos were often seen along the side of the highway. The flat arid landscape that surrounded Lake Argentina began to transform into a badlands as we approached La Leona. We stopped for coffee at Hotel La Leona. This is where Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid once sought refuge. Back on the road we stopped to view Lake Viedma and saw a fox. I was very fortunate to see a strange animal resting in a field which I later discovered was a rare huemul deer.

It was very windy and overcast in El Chalten, the Trekking capital of Argentina. The best way to describe this community is to liken it to Tofino, but in mountains and glaciers.

We ate dinner at the Parrilla La Oveja Negra. The wait was long, but the food was great.

March 3

The rain continued into the next morning, but we set off to hike regardless. As we embarked on the trail to Laguna de los Tres a full rainbow came out just as we left the trailhead.

We steadily hiked the incline stopping for views of glacier Piedras Blancas and glimpses of Mount Fitz Roy. 

From Campamento Poincenot we looked across the flatish flood lands in the direction of the trail to see colourful specs moving steeply upwards among the trees. This was the last 3 km up to Laguna de los Tres. It takes an average of 1.5 to 2hrs to climb this section. The last kilometre is the steepest with an elevation gain of 400m. We did it in about 1hr. It began to lightly snow near the top which was I quite enjoyed. Then the gale force wind found us again. We climbed up and over a large hill of scree to embrace the view we came for. Laguna de Los Tres was laid out in front of us. The journey was worth it. Mt. Fitz Roy played shy, but we got glimpses of it through the clouds.

The power went out in El Chalten around 9pm. The town power grid is set up to rotate street lighting using  emergency power, which creates an ominous atmosphere. Despite being filled with outdoor loving Arc’teryx clad 20 and 30 somethings. We saw a couple of GORE-TEX fit young men using the power outage as an opportunity to case cars. They stopped when they realized they weren’t alone.

We had the best meal of the trip that night at The Asadores. The owner was great and the entire team navigated the power outage expertly.

March 4

The next day we went to El Calafate. As we drove away from El Chalten, we pulled over to view the mountains in case Mt. Fitz Roy decided to fully reveal itself. As we drove further away from El Chalten the weather improved. In rewind, we stopped at some of the miradors, Hotel La Leona and to view guanacos.

We walked around the very touristy El Calafate for a bit and then drove to the hotel to check in. We realized Glacier Perito Moreno was further than we thought. We departed right away. We chose the blue boardwalk. There were many great places to stop and view this massive glacier. The wall of this glacier rises 60m from the waters of Lake Argentino. Occasionally, we heard and saw the glacier calve into the lake. We had time to walk much of the yellow boardwalk, which allowed us to see the other side of the glacier wall. We returned via the blue boardwalk.

On our way back into El Calafate, we stopped to take pics by the El Calafate sign at Lake Argentino.

We ate cozy, feel good food at Pure Vida and spent the rest of the evening in town.

March 5

We left for Ushuaia. This is a major hub for Antarctic cruises. Our Air b’n’b had a little washing machine! Cleaning all our stinky hiking gear was such a gift! If you watch Part 2 of my Patagonia trip on YouTube, you’ll hear about a little laundry trail magic.

We sought out the famous alpaca toque knitter at the Artisan market and then did a lovely coastal hike. 

March 6

We awoke to a gorgeous sunny day. We did another local hike. This time we were escorted by a local dog. It had one blue eye and one brown eye. L called the dog Pepe.

After lunch we met our penguin tour. Our bus took us to Harberton Ranch, where we took a boat to an island full of penguin. Our tour package permitted us to deboard the boat and walk among the penguins as we followed our guide as she explained scientific details of the Gentoo and Magellan penguins. It was just amazing. We got so close.  A sea lion colony had stopped on the island the day prior and were still there. Boat tours arrived at the island, but those passengers were only able to view the penguins from the boats.

That night we saw our last sunset over Patagonia.

March 7 – 8

When we arrived in Buenos Aires, it was 35C and humid. Buenos Aires is like no city I’ve ever been before. We stayed near the Palermo district. I loved this area! We ate alfresco at a very chic restaurant called Cochinchino while listening to a fantastic dj. We then went to the best ice cream place in town – Rupanui! It was like a night club there and they served ice cream until 1am.

The guys left mid morning. D and I spent our last few hours exploring San Telmo market where I finally found Choripan. We also checked out Plaza de Mayo, which was been enclosed by large metal wall partitions and surrounded police. We figured it had something to do with International Women’s Day. We moved on and went down to Puente de la Mujer (Woman’s Bridge).