Torres del Paine

Patagonia and Iguazu Falls Adventure – Day 7

Today we drive northeast through the park crossing the border into Argentina and on to our hotel in El Calafate. A long day – 8 hours of driving. A lot of the drive follows Lake Sarmiento the largest lake in the park and also the only lake in the park which is not glacier fed. Winds were so strong that it developed dirt devils along the water. The scenery speaks for itself. A quick photo stop was made at Lake Torro. A brief stop at Cascada Paine was a welcome stretch of the legs. We continued north along the Amarga Lagoon just outside the park – along the way we stopped to see a heard of guanacos. We arrived at El Carafate for a very late dinner.

March 9, 2023 2

Our hotel room came with a balcony and unbelievable views of the Torres del Paine Towers – completely different perspective in morning and evening light. We started our day driving to the Nordenskjol viewpoint along the way we saw the towers from different vantage points, the Rio Serrano River and the winding roads to the parks entrance gate. Of course, it started raining as soon as we entered the park. Still the road was very scenic driving past jagged peaks, lakes and thick forests on our way to the Salto Grande waterfall and the end of the world trail. The trail ended with another Tower view fronted by a Hidden Lake. During our return hike we spotted one of smallest owls I have ever seen maybe 6 inches tall.
We continued the scenic drive along the Paine River and Lake Pehoe to view the Cascade Paine. One last stop on the way back to our hotel was Grey Lake with its grey beach and distant glacier. It was pouring rain when we arrived with wind gusting to 40 mph. As we hiked the rain diminished with a few moments of a rainbow and a glorifying view of the glacier which was 12 MI away. The return hike was a washout with sheets of rain and a constant 30+ mph wind. We headed back to the hotel to dry out & have dinner.

Patagonia and Iguazu Falls Adventure – Day 5

First an apology – we have been on the go from 7am to 9 or 10 pm – leaving little time to work on photos. So, I’m going to show the best I can with the little time I have – then I will update the travel blog when I get back home. So, enjoy the slimmed down version.

Today we boarded a catamaran for a 2-hour sail through the Ulima Esperanza Fjord. BTW it was raining the entire trip with extremely low hanging clouds. Our trip passed the Balmaceda Glacier and several waterfalls in the area. Along the way we viewed nesting cormorants and not so friendly sealions. We disembarked at Puerto Toro for a hike through Bernardo O’Higgins National Park -no joke. The hike to Serrano Glacier covered a forest and along the shoreline leading to a viewing area of the glacier. After the return hike and boat ride we boarded a bus for the 4-hour ride to Torres del Paine NP.