Torres del Paine

Top of glacier grey
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We got the bus from El Calafate to Peurto Natales, another small quaint little town so we could make our way to Torres Del Paine National Park. After driving through a dirt track and crossing the Chilean border we made it in about 3.5 hours. We were greeted by enthusiastic hostel owners at the bus stop. After picking the most suitable one ie.cheapest we then organised the trip to Torres del Paine. We were collected from the hostel bright and early the next day and dropped off to the park a few hours later after 3 bus transfers and a Catamaran crossing.

Los Cuernos
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Day 1 involved a 11km trek from our dropoff point at the Lakeshore up to Glacier Grey. The trek wasn`t too intensive but was still a struggle with our backpacks. The glacier itself probably did´t impress as much as we thought after previously trekking on Perito Moreno. We booked into the refugio (Basic cabin accommodation) at Grey which was located near to the base of the Glacier. We had brought enough food for breakfast and lunch but we proceeded to have all our dinners during the trek at the refugios.

Torres del Paine (Towers of Pain!!)
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Day 2: We rose at 6am that morning and made our breakfast before heading 4km upwards to a lookout over the Glacier. We got a great view from there and managed to get some nice pictures. We made our way back to the refugio and had lunch in preparation for the 11km trek back to Paine Grande on the lakeshore.When we reached this more upmarket refugio we managed to book in after some credit card issues. This was to be a reoccurring trend for the next few days due to the Easter Holidays.

View of French Valley
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Day 3: We got up at 6am again the next morning as we had a long trek ahead. We were held up for an hour that morning by our over enthusiastic Canadian ^Roomies^ who proceeded to fill us in on their life story. We got going around 8am and made the trek to a place called Campo Italiano around 10am. We decided we wanted to see the French Valley so we headed straight up the mountains to see them. It was quite a tough trek over a lot of boulders and probably affected us physically for the rest of the trip. It was a bit misty at the top so the pictures weren`t great but it was a fantastic view. We trudged back down the mountain meeting the same familiar faces and had our lunch at the base. We made our way to the refugio Los Cuernos later that evening and booked in feeling tired after trekking for 23km. We had dinner there and a great night meeting lots of interesting people. This included a lady that had spent the last 18 months living in the Antarctic working as a carpenter and an absolutely hilarious Namibian couple.

Finally, some blue skies!
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Day 4: Due to time constraints we decided to complete the rest of the ^W^ circuit on day 4 and this was definitely our toughest day. We first trekked from Los Cuernos to the refugio Los Torres and dropped off our bags there. We then embarked up to see Las Torres that afternoon which is described as the toughest part of the trek. We were both a bit tired but we persevered and made it to the top despite hail,rain, snow and driving winds. Again the pictures would not be great but it was great to see. We made it back that night to the refugio in the darkness with our little flashlight delighted with ourselves. We enjoyed a bottle of wine that night in the company of 2 US students and the most talkative Danish girl you ever heard.

Some floating glacier..
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Day 5: Having completed the trek in 3.5 days we took the opportunity to get a sleep in that morning. We got the bus from the park and arrived back in Puerto Natales to collect our stuff. We grabbed our bags and legged it to the bus stop where we traveled to Punta Arenas that night....