Torres Del Paine

I spent the day in the famous Torres Del Paine Park.  I was going to spend a couple of days and do some easy hiking but the weather didn’t co-operate and I just went the one day.  It’s an incredible place with over 200kms of trails and views that just don’t stop.  Started out looking at Los Torres

The (towers) del Paine really are quite impressive.  They were formed when magma entered under the rocks and forced then up into jagged peaks so there are layers of volcanic and granite mixed together. Saw some really cool animals like the flightless nandu, a relative of the ostrich and who, according to locals, produces delicious eggs that are the size of a dozen chicken eggs. and I finally got to see the forth member of the camel family, the guanaco.  This is a baby.

The whole place used to be a sheep ranch until 1959 but now, at the base of these amazing towers of rock, are rolling hills of grass and trees with rivers, lakes and waterfalls.

The last part of the day was spent hiking up to a lookout for the Grey Glacier in the drizzling rain.  There was a huge variety of flowers in the forest  which made up for the lack of view once we got there.

There were some beautiful icebergs floating around.

I got back to the hotel very wet and very glad that I had taken a one day tour instead of camping out there.