On arrival back from the Easter Island we spent a day gathering our thoughts and preparing for our next adventure: the Torres del Paine. This was to be one of the most eagerly anticipated parts of our journey but first we had to get there...

...one flight and a bus later we were at our first stopover, Punta Arenas. You could certainly tell how close to the Antarctic we were: it was cold! However, before we had shaken off the icicles, our friendly but oh-so-slightly strange and domineering hostess, Sonia Kusovic (soon to be nicknamed kinky witch) had reserved a trip to the penguins that afternoon. We set off to the Magallanes Strait where we encountered a huge colony of penguins: there were over 10 thousand and the baby penguins were just learning to swim and still had fluff all over them. We watched as they waddled along (sometimes falling over! Oops!) and also couldn`t help but listen to their loud and persistent calls, presumably to other members of their group to check they kept together. Following this we went for a tasty dish of local fish with a Swedish couple we met at the penguin place. The following morning we left Sonia and her wicked ways behind and got the bus to Puerto Montt, the launch pad for the Torres del Paine national park. The Torres del Paine has 2 main routes: the circuit, which takes 10 days, or the `W`which takes 5 days. We only had 2 days to spare and so we sheepishly asked the hostel staff what we could actually do. We thrashed out a plan amidst the hysterics of the staff and questions like "are you going to run that bit?" and settled on doing a slightly shortened version of the W. It was possible on paper but staff had misgivings and it was very much an against-the-odds walk with the likelihood of not arriving at our tent until very late at night (if at all!). Still, we were raring to go and keen to rise to the challenge we had set ourselves.

Time was not going to be on our side for our first day of walking so we caught the early bus from Puerto Montt which still only got us to the start of the walk at 10.50 due to the remote location of the park. With 10 hours of walking ahead of us, it started to seem like a good idea that we had brought our torch! We set off like coiled springs, overtaking some South Americans in the first few minutes, it was clear early on who was going to be the masters of the park today. Admittedly, we had light packs and we were hiring a tent and didn´t have to carry a great supply of food, but we were flying for sure. Despite the time pressure we could not help but admire the raw beauty of the scenery around us: hills, snow capped mountains, glaciers, rivers and rock faces, it was all there for our enjoyment it seemed: we hardly met anyone (we only overtook people!). The pressure really got to us when we found someone to match our speed: greeny was his name (given by us), SAS was his game. He was just too darn quick and overtook us at a weak point in our walk where we stopped for a toilet break. However, just like the tortoise and the hare he stopped for a lunch break and this proved to be his undoing. The final ascent on the part of the trek up to the viewpoint of the Torres was excrutiating but we did not want to be overtaken again by greeny so we clambered up as fast as we could and beat greeny - how triumphant we were! It was a silly race (in which he probably didn´t realize he was taking part) but it was a good bit of healthy competition and it made us get up the toughest bit very quickly! After revelling in our glory and admiring the wonderful view laid out before us we headed back down: we had already got to this point in the trek very early according to our plan and had managed an hour´s lunch break and we were still leaving 10 minutes earlier than we thought we would get there: the going was very good.

We made our descent and quickened our pace when we looked back towards where we had come from: the clouds were black as anything and it was coming our way. We somehow managed to stay just ahead of it and made our way to the turn off to Los Cuernos: we got there just before 5pm which was a time that Dave had said would be miraculous.

We made our way steadily along the lakefront towards our intended sleeping place for the night and finally made it after 8 hours of walking, 2 hours ahead of schedule. The staff were super friendly and made everything a pleasure: it is one of the only places we have been where we really felt the staff loved being there and loved helping people and tried their best always to make everything as nice as possible for guests. We sat down to some welcome food and chatted to a girl who had got back late as she had managed to get lost in the park: I don´t know how she did in this clear weather as the paths are very clear, but she was lovely to talk to (Kim, nice but dim?!) then the evening was topped off by a magician who did many really clever card tricks where he enhanced the trick by making it seem as though he had chosen the wrong card but then making it appear from weird places in the end so you knew he had known it all along. That guy must have shares in card producers though: he must go through several packs a day the way he rips them up, defaces them, folds them to fit in very small places etc! We retired to our tent which was, well, as comfortable as a tent can get I suppose and recharged our batteries, sleeping soundly with the feeling of triumph from the day´s walk.

The next day saw us rise early in order to set off in time to walk the Vallee Frances and then make the boat ride which linked to our transfer back. Again, it was going to be tight and there were no guarantees we would make it. Unlike yesterday the weather was slightly rainy but not enough to make it miserable. We started up the valley and saw the first glacier of the valley but it did not seem to be the great view we expected. We decided to carry on a little further until we really had to turn back in order to catch our boat and thank goodness we did: just up from where we had almost turned round was a wood and then the most glorious views of the glacier, the valley, the snow-capped mountains just the other side of Los Cuernos and the view down from the valley to the lakes and hills below: the most amazing 360 degrees view and one of the best things we have seen since travelling. The sun came out and we sat and watched a few avalanches before having to set off again at double quick time.

We passed and chatted to a gentleman who was just on a day trip. He lived in Canada but originally came from Austria: he obviously just could not get snowy mountains out of his blood. The weather closed in a bit and we hurried along, smelling success in the air, towards our final destination: the boat terminal. Our success called for a treat: chocolate and a cuppa! We boarded the boat and then waved goodbye to a place that had found itself a special place in our hearts and our memories.

We arrived back in Puerto Natales, savouring the warmth and cleanliness of the hostel and then made our way back to Punta Arenas. We made our way to see the cemetry there as the Swedes we met had told us of a German General´s tomb which had a hand grenade for each member of his family and sure enough we found it in all its weirdness. Many of the tombs were very splendid but it seemed wrong that the houses for the dead here were much grander and larger than the houses of many of the living in the villages and towns nearby. Some of the tombs had photos of the people inside which gave it a very eery feel: we did not stay around for very long.

We had decided against staying with Kinky again and went with the recommendation of the lovely staff from Puerto Natales at ´Miriam´. Things started well with the wife fussing over us and helping us with the cooking and allowing us to use her kitchen, and then husband chatted with us for a long while after dinner, getting very excited when we were able to translate some of the herbal infusions he had such as blackcurrant bracer and slumberwell or something similar. Things started to go slightly downhill when they would only give us one towel and went quickly further downhill when we put all the blankets on our bed, had 3 layers of clothing, hats and 2 pairs of socks on and were still cold: we shivered most of the night and the next morning we admitted we had not slept well due to the cold and the husband explained that it was dangerous to have the heating on at night. Dangerous for his wallet, maybe! The night before he had hinted in not the most subtle way that he wanted us to recommend him to Lonely Planet. I would certainly recommend his house as an Antarctic experience!

The following morning we flew to Puerto Montt from where we started on the next leg of our journey back to Santiago: the Lake District