Day 2 : one of the shorter days of the hike and so we were in no hurry to get up. After a disappointingly light breakfast we headed off on the 13km trek to the Refugio Los Cuernos, home for the second night. The day was clear and bright but with a healthy breeze once we'd left the first valley.

We contemplated hiking with Dani and Irene but as seasoned hikers their pace left us in their dust. Small world part 2, we again bumped into Martin, the guy on whose birthday we met.

The views today were over rolling hills and lakes to one side and the towering peaks to the other. Kind of like a beefed up Snowdonia! The lakes filled with glacial run off are an amazing bright pale blue colour, they look radioactive.

Referring back to the 'overkill' on emphasizing the park rules, we passed through a large area close to fully recovered from an accidental, but devastating, forest fire a few years back. There was a lot more of this to come.

As we got closer to the hostel the winds began to pick up, but the sun held on to keep things bright. The Refugio Los Cuernos is operated by the same company as the Chileno and as such was of a similar style and high standard. However the staff were much more fun and the place had a better vibe to it. We caught up with a Swiss & German pair of friends who were also in our hostel in Puerto Natales, and spent the evening playing cards with Dani, Irene, a French girl called Xavière and a older Chilean guy called Ricardo.

Overnight the winds really picked up, at times it felt like the roof of the hostel was going to come off. The rain also started with a vengeance. More than ever we were glad not to be camping!!