Puerto Natales greeted us first with blue skies and then a snow storm! Brrr! Was that what we had in store for us on the hike? We had had several recommendations of a hostel which also provided a daily briefing on the Torres del Paine trek and were glad to take refuge there (and get proper coffee - what a treat) when the snow started.
After the briefing in the afternoon we decided to delay our departure to the park by a day in order to get organised. Apart from hiring the equipment to camp for five days, we also needed to buy food and kit ourselves out with other small bits.
Puerto Natales offered a strange mix of local shops with lots of knick knacks and then those obviously aimed at the tourists preparing for a trek. It had a lived-in feel though with its different coloured tin houses and still seemed fairly quiet with the season only just having started. You could count the fellow tourists, many of which had also travelled on the Navimag. We were told that the town returns to it's mining and fishing roots during the winter months when the tourists depart and everyone involved in the industry takes their holidays. It only just seemed to be waking up.
We had done quite a bit of research and together with the advice from Erratic Rock decided on dried meals and trailmix (a mix of nuts and dried fruit) as well as lots of chocolate for our food. The difficult part was deciding on the quantities as we would be carrying everything. This led to some intense debates between us. At least we didn't have to take any water this time (another topic of debate). The water in the park was so clean that you could fill up your bottles at every stream. Something the African side in me was immensely looking forward to.
Eventually, after we had practised setting up the tent in gale force winds, our packs were ready (and felt oh so heavy).
We met up with Coralie and Nicolas, the French couple we had met on the ferry, who would be hiking up to the glacier with us for day one. The weather was cloudy and cold and on entering the park the Torres greeted us occasionally appearing through the clouds. My initial feeling was one of worry that we didn't have enough warm stuff. After a catamaran ride on the most amazingly greeny-blue coloured lake we set off for the first 15km to our campside. I found that first day the hardest. Getting used to the weight of the pack and walking with some very fit runners, I felt exhausted by the end. But the views of the glacier made it all worthwhile.
In total over the five days we covered a distance of about 85km. The scenery changed from lakes to forrested valleys, hanging glaciers with avalanches and craggy peaks. The packs didn't seem to get any lighter but we both got used to carrying them a bit more. We were incredibly lucky with the weather and were spared rain and heavy winds. The blisters, aching feet and shoulders were all worth it in the end when we climbed up to the viewpoint of the Torres for sunrise on the last day. The hike and seeing the peaks glow orange above a frozen glacier lake has been one of the highlights of our South America trip.
*Steph