Journey to Torres Del Paine National Park

Alrighty... lets get back on track then... where was I? Cripes! nearly 6 weeks behind. Ok. deep breath.

So... at about 4am on Dec 11th I left Ushuaia bound back for the Argentinian Andover that is Rio Gallegos. The scenery overland through Tierra Del Fuego was even more amazing than the view from the plane and, goddamnit, i wish i had spent more time down there. Cest la vie. Another time, eh?

The only other two things I´ll mention about my two day mission to Puerto Natales is that a) in the view out of the window was incredible - especially the wing whipped sea as we hugged th ebeagle channel - and b) in the space of 18hrs i went through 6 frickin border crossings and all the stamps and paper work that that brings. aye yae yae. Every cloud has a silver lining and I suppose for this tale it´s that there was not one cavity search.

So, Puerto Natales is a lovely little town full of cool little tin houses and, as it´s the gateway town to the Torres del Paine National Park, a lot of serious looking people in gore-tex. I stayed at a fine and friendly hostel called Erratic Rock (it´s not a spelling error - i checked and there was no-one overly amourous on the team called Rick) where there speciallity was fine breakfasts and scaring the bejesus out of me.

Every day they do a ´three o´clock talk´ telling you what you need and what you should expect from your excursion to the park. Basically it sounded like you needed to be prepared for gale force 12 winds, arctic rain and possibly locust and rivers of blood...or at least thats how i heard it. Just before i went to sleep that night after booking my refugios (campsite things) and buying provisions I was properly bricking it as i had not yet found someone to walk with and felt completely un-prepared physically, mentally and equipmentally. An english chap (and he was a ´Chap´ - what what) told me how bloody sad he was to be leaving the bloody park as it was so bloody beuatiful. This talk sounded insane to my ears as i fell into a short and restless sleep...