Chile - Day 2 - Torres del Paine

We were collected from our hotel in Punta Arenas at 8.30am and we set off for the long drive to Torres del Paine. There were three other guests in the vehicle, all from the USA, and it was interesting talking to them on the journey. A woman travelling on her own had just returned from a trip to Antarctica so it was good to hear about her experiences there.

We we so lucky as we saw so much wildlife on our journey - flamingoes, condors, plenty of geese, rhea birds, guanacos, and even an Andean fox. I cannot check the names of the birds we saw as I have no internet to browse.


The hotel we are staying in is stunning - eco friendly, set on the edge of a sparkling turquoise blue lake with the majestic mountains rising up behind the lake. Every room here has a view of the mountains, and the rooms have big windows so the rooms are just filled light and the view dominates the room. There was a welcome card in our room saying ‘it was a long journey but so worth it, welcome to the end of the world’

We arrived at lunch time so checked in, dropped our bags and went straight to lunch. The meal was amazing - such beautifully presented food and so fresh and delicious. Everything is inclusive here, the excellent fine dining, the drinks and the guided walks. They have had unusual hot weather for the past 5 days and it looks like this will continue for the next few days. Needless to say I had not packed any warm weather clothing, so it was a challenge trying to find something cooler to wear for our afternoon hike. We did a 2.5 mile hike that took about 2 hours, it was not that difficult but there were some slow people in our small group. Tonight we have a presentation of the hikes available and information about the area, so we will sign up for something a bit more challenging.

There is no coverage here at all - so no phone calls, and no texts. There is only wifi available at reception and not in our rooms, so it is difficult to upload this and I am therefore unable to look at any journals. I am getting Whatsapps from the dog sitter and Xena is having a ball, lots of cuddles, walks and games. 

This was a view of part of the mountain range we saw on our walk, I liked the dust rising up form the road after a car had travelled along it.