+ We arrived in Puerto Natales early in the morning and dropped off most of our luggage at a hostel (ran by very friendly people who picked us up at the station). With a newly packed backpack (much lighter of course, and full of food), we took the bus to the entrance of the national park "Torres del Paine" to do a 4-day intensive trekking.
+ Inside the park we had to walk the first day about 2-3 hours to reach the shelter where we would spend the first night. We did the track in about 2 hours, but we were totally dead! Our legs were super tired, as most of the way was uphill and it rained a bit, so we were less enthusiastic about hikking that day. Talking to people at the shelter during the dinner who came from the other side and were at the end of their 4-days trip, we got a bit scared if we were going to manage the whole tour energywise. Some of them couldn´t walk anymore...
Day 1
Day 2
+ The second day we got up at 4 a.m. to make a 2-hour track in order to witness the sunrise at the Torres del Paine rocks. The last hour of the way to get there was so hard as it was pretty steep uphill, but when we reached the viewpoint, all pains were gone! It was spectacular! The rocks were illuminated red in the sunlight and we enjoyed the nice views until the sun rose from the horizon completely and the red colours were gone.
+ After the sunrise at Torres del Paine, we returned another 2 hours to the shelter and had a nap & breakfast. About 11 a.m., we headed the long track to the next shelter. It was a 6 hours up and down track and this time with the big backpacks again, but it was so beautiful, with the landscape changing all the time, with blooming flowers, warm sunshine that we didn´t realize the effort we made. However, when we had the shelter in sight, we were all too relieved.
The walk to Torres del Paine rock formation
The long trail to the 2nd shelter
Day 3
+ The third day we slept a bit longer and started our 11 hours trail at 10.00 a.m. We carried our backpacks until a campsite where we dropped our backs off to go to some other rock formations about 2 hours from the campsite.
+ After have seen some other spectacular places, we returned to pick up our backpacks and to head to the 3rd shelter. Again, the whole trail was beautiful and we surprised ourselves with keeping up so well during the trekking. Actually, the third day we walked so much faster than the first two.
Day 4
+ The fourth day another highlight awaited us: to see a glaciar!! What we didn´t know is that on the way to the glaciar we would see icebergs floating!! We did a three hours walk (well, run) from the shelter. Later on that day, we took a a boat through a gorgeous lake to get to the exit of the national park and get the bus to Puerto Natales where we slept in the hostel in which we dropped off the rest of our luggage four days earlier. The last day was amzing and we could still walk pretty well! After these four days, we would not be afraid of any other trekking anymore... :-)
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