(Part 2) Puerto Natales and Torres del Paine

Puerto Natales (Chile)

It is a small port city and is the meeting point for travelers who want to go to the Torres del Paine National Park. From Punta Arenas to Puerto Natales city, it takes approximately 3 hours by bus. There is a great variety of hostels where those who want to go for a long walk for several days to the Torres del Paine park (in low season there are many available places, the high season starts between December and February, which is summer). There are also several shops where people can rent camping equipment, everything you need for that trekking days and can fit in a backpack and not weigh too much.

Walking a little along the coast we can have a great view of the Señoret canal and the Patagonian Andes mountains covered with snow that surround the city . All the waterfront in general is very beautiful to go through it, walking preferably. Here are also the remains of the most emblematic wharf in the city, of which only a few sticks remain. It is a very quiet place to sit for a while just observing the most beautiful landscapes of the coast (Do not forget to wear warm clothes and a windbreaker jacket).

If we continue walking along the waterfront there is also a monument of a giant hand that comes out from the ground, although as it is in the middle of the path of the waterfront they put a light pole in the middle of the monument, which interferes the photos .

Torres del Paine (Chile)

Torres del Paine National Park is known for its large mountains and wide meadows with guanacos and other animals living around there. One of the most important sites are the 3 granite towers that give the park its name and the horns in the shape of horns called "Cuernos del Paine". I did not do the 3-day trekking of the W circuit because I came with a knee injury from a previous strong walk and worsened in the last of the Tierra del Fuego National park, It had also been recent and I needed to rest a few more days, so I took a full day tour in bus that takes the tour around all the park and makes stops at some important viewpoints to walk a litte and take pictures.

The park also has numerous crystal clear lakes, such as Lake Nordenskjöld, which stands out for its gray and blue tones, surrounded by varied vegetation and in the background you can see the "Cuernos del Paine".

One of the main lakes is Gray Lake, formed by the Gray Glacier, at this time of year, end of October and beginning of November, the ice is already beginning to melt and the huge icebergs that come off the Gray Glacier reach the Lake shore, the ground of the beach is composed mainly of small surface black pebbles which slows the walk and move. Sometimes the weather is unpredictable, in the afternoon a very strong wind started to blow and you have to be careful because in some parts of the way the wind is so strong that it blows the small pebbles from the ground and hits on some people.

The cave of the Milodon, composed of three huge caves, where remains of milodons were found, giant herbivorous mammals that became extinct a long time ago, for me it looks like a giant bear.