Hey There, Beautiful

I've been trying to upload this...here's a map of the region...Punta
Arenas is where we landed and Torres Del Paine
is where we are now.

More beauty...we are getting spoiled.  I asked our guide yesterday who has been here seven years if he ever gets tired of it...he looked sideways at me and grinned, "No, of course, never."

I can see why.

We just got back about an hour ago from our hike for the day.  Usually, I write these posts after dinner, but the deal here in Chile is that they don't usually eat dinner until 9pm.  So...in between the quirky and limited wifi here and how late we are done with dinner, I finished up last night at 12:30 am...and we had to be up and at 'em this morning at 8:30 so that was okay...but tomorrow, we hit the trail at 7 am and I just need a little more sleep.

on our way to the hike...the horns of Paine in the back right

Each evening, we sit down with a guide and choose what excursion we will do for the next morning.  We chose a hike to look at the Valle Frances Glacier on a well worn path of what is called the "W" hike of the Torres Del Paine park.  Essentially, there are four legs that run through the park and usually take about three or four days to hike and most trekkers camp along the way.  Or, alternatively, you can take the W one leg at a time returning to your beautiful hotel, as we have chosen.

We left by boat across the Lago Pehoe on which this hotel is set and began our hike on the other side. Our guide, Caru (a Brazilian from Sao Paolo) and a couple, Robby and Lily, who are from Argentina.  We hiked 7.6 km up the second leg of the "W" with ridiculous views of the Horns of the Paine, stopped, had lunch together under the French Glacier and saw three (!) small avalanches!  They sounded like thunder and awed us with the fireworks of snow.  After that show, we returned by the way we came.

even the sun wants to touch the Paine

The best part was when Caru looked at Gilly and I after lunch and said, "Hey, do you guys want to go ahead?"  The couple we were with had already stripped down to their t-shirts about 2km into the hike and I was still wearing my mittens and four layers.  It was the permission we needed to really go off and make the hike our own.  We finished about an hour before the rest of the group...so I took a little nap at the base of the trail and tried to soak it all in because we are going home in a couple of days.

Only pictures will do the rest of the work, as I keep saying, we've run out of words.

I haven't written about this, but in 2005 and 2011
Torres Del Paine National Park was
decimated by fires as a result of careless
campers...the damage is still profoundly evident in
many areas.

a suspension bridge to the Italian
camp before the French Glacier

Italian Camp...just a name, not only
open to Italians....

lunch...carrots and potatoes and chicken
almost as pretty as the view

the glacier and the stream that flows from it

Note the altitude...quite a difference from the
Atacama...

Lago Pehoe...brilliant blue

Another Lago on the hike...the blue is from the glaciers

a tent camp for the W trekkers...what a view

Tomorrow is our last full day here in Patagonia, so we plan do finish with a stellar hike...22km and "expert" level (whatever that means, I just hope we make it).  Caru suggested it, she believes in us.  So, I'll report back if we make it.  :)