Our jet-lag woke us up at about 4am ready for our early flight down to Puerto Natales. With a brief power cut in the hotel meaning no coffee, we headed with our packed brekkie to the airport. Another dodgy ride with the taxi driver not being aware of speed bumps meaning our heads spent more time on the ceiling than they did on our shoulders.

The flight was amazing (and no you won’t catch me saying that very often). It was just so unbelievably scenic and I felt that the budget airline could have definitely charged  more for that trip, The Andes peaked out of the morning clouds and the moonlight lit up the peaks. We headed south to Puntas Arenas gazing in awe at the Andes on our left, it was very cloudy for the majority of the trip but the clouds parted on two amazing glaciers and what a treat it was to see them. One long and thin and the other just an insane mass of ice. I later learned that we had been flying over the Southern Patagonian ice field (the worlds second largest of its kind) and there would have been many more glaciers under those clouds, so you could imagine how amazing it would have been on a clear day (if there are any).

Punta Arenas is notorious for its windy weather and when we flew in you could see why. The wind whipping on the water and the trees growing sideways (this was a good day!) I think our landing was probably one of the best so I can imagine it gets a lot hairier.

We arrived a little earlier than first thought and wanted to catch an earlier bus so we wouldn’t have to wait around. Unfortunately we couldn’t rebook at the airport so we flagged down a taxi to quickly take us to the bus station as we only had 20 minutes. The taxi man said no problem, we will be there in 15, and that we were. Regrettably I said ‘Venga Venga’ and after the faff of tailgating another car to get out of the airport carpark, we were on our way at 160km/h. With dodgy under cutting and high winds, I wasn’t sure we would even make the bus and not because of the lack of time!!! As promised we arrived in tact with time to spare and the taxi man even ran in to the station to make sure we got our tickets – what a crazy nice man!

Three hours and a rainy bus journey later we were in Puerto Natales and headed straight for our hotel. It was cold, windy and rainy outside and we were not used to it, though you couldn’t tell by our clothing. Our hotel ‘Altiplanico’ was built in to the side of the hill over looking the lake. It was so warm and welcoming. A mix of a concrete and wood interior, comfy chairs with lots of alpaca wool. What a treat before our hike! Our room was amazing – with a view of the lake, a big bed and a gorgeous bathroom. Radiators! Things we hadn’t seen for a while and underfloor heating – yay!

Before we could get too comfortable, we headed back to town to collect our hire items for the hike and purchase a few final things to get us fully prepared. Of course it was Sunday and almost EVERYTHING was closed. We hired our tent, sleeping bags, one backpack, mess kit and gloves. With the hire man promising us that the sleeping bags were minus ten (as our friends had been given the incorrect ones – and we would also be cursing him later on! ) We bought some other items at one of the only open shops in Puerto Natales and then did our food shop in preparation for the hike. Very strangely, random Waitrose essential items popped up around the shop. There was pasta sauce, english mustard and cereal – obviously. I was hoping there might be some Madagascan vanilla custard somewhere – but sadly not.

We were only cooking for the first two days, so we needed to buy enough for breakfast lunch and dinner x2 and the more calories the better Ryan said – which was absolutely my kind of shopping! We loaded up on the carbs, snacks and eggs (which would hopefully not get squashed) bought some beers for the road and headed back to our warm hotel. By this point we had had rain, sunshine, wind – so it was true, you can get everything in one day, or in the space of one hour to be more precise.

Deciding to pack after dinner, we had a cheese platter and Pisco Sours at grass and flower level, which was delightful. Followed by risotto, we were carb loading for the following day. The food and drinks were delicious and we could have stayed in the restaurant all night, if we didn’t have to pack for our next adventure – The W!

I was taking my own backpack and was loaded with only the essentials – enough pants, woollen socks, waterproofs, thermals, camping gear and all the other bits and bobs. There was no room for luxuries and as my bag already weighed around 12 kilos, I didn’t really want to pack any.

We had a great nights sleep and another early morning but the jet lag seemed to be gone and after our quick brekkie, packing in as much food as possible and taking a few biccies for the road, we were on a bus and on our way to the Torres Del Paine National Park. We didn’t really see much along the way because of the cloud and rain but we saw so many Alpacas – mainly suicidal ones who wanted to run in front of the bus. Luckily we didn’t hit any and managed to get to our catamaran which no fatalities. The catamaran trip took us to where we had decided to start the W Trek.

You can go from East to West but we decided to go from West to East (See itinerary below) and we are so pleased that we did. The Torres (the most famous and touristic part of the W) is at the East end of the trek and today it was closed because of snow and high winds so the people who would be starting from the East wouldn’t be able to see it. We had our fingers crossed that the weather would be good enough for us at the end of our trip!

The W Trek 

Day 1:

Paine Grande – Camp Grey (Glacier Grey) – 11km 

Arrive by catamaran to Paine Grande and walk to our first campsite just by the glacier

Day 2: Camp Grey to Camp Italiano via Paine Grande – 18.6km

Walk back to Paine Grande (11km) and on to Camp Italiano (7.6km)

Day 3:

Camp Italiano – Camp Cuernos via Britanico – 16.5km

Walk up to the Britanico lookout and back down to Camp Italiano (11km) and on to Camp Cuernos (5.5km)

Day 4:

Camp Cuernos – Camp Chileno via Torres Lookout – 23km

Walk up to Camp Chileno (13km) pitch our tent and walk up to the Torres lookout and back down to Chileno (10km)

Day 5:

Camp Chileno – Torres Central – 5km

Walk down and finish at Torres Central

We handed our camping reservation for night one to the rangers (god they must get so bored) and we were on our way to Glacier Grey.  The weather wasn’t bad at all, just a few clouds and a bit of drizzle and we enjoyed trudging through the grassy paths of the valley. I spent a lot of time faffing – not knowing whether I was hot or cold, whether my back pack was comfy or not and whether I had worn the right pants or not.

After a couple of hours we turned a corner and caught the first glimpse of Glacier Grey – now that is an unforgettable moment right there. How amazing and unexpected, we were both completely in awe. Still so far away, but wow, it was an incredible view and one we will treasure forever.

We happily wandered on, with the view of the glacier in front of us, enticing us along the trek. We stopped at a view point in the strong wind and took in the amazing views. The luxury of the W trek and the fact that we were doing it in the off season, was that you only came across a few people along the way (so sociable aren’t we!)

The wildlife was already amazing – we saw Condors in the distance amongst other large birds of prey. Pumas were also regulars on this trail and although it would have been great to see one, the warning of ‘move backwards and pick up small children’ was enough to put me off.

We hadn’t really looked too much in to what amazing views we would see along the way, so other than the Torres and the glacier, we weren’t really sure what we would come across. So far so good, with lagoons, icebergs and the first sighting of the glacier, it made you almost forget the weight on your back.

The glacier got closer and closer and our 11km walk was soon over as we reached Camp Grey – there was a Refugio which looked warm and welcoming but we were in our tent for the night, so we chose a pitch. One side of the tent ripped as Ryan put it up and there were only 5 pegs for the 10 peg holes – ah well, we had to laugh really, what else could we do! It was fine, a bit saggy, but it would do the job!

We walked to the mirador (lookout) through the forest and along the rocks. We came across massive chunks of ice along the way and they were pretty impressive themselves! One looking like one of the dragons off Game of Thrones! The colour was just amazing, you could stand and watch the ice for hours!

Then we got to the glacier and that was just huge! Now we know why our friend who came with us to the glaciers in New Zealand, wasn’t overly fussed! Those really had nothing on this!

Even though it was cloudy, the view was amazing and you could see how far the glacier went back – it just kept going and going!

The rain was on its way so we headed back to Camp – a Condor flying low over us with its massive wings as we walked – day 1 had definitely been a great success!

It was time for dinner and tonight we had a delicious, gourmet meal of vegetable rice, chorizo and tomato pasta sauce – yummy!!!! I was cooking tonight and I was ready for a good meal, so I got everything going in our little pot and added what I thought was the tomato sauce. Little did I know, that it was actually chilli sauce and the packet itself had twenty servings. So there I go adding the whole packet, thinking oh that smells a bit strong but ah well!

I served it up in our little bowls and oh my god it was spicy!!!!!!!!! I couldn’t eat it, it was so hot! I tried but oh my, we should have just bought the Waitrose sauce!!

After looking at the packet again and still not being able to translate what it said, we noticed the serving size and then remembered the sauce being in the condiment isle – now it makes sense!!! Ryan ate the whole thing but I had to move on to a packet of cookies!

It was time for a quick shower, a glass of vino in front of the fire in the Refugio (so much for going sober) and bed. Hopefully our sleeping bags would keep us warm – but our bellies would be warm for a while – that was for sure!

E & R x