December 27, 2005 - Day 4, Refugio El Chileno: This was mostly all up up up up. Felt very tired after today´s trek. There wasn´t as much lush vegetation today as there was yesterday, but the sites were still impressive, since we were at a fairly high elevation. We had great views of the relatively flat terrain below and the last view of the lake.



We arrived at Refugio El Chileno in the later afternoon. The refugio is situated in a very beautiful area - overlooking a river, which is fed by the glacier melt water.



We enjoyed the companies of a couple of South Africans from Cape Town and our friend Karin, an Austrian working in Santiago for a few months. Really fun and interesting personality.

Had a nice meal at the refugio. Ziad kicked my ass at chess.

December 26, 2005 - Day 3 of our trek: This was our longest day of hiking, but our favourite. We hiked 22kms over varied terrain (up down up down up up up down). We were lucky with the weather again and had excellent views of mountain peaks and the glacier lake. We decided to get off track to hike through the French Valley (about 2.5hrs). Well worth it too. A lot of hikers returned after only hiking a fraction of the trail. There were some clouds covering the mountain peaks and they thought the hike wouldn´t be worth the journey if you didn´t get to see the peaks. We continued on and soon after, the sky cleared up and there was nothing but blue skies and sun. When we reached the top, we got a 360 degree view of the cuernos (the horns of the mountain). You could hear the thunder-like sounds of glacier parts falling off the mountains and collecting into the lake. It really was a beautiful site.





Coming back down the French Valley, this was one of the views you would see:

The last 2.5kms to the next campsite (refugio Los Cuernos) seemed to take forever. Our bodies were pretty worn out by the end of the day, but we treated them to some beer and wine with our dinner......we were forgiven:-) We had dinner with a few other hikers: 3 Germans, 2 South Africans, and an Austrian woman. We were fortunate to have a fantastic sunset that evening. The sun doesn´t completely set until 11pm in the evening in this area, so it was always a shock to see how late it actually was.



At each refugio/campsite, the Chileans have been very welcoming and informative. We haven´t met too many Chileans with the exception of those that work in the service industry, but the ones we have met have been fun and very kind.

Sleep was good that night.

Torres del Paine - "W" Circuit

December 25, 2005 - Christmas Day: Refugio Paine Grande
We started our hike back to refugio Paine Grande in the morning. The weather was much friendlier this time. Very little wind and a lot more sun. Whatever wind there was was behind our backs. Today, we merely retraced our steps and stayed the evening at refugio PG. We made our dinner in the campers hut and met a young German couple. They were finishing their practicum near Santiago (doctors) and had a few days for vacation. Very nice couple. It was interesting to learn more about the political realities of Germany since the reunification.



December 24th - Christmas Eve: Refugio Grey
Our first major destination of our Patagonia trip was a 5-day trek in Torres del Paine Parque Nacional in Southern Chile. We were picked up by a bus at our hostel in Puerto Natales at 7:30am. We embarked on a 3 hr. ride through flat terrain towards the park. With the exception of the mountain range along the western portion of the region, Patagonia is flat flat flat. We arrived at Lagoe Pehoe by noon and we caught the catamaran to refugio Paine Grande, the starting point of our trek.

Our first destination was refugio Grey, an 11km trek that according to the map would take us 3.5hrs. The trek was a moderate level hike through beautiful vegetation with Lagoe Pehoe to our back and Cuernos (horns) del Paine to our right, and eventually Lagoe Grey to our left.

The wind started to pick up more the closer we came to the lake. The winds became so strong I lost my balance a couple of times. Ziad stayed strong on his legs, but I fell. He kept telling me to keep strong like him, but it was really his big belly that prevented him from falling too:-)

The highlight of the day was when Glacier Grey appeared. The winds became so strong at that point it was difficult to stop long enough to enjoy the view. Eventually, the wind died down as we entered the forested area. After 4hrs. of hiking we finally reached refugio Grey where we settled in for the evening and met with many other backpackers. Since it was Christmas Eve, the staff of the refugio prepared a special Christmas dinner: roasted lamb, potatoes, veggies, soup, and lots of wine. We were all happy people. Check out the lamb roast, and the scenery around the dinner table: