The second in the series of photos highlighting good trips in Latin America comes from Torres del Paine in Chilean Patagonia, where I trekked the “W” route for 5 days. The park is a world biosphere reserve and is home to a huge amount of plant and animal species, as well as snow capped mountain peaks, rivers, lakes, glaciers and waterfalls.

This photo was taken at the entrance to the park, and as I wrote at the time, it got things off to a great start:
I had an hour …

Days 158 & 159 – Friday 24th & Saturday 25th February 2006
The final day of hiking began late, as all I had to do was walk 2 hrs downhill to be picked up by the bus which would take me back to Puerto Natales. I could have chosen to get up at 4am and hike back up to see the Torres, but I woke up in the middle of the night and it was cloudy so I sacked it off.

Day 157 – Thursday 23rd February 2006
Having been ill the day before I was a little bit concerned about overexcerting myself and making myself ill again, so I decided to take it a bit easier. It being the 4th day as well my feet were beginning to feel the heat. Thus the first hour was slow and steady loosening up.

Day 156 – Wednesday 22nd February 2006
Despite waking up a few times in my tent I managed to get a reasonable nights sleep, and the sleeping bag passed the test. I woke at around seven thirty, packed up and left the campsite about an hour to begin a long days walking.

Day 155 – Tuesday 21st February 2006
I woke up slightly stiff, but after 10 hours sleep I felt good and ready for another hike. The only hike I had to do for the day was to make my way back down to campsite Paine Grande (where I had got off the catamaran the day before).

Day 154 – Monday 20th February 2006
I woke up half an hour before my alarm and lay awake wondering if I had forgotten anything for my 5 day trek to the Torres del Paine National Park. It was a pretty futile exercise as at 6am even if I had forgotten anything I wouldn’t have been able to go and buy it.