Torres Del Paine W-circuit Trek
12 Mar 2017
This is my third time landing in South America. It started off with Peru/Machu Picchu-Iguazu Falls-Brazil in 2014, then Argentina on-route to Antarctica in 2016 and this time Chile-Patagonia in 2017. This time the 3 of us will do W-circuit in the Patagonia. The SQ flight we took landed in Syney around 10ish morning. Since there was no inter-line agreement between SQ and Qantas, we need to retrieve our luggage and went through immigration, before proceed to Qantas at Departure Level, one level above Arrival. There was a long queue at Qantas economy check in counter. Lucky we did our internet check-in and queue at a separate counter.
There was shower facility inside sydney airport so i managed to freshen up. There was flight delay for QF27. Our flight didnt depart until 230pm, instead of 1250pm. The gentleman who sat one seat awat from me claimed that he has friend who work in Qantas so we had a empty middle seat between us. 12 hour flight from Sydney to Santiago on 747. They have a snack bar at the end of the cabin, one is free to take a variety of snacks served on the rack. Very good selection available.
Watched Manchester by the Sea on the plane. Good but sad show. Better than La La Land.
Once we arrived at Santiago, our airbnb host Willy picked us up at the airport.
Exchange rate at Santiago airport: USD1 = 635CLP
On the way to his house, Willy pointed to us construction on going for the airport. The airport was being expanded. Apparently Chile received record breaking number of tourists this year.
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4The airbnb was near the airport. Once i took a shower i slept till dinner. When Low and i walked out to buy dinner we saw very beautiful sunset.
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11 There was communal wifi signal on and off for us to tap on. i couldnt sleep well at night due to jet lag. There was always some dancing music played somewhere in the neighbourhood.
4 Mar 2017
The next morning Willy made us breakfasts and drove us to the airport. The Sky Airline counter lady helped us get a window seat on left in order to see the mountains (Row A). We ended up in emergency row. The leg room was spacious but the wing blocked our view so i couldnt take much photos. We could see Fitz Roy from the plane.
12Once we reached Punta Arenas airport, there was already a bus bound for Puerto Natales waiting at the exit of Arrival Hall. Lucky we never took the taxi to the bus station in town. Also lucky that we got our luggage earlier than the others and got empty seats on the bus. As soon as the bus was filled up it moved off. There was wifi on board bus Fernandez.
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15Beautiful scenery on the way to Puerto Natales. We looked out of the window and saw a cyclist taking his lunch out of Singapore local-chain supermarket (Ntuc Fairprice) plastic bag inside a hut. Where on earth did he get the plastic bag from??
We reached the Puerto Natales bus station 3 hours later and bought the one-way bus ticket to Torres Del Paine National Park(TDP) for tomorrow 7am from bus Sur. If you buy bus tickets, avoid bus Sur as there is no wifi on their buses and their schedule dont synced with the shuttle timing in TDP.
We walked to Pire Mapu Cottage, where we stay tonight. It is very near to bus station and very beautiful.
We took a cab and rushed to Erratic Rock Hostel for the 3pm free-talk. Very informative session conducted by a Dutch guide manning the equipment rental store. The mis-sync of bus timing of Bus Sur was one of those pieces of info that he shared with us. After the talk, there were some ladies offered to sell us pastries at whatever-price-you-willing-to-pay. We didn't have lunch and bought some cakes from them as tie-over.
16We went to the supermarket to buy food for hiking. Bought a carrier bag from them. Turned out this bag will follow me in hiking and helped me much on the trail. We went to walk around the seaside and the town. Town was bustling on a weekend, coupled with good weather.
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21Dinner was at an Italian restaurant. After that we went back to pack and crash.
When i was sleeping, i heard someone knocking and claimed that he was from booking.com. Apparently some tourists got scammed on a non existing accoommmodation on booking.com, so booking.com send these unlucky travelers here for stay foc in Pire Mapu as compensation. Not really sure thats the true n complete story but thats what i made out across the wall in zombie state.
5 Mar 2017
Woke up at 6am to pack my stuff. At around 630am, we walked to the bus station and boarded the bus to TDP. Drizzling and foggy. Gloomy 3-hour ride. Reached the park office near Lake Armaga for video watching - to remind us not to start a fire and cause forest fire. Chile just had its worst forest fire last month (news capture at the end of the blog) and it was suspected to be an arson.
Weather board at the Lake Armaga office. Today and tomorrow should be fine.
22We got transferred to Hotel Las Torres by van. Once we reached there the rain subsided gradually. We started trekking towards our first refugio - Chileno.
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25If you are willing to pay, you can ride horses to the refugio.
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28Only 2 persons allowed on the bridge any one time.
29To the right will be Chileno, to the left will be Cuernos.
30Chileno was already within sight.
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36Turquoise colour of the river, as a result of glacier melts.
Some parts of the trek were quite strenuous. Upon reaching the refugio, I was told that I had to pay GST cos I forgot to the bring the immigration printout. This was the only refugio that asked me for extra payment of 9000 pesos. No other refugios asked me to pay extra.
Rule of Chileno: No boots into the hostel (again the only refugio that has this requirement) and i forgot to bring my slippers. All those who didnt book sleeping bags together with their beds got assigned 2nd level or 3rd level bunks. Total about 8 bunks in one room.
At the fire place in the cafeteria, I chatted with Ian from the UK. He was camping at the private campsite next to Chileno, which were managed by the same company that managed Chileno, and more expensive than the free campsites managed by the national park. He works as a geologist and do consultancy work for oil companies. He used to stay in Calgary before moving to Singapore and stayed in Singapore for good 2 years. He suggested we should give the towers in Las Torres a try. I was quite reluctant actually. Firstly due to the lack of sleep the night before. The view looked cloudy, not very promising for a clear view of the towers. The other 2 decided to stay put in the room.
We both went up to Mirador Las Torres to get a view but not much luck. The lagoon in front of the tower was emerald colour. On the way up, Ian saw a fox standing on the rock but i was too slow to see it, it lept off the rock.
Not much clear view at first.
37Just when i was 250m on the way down, the sun came out and gave the towers a good glow. Ian couldn't resist and went back up while i hesitated for about 15 minutes before I followed suit. Ian was surprised to see me when he was about to descend. We both went back again to see the lagoon and the towers.
38On the way down, I was too hungry and thirsty, I ended up asking food from fellow hikers. Ian swore he was too shy to do that, its a Brit culture. We returned to Chileno around 7ish.
The view of the torres towers from Chileno:
39We missed our 7pm dinner time and settled for the next round at 815pm. I didnt have much appetite so i gave some of my food to Ian. i got to know James, a south korean at another fire place. He loves fire place. We also chatted with Jim, another hiker from USA before we went to sleep at 10pm. Dead tired. The sky above us was full of stars.
6 March 2017
We woke up at 4am. After light breakfast we went up to Mirador Las Torres (2nd time for me) using headlamps. I couldn't recognise the way in the dark so I let the 2 ladies passed me. Ian, who started one hour later, overtook us when we were 250m away (height wise) from the lagoon.
At 7am we reached the Mirador. The sun lit up the towers. I helped a german lady and a german couple to take photos. The couple gave me a piece of choc as reward. I could never say no to food.
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46At around 8ish we started to walk down slowly and carefully.
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50This was the campsite that Ian stayed in.
52Once we returned to Chileno around 945am, we ate our brunch and carry on trekking to Cuernos at around 11am. We saw condors circling above us at the short-cut junction towards Cuernos.
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61The hike from Cuernos to Las Torres was reallllllly long but all in good weather, no wind. The ups and downs seemed endless. I felt like i could never reach the next refugio. Stopped a couple of times to catch my breath. Got my foot stucked inside the mud in a marshland, despite warning the night before by Ian and Ruth (doctor from German).
Finally saw the refugio. Marbela was the friendly receprionist in Cuernos that showed me my room. He was super helpful.
Dinner was bland and tasteless. I didn't enjoyed it much. Plus I had to worry about my muddy shoes. Not helping that the fire place in Las Cuernos was not hot enough to dry the shoes. James (the korean) and the Chilean chatted with me but i kept dozing off while drying my shoes.
7 March 2017
As expected the shoes were not dry. It was drizzling in the morning. We dragged our feet about embarking towards Campo Italiano.
Camp Italiano is at the the junction towards French Valley and Britanico Valley. Trekkers can put their bags at the T-junction before entering the valleys. It is a trust system: nobody will look after your belongings but so far (touch wood) nobody has stolen stuff from other fellow trekkers here. This does not mean there is no theft case elsewhere. Please read stories below about a theft case encountered by Ian during this trek at another camp site, a news I learnt only after I returned to Singapore. He was doing a different route.
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67Wind can be as strong as 190km/h at times. The strong wind will whip up water from the lake and wet the trekkers on this exposed part of the trek along the shingle beach. The dutch guide at the Erractic Rock Hostel had to hide from tree to tree to cross the exposed trail during brief moments of low wind, to avoid getting soaked. In Patagonia, the challenge to trekking is the wind. The trees will agree.
The 3 of us parted ways at Camp Italiano as one of Yu's boots opened jaw at the sole.
The weather board at Camp Italiano. It reminded the trekkers: don't ask whats the weather today, it's Patagonia!
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69I went up french valley alone after some enlightening update from people who came down from the valley. Along the way i got to know a south korean family. They were so kind they shared their food with me. Together we went up to the Mirador and saw the icefield and glacier at French Valley. It started drizzling. The young South Korean guy was so worried about my wobbly descent (whats new?) that he waited for me and held my hands at some points. I was totally grateful. We went to a lower view point and saw a better view of the icefield. We parted ways shortly.
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78By the time I returned to Camp Italiano to retrieve my stuff, Yu and Lo were long gone. I took 2.5 hours to reach the next refugio. I kept bumping into the two guys from Melbourne, just like yesterday. They were friendly. Saw a green bird when i was near the refugio.
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83Board walk at some sections as the ground was too muddy. Picture below showed the damage done by the forest fire.
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86Elevation profile map shows the contour of the trail ahead. The direction we took for this W-circuit was from East to West, mostly downhill. Erractic Rock Hostel suggested West to East, for different arguments.
Along the way, there were also GPS coordinates sign posts.
87That's the lake with the catamaran linking Paine Grande to Pudeto! I was finally reaching my destination.
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92I reached refugio Paine Grande at 520pm. Devi the friendly receptionist from USA was super kind to me.
I was assigned a room at the 2nd floor far away from toilet and too noisy due the people drinking and chatting in the lounge. I asked for a transfer and was offered a 6-bunk room all by myself. Yu and L were in a double room.
Paine Grande was the best refugios and the biggest we had stayed so far. They have several big lounges. fire place was warm. Toilets have liquid soup. So different from those managed by Fantastico Sur. One need to queue up at the entrance for dinner using tray system. We didnt know and ended up having to queue at the back even though we came to cafeteria early. Food was good though. For once i have appetite and portion was good enough for me. Sleep as usual was a snore, strange dream and waking up few times affair. Yu said i sleep talked.
I was lucky to have the whole room to myself.
93Marvelous view from the window.
94This refugio was so big that it has few lounges. This is the lounge in the ground floor.
95Minimart has everything one can ask for.
96The cafeteria was so huge. Gone were the days of dining in cramp position like in Chileno.
978 March 2017
Raining.
98The next morning marked the start of 2-day wet weather. We went ahead to Mirador at Lago Gray despite the rain. It was tough as the wind picked up speed and blew rain on our faces. Not helping that the trail was muddy and slippery. I fell one time but not serious. We just went a little bit forward after Mirador. We decided there was no point going to Refugio Gray as we still have a catamaran to catch.
99Glacier Gray.
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102Had to cross the small stream on this log.
103The way back to Paine Grande was tough as we were against the wind. The rain and wind were harder nearer to refugio due to the proximity to the vast open lake.
Once i reached refugio i went for a much needed hot shower. While i was drying my stuff near the fire place, stood next to me was this Austria girl who needed a bed as camping in this wet weather was hell. As a camper she wont even has access to the fire place like we all did. I transferred one bed to her, keeping one for Ian in case he showed up. She was happy.
Fireplace full of prople drying their wet stuff in the lounge at 2nd floor.
We took the catamaran at 5pm to pudeto. Last boat out at 635pm from here.
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105There were buses waiting at the Pudeto but they wont depart till 730pm after the passengers taking the last catamaran at 635pm showed up. We were stucked inside the cafeteria until 7ish. I had beer and red wine with James in the cafeteria. He was travelling 3 months in South America leaving his wife and son in Korea. His motto was live for the moment.
106Bus driver with a barret sending us back to Puerto Natales in the evening. He was a nice guy. I nearly left my tripod inside the cafeteria, lucky Lo helped me retrieve it.
Once we reached Puerto Natales at around 10pm, i walked to Pire Mapu to try my luck for the night. They were full. I walked down the street and found an empty room in a hostel along the same Esmeralda street. Only 3 of us in the 6-bunk room with a good powerful gas heater. I laid out all my wet gears to dry inside the really-warm room. Finally back to the wifi world. Tried the bbq lamb in a restaurant nearby. There were a lot of stray dogs on the street, we were kinda scared cos we have seen them in action/fighting in Puerto Natales and Santiago before. No joke. The owner helped us book a cab to get us back to the hostel safely.
9 March 2017
We woke up early and caught the 830am bus to Punta Arenas. James again appeared in the same bus as us. No wifi in the bus this time (Bus Sur). We reached Punta Arenas airport around 11am. The staff at the Sky Airline told us the amount to pay for changing our flights earlier from 720pm to 155pm. We paid the fare difference and went for lunch. This time i asked for window seat on the right (row F) away from the wings. As the plane flew through the mountain range, we got a good view of Las Torres, Fitz Roy and other ice fields. The whole plane went into commotion when the pilot announced the places of interest as we flew above them. I felt that the change fee was totally worth it.
107Mirador Las Torres from above.
Snowfield glaciers melted and flowed into lake...
108Mount Fitz Roy in El Chalten, Argentina.
109I helped the aisle-and-middle-seat passengers took some photos of the snowfields and mountains. In return the aisle seat passenger (M) showed me videos and pictures that he took from his antarctica fly-cruise he did 5 days ago covering King George Island, Shetland Island and Antarctica peninsular. The whale videos and pictures he got was totally professional. Mine was amateurish compared to his.
Pictures of Santiago when we were about to land.
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113We reached Santiago airport ahead of time.
114Went outside the arrival hall but couldnt find our uber driver. Another driver offered to drive us to our place.
The apartment was very nice. its at the top floor so it has great views of the city.
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118Theres a nice bakery nearby. We had dinner at a chinese restaurant nearby, the food was good.
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120Night view from the window:
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Good morning Santiago!! Heres the sunrise view from the window:
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123The pastries we bought from the bakery yesterday was the perfect start for the day. After breakfast, we went to change money at city centre. Lovely chilly morning walk. Exchange rate at Santiago city from cambio: usd1 = 660clp, better than airport. Temperature in the morning 12 degrees Celsius; afternoon 35 degrees Celsius.
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125Meeting point for free walking tours at Piaza De Armas.
126Tourist cavalry squad posed for the picture.
127City Hall, converted to museum. Post Office on the left of museum.
128After that we joined freewalkingtours to walk around Santiago. Franco, our tour leader was a very funny guy. He told us many stories related to Santiago.
129Coffee with legs anyone?? It’s kinds like the Chilean equivalent to Hooters. You cant see them from outside. Swing open the door, and ooo-laa-laa. Your coffee is served to you by a woman in a ... see for yourself.
130Presidential Palace. The aunties and uncles were doing sorta like Singapore workout in the huge space in front of the palace. This is the place where the first democratically-elected-Socialist-President in Chile, as well the first of its kind in the world, President Salvador Allende was bombed to death by the air force of Chile in 1973. After his death, the military took over the country till 1990. He gave his last speech by radio before the bombing began.
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132A friend of Franco who manned this store. He was getting married the third time the day after we met.
133The equivalent of New York in Santiago.
134Traditionally, a cannon shot is fired from Santa Lucia hill at midday on weekdays. We were there at that time but Franco warned us that the cannon might not be fired due to equipment failure etc, as of all things in Chile. Don't have high hope he said. The cannon did fire that day, much to our delight.
135Our lunch break spot.
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137You must be wondering why was there a sculpture of Lincoln in Santiago? Apparently Lincoln was impressed with Santiago cos Chile was the first country that abolish slavery.
138German Fountain. The design...
139The Spanish Telco company wanted to build a building that look like a mobile phone in the 1990s...
After the tour we went up Cerro San Cristóbal by furnicular.
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146Hungry! We went to the seafood market to try the king crab. It was totally amazing!
147On the way back the whole Piaza de Armas was full of street baskers. After all it was Friday.
148Sunset view from the window:
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161After that i went to buy stamps for the postcards before visiting the museum next door. To get to the stamp counter, you must key in your Chilean ID number into the machine and get a queue number, but I don't have one obviously. The locals told me this is the way Santiago works, and used their ID to help me get a number so that I can buy stamps. Chile oh Chile!!
The audio guide was very useful for the tour in museum. It helped to understand the history of Santiago.
Lunch was at the seafood market again, I ordered seafood soup.
162We went to the bakery to order our favourite fruit pies. Went back to the chinese restaurant to have our dinner and order fried rice for tomorrow brunch. There was a drunk lady who peed himself after drinking too much in the restaurant, created trouble for the lady boss. Lo left his bag in the restaurant after dinner, the lady boss ran out and shouted for him.
Grapes that we bought from the street yesterday were very sweet. I ate too much and stomach protested lol.
12 Mar 2017
You can say that I was addicted to the view from the window. Every sunrise and sunset I will take tons of pictures.
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I used easytaxi app to book a cab from apartment to the airport. The driver still collect the metered-fare from me instead of honouring the fare quoted by the app though.
Again the long queue for economy for Qantas. Turned out that qatar silver tier can check in at business class counter, avoided the super long check in queue.
Pictures taken when we flew from Santiago to Sydney. The return flight was slightly longer than the 12-hour flight we flew from Sydney to Santiago. We flew close to Antarctica, could see the icebergs floating in the ocean. Even though the icebergs looked small from the plane window, in reality they are huge beasts.
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170We reached Sydney slightly ahead of time, but lost one day, landed on 13 Mar 2017. We went to the SQ counter and see if we could change our flight ticket for tomorrow to today, but the lady advised us not to due to the large fare difference payable.
We took uber to YHA at Sydney Central. The room we got was noisy so we paid AUD5 to get it upgraded to another room en-suite in the centre of the hostel which was much more spacious and much quieter. Kudos to the friendly staff there to help recommend the change.
14 Mar 2017
We went to a South American restaurant to have breakfasts and I got to practise my simple Spanish with the friendly lady. There was no free walking tour so we did our walked on our own. The sun did come out briefly before the drizzle took over for the rest of the day.
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172Can see the bridge walkers?
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179The Uber driver that sent us to the airport told us that prior to uber operating in Sydney, calling cab to airport used to be a one-hour waiting game and nobody can guarantee a cab will really show up after one hour of waiting. Sometimes 3 cabs show up at the same time due to booking system error. Nowadays an uber came up after 2 minutes of booking and we got to the airport in 20 minutes.
Flight path:
Video of Antarctica taken by my same row passenger in Sky Airline, Morgan, during his fly cruise in Antarctica. He has taken many beautiful photos and good videos and many thanks for sharing with us this close up video of the whales during his cruise.
After the trip, I came back to Singapore and learnt that Ian has lost his belongings in one of the camp sites after we parted ways. He was clearly a much better hiker+writer than I am and he has a very interesting story that will get you captivated!
Thank you for reading this blog. For more stories in other destinations, please click HERE to go to the travel index page.
Advice:
1. If you book room from Paine Grande for 2 persons, early enough, you might be lucky to get a room that has only 2 bunk beds in it. There are not many such rooms though so please reserve early and request from them.
2. Some rooms in Paine Grande are really far from the toilet. Other smaller refugios don't have this problem.
3. Queue for dinner at Paine Grande before 7pm else you will have to bear with long queue. Other refugios don't have such rules.
4. Bring the slip issued by the Chile immigration and passport for your refugio stay, especially Chileno.
5. Ziplog bags very useful for trail mix that you bought from supermarket.
6. Both Australia and Chile are against food import by tourists. Don't try.
7. Stray dogs are abundant in Chile. I am afraid of them. They could be seen fighting among themselves on the street. Even though it was a short walk from the restaurant to the hostel, we decided to ask the owner to call a cab as the stray dogs were outside the restaurant. in 2015, my friend got bitten by a stray dog in Ushuaia Argentina after the Antarctica cruise.
8. King crabs in Punta Arenas are good. Do try it. It is also available in Santiago but more expensive.
9. Guide for free walking tours survive on tips so do prepare tips for them.
10. Sky Airline ticket can be cheaper than LAN by quite a bit. You get what you paid for though.
11. I normally don't bring my DSLR out in Santiago, just use my mobile phone. Puerto Natales ok.
12. March may not be the best time for Chilean Patagonia. Do consider better months in the summer if you can afford it.
13. Flight from Sydney to Santiago by Qantas is always full, book real well in advance.
14. Good to know some Spanish phrases before you head to South America. Sin gas means the mineral water is not gassified, con gas means the mineral water contains gas.
15. They sell milos by sachet, good for my two day stay in Santiago. I couldn't bring milo from Singapore due to food import ban.
16. Fly over the Miradors during day time and select a window seat on your left (towards Punta Arenas_ or on your right (towards Santiago) and get ready your cameras.
17. Sky Airline now offer flights direct to Puerto Natales, save you the bus ride from Punta Arenas to Puerto Natales.
18. There are bus that goes from Puerto Natales to El Calafate in Argentina, from there you can visit Mount Fitz Roy in El Chalten.
