December 27, Tuesday – Torres Del Paine, Chile

This is a highlight day.  We were late docking in Puerto Arenas on the Strait of Magellan as the authorities had closed the port due to high winds and unsafe conditions.  We docked about two hours late but they were still able to accommodate our excursion to Torres del Paine.  We are visiting the Torres as a shore excursion even though we will be spending 4 nights there later on our land portion of our trip to Southern South America.  We are taking the extra visit because, depending on who you ask, you can see the peaks only 30 – 50% of the time...typically there is way too much rain and clouds around the mountains.

After a short bus ride to the airport, the group divided into three groups and took small planes to Puerto Natales where we boarded another bus. We saw Puerto Natales from the air but had no chance to see any of the town. It sits right on Ultima Esperanza Sound.

Puerto Natales

The long drive into Torres del Paine National Park was on the "Route to the End of the World” (Ruta del Fin del Mundo).  

We had a short stop for coffee and souvenirs at a shop owned by area sheep farmers to supplement their income.  Near the shop was a statue dedicated to horses that were important to the early development of the area.

We saw the major mountains long before were within the national park.

The drive in the park was gorgeous with wonderful views of the Torres del Paine massif featuring Lake Sarmiento (foreground) and three distinctive towers or Torres, for which the park gets its name.

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Right next to the Torres is Almirante Neito Mount

Another very distinctive feature was the Cuernos Del Paine or "Horns".

At one of the photo stops overlooking the Cuernos it was so windy we were nearly blown away.

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This is Nordenskjold Lake with the mountains in the background.

The entire landscape looked very alpine and Lake Pehoe was a quintessential alpine lake.  However, surface of the lake was at an altitude of only 112 feet...so we really aren't very high at all.

Lunch was at Hostele Pehoe, situated on an island in the middle of Lake Pehoe (the red roofed building by the island).  The dining room was floor to ceiling windows with gorgeous views of the lake and the surrounding mountains.  

Along the way we saw many guanacos (a camelid,  member of the llama family)...

 and one Rhea (a large, flightless bird, cousin of the ostrich).

The winds also prevented us from walking out to the Salto Grande Falls, but we were able to see them from across the lake.

It was a fairly long drive back to the airport for our bumpy flight back to Puerto Arenas and while the views were not as spectacular as in the park they were still pretty darned good.

We arrived at the ship about an hour later than the originally scheduled time but they had delayed the departure time due to our late morning arrival in port.  The ship departed right after we boarded.  Puerto Arenas is right on the Straits of Magellan that we all learned about in the history books.

We were too late for dinner in the dining room so we went to the Lido Restaurant for dinner.  We happen to see Mike and Janet so had dinner with them.  We eventually adjourned to one of the lounges where we talked until quite late.