Week 51: Puerto Natales & Torres del Paine

On the first day of week 51 we were in a place called Puerto Natales. We didn’t do much that day. We really just went to a cool bar, got a burger, and mum and I played Bingo. In Bingo we won…. Nothing. But it was still SUPER FUN. Then we headed home and went to bed.

When the sun had risen we pushed ourselves out of bed and got onto a bus off to our next adventure of a 64 km hike! It wasn’t a big ask to get to a place called Chileno. But it did get pretty windy at times. It WAS easy, but getting to the towers was HARD. Especially with the wind and cold weather. To get up there we had to face 3 different adventures:

1. rocks

2. slippery

3. STEEEEEEPPPPPPPP

That third one was our main challenge. But the view was so worth the walk. It was spectacular. It had turquoise water ALL the time. Even when it was windy the water looked like we were in a desert with no wind or water. Then we headed back down to Chileno (camp site). We checked into our tents which were amazing. They had the warmest sleeping bags ever and the pillows and mattresses were pretty good. Then we went to the main socialising spot to have dinner and chat. We had a bad shower and went to bed. It was a super day (we went 13.5km in 7 hours).

Waking up the next morning sore from the last day and still having to do 13.6km in only 6 hours felt like a tough challenge. But it wasn’t a very hard hike. We didn’t have to rush so we just took it easy and enjoyed the views. For most of the hike we had to put our adventurous pants on to pass the muddy crossings. The next camp site was awesome. It had a great vibe and it had a decent amount of warmth. Our new tents felt even comfier because we did just the tiniest bit more hiking than the day before. It was amazing.

Now the next day was HARD, HARD, HARD, HARD and HARD! We were walking 23.8km! We started our big hike at 7:40am. The views were very similar to the day before. Beautiful. Then after a hard 13km we had lunch at a nice spot with a view of the lakes. The next part of the hike (11km) felt pretty easy in my opinion. The rest of the way we were seeing icebergs, lakes, and so many more magnificent sights. Then when we got to the edge of a cliff and saw a HUGE glacier. Even after Antarctica and El Calafate we were still so wowed. We arrived 3.5 hours earlier than we thought we would! I don’t think sitting down has ever felt better. It felt so nice sitting in a comfy chair while eating pizza. Instead of camping we slept in a room with a very comfortable bed. It was a massive and hard day with many challenges. But we got through it.

The following morning I did NOT want to get out of bed. I had sore legs, wobbly legs. It was a nightmare. But we still did it. We walked 12km in 3.5 hours (compare that to our first day). We even did an extra part of the hike that was totally optional 😡. Then we walked a km back to pack our bags and start our next adventure. We sped through this day because we had a tail wind that was so strong you had the run at times! Then we arrived having completed the W trek. A huge accomplishment for all of us. Doing 64km! We gave ourselves a reward with getting beers, wines, cocktails, pizza, and chocolate at our final destination on the hike. But the adventure never ends, we still had to go on a ferry ride to the bus. This is what the W in W trek stands for in our words; Weather, Windy, Wonderful, Wild, Walk, Wobbly, Wow, Water, Wicked, Weary, Waterfalls, Winter, and of coarse, Wombat 😃.

Fun facts

What does Torres del Paine mean?

Answer: Towers of the Pain. Maybe that’s because it was so painful to walk 😂!

Why is it called the W trek?

Answer: It is called that because on the map the trail looks like a W!

What is the biggest glacier in the world?

Answer: Lambert Glacier, located in Antarctica. We didn’t see it when we were there though 🧊!