Torres del Paine

Standing on the street in icy sleet before I’m properly awake isn’t the best way to start the day. We were waiting for the bus to the Torres del Paine National Park at ridiculous o’clock, but it turned out to be totally worth getting out of bed for. The sun came out and the park blew my mind with one amazing scene after another.

It’s a fantasy land of massive, silvery dark and brooding granite peaks.

Magical multicoloured lakes.

Hovering Condors.

Aqua waterfalls.

Plus glaciers and floating ice sculptures – in baby blue!

A highlight of my perfect day was the herds of guanaco. They’re a relative of the llama, or maybe it’s the alpaca? I always get those two mixed up. The guanaco are native to Patagonia and are so sweet and gentle. It’s very cool how they post sentries around the edges of the herd. You always see a few standing on high ground, looking out for danger. They’ve got reason to be nervous as apparently 40% of their babies get eaten each year by Pumas.

And the other highlight was seeing this beautiful silvery grey fox. Foxes rock.

Lots of people come to Torres del Paine for the trekking. The big ‘W’ circuit in the park is serious business in trekking circles. It’s eight days up and down steep, slippery mountains and camping in freezing winds that slice right through to the bone. Maybe not my thing.