We had an early start to catch the public bus to Puerto Natales. A 6-8 hour trip, including the border crossing into Chile. As we went over the pass, where we had to do our Argentinian departure stamps, it was snowing, but stopped by the time we were down in the Chilean border and customs control. This time it certainly wasn’t as easy as Iguazú, on the Argentinian side there was only one window for everyone to get their passports stamped and then Chile is as strict about customs as New Zealand is, so in total it took about two and a half hours to complete the whole border crossing.
Once we reached Puerto Natales we were met by Cata from EcoCamp who took us out for a late lunch before we headed into Torres del Paine national park and EcoCamp. On our way in we stopped at Cueva del Milodón, where remains of the milodón, the giant land sloth, had been found. They were in such good condition that they initially believed it may still have been alive, but they never found any other trace of it. The cave itself almost appeared to be other worldly with stalactites hanging from the roof and rocks scattered around in the dry sand.
The weather on the way into EcoCamp limited our view of the Paine Massif, but lived up to it’s reputation of being windy. As we stopped at Lago Sarmiento we had to keep a wide stance to maintain our balance.
EcoCamp itself is within a private land area, like an island in the national park. As you came up the hill the little green domes popped into view, dotted all around the terrace. We were certainly going to be glamping it here, especially because we were in a Suite dome that had it’s own wood burner and bathroom.
Once we had dropped our bags into our dome we wandered down to the core domes for our welcome Pisco Sour. We were given a brilliant meat and cheese platter to tide us over until dinner. Dinner was a three course affair with lots of wine to go with it, we probably didn’t have to have the three courses, but the food was delicious and not too much, plus we had the great excuse of needing the energy for our walks the following days. After dinner, our guide Diego, explained our options for the following day, a hiking option and a discovery option. We opted for the hike to the Torres lookout, hoping for some better weather and asking our worry dolls for some help.
It was a freezing cold night, so we were particularly thankful for the wood burner, unfortunately it didn’t stack that well so had burned out by morning and it was a very quick dress so that we didn’t freeze.
After breakfast, our group of 12, consisting of a mixture of Australians, North Americans and us, the Kiwi contingent, started our hike. The weather could have gone either way and everyone started with all our layers on. As we started up the hill, layers started coming off and as we walked up over windy pass, which actually wasn’t too windy, we could just see the Torres peaking through the clouds.
The walk up wasn’t too bad, but as you came to the final ascent to the viewpoint, it became a lot rockier and steeper. We also had the added challenge of fresh snow on the rocks, which looked magical, but made it slower going due to it being some people’s first experience of snow. There was a lot more wind whipping around as you got closer to the top and as you got over into the lookout the wind was creating spirals of water on the lake. You could now see all of the towers as the weather had cleared.
While walking down, you could see the hanging glaciers more clearly and even more layers were stripped off as it warmed up even further. As we walked back into camp we were greeted with water, probably more appropriate than a Pisco sour straight away, and we lay back enjoying the sunshine. We could have raced off and done some yoga, but we went for the more relaxed approach and then came back for our Pisco Sours, descriptions of the following day’s activities and another fabulous dinner. This was the nightly routine for all of our nights at EcoCamp.
Due to doing the safari option there were always people arriving and departing each day, so the group never stayed the same and you met a lot of great people. We repeated our story often and became known as “The Warburton Sisters”.
Our second day, we pretty much kept as one group most of the time, stopping and looking at amazing views, watching the Guanaco and getting blown around by the wind. We then could either go out on Grey lake to see the Grey glacier or walk up an even steeper hill than for the Torres for an amazing view. The weather wasn’t looking that great so a boat trip sounded like a good option. There were many icebergs floating around the lake and the glacier was split into three sections by rock islands that have been uncovered as the glacier has retreated. They love Pisco sours in Patagonia and we were given one while we were enjoying the view on the top deck.
For our third day we actually ended up splitting up with Clare and I heading off to walk up the French valley, while Fiona was unfortunately sick so went off wandering around the hills flora and fauna spotting. We had the most amazing day with perfect clear weather giving us a beautiful view of the whole massif, including the Torres, the Horns and Paine Grande. The walk up French valley was much easier than up to the Torres and you had the most fabulous view the whole way up. It was much hotter and there wasn’t as much shade as there should have been due to a fire in 2011 caused by a tourist who couldn’t be bothered carrying out his own toilet paper and thought it was be a smart idea to burn it instead. There is a reason that there are strict fire regulations in the area, and the wind whipped up and the burning toilet paper turned into a massive fire destroying hectares of forest.
The group was much slower than when we had gone up to the Torres lookout, so we never made it much passed Italian camp, but we did walk up by the river to enjoy lounging in the sun under the glacier. By the time we walked back down, the cloud had come in and the wind had started blowing, but it didn’t really matter as we had the best weather at the best time.
Our last day in EcoCamp, we had the same choice of activities as we did on our first and since the weather wasn’t spectacularly amazing, we decided there was no point doing the Torres lookout again and went off to Laguna Azul for a barbecue Patagonian style. You really would be limited if you were a vegetarian in Patagonia, well the entirety of South America really, but the barbecued meat was great and more wine always makes things even better. We had a bit of a walk spotting flora and fauna and watching the Guanaco, it certainly wasn’t taxing to us. There were a number of Calafate bushes, so we made sure we ate some to ensure our return to Patagonia.
It was sad when we came to our last night at EcoCamp, it was such a relaxing, comfortable place full of great people. We had to get some photos of the camp itself and while Clare and I were taking photos of the corralled daisies we watched a Puma meander passed at the back of the daisies. Unfortunately neither of us was fast enough to get a photo, I think we were still in shock that we saw one.
Our time at EcoCamp was complete and we really enjoyed our guides Diego and Meche who helped to create the best experiences possible. I’m already planning my return there to do the whole circuit with EcoCamp next time.
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