This picture is not intended to shock, but to appreciate that this is pure wildlife at it's heart
Eolo hotel as seen from the lagoon southwest. Magnificent in a dramatic landscape! Don't go here if you look for sunshine and heat, but for pure nature and dramatic scenery!
Eolo hotel corner bedroom bathroom. Eolo hotel opened in 2005.
Corner bedroom of Eolo Hotel facing southwest. Eolo is built on a 5000 hectare land with a local owner.
Our corner bedroom at Eolo with view on Lago Argentina, the Andes, the Torres del Paine and the lagoon. Great for wildlife watching!
The lobby of Eolo Hotel
Eolo has only 17 guest bedrooms. This is the view from the lobby.
We allowed ourselves a great retreat at unique Hotel Eolo, the spirit of Patagonia. Andrea during the welcome tea :-)
Another picture from the bus trip on the highlands of Argentina. Andrea had problems with the altitude with her fronthead.
The next morning we went with Kootra bus from Puerto Natales to El Calafate. A journey that lasted 5 hrs mainly gravel road. Here we are crossing the border from Chile to Argentina! Bye bye Chile!
Back in Puerto Natales, we stayed again at Casa Cecilia. A delicious dinner we had at Restaurant Afrigonia.
The road between Puerto Natales and Torres del Paine national park was mostly unpaved in 2008. However, construction is going on and soon it will be all paved. Bye bye nostalgy, hello mass-tourism!
Waiting for the minibus which left at 2 pm outside Las Torres to connect us to Puerto Natales
The main entrance of hosteria Las Torres. We initially thought of staying here. But against the advice of Thomas, we decided to move on and recover somewhere else. Thanks also to Swiss guy Patrick and his girlfriend/wife for showing us a room!
Andrea in front of hosteria Las Torres, from where we took the minibus and bus back to Puerto Natales
Down in the valley, the hosteria Las Torres
The next and last day we were again lucky! After a night of rain, we had again nice weather for our hike down to the valley!
Our tent for our last night at Campamento Las Torres. A horrible night that would be, because we were exhausted from hiking, ate too much spaghetti, had snow and rain and felt sick.
Reaching Campamento Las Torres, a very nice campsite, we put our tent up and boiled tea and cooked Spaghetti with bouillon
Rain did set in again, and we took a break to discuss if we continue or not. Joint decision: we continue!
Time to take picture of wet floor and wet hiking boots
We were in such a good hiking mood after the rain, and had so much speed, we decided to go past Refugio Chileno further up to Campamento Las Torres at the base of Torres del Paine
The valley of Rio Ascencio towards Refugio Chileno
After the rain we continued towards Refugio Chileno. Reto with his backpack and the poncho with view of Lago Nordenskjold, after the weather turned nice again!
The next morning started with rain, and we had a terrible early hike from Campamento Italiano to Refugio Los Cuernos. Soaking wet, we enjoyed a breakfast inside the refugio until the rain stopped.
The weather changes so quickly in Torres del Paine, that is why it's almost impossible to do a weather forecast
Another beautiful view
These boots are made for hiking, that's just what they do,...
A beautiful view at the backside of Torres del Paine
A beautiful vp
Andrea in front of the Frances glacier. I always had to think of my grandfather Francis doing this hike. However, I think the name comes from explorer Frances Drake.
Beautiful day for hiking up Frances valley
Andrea lightweight with tree
For the third night, we moved on to Campamento Italiano. This campsite is free, ran by CONAF and probably our favorite campside of the Torres del Paine park. We left our backpacks here and hiked lightweight to Campamento Britanico
Saturday, November 29, 2008
The second night we put our tent next to a fire tree at Refugio Lago Pehoe. This second night was much warmer, and we were able to take a hot shower! Had Risotto dinner with Sebastian from Germany, met two girls from New York.
Andrea happy on the second day of our trek
A firetree next to Lago Grey
A beautiful look back from the way we came from
Andrea feeling cold next to so much ice
Two people in front of the glacier field
Close to Grey Glacier, where we could see big pieces of ice falling into the fjord. The glacier is slowly decreasing.
We survived the first night :-) In the morning we hiked to the end of Grey Glacier
Our first night in the tent. It was freezing cold!
Our first dinner at Grey refugio, Spaghetti.
We decided to camp at Grey, because we heard that we may not be able to do the 7 days Grand Circuit around the park. Apparently an avalanche or snow/mud made it difficult to pass at John Gardner.
Friday, November 28, 2008
Our first campsite at Refugio Grey. We were exhausted from our first hike with heavy bags.
