Day 23 Torres del Paine

Today I spent in the Park at Torres del Paine. Paine means blue in some language, so it would be the blue towers. I went for a walk this morning with Brian - from our group which ended up taking about 3 hours.

This picture came out really well as the sun was getting low in the sky. We had just returned from the afternoon boat trip.
The weather this morning was cool and really really windy. This was a suspension bridge over the pingo river. The water was flowing at about 30 knots.

You can see the wind blowing up the water. The prevailing wind was at least 50 with some gusts as high as 100. If those caught you off guard you could be on your butt.

There was a sandbar about a mile long. The crossing took at least 20 minutes as the wind was blowing so hard that sometimes you couldn't see.

In the foreground is an island that the sandbar took you to. The view from there was beautiful - just really difficult in the wind.

Yea that is me in there, it wasn't really that cold just so windy that you had to be covered.

There is an iceberg floating around out there behind Brian.

I actually have stayed in this hotel before in 1996. It is the same place but has been improved and made much nicer. I can remember there was no electricity at night and no ice. Back then they would go out on a boat and chip some off and iceberg.

After lunch we took a boat ride to the Grey Glacier.

The ride took us by the towers. This is a photo of Torres Grande, the largest.

I love that the life vest is a Helly Hanson - skiing anyone?

Thierry all bundled up in a pink gater.

Rita enjoying a pisco sour.

Ice! And lots of it.

The Grey Glacier goes forever and stores a lot of fresh water.

Behn.

The color is amazing - it is so blue it looks fake.

The wind died down near the glacier and made the view a lot more enjoyable.

Beauty is everywhere.

As the ice breaks off it creates icebergs that float around in the freezing lake.

I love this shot - that is why it is in here twice.

Tomorrow we are leaving here and will fly to Punta Arenas which is our last scheduled place to the South. We are discussing a side trip down even further but no decision yet.

The Park is truly magnificient and I am glad that we chose this trip as part of the journey. Few people have ever come here from the US but it is a trip worth taking.