Torres del Paine, Chile 21 - 23 Feb 2006

Climax at the end of a month in Chile

On the way back down the boulders, Angela fell and scraped her arm. As usual, Flemming wasn’t with her at the time. He had gone ahead and was talking to a Frenchman who complained that “le pain chilien, c’est une catastrophe nationale” (referring to the tasteless white bread that is served in most restaurants). Exhausted from six hours of walking and seeing young men helping their lady-loves over each difficult boulder, Angela was in no mood for joking when she caught up with Flemming. He said: What’s the problem? I’ve been waiting for you, haven’t I?” Angela stalked off in a fury and fell over a couple of roots, landing with a hard thud on both knees and injuring her hand. After the initial excruciating pain, we checked the damage and it seemed that, thankfully, no bones were broken. There would just be some swelling and huge bruises to come later. After about half an hour’s walk we reached the Refugio Chileno that we had passed on our way up. She hobbled in and got some disinfectant for her hand. Somehow she managed to make it down the rest of the way for another hour and a half.
Her mood improved a little after a hot shower and dinner at the posada, washed down with a good bottle of Chilean vino tinto. Our first night, Angela had happily slept on the upper bunk but, needless to say, she swapped bunks with Flemming to sleep on the lower one that night.
Next morning, we rose before dawn – with some difficulty as the electricity didn’t come on till later and we had to get dressed and wash by candlelight! The reason for this was that we wanted to see the Torres del Paine looking pink in the early morning sunlight. We were duly rewarded for our efforts, although we regretted bitterly the theft of the Canon EOS camera. The classic photo at Torres del Paine is of a guanaco with the towering peaks in the background. We did the best we could.
After the photographic session, it was time to leave the park and head back to Puerto Natales. We stopped off on the way at the small village of Cerro Castillo to refuel at the only petrol station between the park and our destination. It’s possible to buy fuel in the park but it costs about double the normal rate.