TORRES DEL PAINE DAY 5, A PUNCTURE and GOODBYE PATAGONIA

This day, Friday, ended up being our last day in TDP because we had a flight on Sunday from Puerto Natales at 1pm requiring us to be at the airport ideally 2 hrs before (including time to drop off the hire car.) Given the roads was so poor to and from the airport, we felt it was too risky to rely on getting there in one piece on the Sunday morning. Hence, Friday became our last day, giving us Saturday to pack up, drive back and not have the worry of a flight to make in case of any car issue.We lost 1 night’s accommodation but it was worth it. In fact, we did indeed have a puncture about 30 mins outside PM! Imagine if we’d had a flight to catch!

Final day was all about just relaxing as by now, the whole travel/poor roads/yesterday’s early start and long day, had caught up with us.We felt tired.Age doesn’t come alone!

It was another frosty morning when I went out to photograph the beautiful sunrise over the mountains…

The roads really were a pain by now and the driving was never something we looked forward to.Normally, we really enjoy a road trip but not here.Maybe we had been driving in the park too long.

However, nothing for it but to head out again.Stopped off at Hotel Lago Grey again, enjoyed nice coffees and a particularly excellent Blueberry Muffin.Prior to that of course we had the awful approach to negotiate…

Admired the view and ambience then walked from the hotel along a woodland track…

…over the bridge at the cafe…

and down to the beach again.It was a cloudier day now.

Saw a lot of these birds, a type of hawk – possibly an Aguilucho…but not sure.We did buy a useful Bird ID pocket guide at Pudeto cafe but were still not quite able to identify this.

It rained a little and we retreated, finding a slightly shorter route back to the hotel.

I really wanted to have lunch at Hosteria Pehoe.The staff there were great, no need  to book and we had a drop dead gorgeous view now the clouds had lifted again.No wind to speak of either – again!

Saw a handsome Grebe on the lake…

Food was excellent! King Crab salad to start, good though the crab wasn’t hugely tasty.(We are used to superb fresh seafood/shellfish at home.) Nice wee bread rolls and spicy dip to accompany.

Then Southern Hake for me which was first class…firm, beautifully cooked fish and Arabian Rice, essentially spicy rice, lovely. Chris had an excellent Beef Stew with a wonderful rich sauce.Finally, a little Mango Mousse for me.

 In fact, the menu wasn’t well explained –  our fault too –  but it was actually  $25 for three courses .We thought that was just for the main course! Excellent value and highly recommended.

We had tried to get booked onto the Pudeto Catamaran today with a view to walking part of the route to the French Valley but it was fully booked all week. Drove round to the Pudeto café for coffee and tea mainly because we liked that spot with its pleasant view over the lake.Only a 5min drive from the Hosteria.

Zoomed to French Valley below…

Had a look for Little Owls which the American couple had seen on their visit the day before but no joy.Several Caracara scrabbling about…

Final walk of the day was a trail we saw some cars parked at which gave a view over Lago Toro.

Nice path, longer than we thought and which wound its way up to a pleasant viewpoint.

But the immediate landscape was quite attractive, lots of plants and shrubs which made it more appealing than the scrubbier landscapes we had seen in the low lying areas of TDP.

I have to say the lower areas were rather dull and not enhanced by the sorry sight of thousands of blackened, dead trees.We read this terrible destruction was due to a fire caused by careless visitors and it will take 200 years to recover the slow growth woodland.Despite the wild weather I was surprised to read that TDP is classed as a dry landscape, hence the savage outcome of fires.

Some good views from the path…

It took us around 30 mins to reach the viewpoint, a pleasant spot…

Back to the cabin where we had the rest of the chicken which I made into a curry with veg and yoghurt.

There was a nice map of TDP in our cabin…good for understanding the geography.

LEAVING THE PARK

A nice morning again with no wind! Good light.

Sunrise on the mountains to the west…

As before, we joined Route Y290 at the Rio Serrano junction with TDP itself. It’s a scenic route but bumpy as heck for most of the way.

We were around 25 ins drive away from town when we got a puncture – no obvious reason why it happened, no bang or hefty bump – we both reckon just general wear and tear after all that time driving on these roads.Nice spot for it though with some great mountain scenery!

Finally reached Puerto Natales after around 2 hours driving and the tyre change…the town is in a scenic location on Last Hope Sound, a rather melancholy name.

Had an explore of the little town which I was looking forward to, if only for variety.

Trousers on display! ‘YOU can look this good too!’

It was a Saturday afternoon so I had expected the town to be bustling but it was very quiet with lots of cafes shut.

Monument to the Wind statue (we had had no wind!)

I must admit, we both found the town a bit depressing and a little run down.Quite a few stray dogs roaming about. None of the cafes or restaurants which were open appealed so we headed back down to Cafe Kau , on the sea front and which had a nice outlook and that amazing Toffee/Walnut Pie which I’d scoffed on our arrival day! Nice atmosphere in the cafe too and good music.

We had booked Hotel Altiplanico for the last night before our flight home , a place which was a few minutes drive from town. I was glad we weren’t staying in the centre of Puerto Natales, as it turned out.

The hotel didn’t look much from outside which seems to be the case in this part of the world and I thought I’d made a mistake- though it had an unusual turf roof, part of its ‘eco’ credentials I assume.

Inside however, it was lovely – very arty and understated.Lots of Chilean colours and design in the bed throws and furniture. Our room was excellent and the huge bathroom/shower was luxurious.Really cosy too.Very pleased with this choice.

Pre dinner, it was time for cocktails…Margaritas for us both and a toast to a great adventure.

Decided to have dinner in after checking reviews and that was another great choice.Our meal was very good indeed.Lamb ribs as main for Chris with a wedge of Sauteed Potatoes.

Really lovely, firm piece of Hake and Prawns for me with a spicy tomato sauce, a great plate of grilled veg and good chips.

A trio of pleasant if unremarkable ice cream to share to finish…

A very enjoyable buffet breakfast next day too.Always nice to have a sea view!

Then off to the airport to hand over the car (a $100 surcharge for the tyre which was not saveable.) A goodbye to Leonardo who was a very pleasant, professional young man – he also congratulated us (really, he meant Chris!) on getting us back out of TDP under our own steam.I suppose they must get call outs given some of the damage and problems that happen with self drive.

A final goodbye too, to Patagonia and TDP but not before some stunning views again as we flew back to Santiago…Mt Fitzroy in Argentina, I think, below.(I had thought about adding on El Chalten but some contacts I had suggested it was beautiful but not quite up there with TDP.The USA couple we met made a similar point.)But really, the Andes – what a range! Superb!

Also flew over some of the Volcano peaks…

Writing this now I am SO glad that I finally pulled together this exciting end – of-the- world trip, after many, many years of mulling it over in the back of my mind.Everything really had gone perfectly – certainly WAY better weather wise than I’d imagined.In fact, we had stunning weather given the gale force winds and poor conditions that are common in this part of the world.I certainly thought my plan to go in early autumn worked, given the lack of wind though perhaps we were also just very lucky! A bit of both maybe.Nothing can prepare you for those views, no matter how many images I studied beforehand, the reality is way better! 5 days did feel a bit long overall in what is quite a small area with limited variety but that was the trade off in order to maximise our chances of seeing the range at its best.

Would we return? No – there just wasn’t enough variety nor sublime beauty in the landscape overall to catch our hearts plus driving was not enjoyable at all.The celebrated view and main range is absolutely stunning, a jaw drop, certainly one of the world’s finest , most dramatic views that I have seen so far in my travels.To experience that alone was, for me, worth it.