Here we go...

OK, its time to head to Paine National Park and my blog entries will be more pictures than words. Many pictures because there is no way to convey the beauty that is Paine in words. Even the photos are just pale images of the true beauty of the park. But first we had to get there.

There are two ways to go to the park from Puerto Natales, by land or by sea (really lake). To keep with the theme of this trip, the Gap Adventures itinerary takes the water route. We started on a small lake boat from the same port were we disembarked the Navimag. The trip was quite lovely and included great views of the surrounding mountains and waterfalls.


We also enjoyed the views of a number of glaciers including this first one which was a hanging glacier who's name I forget.


Approaching the glacier we also obtained our first view of the Paine Massif in the distance. These are not the towers (los torres), but rather los cuernos that you can see.


The boat brought us right up to the glacier and it was amazing.


The close-up shots even more so.






After a bit longer the boat docked and we all got off for another glacier viewing that required a little bit of hiking.


I believe this is Serrano Glacier which feeds into a small lake. The ice flow in front of the glacier into the lake was really cool.


The glacier itself was nothing to sneeze at either. Here's the obligatory "I was there" shot.


And then the close-up of the glacier.


After the glacier mini-hike we headed back to the boat. But rather than boarding for launch we grabbed our stuff and all piled into a Zodiac raft to head across the lake.




When we docked for lunch we were all a bit surprised by the rather lush accommodations that had been made for lunch. This was no picnic of ham and cheeze sandwiches. We enjoyed a nice sit-down lunch on white table clothes which included a glass of wine or beer with the meal.


Glacier viewing was also included from the lunch locale.


After lunch things got a bit more adventurous as we were to head back into the Zodiac and go upriver.


A cold, glacier-fed river with some bits of rough water required donning the appropriate apparel.


Apparently, the color is in case you fall in so they can find you and fish you out before hypothermia sets in. Still, I felt more like I was heading to Siberia than Patagonia.


Nonetheless, this crew of orange-clad adventurers headed out on our hearty vessel.


We did get a few splashes at times and somehow some of us still managed to get wet beneath our alien contamination suits. But we didn't do anything too rough. We tried encouraging the captain to go up this little waterfall, but no doing.


Just before finishing the raft trip, Paine came into view. And what a view it was!


From the rafts we took a short bus trip to another lake called Pehoe. From here we caught a catamaran which took us across this very blue lake below the Paine Massif.




The very pleasant surprise was to find that these amazing mountains and towers would be the view we would enjoy from our first campground.


We took a short little walk up to the start of the hike we would be doing the next day. As you can see, I am absolutely beaming with excitement.


Our guide explained to us what the hike would entail and some options we had if we made good time and were interested in going further. Our guide, Tadeo, is in the middle of the group photo below. He was only 24, but has been hiking these mountains since he was 14.


This first night camping was right along the shore of Lake Pehoe which you can see at sunset below. It had a nice refuge and a cafeteria. While we stayed in 2-man tents we were far from roughing it. Our group had its own little private dining area and we had Pisco, wine and beer along with cheese and other appetizers at night. Ah...the life!