Chile Patagonia Torres del Paine

Torres del Paine National Park is not easy to access.

We flew to Punta Arenas and after a short visit to the blustery Magellan Penguin colony at Seno Otway, overnighted in Puerto Natales.

It was then a long, bouncy drive to the park via the moderately interesting Milodon Cave with its tame foxes and past herds of guanaco, flocks of rheas, sheep estancias and an Andean Condor soaring overhead for several minutes.

In the park itself, we were treated to clear views of the peaks of Torres del Paine, Cuernos del Paine and Cerro Paine Grande.

We walked to the Salto Grande falls between Lagos Nordenskjold and Pehoe. The winds were so strong that one gust blew Teresa up and over onto the ground while the rest of us clung together to avoid the same fate. To get to our lodge, we had to transfer to a smaller van which cleared the railing by inches on either side.