Antarctica to Zimbabwe – Day 6 – Torres del Paine can be found here.
Up even earlier this morning at 7:10 am – we found yesterday to be a scramble, so we left ourselves more time today.
We’re also (cheekily) heading to breakfast 15 minutes early, which should both prevent us from running out of breakfast items and ensure that all four of us have time to use the bathroom before we leave.
We then pulled open the linen curtains on our dome to check the weather – the morning came cold and clear. No rain day for us. We were going hiking.
Another delicious breakfast – this time with scrambled eggs, brisket, toast and pineapple.
It was then time to pack our first boxed lunch of the trip. I opted for a pair of wraps – one with turkey, and another with beef – along with some cold roast potatoes and the omni-present protein bars and chocolate. The kids opted for baguette, toast and luncheon meat. (And the chocolate, of course.)
Back to our dome to get ready, and then off to the shuttle van. There aren’t many of us this morning – just eight in total, including the four of us, two other guests and two guides.
We drove for about 45 minutes – pausing briefly for a photo stop:
Then carrying on to our destination. From here it was perhaps an hour’s hike down to Lake Sarmiento and Sarmiento Chico.
There were occasional patches of wind and rain – particularly in narrow valleys that acted as wind tunnels – but the outbound leg was mostly clear and pleasant.
We reached the lake after about an hour of light undulating hill hiking. There we encountered the rare thrombolite formations. These can only be found in a few locations around the world, including Peru, Chile, Argentina and Australia.
Similar to limestone, thrombolite is formed from the remains of tiny creatures that erodes into beautiful structures – though thrombolite specifically is formed by the trapping and cementation of sediment by biofilms, particularly cyanobacteria.
We paused briefly by the lake, then turned around and headed back. The views were equally beautiful during the return trip but with their own unique character.
We passed through a patch of driving rain near the end, but it was otherwise a nice, easy ramble – the perfect way to ease into hiking at EcoCamp.
We’d manage to finish the hike faster than the guides expected – and the weather was still working against us – so we went to the visitor’s centre instead of our planned lunch stop.
While the information was in Spanish, we enjoyed seeing the 3D model of the park and learning more about the animals that call it home.
We were also surprised to learn that – in addition to pumas – they have the elusive Geoffrey’s cat in the park. Neither of the guides travelling with us had seen them, but they have been spotted by some of the other EcoCamp guides.
We also went through the pre-hike briefing. Tomorrow’s offerings will be a boat ride to the glacier, the Lazo-Weber trail – highly recommended by Gonzalo, though one we will skip due to the lack of proper bathrooms during a 5 to 6 hour hike – and a short-but-steep 6 km hike that’s a two-hour drive from EcoCamp.
We have instead booked a private guide to attempt the ‘horns’ hike close to camp. This will allow us to double back at any point, should the kids reach their limit. We’re not sure if we’ll get to the viewpoint, but there are various glaciers, streams, bridges and lagoons to admire along the way.
The weather had still not improved by the end of the briefing, so our driver took us close to the water and we ate inside the van, rather than eat outdoors beneath the driving rain. Beyond our boxed lunches, the guides also shared around desserts and beverages – including my new favourite, the calafate beer. It was a lovely meal.
We then drove back to EcoCamp, which took about an hour and twenty minutes from the visitor’s centre. We still got back quite early – around 2:45 pm – which gave the kids time to finish some schoolwork before we headed off to play some Dungeons & Dragons.
We carried on with Curse of Strahd – after having defeated an animated suit of armour last session, my daughter spotted a hidden passage in a dollhouse replica of the house they were exploring – which led them to the hidden basement. They were surprised by a Mimic that had disguised itself as one of the doors, but managed to clear the first basement floor so they could take a sorely needed short rest.
The other groups’ post-hike briefings had begun, so we ended the session there so that I could do a bit of blogging and the kids could read for a bit.
Dinner started early this evening – 7:30 pm, as opposed to 7:45 pm the first night and 8 pm yesterday. The earlier dinner time is much appreciated, and we’re ready to request an early meal for future days so that the kids don’t fall asleep in their desserts.
(I jest – the adults are truly the ones struggling with the late evenings.)
Out came the pre-dinner drinks and the amouse bouche. We had pisco sour to drink, along with a quinoa ceviche and beetroot puree:
We then went off to dinner, where we were able to choose from the following selections:
My wife and I had the seared tuna:
While the kids had the carrot and curry soup:
For the main, the adults had the brisket:
And the kids had steak frites:
Lastly, for dessert, everyone had the passionfruit and dark chocolate:
All very, very tasty.
There’s a lovely sense of camaraderie developing amongst the guests, as we share tales of trips taken and travels planned. We all recognize how fortunate we are to be in this remote location, to have the chance to explore these far-flung hikes – and how valuable it is to be able to compare notes.
Specifics, you ask? Well, Backroads has been mentioned on several occasions, and Dolomite Mountains as a tour company for exploring the Dolomites. We’re also looking at a trip to Bariloche, Argentina, which was described as the Lake Tahoe of South America.
All sounds great to us.
We reluctantly pried ourselves away from the dinner conversation then headed back to our dome – another late-ish 9 am start tomorrow, but it will also be the longest hike we’ve attempted since arriving.
Perhaps the longest we’ve done with the kids. Ever.
We’ll just have to see how it goes.
Continue reading Antarctica to Zimbabwe – Day 8 – Torres del Paine.