12/8 - 12/11 torres del paine, chile

Drove a ways north from harbor town of Punta Arenas (tip of Chile) through classic Patagonia (mountains, sheep, tundra-like plains, etc.) and ended up in the so-called centerpiece of it all: Torres del Paine Park. Well, it pretty much knocked us out (including the literal sense with some rump-busting hikes). Freakishly majestic. Wild, windy, and wondrous. Most of the time, we couldn’t believe our eyes. Try as we might, we could only get the camera to capture a shadow of what we were seeing. Enjoy.

Unreal.
Our trusty rental
A llama relative, the guanaco, that was all over the park
The foot bridge to our hotel, which turned out to be a dive... our room had no heat or windows (though you can't beat the view from the front)
Hiking through a valley
The elusive Torres del Paine (after 6 miles and 3,000 vertical feet up)
The Torres off in the distance, at the end of our hike
Water comes in that color?
The Cuernos del Paine in the ever-changing weather
Scrabble
So windy
Floating ice chunks from nearby Glacier Grey
Lakeside view
Hiking
Waterfall
Cuernos del Paine up close (well, closer)
Windy, windy