


	03/11/2001

	Torres del Paine - CHILE

	S 50°57 W 72°51

	+ 90

Because of you Virtual travelers, Chile is our next destination !

The Car@van takes the famous highway 40, that runs all along Argentina. We're heading back to south... But it's hard to resist the beautiful landscapes, and we stop every 50 kilometers to run and shout in the middle of no where. We write messages on the road with chokes, and lie on the white line to listen to the vibrations of a car coming far.

In these desolated areas, we're full of an energetic euphoria... the road is like a drug, it makes you travel.

We get lost several times before finding the Argentine border... shown by a little panel with 'Gendarmerie' written on it. We stand in front of two little wooden barracks, an old broken car, and a yellowish dog that comes towards us, wagging his tail. Inside, sat in front of maps of the area, a young customs officer welcomes us, saying: "You are the first to cross the border today !".

7 kilometer further, after the no man's land, stands the Chilian border, in Cerro Castillo. The offices are very modern, and on the walls are posters of wanted people and missing children. Our car is controlled by severe looking men, then they let us go by.

We head off to the Parco Nacional Torres del Paine.

The landscape is full of contrasts, from dry fields to fjords and snowy mountains. Along the road, we cross many guanacos (lamas), chewing away. Then hares come and play along side our wheels, like dolphins around a boat.

Dusk falls, illuminating for a last time the mountain tops on the golden steppes. It's pitch black outside when we arrive at the Las Torres refuge.

The next morning, a mix group of young people of different nationalities leaves the chalet in front of us. Equipped with huge backpacks, tents, sleeping bags, warm and waterproof jackets, walking shoes, compass, binoculars, walking sticks... they plan to make it to the Lago Grey, in 5 or 6 days.

But this is another story, check out the Video and read the Anecdote...

We were dreaming about this and at last we are doing it: 3 days of trekking non stop.

Leaving our heavy bags at the refuge, the Team together with a handful of nomads decides to head off the mount Torres, estimated time 7 hours return.

After the first kilometers, our group gets divided.

Aleko and Ithaca prefer to take the northern east track to animal watch: hundreds of guanacos, but also pink flamingos on a blue lagoon. This is their attempt at film making - and apparently successful from Nicole's point of view. Tell us what you think about it.

Nicole and Theo turn back to spend a cosy afternoon together. They finally get persuaded to cook pasta for the remaining nomads back in the refuge. Vale and Marco, accompanied by the other nomads, and Manu & Audrey, continue to walk on the increasingly harder and endless track that leads to the big W. They stop at the first refuge and rest for an hour. Then Vale keeps up the rhythm, Marco tagging on behind. The snow begins to fall and the wind increases. But they are encouraged to continue by the many alpinists on their way down. Check out the video and you will understand... Unfortunately they didn't take with them neither camera nor video camera... Did they really make it ?

We come across many travelers-writers in this part of the world... they all have a 'Bruce Chatwin's look. We often try to exchange our experiences. We meet David Bologna, an Italian poet, who lives to travel and sends his poems to his publisher back in Italy. He offers us one of his poems he wrote in the area: Click on the photo and listen the Italian poem.


Declared National Park in 1959 and protected by Unesco since 1978, the Parco Nacional Torres del Paine is one of the most beautiful sites of Chile. Trekking lovers come from all over the world to visit it. It has a surface area of 242.000 ha, and a diverse vegetation that ranges from steppes, small prickly bushes, dense forests... around 200 species of trees and other plants. There are also around 170 species of birds (condors, eagles, pink flamingos, swans,...), 25 species of mammals, of which more than 3000 guanacos closely watched by forty hungry pumas. The Park is a concentration of what Patagonia stands for, where a man can feel its pureness, its isolation but also its mystery and hostility: here are strong storms and freezing nights. Here, the Nature reigns.

We'll wake up early for a last trek, and then leave for Punta Arenas, the extreme Chilean south. Right now, we're keeping warm with Pisco, playing cards...


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