Patagonia log: Day 4
February, 2023
It’s time to move to new scenery. We hit the road early after a good breakfast at the hostel. El Chalten gave us a beautiful goodbye, with stunning weather and the Fitz Roy showing its full power in the back.
Next destination: Torres del Paine in Chile.
A road trip of approximately 8 hours where we got to admire some of the local wildlife: Guanacos (similar to a llama, but less furry and somewhat thinner) - you get to see them quite often along the road. Occasionally you’ll also see the remainings of them “carcaças”. Foxes, a little ostrich-type bird, and a condor, the “largest flying bird in the world by combined measurement of weight and wingspan.”
The road is very similar all along with semi-arid vegetation. You only seldom will see a house or any civilisation. The only thing you see are the animals blending in with the colours of the landscape and a fence. There is a simple fence all along the way on both sides of the road. Occasionally you’ll see a little gate in the middle of it, but even that is rare. It does not impede the animals from crossing since the fence is so simple that they can easily jump over or crawl under.
We drove to Esperanza, where the next gas station was located for fuelling the tank and having a quick lunch (the next and only one in a while. In Torres del Paine, there is no opportunity to fuel the car, something to consider when travelling there. Rumours say that a Hotel inside the National Park might sell gallons to their guests, but other than that, you must measure and plan your fuel well. Otherwise, you’ll stay without).
When crossing borders, there is a little station in the middle of nowhere, where you “check out” from Argentina, drive around 1,5km (where the land pertains to no one), when you then arrive in Chile and have to “check in” - showing passports, car documentation and scanning the suitcases the police chooses to see. Everything went smoothly.
We drove a bit more until we arrived at our home for the next three days: Goiien House - a cabin-like house near the Torres de Paine National Park entrance. We rested and settled in before packing our gear and heading to a sunset shooting inside the Park.
The Park has one Main Street that leads you to all the incredible places it offers. We went to the end of it, where there was a beautiful view of the lake and mountains with a wooden walkway, perfect for a few sunset creations with our “group model”, Angela. It was our first encounter with a true Patagonian wind. One that, if you’re not careful enough, you could easily lose a few things along the way. “Blown by the wind”, literally.
After a fun session, we returned to Goiien House (remembering a rally race to arrive on time) for a nice warm meal cooked by the staff and slept for an early rise the following day.
