Last day in Torres del Paine
Today is my last day here. We've got a big barbecue later and then I'm going horseriding again. I'm taking it relatively easy today after yesterday's 8 mile hike that I did over to the Grey Glacier. I have some incredible pictures from it, but unfortunately the connection has deteriorated to such an extent that it will not let me upload any pictures even after I have shrunk them down. I guess I'll be able to upload some from El Calafate tomorrow, so hopefully you'll be able to see the glacier and the icebergs I took photos of.
We set off at 8:30 after breakfast and took the boat over to the other side of the lake that the hotel is on. They dropped us off and there were 8 of us plus two guides that went. The first part of the hike was relatively flat, followed by a fairly steep section. The weather yesterday was perfect for the hike - it was fairly sunny, which made up for the biting cold winds that we came across now and then, and it was very clear so we could see the mountains all around.
On the way we stopped for lunch on a sandy pebbly beach by Lake Grey and had a very nice meal of asparagus/spinach soup, roast beef, krill (as in the shrimp that are eaten by blue whales) or vegetarian sandwiches, followed by brownies of muffins if you wanted them. I had a little doze on the beach and when everyone was ready we carried on. We saw a pair of woodpeckers on the way. The male is black but has a brilliant red crest on his head while the female is mainly black. They always stay in pairs and mate for life. There is actually another type of bird here, the name of which I can't remember, but the male and female look completely different, but they find a partner and stay together for life. Local lore says that should one die, the other will die very soon after of a broken heart.
The hike was quite challenging (especially as I'm about as fit as a dead parrot and for the last few days I've had a rather nasty cold), but it was well worth it and the views of the glacier were incredible. We eventually hiked down to the edge of the lake most of the way towards the glacier and were picked up by a boat which took us up to the glacier's edge. We saw up close the different layers of ice - the pale white colour of the more recent ice, to the deep blue of ice which has been compacted for hundreds of thousands of years to be completely free of air. While we were going along (at a reasonably safe distance) we heard this loud crack like a gun being fired. We looked back towards the sound and then noticed a few small lumps of ice falling off the glacier into the water. Then suddenly a large section of the ice wall sheared off with a thunderous roar and fell into the water, making a massive splash and sending a wave that was a couple of metres high out from it. From all accounts we were quite lucky to have seen a piece of ice that large fall off as it doesn't happen all that often.
After going up to both the East and West sides of the glacier, we headed back down Lake Grey and the captain of the boat took us up right next to an iceberg that was floating around - actually ramming it slowly and keeping the engine going so we would stay next to it. Because of the sun and the fact the ambient temperature was a couple of degrees above freezing, the iceberg was constantly melting. There was water flowing down it and where there had been large pockets of air in the ice and these had partially melted, these made teardrop shape cavities in which the melting water collected, then overflowed and cascaded down the berg to the next pocket. The effect was a magnificent sparkling blue waterfall which we were close enough to touch. It's hard to describe adequately, but when I upload the photos tomorrow if I am able, you will see just how breathtaking it was.
Enough talk, I'm off to sit in the jacuzzi for an hour before I have to go over to the barbecue they're doing this afternoon.
K
We set off at 8:30 after breakfast and took the boat over to the other side of the lake that the hotel is on. They dropped us off and there were 8 of us plus two guides that went. The first part of the hike was relatively flat, followed by a fairly steep section. The weather yesterday was perfect for the hike - it was fairly sunny, which made up for the biting cold winds that we came across now and then, and it was very clear so we could see the mountains all around.
On the way we stopped for lunch on a sandy pebbly beach by Lake Grey and had a very nice meal of asparagus/spinach soup, roast beef, krill (as in the shrimp that are eaten by blue whales) or vegetarian sandwiches, followed by brownies of muffins if you wanted them. I had a little doze on the beach and when everyone was ready we carried on. We saw a pair of woodpeckers on the way. The male is black but has a brilliant red crest on his head while the female is mainly black. They always stay in pairs and mate for life. There is actually another type of bird here, the name of which I can't remember, but the male and female look completely different, but they find a partner and stay together for life. Local lore says that should one die, the other will die very soon after of a broken heart.
The hike was quite challenging (especially as I'm about as fit as a dead parrot and for the last few days I've had a rather nasty cold), but it was well worth it and the views of the glacier were incredible. We eventually hiked down to the edge of the lake most of the way towards the glacier and were picked up by a boat which took us up to the glacier's edge. We saw up close the different layers of ice - the pale white colour of the more recent ice, to the deep blue of ice which has been compacted for hundreds of thousands of years to be completely free of air. While we were going along (at a reasonably safe distance) we heard this loud crack like a gun being fired. We looked back towards the sound and then noticed a few small lumps of ice falling off the glacier into the water. Then suddenly a large section of the ice wall sheared off with a thunderous roar and fell into the water, making a massive splash and sending a wave that was a couple of metres high out from it. From all accounts we were quite lucky to have seen a piece of ice that large fall off as it doesn't happen all that often.
After going up to both the East and West sides of the glacier, we headed back down Lake Grey and the captain of the boat took us up right next to an iceberg that was floating around - actually ramming it slowly and keeping the engine going so we would stay next to it. Because of the sun and the fact the ambient temperature was a couple of degrees above freezing, the iceberg was constantly melting. There was water flowing down it and where there had been large pockets of air in the ice and these had partially melted, these made teardrop shape cavities in which the melting water collected, then overflowed and cascaded down the berg to the next pocket. The effect was a magnificent sparkling blue waterfall which we were close enough to touch. It's hard to describe adequately, but when I upload the photos tomorrow if I am able, you will see just how breathtaking it was.
Enough talk, I'm off to sit in the jacuzzi for an hour before I have to go over to the barbecue they're doing this afternoon.
K
posted by Ken at 3:31 pm
2 Comments:
sounds like so much fun
that fox is awesome
you should have won it over with some treats and trained it to be your attack mammal.
I was seriously considering doing that, although I decided that I'd probably only have room for one attack animal in my suitcase, and I'm saving myself for an attack marsupial from Australia or New Zealand...
Post a Comment
<< Home