Day 18: Puerto Natales - Torres del Paine National Park
Today is our entry into the National Park Torres del Paine so we get up a little earlier and more knowing that our Bus-South bus from Puerto Natales to Torres del Paine leaves at 7 in the morning from the Rodoviario Station where we arrived three days ago from Punta Arenas.
As it happened before yesterday, when we did the Balmaceda and Serrano Glacier Tour, in The Singing Lamb although breakfast starts at 6:30 in the morning, when it is 5:30 or 6 you can already find much prepared, something It's going great, especially on days like today or when you have to do a tour soon, to be able to have something for breakfast and of course, charge energy with a good coffee.
So without hurry but without pause, we leave our bags ready and after breakfast and charging energy for this day we ask for a taxi to take us to the Puerto Natales Rodoviario Terminal, which although it is only 800 meters away, you have to climb a good pending, and we are not going to lie to you: being so early and having the most fair time, we have preferred to make ourselves wild and call directly to a taxi that by 2000CLP will bring us from The Singing Lamb to the bus station.
Punctual at 7:00 in the morning, after loading our bags, we left directly for Torres del Paine National Park, one of the great reasons for this trip to Chile and Easter Island and one of the places we most wanted of knowing
The journey takes us a little less than 2 hours while we enjoy incredible landscapes, ahead of what awaits us, until we get to see the Torres del Paine in the mist, something that we honestly did not expect to see so soon and that encourages us more if possible At this stage of the trip we were expecting so much.
Road to Torres del Paine National Park
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National Park Torres del Paine
We arrive at Laguna Amarga, the first of the stops at the National Park Torres del Paine at 9 in the morning where we stop and get on the bus a girl from CONAF who gives us some explanations about the park and its rules, something to keep in mind and that is that in Torres del Paine we must be very careful with the impact we cause in nature and above all just leave our tracks on earth, nothing more.
Once these recommendations are made, we go down to the CONAF booth, which is called Laguna Amarga nursery, where we registered using a form to then go through a box where we pay 21000CLP per person. According to what they tell us, you can pay by credit card, although it does not work for us, because we advise you to carry cash in case there is a bad connection or any problem since to enter the National Park Torres del Paine It is totally necessary to have paid the entrance fee.
In addition to this you should keep in mind that there are no ATMs inside the park, so if you want to buy something at one of the shelters, it is best to carry cash in case they do not accept credit cards.
After that they give us our entrance, which must be preserved since they tell us that they can ask us in some places of the park, we go to see a 5-minute video where they give us several more recommendations that we must take into account during our stay in Torres del Paine and during the tours we do inside the park.
At this point we return to the bus to pick up our luggage, if you follow Pudeto or any other stop, you get back on the same bus, and we go directly to the van that will make us the transfer to the Hotel Las Torres, where we will stay next 4 days and we are looking forward to meet.
Although before, we take the opportunity to make a brief stop at the Torres del Paine Viewpoint of Laguna Amarga, a place from which you can see the Towers perfectly on clear days and that at this time, we can only see practically covered.
Torres del Paine viewpoint from Laguna Amarga
At this moment we realize and experience what we have read so many times: in Torres del Paine the weather can change in a matter of seconds, something we just saw since when we were on the bus the sky was completely clear to meet us now, some minutes later with a sky practically threatening rains.
Once in the van it takes more than 10 minutes to reach what will be our base these days, where thanks to Hotel Las Torres we will stay the next 4 days on a all inclusive, something that in a place like Torres del Paine is appreciated on the way, and as we will see the next few days, there is nothing better after a hard day of hiking than arriving at a cozy accommodation like Hotel Las Torres where you can also load Energy with incredible cuisine.
If you do not stay in the park a good option is to make this excursion to Torres del Paine or
Trekking through Torres del Paine from Puerto Natales.
After making a quick check in and leaving our bags at the reception, waiting for our room to be next days, we move on to the hotel bar, the "Pioneer Bar" where we take a couple of coffees that charge us with energy and we taste with incredible views through the windows that are one of the many attractions of this area of the hotel that we will gradually discover in the coming days.
Pioneer Bar
The entrance to the hotel is at 3 in the afternoon, so we also take the opportunity to talk with the person in charge of the excursions, to finish specifying the ones we have planned for these days in the National Park Torres del Paine and so leave everything closed and planned for the next few days, which we are sure, will be incredible.
As we had been warned, we checked a while ago on our arrival and now we can check again first hand, the weather in Torres del Paine changes in a matter of seconds, and in less than 30 minutes, we see the clear sky, to then cover yourself with clouds, go on to have a kind of mist and end up with a fine rain that lasts a few minutes to pass again to start clearing ... It is more than clear that here the weather forecast is of little use.
Las Torres Hotel
After resting and enjoying the hotel facilities during the rest of the morning, something that is essential in a place like this where the environment is as important as the accommodation itself, as we explain in this article of the Hotel Las Torres, where you can see and understand the reasons why we affirm that this accommodation is an emblem in the National Park Torres del Paine.
Las Torres Hotel
It's a little after 1 pm when our stomach starts to warn us that it is time to eat, so without thinking too much or making any excuse we approach the Coirón Restaurant, where we have read they are specialized in specialized in "flavors of the end of the world", serving a modern and creative cuisine, but which is perfectly integrated into the traditional dishes of Chilean Patagonia.
After sitting at a table with privileged views of the massif that seems to protect Hotel Las Torres and revise the menu several times, without deciding, we let ourselves be advised by one of the waiters, right in the final choice: as starters a dish of ham with cubes of cheese and octopus with citrus dressing, as seconds a beef steak and a southern hake, which we have to say, are really spectacular and we have just confirmed what will be the next days of our stay here: an excellent combination of the most impressive nature with the most exquisite gastronomy. Can we ask for more? It is very clear that no ...
Ham with goat cheese
Southern Hake
And if we had not had enough, after both dishes, you have to ask for dessert, something that we can not resist, deciding in the end for a peppermint ice cream and a cylinder of caulk that leave us totally impressed and are the Golden brooch to a spectacular meal, which we will continue to enjoy the next few days and that we end up with a couple of express and a desktop with which we began a stay at the National Park Torres del Paine We are sure, we will never forget.
Peppermint Ice Cream
Calafate cylinder
After this lunch, included in the package "all inclusive", we decided to take a short walk that will take us to Lake Nordenskjöld, about 6 kilometers or so round trip, which will take us about 3 hours and with which we will start at the National Park Torres del Paine.
So when it's a little after 4 in the afternoon, we hang up our backpack and get on our way to the Nordenskjöld Lake, of which we have seen some photos and we can already say that it is one of the most beautiful places in this incredible park.
We start the hike from Hotel Las Torres to Lake Nordenskjöld
Landscapes on the way to Lake Nordenskjöld
As we have commented previously on trekking to Lake Nordenskjöld they are little more than 6 kilometers, round trip, that we do almost without effort, since it is a practically flat terrain, although in some points there is some occasional ascent and descent until the moment in which you have the first views of the Lake Nordenskjöld, from where you also have stunning views of the lake that precedes it.
First views of Lake Nordenskjöld
This famous lake, which is located at the foot of the Massif del Paine owes its name to Otto Nordenskjöld the explorer who toured it in the early twentieth century and investigated part of Greenland, Chile and Peru.
Nordenskjöld Lake
One of the things that attract us the most, even in the distance, is the bluish green color that it has and that is due to the glacial waters that make it up and how could it be otherwise, gives unique and incredible views of the place
Approaching Lake Nordenskjöld
Panoramic Lake Nordenskjöld
Nordenskjöld Lake
After our experience we have to tell you that if you can do not miss this short walk, since it is only 3 hours round trip, and it really is very worth it as a first contact with the National Park Torres del Paine.
Nordenskjöld Lake
Nordenskjöld Lake
After a good time in this area, which is part of the famous trekking route W, we decided that the time has come to return to our accommodation, but not before returning to say goodbye to the first incredible landscape that has given us gifted the National Park Torres del Paine and that we will always remember: Lake Nordenskjöld.
Nordenskjöld Lake
It's a little after 6:30 when we start the return to Hotel Las Torres, where it is time to take a quick shower and return to the Pioneer Bar, from where after enjoying a soda and a little reading time, we approach the Corón Restaurant where we return To taste a dinner with which we replenish energies and how could it be otherwise, we enter the wonderful gastronomic world of chef Cristián Urrutia, a kitchen magician.
On this occasion we ask as starters a garden of Patagonian spider crab and marinated oyster, which we have to confess, leave us with a totally astonished stomach and we would have never expected to find such exquisite cuisine in a place as far away as this.
Patagonian Crab Garden
Marinated Oyster
As a second dish we had a plate of fresh pasta of the day and a conger, both spectacular, accompanied by wine and water.
Fresh Pasta of the Day
Conger
And as a dessert, yes, yes, we know it but we have not been able to resist, an iced apple with cauliflower and a filled chocolate sphere, accompanied by two coffees that taste like glory and with which we decorate a fantastic table top.
Glazed apple with caulk
Stuffed Chocolate Sphere
It's a little after 11 p.m. when we finish this first day in the National Park Torres del Paine and we return to our room with the firm purpose of sleeping and charging energy to enjoy tomorrow which will be our first departure with the Hotel Las Torres: the Full Paine Tour with which we will know some of the most incredible places in the park.
Day 19: What to see in Torres del Paine: Black Bridge, Nordenskjöld viewpoint, Sarmiento viewpoint, Pehoe Lake, Salto Grande and Gray Glacier
