Tuesday 15 January Torres del Paine National Park Patagonia Chile

Hola. A day bus tour, not trekking, of the amazing Andes,  Land of Fire. A couple of hours across the Patagonian steppes,  the driest place, past long blue lakes Lago Portino and Lago Grey – Grey Lake. The peaks are amazing , beautiful, jagged and still many with snow in huge crevices and valleys. Weather in Patagonia changes dramatically, the hostel said the weather was to be 6o with 40km winds, but it wasn’t extremely cold tho we got to Paine waterfall and it said 80km winds! Walked on Grey Beach,  black pebbles. Many Welsh and English settled here as there are green mountains like Snowdonia, but then fierce black peaks tower above. We went to Milodon Cave where in 1893 a German discovered the skin of a creature believed to be a relative of the ancient sloth and in 1899 the British Daily Express newspaper started an expedition to find it. Perhaps that’s why British newspapers still trawl for low creatures.  Home in my swish hotel (and the rain has set in ) but the town of Puerto Natales is not much so far, tho I’m here til Sunday. Haven’t yet decided if I can manage an actual trek in those mountains- too hard for 8 hours! But I’ll find something. Pics next.