Patagonia - A Poetic Land

Four years ago, I saw a post on LinkedIn about the amazing experience of hiking Torres Del Paines - the southern Patagonian Range. I was hooked. I saw "Wild Life", the National Geographic documentary - it was inspiring. Finally, one day, I saw "A Line Across the Sky" - the amazing FritzRoy towers, the morning sunlight glittering between the silence of glaciers - it called me - it is hard to describe but I rarely have felt that kind of call. That night I decided I had to go.  I made elaborate plans to spend time in Chile and Argentina besides hiking.  

The Torres Del Paine (W or O trek) is quite busy and it requires advance booking. I booked it for March 2025.  Now came the fantastic news that I would be Grandpa in Feb 2025.  It was close to my travel and I was in no way going to miss the birth of my granddaughter. She came two weeks earlier than the due date. After two weeks, I asked her if I could go and she just smiled. She understood her Grandpa's desire. 

I flew from Santiago to Punta Arenas - a Magellanic port city.  From here, I visited Marta and Magdalena island to see Sea Lion and Penguins

The next day,  we drove from Punta Arenas to Puerto Natales. After lunch and meeting the guides, we headed for the Eco Camp inside the park. Day 1 was arrival and logistics planning.  The following picture shows the daily schedule.

Day 2: It started to rain and the wind picked up. It had a gust wind of 60+ miles (~ 100 km/h).  I was staying in a tent. In the night, I thought it would blow away. Luckily it didn't. However, I could not sleep the whole night. 

Day 3: Rain and wind. It was a difficult day to hike. There was water all over. Many creeks were flooded and it was hard to cross them. Our socks were wet and the pinching rain made it a slow progress. But we have to keep going.  We reached French Valley Camp.  Only 1km hike remained to the French Glacier but the ranger did not give permission as it was too windy - Gusts wind of 65+ miles/hr means pretty dangerous conditions.  But we saw the glacier.  The night was again painful as winds and rain in an outside tent were not optimal. 

Day 4: The next day was clear. I woke up. The sky was beautiful. Amazing sky. A few pictures are below. We hiked to the point where a boat took us to see the Grey Glacier. It is called grey because of its watercolor. 

Day 5: Due to the weather, we switched out plans. Instead of hiking to Base Torres, we hiked to see some petroglyphs. We saw many Guanacos and also saw a Puma (too far to get a picture on iPhone).

Day 6: We started hiking at 7 am. Most of the hike was not bad. The last mile was the hardest due to the gradient and boulders. Once you see the Torres (towers), it is serene. They are there like guardians watching over you. You can feel it - yet you are only a tiny dot. 

Day 7:  Took a bus ride to El Calafate (Argentina). I walked around Laguna Nimez. Reminiscing, I sat down and wrote a poem. (later I refined it).

Day 8: Drove through the desert to El-Charlten. On the way, we traveled a bit on the famous Route 40 (like Route 66 in the US).  Butch Cassidy and Sundance Kid, the famous bank robbers escaped and stayed in 1901. It was a nice surprise. 

Day 9: Hiked to FitzRoy - the place I was drawn towards. It was a beautiful hike. Just like Torres Del Paine, the last mile was the hardest. Once I saw it, I felt at ease. It is like seeing your Mother.  I sat down for an hour. 

Day 10: It was unplanned. So, I decided to do a horse riding adventure. It was great. 

Day 11: Hiked to Laguna Torres. We left early so that we could be at a lookout point to see sunrise. It was me and a guide - two of us. It was breathtaking The color - the sun rays on the mountains - it could not be more magical.

Day 12: Perito Moreno Glacier - A boat took us near the glacier. We hiked on the glacier for almost 2 hrs with crampons. It was an amazing experience.  

After this, I went to the Atacama desert - the driest place on Earth.  It is 50 times drier than Death Valley. However, there are glacier rivers that flow through and native people have settled here for thousands of years. 

Hope you enjoyed the personal experience. Even if you are not a hiker. I would urge you to go. Once you are in Patagonia - it's different. Here are a few lines of a poem that I wrote.

Best of Journeys.

April 2025