Enid in the wind on the trail to Torres del Paine
It is reported that Patagonia is one of the windiest places on earth. I think that is probably true. At least it was windy enough today that one could almost think they were on the southern prairies of Saskatchewan!
We started hiking up the long trail to the base of the towers this morning after breakfast. It was sprinkling rain very lightly, but the wind was whipping the trees about, so I would estimate it was around the 70 or 80 km/h range in gusts. We climbed up the hill in a steady procession with many others, almost as if we were on a pilgramage for about 3 km, and 350 m elevation gain. That was about 1/3 of the way there. Enid’s hip was bothering her very badly, and it looked so cloudy at the top that we doubted you would even see the towers as it was so cloudy, so we decided to turn back.
Views from the trail to Torres del Paine
Fortunately we got really good views of them yesterday, though perhaps not so close up as we could have gotten today, so that I don’t feel like we missed much, except a lot of exertion in very miserable conditions.
Pack horses on the trail
We decided to make this a rest day, so spent the afternoon in the hotel reading. We were out in the lobby area beside our room where there are a couple of large couches. Every once in a while we would hear loud bangs as a door or window or part of the building slammed in the wind, and the wind was howling.
It may now have died a bit, but it is still very windy outside. The clouds which were overhead all day have cleared. However, there is a very heavy bank of them over the mountains to the west.
Tonight at dinner we met a Canadian couple close to our age. They had been robbed in Buenos Aires. That had certainly given them a negative attitude towards Buenos Aires and they felt it was a very dangerous city. We have been so fortunate so far as all our experiences have been good.