Chimu Adventures travelers – Ben and Josie Benoit – embark on a fantastic journey around South America and the world. Below is a continuation of their adventures as Patagonia!
On the Sunday, we set off at 7am to begin the 5 day or short W trek, armed with 5 days of breakfasts and lunches of bananas, dried fruit and nuts. We have 2 litres of water but otherwise we’re told you just top up from the rivers and streams. Where else can you do that? Paula also religiously followed the hostel talk’s recommendation to pack each individual item of ‘dry clothing’ in freezer bags. The idea is that you avoid layering on designer Gortex when it rains, accept you are going to get wet when walking and just rely on having some dry clothes to change into when you finally arrive. You guard your dry clothes with your life and just get used to being wet in the day. Luckily for us, we didn’t experience more than a few dribbles of rain throughout the 5 days 
.
Torres del Paine
After buses and minibuses to the park, we eventually start our east-west route at 10.30am. The first walk is a steep climb across rivers and gorges, winding around the edge of the mountain to the east side of the Torres del Paine. It takes us 2 ½ hours to reach our first night’s Refugio, Chileno, where we bag decent beds in the dorm. and stop for our final proper lunch, squashed cheese and tomato sandwiches. After lunch we head up, kit free, to the Torres viewpoint, another 2 hours uphill, and even steeper. Views are great: rugged, huge rocks and sparkling green lake. That evening, we sit down to a fab meal, with homemade bread and brownies.
Day 2 is a 4 hour walk westward on a narrow pathway, with some gorgeous blue lakes on our left and the front of the Torres on our right. The sun is shining and we’re the first people to arrive at the second Refugio, Cuernos, bagging the quietest dorm and the first hot showers. We settle down to very strong pisco sours and the conclusion of our Chilean gin-rummy championship in the communal area. Food is average but nice dorm. companions and peaceful sleep more than makes up for it…
We’re up with the sun on Day 3 and on the road by 6am, ready to break the back of the 27km before lunch time. Ben’s starting to feel a little miffed with the monotony of dried mango, pineapple, apple and banana for breakfast, but he’s soon distracted by the views of the lake in the eerie mist of the morning.
We’re feeling pretty happy that we opted not to camp when we see the miserable faces of the tented at the Campamento Italiano site at the foot of the valley Frances, which we reach after 2 ½ hours of sleepy trekking. Here we can dump our bags and carry on for the 5 hour round-trip of the valley. This is the only day where the weather isn’t blazing sun, but we only experience a few droplets of rain, although the valley remains pretty misty. The tough climb up the valley isn’t helped with our two wrong turnings, but we make it up to great 360 degree views of Torres and then skip back down in half the time (and no wrong turns). We’re back down to the campsite at 1pm, Benff down some more dried fruit and nuts and hit the last part of the route, an easy meander down to the third Refugio, Paine Grande. Legs are feeling a bit weak by the time we spy the big brown shack at 3.30pm, but it’s really nice inside – decent beds with 6 in a dorm, average food, and a real bar!
Day 4 and we’re up a little later, kicking off today’s 19k walk at 8am. It’s a fiercely windy walk to the fourth Refugio Grey, via the glacier (not very spectacular after Antarctica). We say goodbye to Chantal and Alexi, our Dutch dorm. companions from Refugio Cuernos, who take the boat back, and we’re wishing we hadn’t decided to stay the night here just to walk further alongside the glacier, because it’s a lot colder on the west side but still spectacular.
Day 5, we’re tired and frightened of the Argentinean witch and can’t wait to get out of here, have a warm, private shower and wash our clothes. We peg it back to Refugio Paine Grande, where a boat is waiting to whisk us back to the minibus, another bus, and finally, about 10 hours later, our hostal! 89km of walking later, we relax over a decent pizza with our Dutch friends in Puerto Natales. The w trek was a brilliant experience, scenery absolutely amazing.
Petito Moreno Glacier
The final leg of Patagonia was our El Calafate tour and the awesome Perito Morino glacier. We leftearly the next morning, on a 5 hour bus trip, seats 3-4 to get the best views at the front of the bus. Our accommodation is a cute cabana (small hut with pointed roof). We get to the glacier at 7.30am to beat the crowds and listen to the crackling of mini avalanches as the glacier advances (and melts). Later, we hike up a small mountain nearby to look back over the view of the glacier and surrounding (although clouded) scenery. That evening, we eat our last Patagonian lamb in the town’s best parilla (La Tablita) and are happy to be reunited with the Argentinean Malbec. Chilean wine is never going to taste this good.
Ben and Josie Benoit are members of Boomers on the go – A travel club for over 45’s. Their association with the club entitiled them to some great discounts on Chimu Adventures tours as well as other tour companies offering a range of heavily discounted tours for baby boomers accross the globe.
