March 19, 2014 - Wednesday. Torres Del Paines, Chile

MARCH 19, 2014 - WED., Torres Del Paines, Chile

BOTTOM LINE:
Left El Calafate, Argentina and drove to Torres Del Paines, Chile

BACK STORY:
Following breakfast, we checked out of our hotel but had them hold our luggage so that we could hike to Hertz and pick up our car.  Hertz had our car waiting for us and after drawing up the proper documentation needed to cross into Chile with a rental car we picked up our things from the hotel and headed out.  It was to be a LONG drive on a fairly isolated and desolate road known as "HWY 40."

Route 40

As we headed out of town we were both eager for what kind of wild life we might see along with what type of terrain we would be getting into. Civilization was fairly non existent so our first stop would be in the town of Esperanza to top off the gas tank before heading across the border and into Torres Del Paines National Park in Chile.

The first wild life that we spotted were wild llamas called Guanaca.  They were all over the plains grazing on grass or any other thing they could find.  All were healthy and could easily withstand the fierce winds and cold temperatures of the region...a very strong gusty winds we had!

Guanaca...llamas

 Next we spotted a grey fox on the side of the road who ran off at the sound of our passing car.  I stopped as he came back to what was of interest.  There was a dead llama just off of the road...food for him!

grey fox

road kill feeding frenzy

Our day was turning out to be quite a wildlife adventure.  On up the road we starting seeing the gray plumage of Lesser Rheas (emu) out in the bush.  We then saw rabbit.

Emu in the wild

Lesser Rheas (Emu)

The town of Esperanza consisted of one gas station, one hostel and one cafe.  We got the gas and headed over to find lunch at the cafe.  Our timing was perfect because after I ordered two sandwiches a bus unloaded and the place was packed.

Leaving the little town we did a switch back and were now traveling in the direction that we had just come but up the opposing side of the valley which lead to the border crossing.  Unfortunately we were now traveling against the wind and literally had to drive with two hands on the wheels because of the powerful gusts.

Torres del Paine, Hwy 9

Remote gravel road in Patagonia

We were told that the ride to the park would take about five hours.  We came to the border crossing at 3pm which was the five hour mark.  This was a much longer drive than expected.

Boarder crossing from Argentina back to Chile

Thankfully we knew the crossing routine and breezed through both the Argentina exit and the Chile immigration offices.  We were now climbing into some interesting mountain formations, rivers and lakes.  As we did so we continued to see more Guanacos and Lesser Rheas.  The new addition to our wildlife spotting were Condors with 10 foot wing spans gliding in the updrafts of the mountain air. Although the Condors are basically an over sized vulture with a black head, there was something magical about watching them soar above without ever flapping their wings.

Condor

More grazing Lesser Rheas

A road less traveled...what a view

As we got closer to our destination, which had turned into about 75 miles of gravel road, we came across a car stopped in the middle of the road with the people outside...cameras in hand.
Bruce hopped out and quietly approached what was a feeding frenzy of hawks and condors hovering over another dead llama.  He returned with some good shots and remarked at how huge the birds were.  I on the other hand sat in the car watching a group of condors on a ridge sitting with their wings expanded much like how Cormorants or similar water birds do to dry off.  I'm not quite sure why they were doing it. Guesses?

Scavangers

We arrived to the Hotel Grey Lago (Grey Lake) about 5pm.  After check in we settled our belonging into our room and headed down to the lounge area for our "welcome" drink...pisco sour.
The lounge area was very tastefully decorated not distracting people from the huge windows that invited nature inside. The mountain peaks were obscure with clouds, but the base of the mountains fed my imagination that something wonderful was to be seen.

Hotel Grey Lago

Hotel lounge view of lake

As we sipped our drink we noticed new friends that we had made at the last hotel in Calafate.  They were on a tour and looked equally exhausted. We agreed to meet after dinner as they had to sit with their group.

Because of the remote nature of the hotel within the park boundaries we had no options for dinner but to eat in the only restaurant at the hotel.  In US currency the dinners were $50 per person!  I told Bruce that what we saved by delaying our car rental, we were making up in food.  I don't like not having options or a choice in matters such as this.  We were captive and dined with a smile on our faces.

Hotel dining room