WHAT TO SEE IN TORRES DEL PAINE

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Day 19: What to see in Torres del Paine: Black Bridge, Nordenskjöld viewpoint, Sarmiento viewpoint, Pehoe Lake, Salto Grande and Gray Glacier

Today is our first full day in the Torres del Paine National Park, and it is time to get back on track soon and we are going to do the Full Paine Tour, with the Hotel Las Torres, with whom we will meet many of the most tourist and important places what to see in Torres del Paine.
Punctually we go down to the Coirón Restaurant, where breakfast is served every morning, when it is 7:30, to taste an incredible buffet breakfast with a couple of coffees, which give us enough energy to start the day.

Coiron Restaurant

As we had read and told us, the weather in Torres del Paine is quite changing, something that we already checked yesterday and that we live again today, because when we wake up we wake up with a fairly covered sky, which opens completely to As the minutes pass, leaving a practically blue sky when we go down to breakfast, but as the morning progresses it becomes cloudy again, making us doubt if today will be the best day to do this tour in which we can know some of the places most incredible what to see in Torres del Paine.

Las Torres Hotel

At 9 in the morning we are at the Information Center of the Hotel Las Torres, located just in front of the reception, which is the place where the guides meet each morning with each of the groups of the different tours and excursions that They are carried out. Here we share what will be our picnic of the day, which we had already chosen yesterday, and punctual, after receiving a brief summary of what will be our day, we follow what will be our two guides and we ride the van that will take us to tour the places what to see in Torres del Paine.
If you do not stay in the park a good option is to book this excursion to Torres del Paine from Puerto Natales.

Full Paine Tour What to see in Torres del Paine

This tour we will do with the Hotel Las Torres, included in the option "all inclusive", will take us to know some of the most amazing places to see in Torres del Paine These include the Black Bridge, the Nordenskjöld viewpoint, the Sarmiento viewpoint, Pehoe Lake, Salto Grande and Gray Glacier, which takes about 3 hours of navigation.

The first stop is a few kilometers from the Hotel Las Torres, on the Black Bridge, a bridge over the Paine River, located in the area of Laguna Amarga.

Black Bridge

Although it is not known exactly in what year the Black Bridge was built, it is known that the construction was done by the company of the British David Rowell and that this is the one that is maintained until today. It is along this bridge that buses that cross from Laguna Amarga cross each day and mark the access point to the only private property section inside Torres del Paine National Park and that is none other than Hotel Las Torres.
Although the structure today has been somewhat affected by the succession of traffic, especially in high season, this bridge remains the access point and is expected to be restored shortly.

Black Bridge in Torres del Paine National Park

After a brief stop, where we walk across the Black Bridge and listen carefully to the history and curiosities that the guides tell us, we go back to the van to follow the Full Paine Tour, approaching the Sarmiento Lake Viewpoint and Nordenskjöld Lake, where We were yesterday and today we can see from a distance.
At this point you have to make a short walk, with a fairly steep climb, but nothing that can not be done quietly, since they are only a few minutes of ascent.

Sarmiento Lake and Nordenskjöld Lake Viewpoint

We are in this area for more than 20 minutes, enjoying unique and impressive views, which seem to change as the minutes pass, since the role of time in Torres del Paine takes a leading role, especially if we consider that This changes constantly, giving us totally different views of the same landscape as the sky is at that time.

Panoramic Viewpoint Sarmiento Lake and Nordenskjöld Lake

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Horns from the Sarmiento Lake and Nordenskjöld Lake Viewpoint

After this second stop on the Full Paine Tour, in which we have already met two of the places what to see in Torres del Paine, we return to the van and after traveling several kilometers, we arrive at Salto Grande, which will be the third stop of the day.
Here it is time to get off the van, shelter and travel a path of about 1 and a half kilometers, completely flat, but in which the wind blows in an incredible way, so much that in some points it is almost inevitable to lose balance. This is something, as the guides tell us, very common in the area, so if you come here, do not stop warm and leave the hat if you do not want to run after him.

Big Jump

Considered to be the biggest jump in Torres del Paine National Park, this jump is not because of the altitude that attracts our attention, but because of the place it is in and the incredible landscape that surrounds it, something that we are checking, it is common in this park and it is not so much the specific place that is visited that really attracts attention, but the set of everything that makes Torres del Paine one of the most incredible places in the world and one of the cherries from this trip to Chile and Easter Island.

Big jump What to see in Torres del Paine

After about 15 minutes in the area, enjoying some infarct landscapes, we return to travel the path of just over a kilometer to return to the van and make way to Lake Pehoe, one of the locations what to see in Torres del Paine We wanted to know more.
Pehoe Lake is one of the biggest attractions of Torres del Paine National Park. Whether for its crystalline waters and an incredible blue, for the landscapes that surround it, with which it forms a unique and wonderful landscape, or for the large number of fauna and vegetation that you can find in the surroundings, we have to say that this It is one of the most incredible enclaves what to see in Torres del Paine and that you can't get lost.

Pehoe Lake

If we add to that the possibility of seeing the Cuernos del Paine on clear days, it is more than clear that Pehoe Lake should be a mandatory stop for all travelers entering Torres del Paine National Park.
We, separating ourselves a little from the group, can not go over the area, enjoying every moment and every look and it is almost impossible to stop looking at and shoot the camera at the same time, as if the landscape we have in front of us were to disappear at times and we need to leave it recorded forever in our retina forever. This is the power of Torres del Paine and places, which, like this one, show us the greatness of nature.

Pehoe Lake

After a good time in the area, the Full Paine Tour guides, along with the driver, call us to give us a pleasant surprise: without realizing it they have set up a table with everything necessary to enjoy the best lunch we could have imagined. And it is that we not only have the bags with the picnic that we had chosen yesterday and in which we carry water, fruit, sandwich, snacks ... In addition to this they bring soft drinks, wine, different sausages and desserts to make this lunch another unforgettable moment of the day .

Food with views

After being here just over an hour and a half, between stops and lunch, we return to the van to continue the Full Paine tour, but not before looking back to what has been one of the most incredible points we had imagined to be able to see today.

Panoramic Lake Pehoe

It is time to get on the way to what will be the last visit of the day, the Gray Glacier, another place what to see in Torres del Paine more recommended and how could it be otherwise, we do not want to get lost during our stay in the park.
The van leaves us in the place enabled as parking and we undertake a 45-minute walk that will take us along the shore of Gray Lake to the point where the catamaran is with which we will do the navigation on the Gray Glacier.
But as not everything can succeed and the weather in Torres del Paine is in many occasions the protagonist, we have not been walking for more than 5 minutes when a thin rain is present, which as the minutes progresses it becomes increasingly intense until it becomes a full-fledged downpour .

Suspension Bridge on the way to Gray Lake

Although initially we think about the bad luck that we are going to have with this time in the navigation through the Gray Glacier, this thought disappears at times, when the rain is becoming more intense and we notice that the clothes start to penetrate, something that we did not think and for what we have not prepared, in relation to pants, thinking that it would be impossible for it to rain after the clear day that received us in the morning.

Reaching the shore of Gray Lake

But in addition to being openwork, our mind does not stop thinking, as we move along the shore of Gray Lake under heavy rain, how travelers will be doing at this time are doing any of the trekking that are done in the park and that they should follow, whatever happens, to the next shelter.

On some occasions, the navigation on the Gray Glacier It is suspended for the time, but when we reach the meeting point they tell us that despite the rain, the navigation is still standing, so we wait a few minutes in the rain until the one that will be our catamaran arrives, where we get on without thinking much , we accommodate and try to dry ourselves, as we can taking off all the pieces of clothing and putting them on the heaters, to try to dry them as quickly as possible and thus be able to use them as soon as the navigation allows us to go out on deck.
The first part of the Gray Lake navigation it is done inside the catamaran and more today, in which the rain seems to have wanted to accompany us on this visit to the Gray Glacier. As the minutes pass, it seems that the rain subsides a bit, something that allows us to go out on deck and although protecting the camera and trying not to expose ourselves too much, since the wind is quite strong, start enjoying an incredible landscape, which begin to leave us the first visions of ice floes.

Start navigating the Gray Glacier

First vision of ice in navigation on the Gray Glacier

The almost first hour of navigation is spent between the interior of the catamaran and the outside, taking advantage to have a coffee that warms us and gives us energy to continue with this incredible day, until we see that we are approaching the first language of the Gray Glacier , that despite showing itself between clouds, leaves us so incredibly amazed, that we are almost unable to shoot the camera. We would never have imagined encountering such an impressive glacier and even less, being able to see it so close.

Gray Glacier

And although it seems a lie, the traveling gods, as Alan says, they are back from our lake, making the sun start to rise through the clouds, giving us even more impressive views of the Gray Glacier, which we no longer imagined we could enjoy.

Gray Glacier What to see in Torres del Paine

Details Gray Glacier

The Navigation through the Gray Glacier It is approximately 3 hours, in which more or less an hour is navigation pure and hard back and forth and an hour of enjoyment of the views of the Gray Glacier, proper. At this time, the catamaran is very close to different parts of the glacier, first to one of the languages, then navigate to the second language, even more incredible than the first.

Panoramic Gray Glacier

Gray Glacier

As we get closer to the glacier, the catamaran staff collects several pieces of ice from the water, then serve with soda or pisco sour, which they offer to all travelers. The truth is that this detail, we have to say that we are not very funny, because if we take into account the number of people who come here and the ice needed for only "make grace"Having a soda makes us think if we are really acting in a consistent manner. Moreover, we remember how one of the phrases that most reminded us of the Laguna Amarga nursery when we arrived was that"only our footprints remained in Torres del Paine", something we believe, with this type of action, is not carried out.

Gray Glacier

Panoramic Gray Glacier

Gray Glacier

After more than an hour in the vicinity of the Gray Glacier, the captain announces that we should start sailing back, so he advises us to enter the catamaran again and enjoy our drink, at the same time that we relax and remember The incredible moments lived. But how could it be otherwise, we make the tugs and scratch a few minutes at a time, taking a final image, with the sun as the protagonist, of the Gray Glacier, one of the most incredible places we have been lucky to know .

Gray Glacier

And, as if by magic, the pachamama He seems to want to rest after the gift he has given us in the form of the sun, and in a matter of seconds, we are back under a gray sky that gradually begins to unload again a storm that accompanies us the rest of navigation.

Saying goodbye to Gray Glacier

And so we come back to the shores of Lake Gray, where nothing else arrives, we cover ourselves again as if there was no tomorrow and it is that outside the catamaran a storm is falling that makes us anticipate what is about to happen and passes: A 45-minute walk under heavy rain that makes us penetrate to the bone and reach the van practically without realizing how we arrived.

It's a little after 6:30 p.m. when we return to Hotel Las Torres, trying to warm up in the van, where we arrive in 45 minutes, perfect time to take a shower, change clothes and dry the one we had during the day and that At the moment he is dripping and down to the Pioneer Bar, where we enjoy a coffee and a soda, while we comment today and we do not stop repeating how lucky we are, despite having come dripping at the hotel after an unforgettable day.

Pioneer Bar

It's 8 o'clock at night when they call us from reception to let us know that Martina is in reception, head of marketing at Hotel Las Torres, with which we have met that we would meet these days and with which we finished in the best way today , first with an unforgettable dinner at the Coirón Restaurant and then with a desktop at the Pioneer Bar, where we can see first hand how the Hotel Las Torres is not just a accommodation in Torres del Paine, but a place that blends perfectly with nature and a unique way of knowing the National Park Torres del Paine.