The Navimag Ferry

After the W trek, we wanted to relax, and needing to travel a long way north, we decided to take the Navimag Ferry which sails through the Chilean Fjords for three days and four nights up to Puerto Montt. Public opinion was that people either loved the ferry or hated it and it all depended on the weather, especially the section where it sails through open water which causes sea sickness.

Well, we LOVED the boat. We stayed in the cheapest accommodation, the 'corridor' but we each had our own cosy compartment.

The food was pretty good.

And there was lots of entertainment. Lectures, films, karaoke and giant chess. It even had a pub.

And then there were the views. We had pure sunshine so saw glaciers reflected in the water, volcanoes, narrow channels, dolphins, albatrosses and gorgeous sun sets.

Jumping dolphins

I wonder if this means we are cruise people...

 

Torres del Paine - La 'W'

Next on from El Chalten, we crossed the border into Chile into Puerto Natales, where we could get to the Torres del Paine (Towers of Paine) national park. Here we had time to do the 'W' trek, a four day, three night trek where you get to see some of the many wonders of the park. The hostels are phenomenally expensive so we decided to camp the three nights. We found out three things:

1. Camping is not that fun when you're cold and wet and other people are eating and sleeping inside.

2. Check your tent before you go. When the outer zip to the tent does not work, it means your tent will be colder.

3. Carrying tents, sleeping bags, mats and food for four days is very heavy when you are doing a four hour uphill hike.

Apart from that though, it was a brilliant few days with plenty of gorgeous views to distract us.

We saw more glaciers

Lakes that reflected the sky

Snow capped mountains

Amazing valleys

A yeti...

 

And more

 

 

 

 

 

The last morning, we got up at 5:45 to climb up to watch the sunrise over the Torres del Paine mountains. Very sadly, the clouds would not budge and our view was not one to add to a postcard collection.

Waiting in the cold

And how we really felt

 

Some of the camping highlights

At the end we were very happy to have earned the W medal

 

 

 

 

 

Sarah "streams are lethal" Everard ten minutes after starting to cross this raging torrent of water