The bliss of hiking Torres Del Paine, Chile:
It’s dark when the shuttle bus arrives in Puerto Natales, a ramshackle lakeside town in
Chile, to collect the trekkers.
Everybody shuffles onboard in the morning mist, dressed pristine in their Mountain
Design wind proofs and heavy-set boots, some just bought from town, which
seemingly survives off the last-minute trek buyers.
By the time the bus arrives at the National Park, Torres Del Paine, the sun will have
risen and the sights people have travelled across the world for, will overwhelm.
You can see the mountains sprawl across the landscape, snow-capped and forming
impossible shapes.
Straight away you see them, those three 8000 to 10,000 foot granite monoliths that
coil and twist like frozen waves of rock above glacial lakes spiked with icebergs.
People sign the forms, promising to leave the land untouched, and split off into
guided or unguided tours of one of the most spectacular National Parks in the world.
lauren elizabeth 