Our feet were pretty beat up from the hike to base of Torres so we decided to
have a "rest" day by taking an all day tour of the Torres del Paine National
Park.
Grey Glacier
We started pretty early and the weather looked pretty good. We were driven to
the beginning of a short trail to Grey Beach which is a gravely beach
on Grey Lake where you can get a decent view of (you guessed it) Grey Glacier.
Once we got there we found the winds on the beach were super strong.
You had to walk very carefully otherwise you'd get blown over. In addition
the wind picked up dust which got blown into your face. Once we got to
the other side of the beach to a small "island" we were told it was too
dangerous to go to the Mirador but Steve and I decided to check it out
anyway. Before long Melanie, Israel and Izzy followed to the end. It was
in fact VERY windy there and you had to brace yourself just to stand up.
This was the highlight of the day for everyone mostly due to the winds.
They had to be well over 60mph as it was very difficult to walk and most of us
got knocked over.
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Parque National Torres del Paine
After that our next stop was a small overlook over Lake Pehoe, one of the
larger lakes in Torres del Paine and what makes it interesting is the
intense blue color of the water. We were told it was due to the dissolved
minerals. Slightly less windy but very scenic. We stopped at a waterfall
on the Rio Paine which was also very nice.
As we drove around the park we saw Sheep, huge groups of Guanaco,
a family of Rhea, a Patagonian Fox and of course always circling somewhere
were a couple Condors.
We ended the day at a camp site by Blue Lake (Laguna Azul) where we
took in the wild flowers while we waited for lunch to be prepared.
The winds were still pretty brutal and fortunately they have a building
for the meal to be served in. We all decided to face the windows so we
could still enjoy the view while eating.
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