Day 10 - Wednesday November 29, 2023 Inside Torres del Paine national park

 

Woodpecker outside the hotel door 

Does anyone remember their high school world geography?  I certainly don't remember much.  It has taken this trip to make me look at a map of Chile.  It is over 2,650 miles long and at its narrowest, it is only 56 miles wide and at its widest, 276 miles.

And now for the national park we are in,  Tores del Paine National Park.  We are in the extreme south of Chilean Patagonia.  It  is world-renowned for its unpredictable weather, pretty amazing views and the Andes mountain ranges.   Windy is an understatement.  Gusts over 75 miles an hour are not unusual on a daily basis.  The weather changes more here than any other place you can imagine. But the strangest bit is that during winter (June, July, August) there is NO wind.  It's just freezing cold!

We slept in some this morning.  Wayne was awake last night much later than I.  He was finally able to work on his pictures and his email to friends since we had no Internet service until we arrived.

Once we left the ship yesterday I was able to pick up cellular service and didn't have to wait for the hotel's wifi.

We had breakfast in the hotel dining room.  I'm getting tired of the same thing daily.  There is always lunchmeat and bread...this caters  to the European clients.  Then there's scrambled eggs and sausage.   Truthfully the breakfast buffet has everything you could want granola, fruit, etc   I guess I'm just tired of eating.

We boarded our bus at 9 am and took the ride into the park.  The road in and out is just one bump after another for miles.  We stopped at a hotel and took pictures of the ice chunks that broke away from the glacier.

There was the biggest woodpecker I have ever seen hanging out at the front door of the hotel.  The male is gorgeous. The other bird is a Thrush.

Pictures from the hotel sitting area

Pictures at the entrance of the national park

Back at the hotel this afternoon, Wayne is working on his pictures and email.  We've been asked to group together at 6 pm for some surprise the tour director is providing us.  More on that later.  Dinner is at 7 pm.  

We have 14 in our group and it seems like we are the only ones that doesn't have some type of dietary restriction.  We have at least four vegetarians,. Two others don't eat meat, one can't eat onions, one can't eat gluten nor cheese nor dairy.

Our.tour director should get paid extra for constantly having to put special meals in front of at least 8 of the 14.of us.  It's quite bizarre and when you group us all together, there is nothing simple about sitting down to a meal.  Is it this trip?  This location?  I'm referring  to the concept that perhaps people who want to go to the bottom of the world and maybe Antarctica may be more focused on ecology and "healthy eating".   I even heard one of our group saying he had a piece of bacon at breakfast the other day and was really enjoying it as he only ate bacon at holidays.  Granted, I envy people with willpower,but some of this willpower seems misplaced on this trip.  I'm probably wrong.

Since I have a few minutes tonight, I'm going to put into words some of my musings of the past week, being with strangers that are all forced together, so to speak.

Our guide, Christopher is excellent in keeping us all together and providing for our every need.

Free time provided was sufficient so that we never felt rushed.

The cruise aspect was well run and the crew made it a lot of fun

The food was excellent on the cruise.  There were enough choices so that everyone, and that's saying a great deal, could find something to eat.

Our group of 14 all get along and mostly pleasant.  We are, after all, adults and smart enough to realize that if we said what we're thinking, it would be a long two weeks together.  But isn't there's always an "overachiever" who has to strut their superiority?  Why is it that it's usually a woman?  Every time I run into one of these characters, I think it teaches me a lesson in humility and  how I should behave as a human being.  

The only logistical disaster to date was the flight to Ushuaia. When I'm home, I'm planning on writing a letter to Odyssey Tours.  Why book us on a connecting flight when there were at least four direct, non stops a day and compound it with a 50 minute layover nearly impossible to make.

Oh my knees!  There was no elevator on board ship.  As Wayne would tell you, there were 69 steps from our cabin deck (2) to deck 5 where everything happened and then to deck 1 for meals.  Oh boy!!!!  Four days of climbing, repeatedly!!!!

The ship had a totally free, open bar.  If the bar was open, it was free!!!!

The challenge of the zodiacs!  Getting out of zodiac was difficult due to first step up. If I only were 5 inches taller!   I guess one can become an expert in time.  The first step up was massive!

Sunday evening on the cruise got a little rocky as we headed into the Pacific Ocean.  But frankly it didn't keep me awake.  I would fall asleep and be woken and then fall back asleep.

Enough for now.  I may add to this over the next 6 days.

Our surprise this evening was our local tour guide with an impromptu saxophone concert. Francisco was wonderful! He played for an hour before we went to dinner.