Date: 20231031
Time: 7:30 – 17:30
Distance: 30,7 km
Overnight stay: Paine Grande, Torres del Paine
Walk
I am up at 6:15 to get breakfast at 6:30 and have an early start. It froze last night.
I follow a rocky path. Early in the day I don’t meet a lot of people. That changes when it gets later.
It is sunny, blue skies all around. I realize that I forgot my sun glasses. They are still in my other backpack that I left with Ada. I am so focused on the stuff I normally don’t need, that I forget half of the stuff I normally have. I also forgot my hat, but that is still at home in Baarlo. The sun glasses are no problem today, I have the sun in my back when I walk up to Grey as well as when I return. And after Refugio Grey I walk under the trees.
It is warm in the sun, but chilly or even cold in the shade. That also changes during the day. In the afternoon it is f*cking hot in the sun and there is almost no shade.
All the dead trees make the scenery a little spooky. Today I walk a few times through the woods, especially the last part after Refugio Grey. Probably the fire did not get here. If it wasn’t for the fire, I would have walked a lot more through the woods. As bad as I feel about the fire, I do like the different scenery it created.
At Laguna los Patos I take off my vest, it’s getting too warm.
I made GPX tracks of all the planned routes but they are not really necessary. One cannot get lost here because there is only one path. However, I get other useful information like where I am and what altitudes to expect.
The path continues down through a small stream, I walk in the water.
Now I enter a section that is very steep. I have to use my hands and I really have to watch out because it can be slippery when wet.
I meet two Australian guys and talk a bit to one of them. He has a good tip, at the end of my route I have to continue for about 5 minutes after the 2nd suspension bridge to get good views on the glacier.
After a little more than 3 hours I reach Refugio Grey, time for a coffee. At first they scare me, the bar is closed for cleaning. However they also have a minimarket where I can get a decent coffee that I drink outside at a picknick table.
When I continue, I first make a detour to a mirador (viewpoint) to watch the glacier from afar. The I continue my route for 3 more miradors. At the first mirador I hear thunder, a piece of ice breaks of the glacier, I didn’t see it, but I heard it.
I fill my water bottle from a stream. I read and they told me the water is drinkable and I believe them. Still I bought a bottle with a filter, just to be sure.
I pass two suspension bridges. The first one crosses a small stream that probably can get bigger. The second one is longer and higher and has its own private glacier coming down from the mountain. Probably a temporary glacier.
Finally I reach my target, which was also the tip from the Australian guy. Good tip by the way. From this mirador you have a fabulous view on the glacier. I stay a short while to take in the view and eat a protein bar.
The way back to Refugio Grey goes way faster than the way up. I meet the couple from Utah again. They are on their way up but they don’t know if they have enough time. They also have to go back to Paine Grande. I tell them how far it is and that there are some steep sections. I am afraid they are not going to make it.
At Refugio Grey I have a well-deserved beer, a Torres del Pain by Austral.
I meet two girls with devil horns and I make the sign of the horns with my hand and they wish me happy Halloween! I totally forgot that it is Halloween. In Santiago and Valparaíso you cannot forget, but here that is no problem.
Everybody keeps shouting ice-cream at me today and I keep shouting back Ola. This joke probably doesn’t work for people outside of the Netherlands but I am not going to explain…
The rest of the track back to Paine Grande is rather uneventful. I refill my water bottle once more and I don’t stop at all the viewpoints, I did that already the first time around.
I notice in several parts that there are multiple parallel tracks to choose from. I have seen this in my other walks also. If there is room, people tend to make their own path if there is a reason. For instance water on the path, too hard or too close to the edge. It is sometimes hard to tell what the original path was. If there is a hard section, then that is probably the original path. Otherwise it is the longer path.
The last part up is hard, I already walked 25 kilometers through harsh terrain and I feel it in the legs. Once I start going down, the last kilometers, it gets better. Even though I am tired and my pace slows down, I still overtake a lot of people. That means their normal pace is less than my tired pace…
In total I walked 30.5 kilometers today. A bit more than the 28 I planned.
Weather
The weather was very good today, sunny and dry, even a little too warm in the afternoon.
Songtext of the day
Lots of ice today, a whole glacier of ice! Therefore I have picked Ice Ice Baby by Vanilla Ice.
Yo VIP, let’s kick it
Ice, ice, baby
Ice, ice, baby
Alright stop, collaborate and listen
Ice is back with the brand new invention
Something grabs a hold of me tightly
Flow like a harpoon daily and nightly
“Will it ever stop?” Yo, I don’t know
Turn off the lights, huh, and I’ll glow
To the extreme, I rock a mic like a vandal
Light up a stage and wax a chump like a candle
Dance, rush the speaker that booms
I’m killing your brain like a poisonous mushroom
Deadly when I play a dope melody
Anything less than the best is a felony
Love it or leave it, you better gangway
You better hit the bullseye, the kid don’t play
And if there was a problem, yo, I’ll solve it
Check out the hook while my DJ revolves it
Ice, ice, baby
Vanilla Ice, ice, baby
Vanilla Ice, ice, baby
Vanilla Ice, ice, baby
Now that the party is jumpin’
With the bass kicked in and the Vegas are pumpin’
Quick to the point, to the point, no fakin’
Cookin’ MCs like a pound of bacon
Burnin’ ‘em if you’re not quick and nimble
I go crazy when I hear a cymbal
And a hi-hat with a souped up tempo
I’m on a roll, it’s time to go solo
Rollin’ in my 5.0
With the ragtop down so my hair can blow
The girlies on standby, wavin’ just to say hi
“Did you stop?” No, I just drove by
Kept on, pursuin’ to the next stop
I busted a left and I’m headin’ to the next stop
The block was dead, yo, so I continued to
A1A Beachfront Avenue
Girls were hot wearing less than bikinis
Rockman lovers driving Lamborghinis
Jealous, ‘cause I’m out getting mine
Shay with a gauge and Vanilla with a 9
Ready for the chumps on the wall
The chumps acting ill because they’re full of eight ball
Gunshots raged out like a bell
I grabbed my 9, all I heard were shells
Falling on the concrete real fast
Jumped in my car, slammed on the gas
Bumper to bumper, the avenue’s packed
I’m trying to get away before the jackers jack
Police on the scene, you know what I mean?
They passed me up, confronted all the dope fiends
If there was a problem, yo, I’ll solve it
Check out the hook while my DJ revolves it
Ice, ice, baby
Vanilla Ice, ice, baby
Vanilla Ice, ice, baby
Ice, ice, baby
Take heed ‘cause I’m a lyrical poet
Miami’s on the scene just in case you didn’t know it
My town that created all the bass sound
Enough to shake and kick holes in the ground
‘Cause my style’s like a chemical spill
Feasible rhymes that you can vision and feel
Conducted and formed, this is a hell of a concept
We make it hype and you want to step
With this. Shay plays on the fade
Slice like a ninja, cut like a razor blade
So fast, other DJs say, “Damn!”
If rhyme was a drug I’d sell it by the gram
Keep my composure when it’s time to get loose
Magnetized by the mic while I kick my juice
If there was a problem yo I’ll solve it
Check out the hook while my DJ revolves it
Ice ice, baby
Vanilla Ice, ice, baby
Vanilla Ice, ice, baby
Ice ice, baby
Vanilla Ice
Yo man, let’s get out of here
Word to your mother
Ice, ice, baby (Too cold)
Ice, ice, baby (Too cold)
Ice, ice, baby (Too cold)
Ice, ice, baby (Too cold, too cold)
Ice, ice, baby (Too cold, too cold)
Ice, ice, baby (Too cold, too cold)
Ice
The hotel shuttle brings me to the airport, a quick transfer over roads that have definitely seen better times and I have the shuttle to myself.
The trip with the bus from Puerto Natales to Pudeto was spectacular with all the mountains covered with snow and the lakes surrounding us. In total there were about 20-25 passengers on the bus. About half of them leave the bus at Laguna Amarga.
In the distance I see a bird circling in the air. Given the distance it must be a huge bird. Might be a Condor but I can’t make sure from the bus.
I think I can see the route that I am going to take the day after tomorrow. I do see the occasional Lama, or Alpaca, and then there is a bunch of them and they are in the middle of the road.
What strikes me is that all trees are dead, they are just white skeletons. I have seen this before in the Czech Republic and it was caused by acid rain. I ask one of the park rangers why the trees are dead. Alas she doesn’t speak English but Google is your friend, if you are a park ranger and have Internet here at the end of the world. She explains that there was a fire caused by humans in 2011. It burned 17000 hectares and lasted for 2 months.
Time to catch the catamaran. The trip takes half an hour and we get spectacular views of the mountains from different sides. There are not many people on board. I talk to a couple from Utah, they arrived yesterday and it is also their first time in South America. She takes my picture and I take one of them.
I check in at the refugio and they show me ‘my’ room. It’s not mine of course, I have to share it with 5 other people, although I am the only one when I get there.
It’s raining! We wanted to go for a walk, but the weather forecast doesn’t look too good. Instead we walk to La Sebastiana Museo de Pablo Neruda, one of the houses of the poet, consul and Nobel price winner Pablo Neruda. He build a vey nice house on the hill with perfect views over the hills and harbor of Valparaíso.
We walk back to ocean level and up again to our apartment, using the ascensor this time. It’s time for me to go. I already had everything packed for the W-trek and leave today for Santiago. I booked a hotel near the airport because I need to catch a plane to Puerto Natales tomorrow morning at 6:30 meaning that I have to be at the airport at 4:30.
I walk to the bus terminal, just to find out I have to wait for more than an hour and a half for a bus.
Today we, Sandy, Ada and I, want to walk to Laguna Verde, a 12 kilometer walk. We start by going uphill and keep to the main roads.
We continue our walk because there is nothing else to do. When we are two streets further a man from a minimarket shouts to us to get our attention. He tells us that it is not safe to go further up. If we continue we will probably be robbed of all our possessions.
Change of plans, we walk downhill a go to Cerro Alegre, one of the most touristic zones of Valparaiso, a neighborhood with lots of color, where we have a beer. From there we walk to the Piano steps and Cerro Conception where we have a very nice view on the lower part of the city and the harbor. In fact when we look down, we are directly above the Valparaíso Beer House.
The other graveyards are closed so we decide to find our way downhill to have something to drink at the Valparaíso Beer House. We find some very narrow stairs down and we descend to ocean level. The stairs are probably not meant for tourists like us but the gate at the bottom can be opened, so we don’t need to go back up.
After our pause we go to the harbor and from there we walk along the coast, or rather the harbor, to Playa San Mateo where we find nice views over the ocean and the coast line. We go back the same way we came and finish the day in a Chinese restaurant where we have a good meal.
After breakfast we go down with the ascensor and walk to Plaza Sotomayor. I decided to give Uber one last try and lo and behold, within one minute the driver shows up and delivers us in Concón. Here we start our walk, but since I gave up some random address in Concón, we first have to walk down to the ocean.
We walk along the ocean side which is very rocky here. We see all kinds of birds like the Peruvian pelican. At one point we also see 3 South American sea lions. When we continue walking it looks like there will be no bar or restaurant for quite some time, so we head back and go to the restaurant where the sea lions were. On the terrace we are very close to the sea lions and we enjoy our drinks. That is, I ordered a Michelada because I thought that it was a beer brand. The waiter pointed to the other beers they had, but I did not understand, my Spanish is not that well. 
When he came to serve, I got a glass with salt on the rim and some lemon juice (I think) in it. He then put in some sauce and some tabasco and I could choose one of the beers they had. I went for the Calafate ale and he put that in as well. Time to look up what Michelada means, apparently it is a cocktail with beer in it! Now that I had it, I also tried it. It was not too bad, but not something I will repeat. Luckily there was still some beer left in the bottle that I drank after I had finished the cocktail.
I notice that they have a lot of Hottentot Fig growing along the coast. I have seen this also in Portugal, the Hottentot Fig poses a serious ecological problem by forming vast monospecific zones and hence lowering biodiversity
We continued our walk along the coast by entering a section along the dunes of Concón. We already saw these from the car but now we walked on the other side, the ocean side. It was a nice stretch to walk with again a nice rocky coast until the road was blocked. As walkers, we could pass the barriers they put up and continued. 
But not very far because after 200 meters or so the road was completely blocked because of road works. So back again, we looked for a path into the dunes, but there were only options that were very steep and hard to do and I did not know if they would lead us to something. After a little less than 2 kilometers, there was a road going up the hill and we followed that through the sub urbs of Concón.
Once we passed the dunes, we headed down again. From our high position we could see the other end of the road block. The good thing about the detour was that we had some magnificent views from the hill over the ocean and the coast.
It started out a bit chilly today, but while we were walking it got warmer and the sun came out, which made it quite warm. I even got a burn on my face, not seriously, but still.
First we walk to the Palacio de la Moneda, the seat of the President of the Republic of Chile. We also were here yesterday and now I know why there is so much police in this area. In front of the palacio there is a huge flag of Chile at the beginning of Paseo Bulnes, a nice street were you can buy a lot of stuff at small stalls. This is also the street where the beer café is where Ada and I ended up last evening.
We walk through the city and reach the faculty of natural sciences. They have a very modern building and Sandy arranges that we can go inside, after we have registered with our passports. In the basement they have a lot of sport facilities, including among others basketball, squash, judo, tennis and even a swimming pool.
Sandy has a location planned to have lunch and we take the metro from Parque O’Higgins to Santa Isabel to get there. We are now in Barrio Italia and we walk to Av. Italia where there are plenty of small bars and restaurants. The first place where we sit down has no beer. That’s no good, so we walk a little further to Malacria. Here we have a very good lunch and I can enjoy a good beer with it.
Everybody talks Spanish here and we made a nice stroll today, so here is 
