day one in Torres del Paine

We had gotten off the plane (oh, that bloody early morning flight from Santiago) and then rode a lengthy shuttle drive and arrived at the hotel in Torres del Paine in time for lunch and in time for an afternoon excursion.  We were off to see a mighty waterfall first, then do a mild hike to a viewpoint of the horns.

The park is set amidst peaks and glaciers, and the lakes and rivers and waterfalls all have that extraordinary blue of glacial melt. 

The waterfall was indeed mighty,

but more impressive, I think, was the wind.  Oh, what a wind.  I knocked us about a bit, and I am not a small man.  It drove spray at us, but it wasn't a cold wind, happily.  We enjoyed the waterfall then pressed onward.

The hike was about forty-five minutes.  We kept coming to vantage points and thinking, wow, this is it.  But there was further to go and a new view to see.  The horns are not the towers of the park's name, but they are impressive nonetheless. 

What was funny to realize, though, is that a few days earlier, when we had been east of Santiago, we were at an elevation about as high as the top of the tallest peaks we saw.  Weird to wrap our heads around that one.

I think that was the most relaxing time we had on the trip, in a sense.  As we hiked, we de-clumped and strung ourselves out along the trail. 

There weren't too many other people around.  We were able to drink in the view and chat in different combinations and just have time to ourselves.  An ideal afternoon, all in all.

Day two brought more amazing views and a broader survey of the park, but had we only had that afternoon in the park, I would have been very happy.