Fauna is supposed to be a 1/2 day hike. We drive into the park and get our park passes and then to the hike, about an hour drive. After the hike we then drive to a picnic area and then back to the camp. All sounds easy peasy and we should have time to walk down to the lake in the evening to get a view from there. Breakfast is delicious, lots of choices, lots of fruits and pastries and meats and cheeses. nice. And we sit down to breakfast just as the sun is rising over the mountains and lake. Hard to eat when I'm jumping up every few minutes to wander outside, in the cold, and take a photo.
After breakfast, we layer up our clothes, fill our water bottles (which they provided for us to keep - ones that hang on your belt) and meet Chris in the van. There are 3 other couples doing the Fauna hike as well which surprised me because last night, everyone was going "medium level, medium level". Oh well. it'll be fun. So to the ranger station which yes, has a toilet. All the women pile out of the van and into the building. We know what men are like in the out of doors.
Away we go again, heading to our start point and Chris tells us about the hike again. We will see guanacos and we might see condors and if we're really lucky, we'll see a puma. As we are driving, there are vans stopped along the road taking photos of guanacos (order of animals: Llama, Alpaca, Guanaco, Vicuna:) and I ask if we can stop. Chris promises me that we will see more on our hike and up close too.
At our drop off point, he gathers us about and tells us about pumas. they can blend right into the tall grasses, even small shrubs that wouldn't look like it would hide a house cat. And should we see one, NEVER run but try to make yourself look as big as possible. So we start down the trail, all practicing looking big and menacing. But it was not to be. No pumas ever and not even a sign of one. Chris had been in the park hiking every day for months and he's only see maybe 5. our luck just doesn't go that way so no puma at Iguazu and no puma here.
But he was right about the guanacos. we did see plenty of herds and they milled about us sometimes, ran from us sometimes and just stood and stared at us other times. And we saw rheas too - at first so far away I couldn't see it until it moved but on the way back from the hike (same way in and out), they had moved up to the fence, very close. (order of animals: Ostrich, Emu, Rhea). At one point, we were standing and taking photos of the rheas and guanacos when a grey fox came striding by, paying no attention to us and within a few feet of us. just busy out looking for mice and such and pardon us for getting in his way. But no puma.
It was a nice hike and definitely not flat as we climbed a semi steep hill at the end to see a few petrographs that remain under an overhang. Cattle used to run on this area and they would stand under the overhang and scratch their backs - obliterating the petrographs. Now this part of the land is park land so no cattle and any cattle caught can be destroyed if the owner doesn't come get it pretty quick.
So after several hours we are almost back to the van and I really, really, really have to find some facilities. our guide had not mentioned any so we lagged behind, my hubby held my stuff, and I ducked behind some large rocks to answer the call of nature, hoping no cowboys would ride by on the other side of the fence which was ranch land or that the elusive puma would suddenly show up (squatting is bad when there is a puma around). Then we caught up to the group and back in the van.
So where did we go next - yep, to a rest stop to pick up some drinks for our lunch. would have been nice to know. Then more driving where we passed a river with two wonderful small waterfalls on them but we zipped by quickly and also stopped at a ranger's house just so our guide and driver could say hello (turns out he was the first ranger of the park and very influential in making the park what it was) and finally to a picnic table where we had a view of a lake and waited while our guide and driver unloaded our lunch.
You might recall that I have said our dinner last night was fantastic and our breakfast this morning was yummy. Our lunch was possible one of the worst ever had. yuck. I had a chicken sandwich with stale bread, no mayo or butter or anything so dry, dry, dry, and some sort of spread which was probably supposed to make it not dry but wasn't working. I didn't even eat half and I notice that very few of the group ate any more than half their sandwich and everyone had different kinds as well so they were all yuck I think. There were cheese and ham squares and olives and crackers. those went quite quickly.
Then back in the van. By now, our half day tour was well into the late afternoon. Chris asked if we'd like to stop at some small village so we did because they have toilets and they also had a great gift shop which was quite expensive and Chris went around telling everyone that the prices were way high and we should buy things in Punta Arenas. What everyone was buying were snacks and drinks and such, us included.
And finally back to camp. our half day tour got us back around 6:30 and dinner was at 7. Amazing. But we were really hungry so to dinner we go after peeling off our excess layers and what an amazing dinner. OH, and I should say it was an all inclusive camp so every time you took a sip of wine, practically, someone was there to refill your glass, or your pisco sour, or your whatever you were drinking.
Torres del Paine is wonderful. It is so beautiful and so BIG and magnificent. the Fauna walk was good and we saw a lot of animals with the grey fox being a pleasant surprise. Driving for hours wasn't so wonderful especially when I kept seeing things I would have loved to photograph and couldn't and not sure the driving as much as we did was necessary because we went out of the park a different direction. doesn't matter. it was a really good day, overall, except for the yucky chicken sandwich lunch and even that's forgivable because of the wonderful breakfast and dinner and fantastic views.
We are asked for our hike tomorrow and we choose the Gray Glacier which is easy and then a moderate hike in the afternoon which is close to the Gray Glacier area. And we choose a different lunch which I don't hold out a lot of hope that it will be any better. No time to walk down to the lake as it is very dark and we are tired and worn out so to bed in our yurt again. Nice and toasty inside, very chilly and cold outside. Love this area.
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