Torres Del Paine...Take Two!

Ok... so perhaps we don't like to be fully defeated!

After a day of improved weather, we decided to again throw caution to the wind and make our way back to the Torres Del Paine National Park to complete the final walk which provides the best views of the Three Towers.

We woke early to the sound of... oh my word, silence! It looked to be the start of a really nice day so we boarded our bus much more cheerily this time around. (Ok, so the promise of no camping and a warm bed at the end of the day did add somewhat to our happiness!). Our 2 hour journey into the park was rather different and afforded fabulous views of the mountains and surrounding countryside. Our first obstacle of the day was to sneak past the entrance as we had not been told to get our passes stamped for re-entry when we left on Wednesday. Out of principle we were not prepared to pay the over inflated and hugely touristy price of 15 pounds each again to get back in when we were entitled to enter the park 3 times on the one ticket. Our tactic was as such: We joined queue. Guard turned around. We legged it! We made it! We jumped on the shuttle bus to our startpoint, Hosteria Las Torres, and we were away!

Needless to say we had a fantastic day. Great weather, great views and a lovely hike up. As our time was a little limited by the bus return time we powered up the mountain to get to our destination, the Mirador De Las Torres, or Towers Viewpoint (the main attraction of the National Park). The map recommended 5 hours to the top... without our backpacks, and already fit from previous hikes, we cleaned up in a smooth 2 and a half. This gave us ample time to sit and enjoy the views with our lunch and Bianca's bottle of birthday wine, which neither of us had felt like drinking in the pouring rain a few days ago. We unanimously decided that today was really worth it, and as such designated it as Bianca's official birthday!

After a pleasant hike back down we had several hours spare so decided to walk all the way back to Laguna Amarga rather than catch the shuttle bus. All the way, Bi was on 'high alert' for puma and frequently mentioned how she didn't want to be eaten. She'd only be a little snack anyway!

We got home late, but happy and hungry and finished off the day with a great stonebaked local pizza... yummy! Torres Del Paine... we gotcha!