I got my ticket and caught the bus up to Torres del Paine again to do some hiking. I was the only one on the bus, so that was nice. We stopped at Cerro Castillo again for a break, and I took a picture of the town itself (sorta, mostly the horse monument in the center).
As we got farther into the park after leaving town, there were clouds in the sky. Great. I made it through the entrance again, covered my pack and myself with rain gear, and then started hiking up to the waterfall I had picked out. And then, it started to rain. And it didn't stop. Ugh. It was similar to the rain in Ireland - almost a constant mist - but I could actually feel drops too. What really sucked was that the whole route I hiked was in clear view of the towers and mountains that make Torres del Paine so famous. However, it didn't clear up for me. Sorry...I guess that was a bit of a spoiler haha.
But anyways, I began my hike along a road, and actually most of it was a long a road which is good and bad. A bit tougher on the feet, but at least it's a no-brainer on where to go. Despite the awful weather, I was quite amused at the sheep. They freaked out more than penguins when you approached them. I would just be walking along, and even the sheep on the mountain would start running away. I basically chased sheep for the first 2 kilometers and it was great.
Okay, so the weather didn't totally ruin my day but it mostly did. The walk along the river was absolutely gorgeous. Minus the dark clouds in the sky, complete lack of sun, constant rain, and inability to see the mountains I knew were right there the entire time. I also got to see some guanacos up close, so that was neat. There were three that basically were directly in my path as I wandered.
Finally I made it to the waterfall and felt a lot better, because it's a really neat one. The way the water falls and pools is unlike anywhere I've seen before. It's part of the Paine River, which flows around almost the entire park, so that's pretty neat too. But again, the clouds obscured a lot of the scenery from view, so it was unfortunate.
The other thing that sucked about where I was walking is that there were no trees at all, so no place to stop and take a break without getting soaked. Literally one scrawny tree halfway to the waterfall, and that's about it. What made me more irritated was realizing there USED to be a forest here. But, of course, this is the area a hiker burned down with his camp stove during a windstorm (accidentally) a few years ago. Awesome. You can still see the charred trees everywhere...it's quite sad.
It somewhat stopped raining after I'd been at the water fall for about 45 minutes, so I took a break, sat down, and ate lunch. Alejandro was right - it's the perfect spot for a picnic. Except it was cold and wet. But still pretty. This was my view for lunch:
On my walk back I took some more pictures of the river, stayed (relatively) dry, as it mostly stopped raining, and saw the sun maybe twice. Oh well. But it was still a nice walk back, and I got to chase more sheep when I returned to the farm. And see more guanacos up close!
Once I got back to wait for my bus, I sat down and finished off some post cards and rested my feet. A person walking by informed me that there was a creature close by, and to my surprise it was a fox! Cute little guy was maybe two yards away, and I was really lucky to see him so close.
After a bit more my bus came and we headed back to Puerto Natales. The sun came out for just a little bit, but the mountains never became visible. Which was actually a good thing, otherwise I would have been super bummed out.
I made it back to my hostal just fine, packed up my stuff, checked email, and then went to catch the bus back to Punta Arenas. It was an easy trip, although long, but I read "The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo" most of the way. Almost done with it! When I arrived back in PA, I checked back into my hotel, dropped off my stuff, had some pork chops with fries (what is the obsession with fries and food here??), and crashed. Early morning tomorrow and big trip to Santiago...so I have to get some rest.
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