The Trip

In April of 2009, my wife Bobbie and I did a road trip across Patagonia in a pickup truck camper; driving down the Andes on Argentina’s western highway Ruta 40, coming back east along the Straits of Magellan in Chile, and then back up Argentina’s Atlantic Coast highway Ruta 3. We camped along the way in national parks, municipal campgrounds, truck stops, and many times just alongside the road; and we stopped at every place possible, both famous and not. You can see our route of travel here.

This travel blog is a daily journal of the trip, along with a few pictures (see
http://parkenbi.zenfolio.com/patagonia for more photos). The "Last Entry" below is the trip summary, but our journey actually began at a train station in Florida so you'll want to start there ... go to "We're Off".

Friday, April 17, 2009

Day 16 – Torres del Paine National Park II

AT ONE SPOT WHILE DRIVING around the park today we had one of those 360° panoramic views of the mountains and glacial lakes, and Bobbie said “From here you can see every kind of weather!”

It was true: you could see it snowing on some mountains, but others had sun. Some of the lakes had whitecaps from the strong wind, while others were calm. The clouds were hanging low and foggy in some places and other areas had blue sky. Of course, it was raining where we were.

Because of the wild weather we decided not to do the nature thing today, and instead go see the two impressive hotels located within the raw vastness of the park. We had lunch at the older resort, which is located on an island in one of the lakes and is accessed by a pedestrian bridge. The other is a new, very high-end, architecturally-elite, adventure hotel that you have to be Bill Gates to afford.

Here’s pics –



We ran into Simon and Katherine -- fellow travelers from Australia -- again when they pulled into the same campground we’re in. From here we’re off on separate paths and it’s very unlikely we’ll bump into them again, so we had a last big chat and took each other’s pictures.

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