Although we are not fans of organised trips we had signed up for a day excursion as it would be our only way to see the south and west of Torres Del Paine. We were collected at 7.30 and had the frustrating 45 minutes of picking up passengers from all around town but we finally got on our way. On the journey we saw real gauchos on their ranches going about their work.
Our guide Claudio was a lovely young man but had very limited English - sometimes one of the other guests would translate for him. He also slept quite a bit and at one time we missed a stop to photograph a huemule which is a rare deer type animal and it was right by the road.
When we arrived at the National Parks entrance Claudio collected the £25 park fee from us all and went in to pay. We could see some protest banners up and some park rangers sitting on the steps of the office. Claudio returned with the news that the staff were on strike and therefore not collecting the entrance fees. We got our cash back so that was a bonus for us. We also were given a slip of paper explaining that the strike was due to poor pay & training and a lack of resources.
There followed a day of jumping in and out of the minibus to take photos and two short treks to see waterfalls, llamas, spectacular views and, best of all the icebergs on Glaciar Grey. It was a very long day, with a few frustrations over the dawdling of some passengers but we were glad we had done it.
Some pictures from the day;
Trying to converse with Claudio;
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