Today we are going to explore the west side of the park,  basically the backside of the mountains we saw yesterday. We left at a leisurely 9AM again and it will take about 90 minutes to get there. 

Total different look to the landscape today. It is wetter on this side of the mountains so there are more trees, forests and vegetation. Archeologists have found evidence of indigenous people living in this area in ancient times.

There are five major glaciers in the park but many smaller ones. We pass many lakes as we proceed deeper into the park, some are quite large. Boating on the lakes is not common; kayaking is done in places as well as fishing. The trees are getting taller and the forests denser as we proceed deeper into the park. It is obvious this is a totally different climatic zone compared to yesterday. An aside: there are 17 different eco systems in the park.

10:30AM. Our first stop was Lake Toro, the largest lake in Chile, but only part of it is actually in the park. An aside:  The sun is out but there is a wind and the temperature was in the mid 40s so there is a definite chill in the air.  It is also spitting a bit of rain even though the sun is out. We are viewing the backside of those spectacular mountains we saw yesterday.

 Our next destination was Lake Grey where we embarked on a “trek” through the woods to the shore of Lake Grey to a viewpoint of the Grey glacier. We were warned about the winds that would likely buffet us as we walked. Walking sticks were available for our use. The strength of the wind once we were on the beach was rather astounding; our guide said it was likely around 60 km/hr (30 mph). We estimated the trek to be about 1.2 miles each way. The views of the surrounding mountains were awesome.

It was lunch time after our “strenuous” hike. As we were driving to a local campground on the shores of Lake Pehoe ( pey ho a ) the guides saw a rare, endangered South Andean deer grazing at the roadside. Supposedly this sighting was even rarer than yesterday’s sighting of the pumas, as it is estimated there are only 14 of the deer in the park. Our lead guide, Sebastian, is a genius!

The staff at the Remota hotel had arrived ahead and laid out a great buffet lunch with pisco sours( of course), multiple salads and grilled chicken, with brownies and chocolate chip cookies for dessert. Beer, wine and soft drinks were also there, as well as tablecloths on the picnic tables. In the background were those fabulous mountains. There was even some local entertainment as several ducks and birds paraded around us, probably looking for handouts. They were the hawk-like Cara Cara bird and a family of Upland geese. 

After a leisurely lunch we drove to see one more waterfall(Salto Grande) as we starting making our way back to the hotel. What made the 20 minute trek to the Salto Grande waterfall so unique was the fact that we had to battle gusting winds that were even greater than we experienced on the morning hike. Our guide, Juan Luis, even warned us that in the event we thought we would be bowled over we should immediately squat until the gust passed, and if conditions were too bad he would turn us around and return to our bus. It turns out that we did make it to the falls but I have never experienced winds of that velocity. I had to occasionally bend over, leaning into the wind to proceed. I now have a feeling of what news reporters experience when they cover a hurricane.

By now it was 4 PM and the bus got quiet as we worked our way back to the hotel. Our exploration of Torres del Paine is over. It was a magnificent experience as I have never seen what I saw here anywhere else in the world. On that first rainy day I was fearful the visit to this area would be a bust, as the weather forecast was not promising. The good news is that they are terrible at predicting the weather here and the great weather we had these last two days made my visit to Patagonia a memorable one.