Epic adventure. This trip was recommended by a friend who did it a few years ago. It certainly met expectations. Fantastic scenery in one of the most remote areas in the world. Our guide went above and beyond to keep things together. The group stayed chilled out went things went a bit off piste as we were confident our guide would sort it. He did and with aplomb.
We were a little anxious about getting through all of the requirements that Chile had for getting into the country and were worried that we may not make it through the "mini-quarantine" in order to start the trip on time. Fortunately, everything worked out and we couldn't have been happier even with the initial hoops to jump through. Patagonia is simply a beautiful and magnificent place. The W-trek in the Torres del Paine park was incredible, from the climb up to the namesake towers on the first day through the walk up to glacier on the last day in the park. In between we were able to see and hear avalanches in the mountains and listen to young puma cries in the low lands. We were blessed with great weather the entire week, which we were told is very rare, and had clear views of the mountains every day. Many of the nuances would have been missed were it not for our excellent guides Alvaro and Christian. They were a wealth of information on the history of the people and land in southern Patagonia as well as the geology and plant and wildlife in the park. It was great hiking with them and they made sure that everyone got the most out of the trek. Alvaro continued with us to the more northern lake district around Puerto Varas. There the pace was a little more leisurely. The area was so different with volcanos surrounded by beautiful forests, lakes and fjords. We had three nights in the beautiful Petrohue Lodge on the Todos los Santos lake and from there hiked up the base of the Osorno Volcano and kayaked with additional guiding from Richard and Franz. Finally, we were very appreciative of all the help we had from Alvaro and Richard to ensure that the group had all of the required COVID testing on time for departure from Chile and in assisting at the airport as travel requirements were constantly changing.
I had wanted to go to Patagonia for years and finally took the plunge and booked this trip - it certainly didn't disappoint! There's a lot of travelling and so much crammed into the two weeks that it flies by. The overnight stays in Buenos Aires that bookend the main activities were brilliant, and it was nice to start and finish with a blast of heat. The walking surprised me by being no more difficult than some of the longer Lake District/Scottish Munro type walks, and the gear I had was more than adequate. Food and drink were delicious and drinking tap water all the way caused no problems - Argentinian steaks, Patagonian lamb and Malbec were favourites.
