One of my biggest dreams for this trip was to see the Torres del Paine National Park. Well, I finally made it and it was worth the journey.

After a flight from Puerto Montt, the arrival in Punta Arenas was less than impressive. The flight itself was beautiful - flying along the coast of Chile viewing the icy shoreline at the southern tip of the continent. But the city of Punta Arenas is nothing to write home about. So I won´t.

Next stop was Puerto Natales, a charming port town on Good Hope Sound. This is the stopping off point for everyone going to the Park, so it is teeming with backpackers from all over the world. Here Kelly and I loaded up on groceries for our backpacking trip through the park - mostly pasta, soup, cheese, salami and chocolate (lots of chocolate).

We bused to the park and started our trek through 3 of its´ most spectacular valleys. The scenery is out of this world. It is the most rugged mountain range that I have ever seen. It is mostly granite which has been sculpted by glaciers into very dramatic towers, spires and valleys. The wind must have something to do with the amazing shapes too, because it blows like hell non-stop.

We spent four days walking and admiring the sites. We ate well and even drank several bottles of wine along the way. There are "refugios" throughout the park. These are rustic lodges along the trail which also serve meals and sell food and drinks to campers. We enjoyed the ability to partake of a glass of vino tinto in our tent while we cooked up some pasta alfredo!

After the Torres trip, we high tailed it back to Puerto Natales for showers and huge meals. After considering our next move, Kelly decided that she was more inclined to get back to warmer weather and less wind and I still had my heart set on seeing the Glaciers National Park across the boarder in Argentina. So she caught a flight to Santiago and I caught a bus to El Chalten, Argentina. We agreed to meet in a week in Santiago.

A grueling 10 hours on a bus over dirt roads, put me in Chalten, Argentina, a tiny town created solely to cater to tourists visiting the Fitz Roy portion of the Los Glaciares park. I joined the ranks of backpackers at the Rancho Grande Hostel and shared a four-bed room with a shared bath down the hall. It wasn´t nearly as bad as I thought it would be. No snorers, thankfully.

The things to see in this park are several huge granite towers, the biggest of which are Cerro Torre and Cerro Fitz Roy. They are very famous in rock climbing circles. They are sorrounded by glaciers and are incredibly beautiful. Again, I had an amazing time. I met several people on the trail. One guy, Keen, from Ireland was very generous, sharing his chocolates, his hot tea and a wee nip of Jamesons.