Puerto Varas to Torres el Paine

We had a very early night as we were both tired from the long drive and Pete had been sneezing quite a lot (delayed reaction to his flu jab perhaps?)
We woke at 07:15, packed up all the cases were down for breakfast at 08:00.
Delicious home cooked fare with freshly blitzed berry juice, granola, strawberry cake, fresh fruit salad and freshly scrambled eggs.
Our very friendly hosts offered to check us in, but Skyairline did not support online check-in for some reason. We were told the quick way to the Ruta 5 and that we would need 600 pesos for the toll.  We left about 08:35 and arrived at about 09:20.  Keys returned to Hertz, then through security with our bottle of water with no problems!
We were pleased to receive a text message from Margaret, but each time we tied to reply we obtained a system failure, so apologies Margaret if you received 0 or 4 replies! We boarded the plane - row 25 of 26, but there was plenty of room for our backpacks and we enjoyed a snack on the 2-hour flight.

We collected our cases and waved to a lady holding up a Harris sign only to find that she was waiting for another Harris!  We then discovered that we were sharing the transfer with two ladies from London, who had also booked their holiday with Audley, so we were able to exchange experiences - they had started at Atacama and then done some skiing down the Orsono volcano (the outside)!

the guide advised us that the journey time would be about six hours, but that we were stopping at and Estancia for a 15:30 "lunch".  The weather was gale force wind with occasional driving sleet, a typical pataginian welcome, but the scenery was outstanding, with snowdrifts by the roadside, snow-capped mountains and a varied landscape mainly populated by sheep sheltering from the wind behind bushes.


Once we arrived at the 6,000 hectare Cerro Negro Estancia we were shown around the original house, which had been owned by the Kusanovic family since 1944, when they had emigrated from  Croatia in 1944.

 It was furnished with 18/19th century European  furniture and had been maintained largely in its original condition.
Our lunch comprised a sour lemon cocktail, a lamb/beef pasty followed by spit-roasted lamb.  We were all quite hungry by this time!
Lunch over we headed back on the road for another three hours, stopping here and there for pictures, including our first sight of the famous Torres el Paine.

We passed rheas and llamas by the roadside and then stopped at the national park control, where we we given maps of the area and noted that the UV index can rise to 11 in summer (today it was merely 3).
We arrived at our Hotel at around 19:30 and are now the proud recipients of gold (coloured plastic) bracelets which indicate that we are "all inclusive", so all meals drinks and excursion are included in our price.
It was a great relief for our nomadic existence to be suspended and to be able to unpack at last!  We have now planned our excursions for the next 3 days - weather permitting - more details of these in due course!  Wifi in the room does not work, so it is necessary to pre-write this and then upload it in the lounge area.
We have to say that we were very pleased that we had been booked on the early flight from Puerto Varas; even though we did not see that area, it did mean that our long transfer to La Torres was completed in daylight hours.
We are clearly benefiting from the fact that this is "low" season in that the hotel is not busy and it is easy to get on all of the excursions.