Suddenly, as we drove along a small dirt road, the driver stopped the car, his door and the guide's door flew open, and the two men took off running without even stopping to close their doors. A couple of minutes later, they came back with big smiles and an armadillo.
Herds of guanaco would appear in random places throughout Patagonia. We would see them grazing on the hillsides and meandering across the roads. One night, Steve was feeling adventurous at dinner and he had guanaco cold cuts for an appetizer.
These are the three granite towers that gave Torres del Paines National Park its name.
Thrombolites are often called living rocks. They form in shallow areas of water when small green bacteria photosynthesize and produce calcium carbonate from the minerals that are in the lake. Thrombolites are believed to have been one of the earliest lifeforms in existence on earth.
The Cuernos del Paine were tall horns or peaks near the three towers. Between the horns and the towers was a bowl that seemed to have a perpetual storm. Our guide said there are very few clear days in that region. We were lucky that the sky was fairly clear in the rest of the park.
We hiked down to a large rushing waterfall. There was a very cold wind pushing back on us as we went. The trek, however, was worth the effort. The rapids in the river and the waterfall were breathtaking. We could see a rainbow in the mist above the falls and the towering granite horns made a delightful backdrop as we walked along the trail.
Traveling from one spot to another in the national park was filled with serendipitous events. We were surrounded by guanaco one moment and enthralled with the reflection of the sun off a glacial fed lake the next. We never knew what to expect around the next bend, but we knew it would be spectacular.
While we were exploring the woods for bird life, Fernando and Augustine prepared a wonderful picnic for us. In the nearby trees we saw a gray-hooded sierra-finch, an austral blackbird, and a horn-tailed rayadito. I can't imagine a more beautiful spot for a picnic.
Across a suspension bridge, through some woods, past some uplifted strata, and down to the fjord we trekked. The horns rose up behind the water and the icebergs floated peacefully.
