And the moral of the story is .....

..... don't light fires.

The fire in Torres del Paine started on 27 December 2011 and burned for nearly two weeks. Even when we visited from 25 January some parts were still smouldering.

There were some areas where the forests had been completely cleared of trees and bushes, leaving only charred earth and the burned stubs of the trunks. 

The burned areas looked especially stark at the areas where they met with a lake or pond, and the reeds at the side were still green and bright having been protected in the water.  These devastated areas were sad to see and you can quite understand why the people who work here, and in some cases grew up close by, are so upset at the loss.

But whilst clearly you would never wish this to have happened, there were some areas that we passed where the fire had left something that in my view was absolutely beautiful in its wake.  There were some sections where the trees had not been razed but instead had been left whole and completely blackened.  

Because these trees have such wonderful shapes of their branches, the simple effect of being bare and totally black does itself look amazing.  They were particularly effective where the blackened trees were set against the backdrop of the azure blue of the lakes.  I would have loved to have been able to spend time photographing this, but figured that it would be unreasonable to ask the driver and guides to stop to let me do so when they clearly are upset at the sight of the damage.

I spoke to two of our guides about this afterwards.  One is an artist, and said she agreed that the trees have a beauty of their own, and has herself been out photographing them.  The other could see what I meant, but could not herself see beyond the destruction to find any beauty in it.  I can understand that when you are so close to something it is hard to see anything positive in it, perhaps especially because her partner has lived here all his life and is devastated by the fire.

But even if some of the trees do look beautiful now, the lasting effects of the fire are terrible.  We passed by areas where the fires had been in 2005 and in  1980.  Even thirty years later, the areas of forest that burned have only got grasses and low shrubs.  The forests haven't returned and won't for many years yet.  Seeing the huge amount of lasting damage that the fire causes really brings it home why they ask you to be so careful with even the smallest bit of fire or cigarettes in a place like this.

No one (except for some very sick people) would ever intentionally cause a fire like this, but some people ignore the rules because they think the rules are excessive or just reckon that the rules are meant for others. Many people think they can get away with breaking a rule because they are sensible and will be more careful.  But they are wrong.  It takes only the tiniest thing to go wrong, which may be completely out of the person's control, and a fire like this breaks out.  I for one will make absolutely sure that I follow national park rules in future.

One small point that did amuse us though was the supposedly divine intervention when the little roadside shrine that was in the fire area managed to stay undamaged.  Personally I think that may have had more to do with the little stream of water flowing behind it that probably kept the vegetation around it damp and protected.  Of course if it was divine intervention then it was a little selfish that it allowed all of the area around it to burn so badly while keeping itself safe!

Torres del Paine, Fire and The Eco Camp



Eco Camp and the Torres del Paine



Torres del Paine is the main National Park in Chile and covers an area of around 935 square miles.  It takes its name from its most famous mountain peaks, the Torres, or Towers, of Paine.  In addition to the four peaks that make up the Towers, the park has at least a further thirty peaks of over one thousand metres high. It has eleven large lakes and many smaller ones, with connecting rivers and waterfalls.  It also has glaciers and Magellanic forests.

Tourists come here in their thousands to see these sights and trek around the park, in particular to do the famous W circuit.  Whilst most of these tourists are welcomed with open arms, there is sadly the odd one that the park wishes had never crossed its path.  In December, an Israeli tourist was rather foolishly burning his toilet paper in very windy conditions, and managed to start a forest fire that, driven by winds of over 60 miles per hour, burned for weeks, destroying 18,000 hectares of Magellanic forest and other parkland.  The park had to be evacuated and it was thought that it may not reopen for the whole of January.  Luckily for us it did reopen early and we have been able to take the trip we had booked.

During our trip we saw some of the burned areas and it was quite shocking how much damage one careless person can do.



Our Eco camp dome

Rather than doing a multi day hike and camping, we have decided to stay in one place and do day hikes.  Our home for the six nights that we are spending in Torres del Paine is the Eco Camp.  The camp, like most of the lodge accommodation in the park, is in a privately owned area near to the start of the main hikes.  Whilst most of the accommodation is on the flat, the Eco Camp is on top of a hill, which makes for excellent views over the surrounding area and up to the Torres themselves.


The rooms here are individual domes.  They are metal frameworks covered in insulation and plastic, on a wooden base.  They are based on a combination of safari lodges and the nomadic constructions that the indigenous people of the area used to build.  They are apparently built to withstand winds of over 130km/hour, so they clearly could cope with the comparatively low winds we had, but it still did sound like the wind was going to tear right through them a couple of times.  Still, with our experiences so far I had made sure I knew what we were supposed to do should we need to evacuate due to strong winds or fire.



Eco camp bathroom



The camp has dome suites which have a stove to heat them and an ensuite bathroom, but we just had a standard dome and used the shared bathrooms.  But our dome was quite warm enough and the bathrooms were nicer than many of the hostels we have stayed in, so we were very happy.  The entrance is hobbit size, but once inside it is nice and roomy and you have a proper double bed and bedside tables.  And the window in our dome looked directly onto the Torres, so we had a fabulous view even without leaving the room.  This is a kind of camping that I could get used to.



Eco camp dining room

As well as the dormitory domes, they had three core domes for communal use.  There was a dining room, a small lounge, and a bigger lounge with a bar in it.  All of these areas were great and as I decided that I was not going to kill myself walking when Nic had plenty of other people that he could go with instead, I made this a very nice home for myself.  It was fabulous just being able to lounge around in the warm and dry, have a few cups of tea or beer, and read or draft a few blogs, knowing that everyone else was struggling up some hill or other in the wind and occasionally the rain.  And I didn't get any blisters either!

Pucon and Parque National Huerquehue



Villarica Volcano, Pucon



From Chillan, we got another day bus south to Pucon. Pucon is considered the adventure sports capital of Chile. It is a tiny town nestled on Lake Villarica and at the foot of Villarica Volcano, the second most active volcano in South America. In the surrounding areas are two more volcanoes, various other mountains, and a few lakes and national parks. With all of these natural resources available, there are plenty of opportunities to find ways to do yourself damage!

Being focused on activities like volcano climbing, rafting, paragliding and so forth, the city if very tourist based and highly seasonal. Come here during April to August and the place is empty, but in the high season it is full of tourists looking for a combination of nature and adrenaline rush.



The main street in Pucon



Given the type of place this is, we were expecting the place to be a bit trashy and full of people trying to sell you something. Certainly the place is full of tourists and tourist based businesses. Everywhere you look there is a hostel, a restaurant or somewhere offering activities. But actually the town itself is quite nice. It has big wide streets, nice looking buildings, and what little traffic there is is very pedestrian friendly. And no one is trying to sell you things. Everything is there for you to buy if you want, but there is no hassle or hard sell, unlike Cusco where every second person was either offering you a massage or trying to get you into their restaurant. 

Our first day here was spent looking round the town and organizing a few activities and some of our onward travel.  As we came out of the municipal buildings where the tourist information office is, we were accosted by a very keen looking man with a big camera.  He rattled something off to us in Spanish and started beckoning us to follow him.  We followed slightly bewildered.

We were fairly sure that he had said he wanted us to have our photo taken with Pucon's mayor, so we were a little surprised when we were greeted by someone in a giant beaver costume.  Then the mayor did turn up as well and it turned out that they were trying to promote fire prevention in the national parks.  So we agreed to the photo.

We later took a trip out on the lake in a converted 1905 steamboat.  That was quite pleasant and gave us an excellent view of the Villarica Volcano.



Fire risk warning at Huerquehue



The second day was a bit more energetic, as we took a bus to the Huerquehue National Park and did one of their treks. I don't know why I agree to doing these things. It seems like a good idea at the time, but I always end up with my heartbeat racing, not being able to breathe properly and with pain in at least one part of my body! The trek was through the forest to some lakes.



Start of the trek at Huerquehue



It was supposed to take three and a half hours to get there, but it took me nearly four and we didn't go all the way to the end. The overall climb in altitude was about five hundred meters, which doesn't sound too much compared to some treks but was more than enough for me.



View from halfway up in Huerquehue



Part of the reason for going was that the park is supposed to have a lot of monkey puzzle trees, which I quite like as trees go.  Well, we were three quarters of the way through before we saw any, and then there weren't that many, so I wasn't overly impressed.  And really, the lakes we pretty, but I've  seen better without having to knacker myself to get to them. There wasn't even a bar at the end! And then you've still got to get back again.  I don't think trekking is really my thing!



Monkey puzzle trees in Huerquehue



At least the way back was a bit easier being mostly downhill and a bit quicker. Annoyingly, although Nic had been stumbling over tree roots for most of the day, whilst I was rather more careful and surefooted, I was the one who ended up flat on my face after falling over nothing at all. That hurt. And when I got in the shower later, the lower half of my legs were completely black with the dust that permeated through my trousers when I fell. But I got back up and carried on down the trail.  Keeping a careful eye on the pathway did mean that I spotted a lot of lizards along the way though.



Lizard in Huerquehue park



We met up with a couple from Northamptonshire towards the bottom of the trek and had a chat with them for a while, swapping travel stories and so forth. We left them a the bottom as they were kayaking back across the lake to where they were staying nearby, whereas we has some time to kill in the bar before our bus back to town. We later got a text from the friend of Nic's that we met up with in Santiago and Mendoza, asking us had we enjoyed our day in the park. This was rather weird as the last we had heard they were heading north and should have been in Peru by now. Turns out they were staying at the same place as the couple we met and in talking they realised that it was us they had met. Meeting up with them later, it appears they are now following basically the same route through Patagonia as us - we are now considering a restraining order to stop them stalking us!!