Our Great Adventure: Torres del Paine/Refugio Torre Day 218 24/04/2015

After an excellent night's sleep we got up to have breakfast at the refugio. The weather was much improved with no rain and some sunshine seeping through the clouds. The temperature must have dropped in the night with the snow level being much lower than on previous days. We planned to head back to Puerto Natales today, by shuttle from the refugio to Laguna Amarga and then by bus. The shuttle was scheduled to leave at 2pm so we had the morning to entertain ourselves before heading off. After sorting our gear (all dry) we went for a short walk back in the direction of Refugio Chileno where we had come from yesterday. We were interested to see what state the rivers were in now the rain had stopped. The water level in the Rio Ascencio had dropped significantly, probably by more than 1 metre and, whilst it was still a ragging torrent, the bridge was now accessible without getting wet feet. From here we headed uphill for a short distance to see if we could get any view of the valley ahead. After a short while we decided to return back to the refugio. We met a few trekkers heading up the valley as we descended but none seemed to be put off by our news that the top bridge was damaged! Back at the refugio Diane thrashed Simon at chess (there's a first time for everything) and then Simon got his own back at dominos. A few more trekkers arrived all with tales of challenging river crossings from the previous day. We found out that the Italian couple we had lent our poles to a few days before to cross the river near Refugio Los Cuernos had both fallen in the river before we arrived. It's a good reminder of how quickly the environment can change and the need to be well prepared at all times. The shuttle soon arrived and we headed back to Laguna Amarga. We remembered this part of the route from when we'd been here previously, with an extremely narrow road bridge crossing. Now there's a new bridge, which whilst still narrow, must be twice the width of the old bridge which runs alongside. We were surprised to find that the buses back to Puerto Natales were all empty. Expecting to set off in the direction of the town, we headed towards Pudeto to pick up trekkers off the catamaran and then continue on to the park administration (the return route is normally in reverse, with the final pick up at Laguna Amarga before heading back to town). We never did find out why, whether the road had been damaged in the rain or the catamaran delayed for some reason. What it did mean was a c150km journey on unsealed roads! Luckily it wasn't too bumpy but even so we were glad to get back to the bus terminal. A short walk downhill and we were at the b&b, showered, out within the hour and back at the Italian for a huge pizza and celebratory drink. Whilst we hadn't done any walking today we felt that we'd earned it over the last few days! It really is a beautiful part of the world. We'd had a fantastic time and came out with a few tales to tell. Later in the evening we saw that Volcan Calbuco near Puerto Varas had erupted. Whilst the photos online were amazing we were very glad that we'd left a week before and hadn't been caught up in the evacuation. It was a relief to read that nobody had been killed although the impact of ash clouds is immense and will no doubt have a serious impact on the livelihood of those affected. Tomorrow we're heading off to Ushuaia in Argentina. The bus leaves at 0730 so after repacking our bags we headed off to bed for an early night.