Doris and her family recently returned from a Full Circuit Trek in Torres del Paine, from which they kayaked out of Torres del Paine National Park back to Puerto Natales. On their travels they also did some independent trekking around Los Glaciares National Park and spent a few days in Buenos Aires. Here Doris tells us about their experiences and shares some fantastic photos from their trip…
How was your trip?
Excellent. It was an unforgettable experience.
Did you manage to visit anywhere else in Patagonia on your trip?
We spent 3 days in El Chalten exploring Fitzroy before heading down to Torres del Paine. We previously spent 3 days in Buenos Aries which were also brilliant.
How well did swoop Patagonia do helping you plan your holiday, and finding the best trip or operator for you?
Your advice was spot on in terms of highlighting the attractions of two exceptional areas and the walking and kayaking were outstanding experience.
How were the local operators Swoop referred you to?
In the end we decided to arrange our activities around Fitzroy independently, but did call in to one of your partners’ office to say hello and try and arrange a climbing guide and they were very helpful. Given our extensive previous trekking experience, we probably wouldn’t have benefitted very much additionally from the involvement of a guide from a basic trekking perspective and would imagine they would possibly be more helpful for inexperienced travellers or those wishing to arrange more specific activities such as climbing or glacier treks or possibly mountain biking or horse riding.
Your partners in Torres del Paine provided excellent guides and service (Lucas for the Classic Full Circuit Trek, and Chappa for the kayaking). I would say that the enjoyment of the activities is certainly dependent on previous experience and weather and is not straightforward if the former is limited and the latter is bad. Mike and I managed to capsize our kayak in front of the Serrano Glacier in a gust of wind and, whilst all ended well and we considered it an exhilarating experience, that might not have been the case if our children had both been as inexperienced as us and also capsized!
Was there anything that you wish had happened differently/or not happened at all?
Not really, other than wishing to have more time (and money) to explore Tierra del Fuego as well.
Another small detail was that pick-ups at the beginning and end of our time in Torres del Paine didn’t work and we had to find our own way to the operator’s offices, and to the airport afterwards. This was probably the fault of their taxi agent but is still something they need to improve on.
Do you have any tips for other people who are planning a trip?
The activities are not entirely straightforward and some additional pre-screening and/or preparation might be advisable – in our case a few hours familiarisation with kayaking might have helped avoid some slightly worrying moments. However all’s well that ends well and it was an unforgettable experience.
