waterfall – John Collings

Mirador Cuentos – Torres del Paine, Chile – Without the W or the O Part 5

One of the things that they do not show you in the pictures of Torres del Paine is the weather. Well, they do show you the weather, but only one those days when it is perfect. The sun is shining. There is a slight breeze. People might even be walking around wearing shorts. This is the ideal, and I get why they show these pictures. This is the best way to sell a vacation to this part of the world. The reality of the situation is that Torres del Paine is on the tip of South America where the weather is unpredictable and though those beautiful days do exist, there are just as many rainy, cold, and windy days, even in the middle of the summer, so the hikes do not always go as planned.

We had this problem with one of the hikes that we had planned to go on to, Mirador Cuernos. This is a very popular hike with the tour groups. It starts off at a cafateria just a little down the road from the Hotel Pehoe, and after a leisurley twenty minute stroll it takes people to a big waterfall that many people stop at to take pictures and watch large portions of water dive over a cliff. But if you take this hike another three kilometers away, the crowds start to die down, and you are rewarded with some of the more impressive views of the mountains in the area. This is the reason to come out and take this hike.

The hike basically follows the lake that feeds into the waterfall that most of the people stop at. It is on a well-groomed path that is wide and basically flat. There are a couple of rises on it, but it is nothing to strenuous and most people should be able to complete the hike without any problem. In fact, I saw many people on the hike that did not even bother to bring water or any additional equipment with them, and treated the hike as a lovely Sunday stroll. But do not be deceived; that could be the worst thing that you do if you take this hike.

Like I said earlier, the weather in Torres del Paine is unpredictable. A beautiful sunny day that you see in most of the pictures of the area can turn on you really quick, and you might find yourself out in the middle of nowhere as a storm blows in over the mountains. And let me tell you that when I storm blows in, it is not at all a pleasant experience. The winds out there can be extreme. We experienced one such day where we struggled to walk and after certain gusts, even continue to stand. Even though, the path is flat and wide, the weather can add a new diificulty to the hike. There are even times when they will shut down the path if the winds are too strong which happened to us the first time we attempted to make this hike.

Still, we did not let this deter us, and we came back another day when the weather was perfect. It wasn’t shorts weather, but it was just crisp enough to make for the perfect conditions to make a hike. We packed layers just in case the weather changed on us, and we brought a small lunch to enjoy at the beach we came across on the shore of the lake. And when we finally made it to the viewpoint, it was worth the wait. The views were stunning, and the sun shining on the peaks made for the perfect conditions to take pictures. It was a great hike to take that gets you close to the same places on the W loop and it only takes a couple hours to do, easily worth the time for those that are not doing the bigger loops.

Thank you for following me on this exploration of places to go in Torres del Paine besides the W and O loops, and I hope it gives you some ideas for your trip out to this area.

A Stroll Along the Boardwalk – Torres del Paine – Without the W or the O Part 3

We had an hour to kill in the afternoon and the weather was beautiful so we decided to take a leisurely stroll down the road to the Explora Hotel where we heard that there was an easy boardwalk stroll to see a waterfall next to the hotel. What we did not realize was that the boardwalk was actually a maze of paths set up by the hotel that did not always go directly to the viewpoint of the waterfall. In fact, what we thought would be a twenty minute stroll to see a waterfall turned into an hour and half of wandering over old wooden paths, always hearing the waterfall, but taking a long time to finally get to the spot that we had heard about.

We traveled from Campground Pehoe by turning right out of the parking lot from the restaurant and walking fifteen minutes to the Explora Hotel. The boardwalk was hard to miss when looking from the right side of the road, but this was the back part of the boardwalk, and we made a few mistakes from this point. When wer got to our first four-way intersection on the boardwalk, we thought taking a right would be the logical choice because this led to the lake and we could hear the waterfall coming from this direction. But this was incorrect. This took down to a dock where a large boat was parked, and we could see the rapids that were formed at the top of the waterfall, but could not see the waterfall itself. It was still okay because we had some beautiful views of the mountains in the distance and the whole lake, but we knew there was a better view, and we just needed to find it.

We backtracked and took the left turn this time because if we had gone straight from our original position, this would have taken us to the hotel. This part of the boardwalk seemed promising even though it was taking us down to the hotel’s spa. Still, there was another fork in the boardwalk that went right and took us down by the lake on the other side of the hotel. This followed the shore of the lake and its calm demeanor. We were able to get nice views from here as well, and there were even a couple of ducks sitting on the side of the lake that were there to greet us. Just to warn you, the boardwalk was at its most dangerous here with many of the board rotted and ready to break at any moment, but we took it slowly and were able to get to the other side without any problem.

This is where we were rewarded with the waterfall. We had to climb up a series of rickety wooden stairs to get to it, but once again we took it slowly and we made it up without a problem. Lo and behold, there was a waterfall there. It was a great spot to get some great photos and we were still able to talk over the roar. Even though it turned into a much longer hike than we were anticipating, it still made for a fun outing, and we were able to find some other nice viewpoints along the way.

Going back we found the last of the boardwalks that took us straight to the hotel’s parking lot. It took us a lot longer than we expected but eventually we found the path that we were originally supposed to take to make this a twenty minute stroll instead of the afternoon adventure that we had. Still, I am glad that we did it the way that we did because I think we got more out of the experience. It is a great way to spend some time if you have a lovely afternoon and you really do not have anything better to do.

The Big Mountain – Khao Yai National Park, Thailand

A swing at the gate to Khao Yai National Park

One of the bigger draws of Thailand lies outside of its bigger cities, and long white beaches. There is a whole ecological playground out there for people to enjoy, and the most popular spot is only a two to three hour drive away from Bangkok, and is the oldest National Park in the country, Khao Yai. The name basically translates to big mountain, and though it spreads itself over a very hilly terrain, it is more of a tropical forest out in the middle of the farmlands. It is a beautiful place with many varieties of animals all over the place, and you never know what you will find with every corner you take.

The view of the landscape, and as close as I got to the horn-billed birds

The most famous of the animals that live in the wild in this place are the elephants and the horn-billed birds. The elephants are in the wild and allowed to roam freely among the 300 square miles of the park, and during the dry season they are often seen taking mud baths, and heading to the many waterholes to get a drink of water. Unfortunately, I did not come across any of them during my time there, but they are doing well especially after the devastating news about them the previous year. There was an accident involving a baby elephant, and its parents as they went over a waterfall in the park, but measures have been taken to try to prevent this from happening again.

A stuffed horn-billed bird at the visitor’s center

I did get to witness the majesty of the horn-billed birds. There was a flock of them flying off towards the distance from the road we were on. They are huge birds whose wings span out to almost 180 centimeters, and their bright colors bounce off of the green landscape of the trees that populate the park.

People waiting to get their picture of the horn-billed family during their meal time

I was lucky enough to witness them from the road, but there is one spot where many photographers go to try to snap a shot of these birds. There is a nest in a hole in tree where one of the female birds was raising a couple younger birds until they were ready to fly out on their own. Basically the female bird will tear out her wing feathers to keep her young warm and feed. They eventually grow back, but during the time she has to wait until they return, she is completely reliant on the male horn-billed bird. The male goes out for food and returns to the nest to feed the young ones and the female bird. If anything happened to the male bird, it would be the end for the whole family as the female and the young ones cannot leave the nest to fend for themselves.

This is one of the problems that come with the park. Many people come and visit the park, and are looking for that perfect picture to bring back with them. Some of the more ambitious visitors will set up camp with their cameras waiting for the perfect time to get that picture. Sometimes they get a little too close to the nest which scares away the male horn-billed bird. Rangers visit this spot constantly to ensure the survival of these birds, and make sure the place remain amazing for other visitors who come back generations later.

Haew Suwat Waterfall, the one used in The Beach

Another popular spot in the park is the waterfall where they filmed the Leonardo DiCaprio movie based on Alex Garland book, The Beach. Even if the movie had not immortalized this location, it would still be the perfect place to hike down to. It is only a hundred meter down some strange stone steps, but there are many places to nestle among the stones down there to enjoy an afternoon next to the cool water.

The park is a must see for anybody coming out to Thailand. It really demonstrates how diverse this country actually is, but I would highly recommend hiring a tour guide to take you around. There are only a couple of roads through the park, and if you do not know what you are looking for, you will miss a lot of what this park has to offer.

Of course, you will still be able to see the occasional deer, and spot the elephants at some of the hotter spots. There is also many monkeys that come out of the forest looking for a free handout or something shiny to steal from unsuspecting travelers.

But our guide was able to show us the more hidden treasures like the vipers hanging from trees that we would have only found by accident.

And I don’t think I would have enjoyed the surprise we would have had when we came across one of these dangerous snakes.

She was also able to look into some of the pools in the river to show us the animals that lives under the rocks there.

And the craziest one that I would never have found in a million years. There is a spider on this tree that blends in perfectly because of its camouflage. If she was not there to point it out, I would have never seen it. I’m looking at the picture right now, and know where it is, and I still have a hard time seeing it.

It was a nice way to get out of the smog and heat of Bangkok for a couple of days. The clean air, the cool nights, the amazing views, and the fun of seeing all of the wildlife in the preserved spot in Thailand worth the trip.

I still wish I could have seen the elephants though.