After leaving the ferry at Puerto Natales we took a bus up to Parque Nacional Torres del Paine.

Although it is located in the Andes the elevation here is not especially great. But because of the high latitude (about 51° S Lat.) the conditions are almost sub-antarctic. Most of the lakes are fed by glaciers and are given their pale gray-blue tint by the tiny suspended particles of rock flour. The uplands are still dusted with snow at the end of September, which, in the southern hemisphere, is mid spring.