|
|
06-09 Jan -
Torres del Paine
It takes almost 5 hours to drive to
the park. We took longer on the way
out by making stops to “appreciate the typical steppes pampa of Magallanes”.
We saw sheep,
guanacos, llamas, and ostrich as well as some more condors.
We also stopped to admire our first views of the park … where the rock
towers appear to erupt from the plain. Parque
Nacional Torres del Paine (pronounced pie-nee) is the most impressive sight in
the Chilean South. “The
uninhabited park is crowded with glaciers, lakes, and gnarled megellanic trees
and provides some of the most magnificent walking in the world.
The dramatic mountain formations are a sight that few people will forget,
while the park itself is full of animals, including guanacos, flamingos and
condors.” [Insight Guide to
You'll notice we have lots of photos of the glacier! And you may wonder: Why does glacier ice look blue? Glacier ice is often a deep blue color. This is because of how the sunlight passes through the ice and what happens to the sunlight. Sunlight looks white. The light is really made up of all the colors of the rainbow. Each of the sun's colors have different amounts of energy in them. When the sunlight tries to go through the solid glacier ice crystals the sun gets broken up into lots of colors. Red and yellow have very little energy and the thick ice soaks up the red light more than it soaks up the blue light. The blue light has enough extra energy to get away from the solid ice crystals without getting absorbed or soaked up. This is why the only color people see is the blue color that escaped. The blue light has enough energy to escape the ice so that you can see it. That is why glacial ice is often a deep blue color. See photos of Torres del
Paine: Hike to Valle Frances: Hike,
the Rio Ascensio Trail Cecelia
(guide from hotel) and Kathy Trip
to the Grey Glacier Boat
picking us up and ice flows Stopping
to drop off and pick up backpackers
|
