Torres del Paine: Rio Serrano

Views of Río Serrano

While Maya, Matt, and Briton backpacked the "W" for 5 days, Karen stayed in Río Serrano, the closest (and only) town that borders the Torres del Paine park.  So this is my entry!

Prices were steep, but I splurged for the cheapest option available.  It cost about $80 USD/night to sleep in a bunk bed in a 4-guest room.  This is about 8x higher than your average shared place in Chile!!!  The next best option was staying in Puerto Natales, where hostels abound, but are a 2 hour drive from the park which adds up to a lot of travel time over 5 days.

Price aside, I really lucked out with my accommodations- Konkashken Lodge was excellent for a solo traveler!  The lodge is run by a warm family and has a delightful common room that includes a sofa, dining tables, a fireplace, and a shared kitchen.  Both staff and visitors were friendly, so it was easy to spend hours hanging out in the evenings.  It reminded me a lot of cooperative living setups back in SF.

Río Serrano has started being more developed in the last decade, so most hotels there are relatively new.  It's tucked away next to the Río Serrano river and some hills.  There are no stores/gas stations- just hotels among grazing horses, cows, and occasionally pumas!  I didn't see any pumas, but the night before I arrived a puma and her two cubs were seen on the premises.

The view of Torres del Paine from Río Serrano

The same view on a cloudier day

The view of Torres del Paine a bit closer, when entering the Park from Río Serrano.  The water was THIS BLUE.  Apparently the color comes from the minerals in glacial runoff.

Most days, I arranged for rides to some low-key trail heads.  Here are some highlights:

Salto Grande- this waterfall appears relatively small and short, but upon closer inspection, you can tell that LOTS of water is passing through.  It was pretty neat to watch.

Glacier Grey Beach- a flat but WINDY walk along this beach gives you a far-off view of Glacier Grey.  You can also pay for a boat cruise that takes you right up to the glacier or another smaller boat that drops you off at a closer trail head.

The horizon line from the Glacier Grey beach

Another day, I headed to the north end of the park and caught tons of guanacos.  When we stopped to take pictures of this group, the alpha male came right up to us.  Not sure if it was an invitation to join the herd or an aggressive stare-down.

Note the actual Torres of Torres del Paine in the background

Laguna Azul- a very quiet and tranquil spot compared to the rest of the park, due to its remoteness.  We had to drive about 2.5 hours from Río Serrano to get here. 

Flamingos!- We saw these not far from the guanacos at Laguna Amarga on our drive north through the park.

Some fun-looking bits of nature:

These pillow-y green shrubs dot the landscape of Torres del Paine.  Although they look soft when they're alive and green, this dead one reveals just how much bramble they are made of.

On a slow day, I hiked into the hills next to Río Serrano to get a better view.  A few minutes into the hike this dog joined me and stuck around for a full two hours!  Higher up on the hill, I ran into another group of German tourists with their own new-found dog companion.  Apparently the dogs of Río Serrano don't like to see people go wandering off alone.

The dog's company was much appreciated!  He would disappear for 5-10 minutes at a time but then come bounding back to me to check in.  On the way down, he got into a small a fight with a fox- they ended up growling and bearing their teeth at each other, before we moved on our way.  It was very neat to see the fox so close up, but I would not recommend.

Sadly, the dog ran off to chase a bike the minute I set foot back in town.  Many dogs in town are owned by horse and cattle stables, and they go out with people on horseback to herd wandering livestock in the evenings.  Maybe the dogs like herding people in their free time?  When I got back to the lodge, the staff told me his name is Mauricio :)