Climbing up the hill at Pehoe Island at dawn, we were greeted by a spectacular view and a cloudless sky. This is the peak of Cerro Paine Grande in the very early morning light before the dawn.

If you click on any of the images, you go to a larger image.  If you click on the one above you go to a huge image that you can zoom right into….then click the bottom right icon for full screen and navigate with other icons or your mouse and mouse wheel.

… And here we have a wider view at dawn.

The view from our room (left) helped us know when to go to catch the light. The laundry list (right) included beatles for 1,500 pesos. Since we didn’t have any beatles in our party we were unable to get any laundered. (Click on the image if you’re curious).

Later in the morning, we went for a short drive and then a walk to a magnificent viewpoint at Lago Nordenskjold.

Google Maps link.

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On the way back , this is the rapids above the waterfall Salto Grande.

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This is a view of the Cuernos del Paine from a viewpoint close to the one above. It clearly shows the dramatic striations which I think are black for lava and pink for granite.

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After that, we returned to Hosteria Pehoe to pick up our things (rather than leaving them in the car when we went walking) and for lunch.

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After that, we headed off for our next destination, Hosteria Las Torres. This is Lago Sarmiento which we passed by. The information plaques nearby say that the white regions were created by stromatalites, a kind of single-celled cyanobacteria that are similar to forms of life 3.5 billion years ago. There are a few places round the world where they occur, including Shark Bay in Western Australia. A geologist who visited the area suggests it may alternatively be calcium deposits caused by geothermal activity.

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We passed by many guanaco along the way.

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The road was narrow and pretty rough and as you can see above left there were some corners it was better not to meet with a bus hurtling towards you at high speed.

Then as we were getting close to our destination, there was a seriously narrow bridge, too narrow for the buses and a challenge for everything else except pedestrians and motorcyclists (above right). Note that wing mirrors need to be folded in. There is a sign beside the bridge that says:

Attention to all vehicules.

Bad Condition bridge. Please let all passengers get out of the car before crossing the bridge. Maximum load 1,500kg.

Google maps link.

The road also got particularly rough after the bridge because graders are unable to cross.

Eventually, we had another room with a view at the other end of the park with the prospect of different landscapes to capture.