hello and greetings from chile  in today's video we're going to  

be taking you on a day trip to  torres del paine national park  

this is a major trekking destination in chile and  you could easily spend a few weeks on the trails  

but since we were a bit short on time today we're  going to be showing you some of the highlights you  

can experience on a day visit during our tour  we saw all sorts of wildlife visited the cave  

of a prehistoric animal and even came face to  face with icebergs so all in all a very good day  

and a great option for anyone wanting to date her  from puerto natales now let's get into the video

our first stop of the day was the milotins  cave which is a natural monument located  

about 30 minutes northwest of puerto natales this  site is comprised of several caves the largest  

of which is 30 meters high and 200 meters deep  this is where the milodon's remains were found  

now a bit of trivia apparently the myelin state of  conservation was so good that at first the remains  

were believed to be that of a living animal  this launched a small wave of early 20th century  

expeditions in search of a living breathing  myelitis well that search didn't yield much  

the samples were eventually dated back about  10 000 years they were just in great condition  

because of the extreme cold and stable conditions  the cave had to offer so don't get too excited  

on your visit well guys we just finished visiting  the myladin's cave this was a prehistoric creature  

kind of like a giant sloth and its remains  were found in this cave they were discovered  

by a german explorer and yeah we were able to walk  around the cave it was pretty cool the only thing  

i have to mention is chilean patagonia is so much  colder than argentine patagonia and i think it's  

because right now like we're just outside in the  city of puerto natales which is by the ocean so  

we're really getting a lot of the humidity and i  feel like the cold is just seeping into my bones  

so it's a bit of an adjustment and there comes  sam how was your encounter with a prehistoric  

creature oh my gosh i love that crease here  it's slightly smaller than the uh than the mega  

the megatherium the big ethereum this is like the  the half size yeah the two meter version not the  

five meter version yeah but it's very cool it  adds a very cool element to the cave and also  

it's great it's a great family-friendly kind of  uh addition too yeah the kids would love it i did

and price point before we forget we priced  8 000 chilean pesos which is just over 10  

us dollars there you go yeah and uh i  believe nationals pay half that price  

so if you're chilean enjoy enjoy your

discount  

we then started driving in the direction of torres  del paine national park in patagonia chile which  

is located 60 kilometers north of puerto natales  as you can imagine it was a pretty scenic drive  

but the best surprise was spotting a group of  condors circling above us this is the largest  

bird of prey in the world so we were pretty  excited to see several of them so close by

next up a little shopping at cerro  castillo this is like a little  

stopover that was created between the towns of  calafat in argentina in puerto natales in chile  

and it is right next to the border it's right at  the border crossing actually went through there  

a few days ago when we were crossing over so it  might look familiar so we have about 20 minutes  

at this little shopping spot and i'm  looking for leg warmers and hopefully  

an alpaca sweater because i'm cold and i've  been wearing the same thing almost every day  

so guys we have reached our first lookout  of the day this spot is called mirador lagos  

cermiento and we're getting our first views  of doris del paine the weather cooperated  

we thought we were going to have rain today and we  can actually see the mountain range and the peaks  

looks amazing and the color of the water  is unbelievable you've gotta see this

here we have it

it's amazing let's get a  picture where are you going sam

come i'm going i'm going for another viewpoint  it just keeps getting better and better we get  

closer and closer alpine and we're not even  the national park yet it's unbelievable

he saw a con condor we've seen a few on  this trip we've seen foxes we've seen  

nand nyandus which are kind of  like local local ostriches ostrich  

and what else fox foxes okay let's see  the lock we've seen a lot the day is young

apparently the most hot the  most elusive is the puma  

so if we see a puma today's  the best day we'd be very lucky

this place is amazing guys we just  keep getting closer and closer  

to tour del pine and apparently we're  not even in the national park yet  

i know unbelievable we're just approaching it and  right now we've stopped over at the bitter lagoon  

and it gets that name because it's a mix of fresh  water and salt and salt water and it has a high ph  

i think he said like 9.1 or something so yeah oh  and he also said during the summer months you can  

see flamingos here because it's amazing they fly  down they're not they're not here at the moment  

no it's not even one in a few weeks  they will be they'll be vacationing here

our next stop on this tour of torres del paine  national park in chilean patagonia was the pinea  

river waterfall we had a short stop here  to take some photos and go on a quick walk

we then continued our drive through the park  making several stops at various lookouts along  

the way we also drove past estancia's  experienced winds that nearly blew us  

over and of course we were treated to  incredible landscapes at every turn  

just driving down the park's dirt  roads was an adventure in and of itself

now check out these turquoise waters this is  lake beway and it's the heart of torres del paine  

national park in patagonia chile from this point  you can view the famous horns of torres del paine  

if the weather cooperates we had some strong winds  that day so thankfully the clouds blew over and we  

did get our peek at them and then it was time for  lunch we ate at the rio pingo restaurant which is  

located inside the park on the south side of lake  grey the nice thing about eating in the middle of  

the afternoon is that there were no lines so we  were able to get a table and enjoy our meal with  

zero wait time and by the time we were done eating  the rain had stopped lunchtime lunch time there's  

a restaurant in the park very convenient because  we are starving what time is it it's it's about  

it's almost three oh my gosh yeah so i actually  chose a vegetarian option in the menu described  

it as a stew and it's kind of like a mash of  chickpeas carrots potato it's got some beans  

grilled veggies on top and i saw that there  was cheese so i was just looking yeah i'll  

take some cheese yes please to the cheese right  it's good it looks so good we're still hungry  

at this point it doesn't matter but i'm glad  that we've prioritized sightseeing obviously  

yes yeah but yeah it's kind of cold and rainy out  so yeah we had amazing weather up until the moment  

we came in here and then it was like pouring  rain and now it's clearing slightly yeah yeah  

guys i'm really excited for this i got the cordero  milanesa which is a lamb basically breaded cutlet  

yeah and a risotto with mushroom and did you put  cheese on there i did add cheese you're welcome

this mushroom risotto is  delicious this is a good meal  

we are going on a post lunch mini  hike we've got sendero gray cinderella  

my accent's getting a bit confused um we're  just going to go across this hanging bridge  

over the river and see where the trail  leads and the weather clear just in time  

cleared seriously they are not joking about  like four season in a matter of ten minutes  

it looked like it looked like rain again  was coming amazing and then it was gone

well guys we are off to see the floating icebergs  they sure are oh my well floating of course they  

float they're icebergs so there's an area and it's  basically kind of like a beaches leash leading out  

there isn't there yeah it's like a strip of a  strip of sandy strip sandy strip we've got the  

lake and the icebergs and we've been given an  hour and 40 minutes for lunch and to complete  

you know this little walk down the trail go see  the icebergs get back just enough time right just  

enough time and hopefully the weather cooperates  while we're out it's holding it's holding look  

blue skies yeah in this direction a big gray over  yonder indeed but well i mean it's patagonia like  

what what can we ask what else can we ask of  her you like the guy like our guide said today  

prepare for four seasons four seasons all in  one all in look at that that's majestic it is

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to the video for some logistics on how to visit  torres del paine patagonia on a day trip hello we  

are back from our really fun excursion what a day  what a day what an incredible day yes i feel like  

we have the the weather guru or the weather gods  on our side on our side we we had amazing weather  

everywhere we went and for the few moments that  the the weather was bad it's when we were like  

eating or when we had already got our shots  everywhere in our car it was just unbelievable  

and it it appeared that we were going to have bad  weather today so this was just the most amazing  

surprise to be honest i absolutely loved it  that that torres del paine chilean patagonia is  

just fabulous i can see why people would  come and do eight to ten day treks there  

it's a massive massive park and honestly i  only have good things to say about the tour  

normally i'm very much against those group day  tours where you're rushed around on and off on  

and off but this one it was just right it worked  we got to see the highlights we had a great guide  

and a great driver yeah just a positive attitude  such such nice people yeah working there and i  

feel like it was just the right pace it's like  we weren't in the vehicle for too long they kept  

we kept getting in and out there were  things to do um the landscapes changed  

yeah the views were just spectacular the  whole time so everybody kept everyone excited  

and engaged and um yeah what a tour if you  don't have the time to do the full trek  

independently this is definitely the best option  to see everything assuming you don't have your own  

vehicle yeah if you only have one day join a tour  because you won't regret it totally totally agree  

with that so in terms of the tour we paid just  over 50 dollars i think it was 53 us yeah about 50  

bucks per person per person which was mainly for  transportation there and back it's like two and  

a half hours almost from the city center to the  park so the additional fee was the then we paid  

for the caves which was about ten dollars yes um  you you have the option of not doing that there is  

a there is a coffee shop or you can just wait in  the bus it was a short stop so if you didn't want  

to do that i i really enjoyed it for me it was it  was and you get to pose with the myelin so yeah  

that's the best part at the end but the  cave the key was enormous and i thought it  

was really interesting to walk around yeah but  then the only other fee is uh was the park fee  

park fee it is not cheap let me tell you um so  it was just under 30 us dollars per person yeah  

21 000 chilean pesos that being said this ticket  is good for three days but you have to let them  

know when you're buying the ticket because they're  going to ask you to write your name your passport  

number yeah and then you have to take it to a desk  to be stamped i believe i believe that's for day  

trippers like us people who are leaving the park  and then coming back yeah i think the people who  

are doing the big hikes probably they probably  just pay for this admission and then they're  

granted that time i would imagine i would highly  recommend the tour buying it is beautiful yeah and  

oh i want to talk about all the animal encounters  we saw oh my gosh we saw everything boxes wanakas  

condors we even had gauchos riding on horses and  a gaucho herding cows with with the help of dogs  

yes at the very end of the day indeed what uh  oh even the the nyandu the the the ostrich like  

bird that's down here yeah it's just a one  a great great day of travel and um yeah this  

national park is phenomenal you definitely  even if you've been to the argentinian um  

area of patagonia that we went to if you've been  to california in shelton still worth coming here  

yeah and vice versa yeah um it's just a beautiful  beautiful part of patagonia and we loved it  

so with that in mind hope you guys enjoyed this  video we'll have more coming from chile soon

you