1. Torres del Paine is grand, absolutely beautiful if the weather is nice. Terribly windy. (I was told that the wind is the strongest in summer. So the better season for hiking is late spring or early autumn.) Glacier Perito Moreno near El Calafate is a must see, and easy to get to. Even after seeing so many ice in Antarctic, I am still amazed how beautiful it is. Fitz Roy area (El Chalten) is a tiny version of Torres del Paine. Not really a must, but a nice hiking area. All trails are accessible from the town. No need wheels. I, being fortunate to live in pacific northwest, we have mountains similar to Fitz Roy (still a bit far for me to get to). See Cobalt Lake in southeastern BC by Janice Strong, author of a hiking book.2. Things are expensive in Argentina. A postcard costs A$4 in most Argentina towns we visited, if not more. International postage is A$9.5 (~$2.3). ATM charges A$17.4 per withdraw, with a limit at A$1000. Chile's postage is 500 (~$1). Argentina Peso is dropping value, while Chilean peso is on the rise. Public transportation is excellent, and not expensive. Sometimes, it's a good idea to book ahead.
2012/2/5. Sunday. Ushuaia to Puerto Natales. Overcast, rain with sun at times.
Didn't sleep well: worried about missing the 8am bus. Requested an earlier breakfast at 7am. Our hostess called a taxi for 7:30, but it arrived late. In the end, all is well. Managed to put postcards in a letter box downtown, before boarding.
Mountain, valley, lake Fagnano, rainbow. Very pretty the first hour. Trees gradually disappear, and land becomes more and more flat. At San Sebastian border crossing, dry, grassy, sheep. Extremely windy. The 2 border controls are a few Kms apart. Wasted a lot of time, filled many paperwork. Got 1 exit stamp and 1 entry stamps. Since we are crossing the border back and forth on the way north, my passport may need extra pages sooner than I'd like. Chile is more serious about agriculture import. So everything has to go through an X-ray machine. However, too many bags piled on one another: impossible to detect small illegal items (dairy, meat, plant, fruit). I saw fellow passenger eating yogurt right after the crossing. ~500m into Chilean side, the bus stops at a cafe/motel for lunch break.
Arrived at Punta Arenas for a connection to Puerto Natales at ~20:15. Managed to buy a couple of food items at the supermarket before boarding the next bus. I was grateful that it was still open on a Sunday night.
3.5 hrs later, finally arrived at our hostel. There was a reservation mistake. The owner came over at this hour to show me his record. A very nice young man, used to guide hikes in Torres del Paine, spent time suggesting trails and routes in the park and weather forecast.
2/6-7 Torres del Paine (TdP from now on)
2/6. Monday, drizzle - cloudy - sunny - rain Picked up a Toyota Yaris at Hertz. Took a quite some time with many paperwork, while the phone was ringing and answered. The clutch was somewhat loose. Bought some grocery, picked up dad and luggage before heading out. All the one way streets got me confused a bit.
The drive north was quite scenic. Took the Cuervo de Milodon road. Follow the shore of Lago de Toro for awhile. TdP peaks were clearly visible. However, all gravel.
Registered at the hotel Tyndall in the Serrano River valley shortly after noon, just outside of the park, but with great view of the Horns and Towers. Had some lunch with the view before driving into the park. The park entrance is in ~9km. Had to fill out a form with name, age and passport #. Paid CDP15k (cash of US$32, Euro or Pound are also accepted. Chilean citizen pays 4k, children 500). Had the payment receipt stamped, dated (valid for 3 days), received a map. Spanish speakers also get a long description on trails and conditions.
Hotel Lago Grey has very limited view, and crowded. Continued to the road end, take the trail: Mirado Glacier Grey. The trail starts at a suspension bridge (not very shaky), through forest ~15 minutes, then down to a "sandy" beach. Continuous good view of the lake, a few big blue ice blocks, with a backdrop of mountains all the way. But the wind is fierce in the middle of the sand bar. Had trouble breathe at times. 
Once reach the end of the sand bar (~30 minutes), up on an rocky island. Less wind filtered by the trees. 20 more minutes to its northern end, right in front of a couple of floating blue ice block. Amazingly blue. Better view of Glacier Grey. On the way back in the forest, saw a male Huemul.Back traced the road. Some burnt scene. It's only 4pm, even though the clouds were moving in, we decided to check out one more thing before calling it a day.
The main road chug Rio Paine (glacier green), very pretty with the mountains in distance. Walked to Salto Chico (little falls). Very windy, rain started. Saw a female Huemul.My plan of watching sunset out on the deck was utterly destroyed by rain. Couldn't see any mountains by the time we returned. A few guests tried fishing in the rain.
Cooked in the 3 legged range. First time ever to use a gas oven. Had to ask for how.
2/7 rain, rain
Raining hard till ~11am. Back to the park, showed the stamped receipt at the gate. Today's Rio Paine was still green, but without the mountains in the background, it lost its appeal. Hotel Pehoe is nicely situated on Lago Pehoe over a bridge. I could only imagine its beauty when the sky is clear. 
Stopped at Salto Grande (big falls). 500m walk was difficult due to the heavy wind (see dad battling the wind in the photo to the right). I gave up walking towards Mirador Cuenos (which is supposed to be sublime.) Saw our first Guanaco.Next stop at Mirado del Norderskjold right next to the road. Beautiful setting. Saw some shades of mountains, mostly misty grey. Bus loads of people, all only stayed for a few minutes.
From here on, lots of Guanacos (some alone, some in a pack of ~500!), and one ostrich-like ñandú with half a dozen chicks. Saw ~6 condors circling the sky and then landing together. Saw more Upland Geese, and other ducks.
The 7.5 km road to Hosteria Las Torres is worse than the bad park road. Picked up 2 hikers from Bristol and London on the way. 
Arrived at the hotel shortly after 3pm. No more lunch. Ordered sandwiches and hot chocolate at the bar, waiting for the sun at the table by the window. As the weather started to clear up, we headed out again. A number of Black-faced Ibis and Southern Lapwing hanging out in the hotel lawn. On the way to Laguna Azul (Blue Lake), we stopped at Cascada Rio Paine. Did see the Torres in the mist, but not clear enough to take a decent photo. The road was very scenic, quieter, lots of guanacos. Laguna Azul itself isn't very special. Didn't encounter any gate leaving the park here. Driving along the short eastern edge of Lago Sarmiento, which is very blue, with white shores. According to a display, Thrombolite — calcium carbonate precipitated by cyano-bacteria via photo synthesis, only found in enclosed lakes, where the water is ultra saline.
2/8-9 El Calafate
2/8 cloudy. To El Calafate.Had to return the rental car when the office is open, so missed all the morning buses1 (they were all full anyway: need to buy bus tickets early). Uneventful. Got on an 18:30 bus. Again, border crossing. Argentina side doesn't check luggage. Still, the bus was late. Arrived at El Calafate after midnight.
2/9 Cloudy. Perito Moreno.
Set my alarm clock early enough to buy next bus tickets. Got on an 8am bus to Perito Moreno A$120. Admission A100 was collected on the bus at the entrance. The bus stops at the cruise terminal first in time for the 9:30 departure and will pick them up at 11am. We stayed on the bus to the end. Next to the bus stop and parking area is a large toilet, gift shop, and a big cafeteria with no view. An extensive boardwalk to admire the glacier. 
It's very impressive. Huge. Loud dropping of small ice chunks are common. Long yet easy boarded walks with excellent view and seating areas. We ate lunch staring at the ice. The scheduled return bus at 14:30 left early after all the passengers got on.
Lined up after 3 ATMs2 unsuccessfully. Hopped on the 16:30 bus to El Chalten. Drove by 2 huge blue lakes: lake Argentina and lake Viedma. Otherwise savannah like dry land, only yellow grass and low shrubs. The other side of the lake or dry grass are high peaks and towards the end of our journey Glacier Viedma.2/10-12 El Chalten
2/10 Rain - sun shine.Rained all morning until 11am, but diminishing. Started out in drizzle and wind towards Fitz Roy, or El Chalten, after a stop at a grocery store. The trail head is at the north end of the town, ~20 minutes walk.
Mirado Fitz Roy is at ~5-6km, 350m gain. The mountain was now partly shrouded in clouds.
Had lunch, left dad at the lookout, I headed to Lago de los Tres (~12km, 700m) ~2:40pm. The trail continued with fine views of Fitz Roy, going down to the river valley, very scenic. There's the Poincenot area before crossing the bridge in a wooded spot by the river, no view, but sheltered from the wind. The last hour, is grueling: up and up on rocky steps with running water. Took me 2:15 from the lookout. The lake is beautifully blue. No wind. Since I accidentally stepped into water while filling my bottle earlier, now, I took my socks off, hoping to dry my shoes, while soaking in the view right at the water edge. By now, the granite peaks were clear against blue sky. Lots of people. 
On the way back, route by Lago Capri. Deep blue, with a view of Fitz Roy. Very nice. The camping area is next to the trail, sheltered from the wind, but also from the view.Back to trail head ~7pm. Picked up grocery3. Dad already showed and washed his clothes.
Chalten is a ramshackle kind of town. Pleasant, but no pretty streets or buildings. It claims to be the trekking capital of the world. Don't know how it is justified. Maybe the trekking capital of flies. I chatted with the hostess in the evening in broken Spanish and broken English about flies. She said that there was no flies 10 years ago. Starting about 5 years ago, it became a serious problem. Because the town is situated in the national park, burning garbage is not allowed. Hence a big facility was built to house the garbage before trucking it away, and the city shares a garbage lorry with Tres Lagos over 100km away. She complained about the municipal government not concerning with local issues, and gave me and an Australian tourist an email address to complain.
2/11 clouds with sunshine.
Promising weather. Headed out earlier. Arrived at the trail head to Laguna Torre (11Km 250m) ~10am. Arrived at the lookout ~11:40. Good view, with benches. However, enough clouds obscured the peaks.
After a simple lunch, I left dad at the lookout, and headed to the lake. Going down the hill, and crossing a big flat river valley. 1.5 hours later, arrived at the windy lake. The water is of greyish yellow. Not very pretty. A couple of big chunks of ice floating on the lake, but they looked dirty. The clouds never went away. It was too windy to enjoy. After walking a bit along the moraine circling the lake, I headed back.Arrived at the lookout shortly before 3pm. Dad was waiting for me. We headed down together, reached hotel ~4:20. Picked up luggage, went to the bus station for our 7:30 bus back to El Calafate. The woman cleaning the station forbade us to eat inside the station.
2/12
8:30 bus back to Puerto Natales.
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