December 17th - Drinving HWY 40 - Wow!

Today we got up at 6AM and were on the road by 7:30.  Heading south from El Calafate we traversed the Argentine Steppe south to Torres Del Paine National Park.  Six hour of driving over praire, grassland,  and ascending impressive steppe mesas, we viewed countless guanacos (wild llamas) and rheas (ostrich like b birds).  We spotted many condors overhead as well as South American brown eagles and other birds.  We reached the Chilean boder at 1PM where we were met our mountain guide, Mauricio.  After going through a pretty scrutenous border check (papers, luggage, and huge tarrif) we enjoyed a great Chilean style lunch before heading into the park.  Once in the park there were more wildlife to see, countless crystal blue lakes and an amazing waterfall.  The wind was amazing as well with gusts up to 50 mph.  We reached our campground around 6PM.  Seven little yellow tents with sleeping bags all neatly set up with a bathroom a short walk away.  After reviving Verena, Rita, and Sara (somehow they forgot the word ¨tent¨ in our itinerary, we had some free time to explore the lakeshore and take some awesome photos of the mountains.  Absolutely magnificent.