Before embarking on a two month long research expedition at sea starting from South Chile and when you have flown across the globe it is right and reasonable to explore the beautiful nature of Patagonia first. I have spent the past 4 days trekking 80km in Torres del Paine, on a hike called “the W”. As a geologist this was a true paradise. The hike started with walking through beautifully folded and faulted Cretaceous sedimentary rocks to the grey glacier with calving icebergs in the lake and ended at the massive towers, Las Torres. The Sedimentary rocks have been intruded by a Miocene-aged laccolith, leaving a massive and resistive granite with dark remnants of a heavily eroded sedimentary stratum above and below. March is supposedly one of the rainiest months in the region, but luck had it that 3 of the 4 days were dry, sunny and temperate. The perfect “adios” to land for the next two months.
Adios amigos!