After the workshop in Torres del Paine, Roger and I caught the bus to Chalten in Los Glaciares National Park. Chalten is a tiny little dustbowl town purely built for the travellers that come through the area. It's rudimentary. My guide, Mariano, was telling us that they are trying to bring in more people but already have trouble coping with the numbers. An odd smell and the sight of a man hosing down a large puddle from a septic tank at the end of the day told the story a little too clearly.

A mildly worrying harbinger for the journey had been seeing a bus in Torres del Paine that looked not dissimilar to the Chalten bus, except it was empty. And lying on its side on the edge of the road. Ours stayed upright and I think that's a good thing for all concerned.

This is the view from the beginning of the hiking trail out of Chalten. There are no hotels in the park, so you camp, or you stay in Chalten and hike into the park, which takes 1-2 hours of uphill walking.