After a very sleepless night (due to preparations for the trip, an early departure time and incessant dog barking) we boarded the bus and headed to TDP.  We stopped at the border to both officially exit and enter Argenting and Chile.  We weren´t sure how strict customs would be with packaged food- turns out they didn´t do much more than a quick lookover and ask ¨fruttas?¨¨verduras?¨.  We COULD have pulled off that beef jerky after all.

Turns out our bus to the park was an actual tour bus and at the border we changed buses and got a tour guide.  We made a couple of stops before arriving at our destination of Laguna Amarga.  It was a spectacular day.  Sunny and no wind - very rare.  It even hit 70 degrees before the day was over.  The Massif and Torres were in clear view and the panorama was amazing.  At one point there was a full reflection of the mountains in Laguna Amarga.  We saw our first (and only) guanacos, rheas (ostrich looking birds), flamingos and even a couple of condors.

Once at the park border we shuttled to ¨Las Torres¨- our starting and ending point for the circuit.  That first day we started hiking at 2pm and hiked about 9 km up a gorgeous valley to ¨Campamento Torres¨- a free campsite with 30 - 40 tents in a small grove of trees.  (our tent was definitely the coolest and most sturdy tent there.  Thanks Zach!)  Lots of people were waiting to see the famous Torres at sunrise.  It was NOISY with music running late into then ight.  We enjoyed some Mountain House favorites for dinner and crashed by 11pm.