Patagonia Day 3

The Torres del Paine 

Day 1

Hello from the W trail! This is insane. I have a feeling this is going to be the most trying and exhausting week of my life. And yet it will all be worth it: the scenery is out of control. A few times I've stopped and kind of laughed as I stare at the mountains or the glaciers or the rainbows over the turquoise blue lakes. It's something else. 

To backtrack: today, the crew left Erratic Rock hostel in Puerto Natales at 6:30 am to catch a bus to Torres del Paine National Park. The ride took about 2 hours, and most of the two hours were spent gripping the seat for dear life as the driver fish tailed at every turn. The views were pretty and majestic but barren...scarily barren. Nothing is out there. 

Soon enough we arrived at TdP and offloaded to watch a movie about safety and recommendations in the park. Turns out you're not allowed to light open flame here, and ESPECIALLY not open flame from a can of tuna. Maybe a can of chicken is not as terrible? Chileans are weird. 

Then we got back on a bus (we switched busses) for a 30 minute ride through the countryside to catch a ferry. I should add that the 30 minute ride included thousands on thousands of llamas. Llamas are everywhere! Also, I know I've said it before but it bares repeating: this place looks straight out of Lord of the Rings. I guess if you look on a map...NZ and Chile are pretty close...kinda....

So we boarded the ferry, after an hour of waiting in the worst windstorm/blasts of rain I've ever experienced. Cristel's rain cover for her pack straight up flew away. I felt pretty bad for her...TdP is notorious for ever changing weather. I'd heard this, and sort of believed it, but today solidified it. More on this later. 

Finally, after the ferry, after the initial internal freak out about doing this whole thing (which later everyone revealed a similar unsure/extremely afraid experience) we began. The beginning is very anticlimactic. You get off the ferry and just start trudging through a field. 

The field eventually gave away to some small rocky steep hills, which gave way to rolling rocky hills, which gave way to thin soft paths that wove their way around glacier lakes. The water, as I've mentioned before, is greenish bluish whitish - Ron corrected me and said its Aqua - and the mountains simply crash into them. The peaks of the mountains are craggy and snow capped. One of them, behind Glacier Grey, looks just like the Lonely Mountain from the Hobbit. I don't have Internet currently but I'd surely be willing to bet it was used as inspiration in the movie. 

We wound our way around one lake...name escapes me now...lake Pehoe maybe? (Btw I'm writing this on my phone notes app...its 10:09 pm...8:09 US eastern time...and its bright as day outside) and then onwards and upwards toward Lake Grey. I suppose it's called that...because the water was greyish as opposed to "Aqua". Whatever. It's pretty dang majestic regardless. 

Windy AF yo

The walking hasn't been bad. I'd say it's been the opposite. Obvi we're walking with packs - mine is my dad's backpack and I took it to Brazil as well as on my Shenandoah excursion earlier this year. It works flawlessly. The others ALL have Osprey brand bags and love them. They're pretty high tech and even boast an "antigravity" feature that I'm not entirely convinced about but it's pretty cool nonetheless. 

For Christmas, my wonderful parents got me an ultralight one person tent. By ultralight I mean business: it's 2 pounds. I'm in it now and loving everything about it - fits my stuff, me, feels sturdy and even has a vestibule! A VESTIBULE! So fun to say. Thank you so much, parents!!! Muah. And therefore, my pack, for the hike anyway, is literally just my 2 pound tent, my 1.5 pound sleeping back, some extra socks, one extra shirt, a few toiletries and our food. It's probably 20 pounds, which is nothing. 

The others all have heavier tents (Ron and Dane are sharing a tent and Cristel and Emily are sharing one. I had a brief moment of "will I have fomo???" Only to soon realize that no, no I will not. I feel like 2 weeks is a long freaking time to be with people, the same people, and having some alone time will most likely keep me sane. Plus if I was sharing a tent, I'd just want to talk and would never have time to write. What a pity that would be! *sarcasm*

So back to the walk, it's nice with our crew because it's so big that we can cycle in and out of each other to chat. Sometimes we're all pretty mindful and focused and quiet, other times we're chatting, mostly we're looking at the ground trying not to roll our ankles on rocks. Mostly that's just me, actually. Knock on wood it won't happen! That would be a trip killer!!!

I'm sick of writing about how beautiful everything is, so I will stop. Just know it's very nice. Google it if you're interested. Torres Del Paine W trail. That should do it. 

We eventually made our way to our first campsite: Camp Grey. Very close to Glacier Grey. It's a paid campsite, meaning we are camping outside, but have access to a bathroom and kitchen and dining room. We didn't expect this! It's a real treat, and it being Christmas Eve and all, it felt nice to sit around a table and make our little homemade (and spicy AF) jambalaya and feel like a little family. I really miss home for this reason and I miss Christmas with my other family, tomorrow will be the most different holiday I've ever had! I've never not been with them. Not that I'm not grateful and excited to be on this trip, but thinking about them gets me a little teary. OKAY SORRY back to the fun.

The campsite is just CRAWLING with people, people of all nationalities. My direct neighbors are from Alaska and Germany and they met at a bus stain a few days ago and decided to trek together. Another guy next to me is named Fernando and he's already done the whole circuit (similar to the W but it connects at the top, making an O)...and now he's turning around it and doing it THE OTHER DIRECTION. He's already done about 50 miles and now he's gonna do it again. People out here are a very special breed of crazy, that's for sure. 

I think I'm all caught up now. The crew got together for a few minutes to talk about our Highs and Lows of the day, share some Christmas chocolate, and go over tomorrow's game plan. Now I'm sitting in my tent, at 10:26 PM, still light as day outside, getting some needed alone time and getting ready for sleep. This is certainly a crazy and once in a lifetime experience. 

Hehe

Oh and As much as the weather sucks and will suck...I'm kind of excited for the challenges that will come because of it. We have 5 days to be outside and brave the elements and get pushed the limit! I sound so lame!! But this is so extreme I can barely handle myself. (seriously, I started today with a fleece and a parka. Soon into the walk I added a rain coat and gloves. A few minutes later I had to add a poncho because the rain was fast and furious. Then it got hot and I took off the parka but kept on the fleece and rain coat. The gloves are on and off all day. The hat stayed on simply because the wind is so crazy that it knocked my hair ties straight out of my ponytail. Then all of a sudden it's hot and beautiful and exactly what a summer in Chile should be like! Then it drizzles. Then it's calm for a few hours...and now the wind is picking up. Thankfully I'm under some trees but I know it will rain and make everything "mucho modo" or very muddy (thanks for the translation Cristel!). Oh yeah, we stopped at a "mirador" or scenic lookout, that had a good view of a glacier and lake. At this mirador, the wind was blowing so hard that you could pretty much lean into it at a 45 degree angle and the wind would hold you up no problem. Open your mouth and risk the wind blowing your cheeks open chipmunk style. This place is NUTS! Heh get it? Chipmunk? Nuts?? 

Dane, you wonderful adventurous soul, thanks for inviting me on this, I can't even wait for tomorrow. 

MERRY CHRISTMAS EVE!!!

This is a "I love the wind" pose okay, don't judge thx.