after pretty much three days and nights doing a whole lot of nothing on the boat down to patagonia, it was time for some activity, and luckily that was just what we had planned. the main reason we (and about 90% of the boat) were taking this ferry down to patagonia was to get to torres del paine, a chilean national park which is said to be one of the best in south america. it was time to lug our big backpacks around. it was time to hike. it was time for the great outdoors.
now, a random explanatory side note before i continue: amy and ari are staying in south america almost two weeks longer than i am and having the luxury of time, decided on an eight day trek in torres del paine, while i opted for the shorter five days (a popular route known as "the w"). so after about three months of traveling together, it was time to part ways one last time. okay, actually, i may meet up with amy (and ari?) in buenos aires, but this sounds much more dramatic, no?
so friday morning, bright and early, i headed off by bus to the park. i met a few people on the ferry down who i would be hiking with, and the previous day had been spend doing all the last minute errands--- tent renting, food shopping, cash getting, backpack repacking. it was all very exhausting, but after most of the errands were done, we managed to squeeze in a thanksgiving dinner at the local vegetarian cafe (ahh, pumpkin and beans with couscous, just like the pilgrims had).
now don't worry, i won't give a day by day detailed recap of the hike, but i will gush over the beauty of the park. it was truly breathtaking, and each day, each hour offered a variety of landscapes and terrains. bright turquoise lakes, snowy mountains, stone pillars, glaciers, forests, rivers, waterfalls, open fields... the list goes on. even in our one day of rain, i couldn't help dragging out the camera and shooting a picture (or two or ten). all this scenery really helped distract me from the overstuffed bag that was thoroughly + completely strapped to my back. i think by the second day it had molded itself to my body, and by the third it had molecularly modified itself to become a part of me. i am almost temped to make some horrible pun about us bonding, but i will resist. this was the first time i had done such a long trek while carrying all the supplies, and i was happy to discover it wasn't as tough as i thought it would be.
so the heavy bag, no problem. the shoes? a whole other story. i stubbornly resisted renting hiking boots (yep, you can rent 'em. i rented rain paints.) and decided that my five year old falling apart sneakers were good enough. just so long as i walk carefully and wear thick socks. well, i did walk carefully (kinda) and i did wear thick socks (albeit cheap ones from ecuador), but that didn't really stop my shoes from betraying me. at the end of day one the plastic in the back started jutting out and poking my heals, and my sore feet eventually developed many a blister. oh, and on that rainy day i slipped and bruised my lip. but for all this i much prefer to blame the shoes and not my own foolishness. by the end of day five my feet were such a mess that i have since sworn off non-flip-flop footwear for a week.
so i guess all this doesn't really say anything about what we did each day. guess its a bit hard to detail without making this already boring post even worse. we got up, made breakfast, packed up, walked, ate, walked, took pictures, walked, arrived. hung out in the refugio, talked, played cards, wasted time, made dinner. and then, before the sun even set, time to fill up the hot water bottle and crawl into the sleeping bag. next day, repeat. well, i guess the schedule was repetitive, but the scenery wasn't. too bad i can't portray that with words, but i guess that's why i took hundreds of pictures.
and maybe, just maybe, one day i will sort through them and post some.
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