The real Patagonia!

    

So here we go.  At the University, last week was entitled "La Semana Novata."  I still am kind of unsure as to the exact meaning of the week but I do know almost all classes are canceled and there are big parties around town to "celebrate" the beginning of a new school year.  This, therefore, is essentially my spring break.  With this time, my two friends and I planned a trip to the southern region of Chile (region XII, Austral) to begin an adventure into the immense region of Patagonia.  This has been something I have been looking forward to since I had considered studying here. 

We left Saturday morning March 29th at 5 am and began our day long travel journey.  Tyler (a friend from New Hampshire) and I started with an hour and a half bus ride to Santiago from Valparaiso.  After this we took about a 2 hour flight to a city called Puerto Montt.  In Puerto Montt we had a 4 hour layover until our next flight which was semi-torture.  The PM airport had only 3 gates or "puertas" as they call them, so as you can assume there wasn't a whole lot to do!  The next hour and 15 minute flight to Punta Arenas brought us almost to the end of the world.  Only a few more hours south and you will hit the end of South America and all thats left is Antarctica, which is pretty far south.  We got to PA about 7 o'clock and had to take a taxi from the airport into town (30 min) to find a bus station.  We made it there and bought tickets for a bus to Puerto Natales at 8 pm.  The ride to PN took about 3 hours and went through the absolute middle of nowhere...literally.  And for some reason in Chile, the bus conductors love to use heat.  Its a normal temperature outside and sometimes a little A/C would even be appropriate but instead they blast the heat thinking everyone is freezing cold.  The reality is that you can sweat more inside a bus than if you were running a marathon outside.  It was quite uncomfortable but the trip was necessary!  We arrived in PN at around 11 and found our way to a hostal called "Backpackers Kaweskar."  Kaweskar is the name of an indigenous group from southern Chile.

At the hostal we met up with Doug, the third member of our group, and five other girls from our program that had arrived the day before.  The hostal was quite nice, fully-equipped with sheets and an included breakfast.  (By the way, our traveling isn't over yet)  The next morning Doug, Tyler, and I woke up at 6:45 am to eat breakfast and catch the bus to Torres del Paine National Park at 7:30 am where we would begin our journey.  This bus ride is about 2 to 2.5 hours and then we finally got to our destination! Quite a trek but in hindsight completely worth it.

After about a 30 minute boat ride across Lake Pehoe, we arrived at a lodge and began the most physically demanding and difficult task I have ever encountered.  We all had large packs with all the necessities, plus some, that we had to carry the entire trip.  I don't think I really knew what I was getting myself in to!  We hiked the "W" trail, named so cleverly after its actual trail shape.  I have included a link to a very basic map of the trail:
http://www.besthike.com/southamerica/chile/images/w_sm.gif

So here is the basic rundown on our 4 night/5 day trek through the park:

Day 1: hike 4 hours - 11km, Camp at Refugio Grey at the base of huge Glacier Grey

Day 2: hike 6 hours - 18.6km, Hike back down 1st part of "W" and over towards the middle part, camp at Campamento Italiano

Day 3: hike 4.5 hours - 9.5km, Hike up into the middle of the "W" and back down (Valle Frances), and hike over to right side of "W" and camp at Campamento Los Cuernos (this is where we had a mouse in our sleeping tent and storage tent...it so nicely woke us all up at 1:30am and thoroughly freaked us out, quite an experience!)

Day 4: hike 7 hours - 19.7km, Hike from Cuernos all the way around the bottom right point of the "W" to Campamento Las Torres at the base of the parks landmark, Las Torres (the towers)

Day 5: hike 4.5 hours - 10.7km, Hike at 5:45am in the dark and rain to the base of the Torres (you are supposed to be able to see the sunrise reflection off the Torres but it was rainy and kind of foggy but still very beautiful).  Hike back down, pack everything up in the rain and head down to Hosteria Las Torres to catch our bus back to Puerto Natales.

 

During the trip we made friends with two Australians, a Spanish girl, and two girls from London.  All of them were doing some kind of long journey through South America and made me very jealous.  The instant bond you make on the trail with people is pretty cool.  All of them are going to or already have passed through Valpo and Vina to visit.  We also made friends with plenty of mice on our trek.  They get in your tent, in your packs, in your food...everywhere! Each night we "bear bagged" all of our food and put it in trees.  None of this seemed to bother the mice because every morning we would wake up with a new surprise.   

Wow...by the end we smelled bad (good thing everyone else was in the same boat!), were exhausted, and all we wanted was some pizza and a hot shower.  I wouldn't have wanted it any other way. The trip was amazing and the park was unbelievable, I will definitely be going back sometime in the near future. 

I finally got back to Vina del Mar on Sunday morning April 6th and was happy to welcome my parents and my brother on Monday morning to my new hometown.  We had a great time together touring Vina and Valpo and I enjoyed showing them around some of my new favorite places.  It was a short visit but a full one!

I hope everyone is doing great! I'll be in touch!

Chett