March 19, 2009 - March 21, 2009

March 19, 2009

We awoke early from what was probably one of my deepest sleeps ever and decided to head back to Calafate. We had done everything we planned to do in Chalten. We ate brunch across the street from our hostel, I’m getting very sick of Argentine food at this point and am also a little cranky. My completo breakfast sandwich came with hard boiled eggs instead of the usual fried egg, why can't they make food unhealthy when you need it that way!! We went on a search for homemade chocolate in the cold and rain only to find the store was closed, but luckily found delicious homemade alfajors (delicious cookie sandwiches with dulce de leche in between and coconut around the outside).

After getting back to Calafate we took a short cut to our hostel and wandered around town getting errands done again. I bought a stove for my trek in Torres del Paine National Park. We met up with our buddies from the glacier trek in a pub in town and relaxed for a bit. Thankfully Graham, who fell down the crevasse, was a little sore, but going to be okay.

We had a delicious Italian dinner; I had noquis with mushroom sauce. We randomly ran into Lauren, who is my good friend Patrick’s girlfriend, at the restaurant. I knew she was traveling around Argentina, but I didn’t think we would meet up because I thought I was a few days behind her. We spent a very pleasurable evening chatting between the two tables.

March 20, 2009

Today we had to wake up early to catch a bus to cross the border into Chile. I accidentally smuggled a ham and cheese sandwich across the border, but that just shows how tight customs are on the southern side. We found a nice hostel and the bus to Torres del Paine National Park stopped right outside. We ate lunch at a little delicious restaurant called La Picada de Don Carlitos, where I had a wonderful fish stew.

At this point, I was planning to do the five day trek (Alyssa pansied out) in Torres del Paine. It involves walking about 50 miles over five days carrying all your gear and food on your back. We heard there was an informational chat about doing the trek at another hostel called Erratic Rock, so we wandered over there hoping to meet some people for me to hike with. Thankfully, I met a wonderfully nice guy, Lee from England, he introduced me to his other trekking partners: Angie and Troy from California, Emilie from Montreal, and Alex from France and they let me join their troop! I was getting quite nervous for the hike and didn’t feel like eating dinner much, so while Rob and Alyssa ate, I had ice cream. A wonderful last supper.

March 21, 2009

We had an early breakfast at our hostel and took the bus to Torres together. Alyssa and Rob were planning on doing three days of camping and hiking, but without carrying gear. At the entrance they left to head out to their campsite and I headed across the park to the “end” of the trail, where I was going to begin. If anyone ends up doing this trek I highly suggest this start because it saves the Torres themselves for the very end of your hike.

The bus dropped me off at the boat dock where I met up with my other companions and we took a catamaran across the lake. On the boat Lee decided he wanted to do the trek in four days and skip the first day’s climb, so he broke off from the group. However, on the boat we also met Ryan from England and Greg from France who decided to join our group.

The first day’s hike consists of an uphill climb to Glacier Grey. Right off the bat I realize that I’m the slowest and least athletic member of my group and steel myself for a physically challenging five days. At the beginning of the hike we saw three Patagonian deer, very close up. Yay for wildlife. The trek up the mountain was very windy. It was so windy you could relax your body into the wind and it would keep you standing vertical and sometimes almost blow you over!

Patagonian deer

Fighting the wind

More BLUE ice from Glacier Grey

Whew look at that huge pack

Towards the end of the day we got lost trying to find the free campsite, so we ended up camping outside the refugio for a minimal cost. Camping on the refugio grounds allowed us to use the bathrooms and the refugio’s living room. After a successful pasta dinner – the first dinner I’ve cooked over the camp stove by myself, the group headed inside to pay cards. I slept well after such a long day of hiking.