Mateo in Santiago!: March 2011

Chile Part 4

Hola todos! I am back from my amazing backpacking adventures in Patagonia, easily the most beautiful place in the world I have seen thus far. This vacation was incredibly rewarding in so many ways, and not just for the spectacular glaciers, mountains and 100,000 Magellanic penguins. I became even better friends with my fellow EAP travelers as we trekked the trail and experimented with countless combinations of ramen, oatmeal, peanut butter and Aji (Chilean hot sauce). We also met many people from around the world, including Israel, Switzerland and Australia. It was such a thrill to speak Hebrew with Israelis in South America! But most importantly, I learned a lot about myself. I grew into an unofficial leader of the group, a group composed of seven college students with diverse backgrounds and opinions. Throughout the ten day trip, I began to understand the trials and tribulations of a leader, from the sweet victories when everyone was on the same page and having a great time, to the moments of difficulty when the group was disorganized or at an impasse. But in the end, we balanced out our moments of conflict with gut-busting laughter and heart-to-hearts that made every second of strife worth it.

Now to the trip! We began by flying to Punta Arenas early Saturday morning (Feb. 18^th), arriving at 3 am and sleeping in the airport until we caught a bus to Puerto Natales a few hours later. The rest of the day was spent hurriedly renting equipment and buying food for our 5 day, 4 night backpacking trip. Thank you Erratic Rock hostel, for having your extremely helpful, free information session every day for travelers about to hike the ‘W’ circuit of Torres del Paine National Park! After a long day of trying on everything from waterproof pants to hiking boots and packing our huge backpacks, we took our last showers and slept for the last time on a nice comfy mattress. The next day (Sunday), we took a bus to Parque Nacional Torres del Paine, and began the ‘W’!

Day 1:

We arrived to the park around midday and hiked for 5 hours to Campamento Torres, a mostly uphill hike that left us sweaty and tired because the weather was hot and we were still getting used to the oppressive weight of our packs. However, we still saw peaceful meandering rivers and tree-covered valleys along the way. Upon arrival, we set up tents and cooked ramen, which tasted unbelievably delicious! Then it was bedtime, because we knew that the next day would be the longest of the trip…

Day 2 (Monday):

Rise and shine, campers, it’s 4:15 am! Yes, we woke up super-temprano on our first morning in the park to see the sun rise on the Torres del Paine, the three mountains aptly named for their towering rock faces. The hike in the dark, in addition to being challenging because of the unsteady granite boulders, was made more difficult because only 2 of us had flashlights!! Not the best planning, but we were very busy renting other equipment in Puerto Natales and couldn’t find a place to rent them. However, the hike was made nicer by the fact that we had left our backpacks at Campamento Torres, and just taken a camera and some water. Anyways, watching the sun rise in Patagonia was incredible! The image of the rays on the Torres was simply jaw-dropping, an awe-inspiring bright red. After we made it back to camp and had oatmeal for breakfast, we hiked to Refugio Cuernos, another exhausting hike that was mostly flat but extremely long, taking around 8 hours total. We took a shortcut through open fields with an endless view of Lago Nordenskjold, stopping to have lunch on the side of the trail. Once we got to Cuernos, everyone haggardly set up the tents and limped around the campsite to heat up water and scarf up some calories before a welcome sleep.

Day 3 (Tuesday):

Sleep had never felt so good after such a long day, but the next morning we had to wake up to make breakfast and pack up our stuff. As we did so, we noticed more gray clouds in the sky than usual, and decided to rain proof our backpacks and ourselves as a precaution. Such foresight proved to be quite helpful, as once we got on the trail, it started to rain. Typical Patagonia weather – burning hot sun one day, then cold rain two days later. We hiked for about 3 hours to Campamento Italiano, then decided to set up tents there, eat lunch, leave our backpacks and hike up the Valle del Francés for the afternoon. Sadly, many of the potentially beautiful views were obscured by low-hanging fog, but we nevertheless saw our first icy blue glacier, nestled onto the side of the snowy mountain. How cool! We returned to Italiano and met three friendly Chileans, who invited us over to their campsite for some coffee and mate, the latter I have fallen in love with. We also met a couple from Australia, who had quit their jobs and were on a two year backpacking trip, visiting every single country in Central and South America. Woah.

Day 4 (Wednesday):

The rain stopped during the night, so we left Campamento Italiano grateful for the change in weather. Along the way, the trek was very picturesque, with beautiful lakes that perfectly reflected the nearby mountains and clouds on their placid faces. We hiked to Refugio Paine Grande (about 3 hours) and had lunch there, a grand feast because the refugio sold (relatively) cheap but delicious cold cuts, like an entire roll of salami and 8 slices of cheese for $8. Afterwards, we walked for another 4 hours to Refugio Grey, a hike that boasted a stupendous array of snow-capped mountains, pristine chunks of ice in the lakes, and finally the massive Glacier Grey. We frequently stopped at the miradors (lookouts) to take pictures and revel in the beauty of the ice’s pure blue color. Once we got to Refugio Grey and set up camp, we continued for another 15 minutes to get an even better view and chow down on some mammoth pieces of ice (see the pics below!).

Day 5 (Thursday):

Because it was our last day, we stuffed ourselves at breakfast, gorging over two bowls of oatmeal with peanut butter, hot chocolate and mashed potatoes. Thoroughly satiated, we packed up our tents for the last time and backtracked to Refugio Paine Grande, where a catamaran would stop and take us back to the beginning of the ‘W’. The hike was difficult at the beginning, with steep granite formations and Patagonian winds that were blowing at 50 miles per hour! But we made it back to the Refugio, finished our food, and had a very rewarding catamaran ride over a bright turquoise lake, from which we could see magnificent snowy mountains in the distance and the imposing Torres del Paine, surrounded by storm clouds but lit up by the afternoon sun.

After completing the ‘W’ circuit (woo!) we took a bus back to Puerto Natales, showered for the first time in a week (yes!) and crashed. The next day we did very little, relaxing our muscles and washing our clothes before catching a bus to Punta Arenas that night. On Saturday, we spent the morning exploring the main cemetery, which was filled with monuments dedicated to the “detenidos desaparecidos” from the 1973 coup d’etat and tombs of European immigrants. For lunch, I had napolitana a lo pobre, which consists of a ham and cheese pizza with French fries, fried onions and a fried egg on top. Delicious!

In the afternoon, we took a 2 hour boat road to Isla Magdalena to see the penguins!! 100,000 incredibly cute Magellanic penguins, all in one place! Easily one of the coolest sights I’ve ever experienced. We spent an hour taking pictures with them and walking around the island, then took the boat back to Punta Arenas for the night. For dinner, I ate a scrumptious dish of spinach ravioli in a cream sauce with king crab (so fresh and delicious, the pride of Patagonian cuisine!) and drank a strong but tasty calafate sour (calafate is a berry native to Patagonia).

On Sunday, we spent the morning exploring more of Punta Arenas, climbing Cerro de la Luz to get some picturesque views of the city’s colorful houses and dramatic Patagonian skies in the background. While walking back to our hostel, we stumbled upon an old gymnasium for Sokol, a Croatian club soccer team in Punta Arenas. They had a huge trophy room, filled with old pictures of previous teams and innumerable silver and gold relics. It was so cool to see that local history.

In the afternoon, we took another 2 hour boat ride through the Strait of Magellan to Tierra del Fuego, the voyage of legends from hundreds of years ago. At the end of the Earth, Tierra del Fuego is so named because the indigenous communities living there constantly made fires to keep warm, and the Portuguese explorers, seeing this panoramic display of flames, dubbed the island the “Land of Fire.” However, once we got to Tierra del Fuego, we realized that its historical significance greatly exceeded its tourist offerings, for it was a miniscule town that was completely deserted! On top of that, we only had 30 minutes to see everything (which turned out to be just enough time, ironically). It was quite amusing to run from street to street, pausing to take pictures. Practically the only people we saw in the entire town were a group of pre-teens hanging out in the plaza. However, despite the lack of activity in Tierra del Fuego, the boat ride back to Punta Arenas was worth it. Staring out at the choppy, stormy waters of the Strait of Magellan, I felt like an explorer from another time…

Congratulations! You’ve read this entire blog entry! I’m sorry it was so long, but I don’t want to forget anything and I want to share all of it with you. Even this blog doesn’t completely encapsulate everything, like telling riddles with Israelis at our hostel in Punta Arenas, but it captures the essence of my trip. Oh, and if you couldn’t tell, that essence consists of one word: Awesome!

Chau amigos y familia!

A river twisting through the valley

Our first view of the Torres!

The sunrise was so beautiful...

Absolutely stunning

Torres del Paine, once it became light enough to see them

The Torres beginning to glow...

The view of a lifetime - magnificent mountains, illuminated by the morning sun

Cool flower along the trail

Gigantic mountains on the Argentinian side of Patagonia

Very indicative of our hiking - carefully navigating the slippery rocks of a river. Not many people in our group had a great deal of experience hiking, camping or backpacking, but we did it all on this trip!

I love the layers of this picture

The Valle del Francés, with all of its majestic wonder

So mysteriously beautiful

Even the rocks were awesome!

Many of the lakes were incredibly placid, perfectly mirroring the clouds above

Our first glimpse of a glacier! The white lines going downhill on the rocks are spontaneous waterfalls. So cool!

Patagonia - what a beautiful place

Wow

Nice shot of me and Rene at a mirador (lookout)

Such massive mountains

Glacier Grey!

There are few words to describe such awe-inspring nature

Chunks of ice floating down the lake

Words cannot do it justice.

The ice was so blue, the granite so fierce!

Other cool flowers along the trail

Rene indulging in a Patagonia popsicle

We got a better view of the glacier by hiking 15 minutes past the refugio - The icy land mass is so immense and sharp.

The Patagonian ice field is the third largest in the world, behind Antarctica and Greenland. Kinda impressive.

The municipal cemetery in Punta Arenas

One of the people "disappeared" by Pinochet's military regime.

I like this picture for some reason - the dirt on the wall in the foreground contrasts with the flowers on the wall in the background.

Part of the monument to the disappeared people from the coup d'etat - An excerpt from Pablo Neruda's "Canto General," it reads: "And the hour will not be wiped out in which you fell, since thousands of voices crush this silence. The rain will soak the walls of the plaza but it will not extinguish your names of fire."