When we arrived in Puerto Natales, in Chile, we were very happy to find continued good weather and a open laundrymat waiting for us. The bus ride from Argentina had been a long ride with a tremendous wait at customs. I think “3 hour bus ride” in Argentinian translates to “8 hour ride” in English. We were eager to go out and check out our new town and were starving after the extended ride. Our streak of stumbling into great restaurants continued and we filled up on one last meal of vegetables before heading out into the world of camp food again. Luckily with it being Summer down there the produce was exceptionally good and nearly identical in selection to what is available in California in the opposite months. So yay Avocado!
The next morning we started out early with our new group of trekking friends. One Frenchman, two women from London, and one women from Singapore plus a transplanted Columbian guide. It was a veritable World Cup of a nations! Our first day took us by bus into the Torres Del Paine National Park, passing many Guanacos, (Lama cousins), Andean Condors, and millions of imported wild Hares (being eaten by the Condors). We set up our camp and climbed the first valley to see the towers of Torres del Paine and the lagoon beneath.
In the following days we passed on through the Enchanted Valley, which lived up to its name, covered in a sea of daisies, and full of aquamarine lakes and free roaming horses belonging to Gaucho horseman living nearby.
Our camp at Glacier Dickenson had a brilliant blue river running out of the ice which made for a perfect swim to freshen up after the hike and to escape the mosquitos for a bit.
We continued on through days three and four through 300 year old forests of birch, battling mountain passes and roaring winds, and on to the base of the John Gardner Pass, our most challenging day. There we would walk to through a steady rain, snow fields and broken talus fields before reaching the 4,500 foot summit. Though the wind and cold were too severe to linger at the top the descent showed us the full view of miles and miles of the South Patagonian Ice Field which is the third largest reserve of freshwater in the world after the ice reserves of Antarctica and Greenland.
We crossed large ravines by ladder, a terrifying experience in the high winds with a sixty pound pack on, and over suspension bridges before reaching our final camp at the end of a long day. It was December 24th and all of the camp, some few hundred people, gathered at the Paine Grande campground for a dinner and party which went into the night as if it was New Years Eve.
Our last day we climbed the final part of the trail at the French Valley before sailing back to our start on a Catamaran across Lake Pehoe with all the Paine massif before us. It was a grueling 7 day trek but one that formed new and hopefully lasting friendships across the world.
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