March 4, 2006
Anxious for the the big hiking adventure, I'll just say it right now: RAIN! That, painfully, pretty much describes the next 3 days. But I'll continue with the more detailed and entertaining story. We started off with a 3 hour busride to Torres del Paine National Park, one of the world's most famous hiking circuits and a destination for travelers from all around. It rained the whole way there, although not too badly. Upon arrival, we had time to stretch our legs and grab a quick snack, and we were on the trail by noon. With Jose as our guide for the next 3 days, he quickly led us up a steep hill for about 2 hours. At the top we had lunch and grabbed shelter in a refugio which was warm and DRY. The temp. today was probably in the upper 40's, but with the wind and rain, it felt pretty cold. However, keeping a good clip on the trail, temp. wasn't a problem--only when we stopped. The sweat inside your clothing gets cold, and before you know it--you're freezing. After lunch, we meandered up the trail along a raging glacial river, which was actually quite scenic. The last portion was to take us to view "The Towers," a famous granite rock structure that many of us paid big $ to see. The result--clouds, clouds, and clouds. Of course, there are no guarantees, but due to an even harder rain, Jose wisely didn't allow us to do the final 2 miles of the hike. It's up a glacial morraine, which would basically require us to climb up large boulders for about an hour in the rain. No trail. Just climbing wet boulders with no chance of seeing anything. So we turned back and called it quits. Despite this, the scenery was fantastic, as we entered and exited forest after forest, crossing the river probably 10 times over rock jumping or log bridges layed across the river. We returned around 8 PM after eight hours of hiking, covering 12 of the 14 miles we'd planned on. Not bad, upping our total for the trip to 41 miles hiked. Terri and I both did pretty well on the trail today, finally getting our hiking legs in gear.Upon returning to camp, we learned we actually had a great setup. Our travel company subcontracted this portion of the trip to Antares, a local Chilean company that provides trips to the park. Upon arrival, all of our 2-person tents were set up. A cook and assistant were slaving away in the cook-tent. And in a gigantic dome tent capable of accomadating 15 guests, we had a spread of snacks, soda, wine, and beer ready for us at the end of the trail. PERFECT! We set up our tents after filling up, and then it was time for dinner. This group had EVERYTHING, including my newfound love, Pisco Sours! Terri took great delight in the fact that I was reserved to sitting at the end of the picnic table on a cooler, as we ran out of seating space. Because of this, my chest was at table-height and I could pretty much eat the entire dinner just by leaning my head forward (No Mom, I didn't do that!). But the group renamed me tonight, and now I shall go by "Little Brian," since it was like sitting at the Little Kiddies table at Thanksgiving... Anyway, dinner was REALLY good--chicken with a hot chili, some kind of Chilean tamale served in a leaf, hot homemade soup, and pudding for dessert. I have no idea how 2 cooks came up with this kind of meal for 15 people, but it was far better than the Dinty Moore Beef Stew that is the pinnacle of my camping cuisine. Sleep tonight took about 10 seconds after lying down.
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