Alli and Katy go to Patagonia

I warn you that this is a long entry but I write it as much for my own memories as for you so instead of summing the trip up in a few paragraphs and city names I include the details.

Tues 11/24 - after a couple hours of sleep, the best alfajores I have ever had, and a flight attendant who was on a rampage against our comfort we landed in Punta Arenas around 6 am. The city was still asleep. We had some coffee at a fancy hotel while we waited for a bus company to open. We walked back and forth along the main streets looking for a bus that would stop at the penguin colony on the way to Puerto Natales but eventually decided to cut that part of our trip in order to get to Puerto Natales early enough to rent equipment, pack, rest and mentally prepare for the trek in peace. We got lunch and walked around the small, cold town which somehow felt like the tip of the world (which it is, the tip of continental South America, at least). We got to Puerto Natales in the late afternoon to Erratic Rock Hostel - one of the homiest hostels I've been in, family-run, full of useful resources, with amazing American breakfast and buzzing with conversations between those who just got back from and those heading out to Torres del Paine National Park. We rented our equipment (a tent, a camping stove, a hiking backpack, a sleeping bag + pad) and got some quick advice on the schedule we should try to follow in the park. As we were packing in the common room too many people tried to give us advice that just made me nervous (ex. you're bringing lunch?, you've never hiked before?, bringing pitas is brave - which we later found out was said by a girl who had never hiked before...). We tried to bring as little as possible so all hygiene products except toothpaste were left behind. I turned off my nervous thoughts and went to sleep on what later seemed like an amazingly comfortable mattress.

Wed 11/25 - at 7:30 we got on a shuttle to the park. You have got to be determined to get here because the easiest way is a plane, a 3 hour bus and then a 2 hour shuttle! After a short hike to see a waterfall we got on a ferry that brought us to the west side of the W, where we started our trek. We decided that all the people around us were just trying to look intense and we were prepared just as well as them and wouldn't take ourselves too seriously, so we spent the entire ferry ride laughing about stupid things and probably attracting too much attention as usual. Although the day started out sunny and hot, just as we booked our campsite and left our backpacks at Campamento Paine Grande it started to rain - our first encounter with crazy Patagonian weather. When I am at home and it rains I try to avoid going outside, it changes my plans. When I am in Patagonia I put on my hood and start walking. We walked up two hours to the first mirador (lookout point) from which we could see Glacier Grey and feel the knock-you-off-your-feet-no-joke wind. Decided not to keep going to the next mirador because it was quite foggy and we wouldn't be able to see it much better from there. The weather cleared up so we decided to go ahead of schedule, luckily got a refund on the campsite, took a quick break in the refugio and set off, this time with our packs, to Campamento Italiano. Refugios are lodge/hotel type things in a few places along the trail that are a great comfort for those who are badass enough to do the trek but want a bit of a break from being a badass each night (and have the extra money); some are quite nice, and just after we spent too long joking about facebook status updates in a whiny girl voice ("had to hike in the rain and my brand new boots got mud on them," etc.) we saw computers with internet in a refugio. Complete joy and relief is the simplest way to describe our feelings upon seeing the campground; sometimes the approximations of how long a section takes are not exact and by the end of a day you start counting every minute. We set up our small two person tent, made dinner and went to sleep. It stays light down there very late in the summer so I think every night we went to bed before it was completely dark. 7 hours of hiking today.

Thurs 11/26 - we woke up at 11...not very hardcore hiker of us but we did everything we planned to anyway, part of not taking ourselves too seriously. Every muscle in my legs hurt and I was beginning to develop blisters but apparently my body is capable of much more than my mind because I survived 3 more full days of hiking. Another rainy, foggy day. Went up to Valle Frances to the mirador, had lunch back at the campamento, met "The German" and then had our most trying weather. As we walked for over two hours the rain and wind got pretty hard and for part of this we were walking along the shore of a lake so the wind was whipping water off the lake right into our faces. But we kept going, clothes slowly getting soaked and got very luckily at Campamento Los Cuernos because they let us put up our tent inside a half finished addition to their lodge. The best part of that was that our clothes dried and our tent didn't get soaked. Oh yeah, our Thanksgiving dinner was 3 minute pasta, powder soup and someSahne-Nuss as a dessert treat. 6 hours.

Fri 11/27 - we could barely believe our eyes when we woke up to sun but yep, the weather was amazing and we spent most of the day in t-shirts. This was probably my favorite day as we walked under bright skies and past lakes of all kinds of amazing blues, green mountains, snow-capped mountains and meadows. Alli even went for a swim in one of the lakes during our lunch break, following the example of some brave Europeans. As we turned up the last leg of the W we found ourselves going straight uphill on a narrow ledge, in a wind tunnel with pebbles flying in our faces - it was intense for a little while. After a break at Refugio Chileno we went up to Campamento Torres where we dropped our things are the first campsite we saw. We had a very social dinner and met "The Russian," "The Crazy NY Lady," two Australians our age who are both doing long term South America trips during their summer break and accidentally met up to do the trek together, and reunited with "The German." 7 hours.

Sat 11/28 - after my best night of sleep because I discovered a pouch in the sleeping bag that is meant to be a pillow stuffed with your belongings, we woke up around 4 to go up to our last mirador, from which you get a good view of the famous Torres, in time for sunrise. The fact that this was after 3 of some of the most physically demanding days I have ever lived through, combined with a very steep climb on rocks, sand, and through thick forest after we lost the trail, made this the hands down hardest part for me and morally I kind of wanted to give up, sit down and tear up. As a group of 6 Israeli guys panted right along with me I was wondering how I figured that little old out-of-shape me could be doing the same thing as men who had just finished years of army training. We ended up at the top of a different mountain because we lost the trail and even though the tips of the Torres were in a bit of a fog, the view from up there was still incredible. The way down was pretty fast and easy, although my knees were shaking by the end, and sadly not the best views of the trip to end with - it was just lots of sandy, rocky barrenness. Because of that, and then we had to wait around for hours for the shuttle out of the park, the end was almost anticlimactic but damn the actual trek was not. Less than 4 hours today. While waiting for the shuttle we bonded with the the two Australians and six Israelis, exchanged inappropriate phrases that we knew in Hebrew and Spanish respectively ("Quieres semi-cama conmigo?" "Pitma"), named all the foods we missed, and passed around a box of wine that NY lady bought at the first convenience store. Some people said that Alli and I both were crazy to take me on the W for my first ever trek but I'm so glad I did because I don't know that I would ever do this if not now and, like I said, my mind doesn't believe that I am capable of things that apparently my body says I am. Every hour was a different thought, from "well hey, look at me, I'm really doing this, this is nice, maybe I'd like to do more of this in my life" to "this is a once in a lifetime trip so put a smile on your face and enjoy it, once, as in never again am I doing this." Thank you Alli for taking me, I hope I wasn't too whiny or slow because I tried my best, and I hope you had as good of a time there as you wished. After a shower, brushing through my hair and putting on different clothes I felt like a different person. Was it even me that had just hiked for 4 days with a huge backpack? The pack by the way was not nearly as difficult as I had thought, the waist strap makes it quite comfortable.

Sun 11/29 - we almost missed our bus because we got caught up at breakfast and forgot that 3 blocks is still a distance. On the bus to El Calafate , Argentina I had too much time to listen to Israeli music and get pensive/panicky about my life. This continent is full of young Israelis traveling for many months all over the place after their time in the army. It just makes me question my life although I can never really answer the question of whether I would like to just pick up and go somewhere without plans and without ties. I don't think I would really be happy with that, my happiness is very dependent on my relationships with people and I get too attached to them to be that independent. A lot of things on this trip reminded me of my brother and I thought about his effects on me, inconclusively. After sneaking some fruit across the border and driving through hours of plateaus with nothing but sheep in sight, we arrived in El Calafate , a cutesy tourist town full of chocolate and souvenir shops. It's interesting why even though as a country Chile is better off economically, Argentina feels wealthier, more showy somehow. +2 for Chile: we get tap water for free in restaurants and we have turkey. Che Lagarto Hostel was unexpectedly new and hip and we ran into a few people from Torres del Paine because everyone has a similar itinerary down there.

Mon 11/29 - we decided to splurge on an ice trekking trip to Perito Moreno Glaciar and after observing it from afar from different miradores we got crampons and set off to walk around a glacier. Definitely worth it. We also got to see a big chunk fall off into the lake and cause a huge crashing sound and wave. The tour was finished off with whiskey with fresh glacier ice and my newest favorite treat, alfajores. This was so exciting that it gets a mention: we did laundry!

Tues 12/1 - we almost missed another bus because we thought it was picking us up at the hostel until we decided to check the paper, just in case, 4 minutes before it was leaving from the bus terminal about 15 minutes away, so we ran again and caught it. I almost got in trouble at the border crossing back because I forgot about a tomato I had in my bag and Chile actually checks. Today was all buses, from El Calafate to Puerto Natales and then another to Punta Arenas, but we didn't have to wait at all in between them which was great. We made a habit of being the first people to come in for dinner, because we were back on an American dinner schedule and a toddler's bedtime. Spent the night in Punta Arenas.

Wed 12/2 - we had a roundtrip ticket so the flight was to Santiago but it had a stop in Puerto Montt, where we planned to get off. Amazingly they didn't lose our luggage. After another supermarket run to stock up on bus food we spent another day on a bus, but really they haven't been so bad and we found ways to entertain ourselves (Cosmo in Spanish, getting excited about every town we stopped in, listening to lots of reggaeton and overhearing someone else on the bus listening to the same exact songs, etc). The lakes region of Chile was a great change of scenery with green everywhere. Pucón was a beautiful place, with a lake surrounded by green mountains, a huge smoking snow-covered volcano in the background and a great vibe. It reminded me of all those summers in upstate NY and made me long for a summer roadtrip with friends. I was bit nervous about our trip choices because the famous volcano climb sounded daunting and I wasn't sure if I wanted another 5 hour uphill trek. Alli agreed that we'd probably had enough and she had a cold, so we settled on horseback riding and rafting. After dinner at a place called Volcamburguer, which gets mentioned because I love the name, we watched Knocked-Up at Nativa Hostel.

Thurs 12/3 - woke up to breakfast with Sarah, a hilarious individual, who introduced herself by telling us that she is probably sick because she smoked too much and made out with some Chilean for 3 hours on the beach last night and he's just alright, etc. The 3 hour horseback ride was not the most thrilling thing because we went really slowly and with no real destination, just around the campo (countryside) but it was pretty and we got to see some more sheep. We skipped the "hot springs" because they were just pools filled with hot water and it was quite hot outside. Walked around the town some more and decided to make our own dinner. At night we hung out on the terrace drinking wine with Sarah, her Chilean (who was equally ridiculous), the owner of the hostel and a group of Israeli girls. It was lots of fun, with occasional dancing and singing, the creation of a pitma dance, and invites to visit each other. We almost changed our plans for the next day to go on a hike with one of the girls and her other Israeli friends but then decided to go rafting as planned and not get attached to temporary friends. Then it got a bit messy as one of the girls got upset about a boyfriend she had broken up with to come on the trip. For us the wine only meant that we looked through too many facebook pictures at 2 in the morning and I wrote an email to my family that made them think I was in love with an Israeli boy and staying in Chile.

Fri 12/4 - we considered renting bikes but all of the trails were too long to do a half-day trip so we walked to a different part of the lake, up to a monastery, and finally got some campo queso, which we ate on the beach. Rafting was really duckies, which my best non-technical way to describe is that they are somewhere between a raft and a canoe because they are for one person, but blown-up. We were dressed in a bunch of gear by the driver, and along with one other boy and two guides we were off. It was one of the most fun things I've ever done. So much adrenaline from having to control my own ducky, going through so many rapids, getting turned around backwards so many times, getting stuck on a rock and getting flipped over once. Despite my complete lack of upper-body strength I was alright. Of course we almost missed the last bus of the trip because we got caught up in conversation over dinner and then I just casually glanced at my watch and it was 5 minutes before the bus left. We threw down some money at the restaurant, ran to the hostel through town, grabbed our bags, jumped in a taxi, which we underpaid with our last pesos, and again made it! Before going to sleep on this night bus back to Santiago we made lists of things and people that we did and did not obsess over during the trip - surprisingly long and hilarious.

This was my favorite trip over the semester and I had a great time with Alli. How did we not get sick of each other just the two of us for 11 days and not complain about all those times we were tired and on buses for hours? During other trips I was ready to come back to Santiago and tired of hopping around from hostel to hostel with a bag full of dirty clothes and bad showers, but this time I could have stayed for longer. I would love to come back to the south of Chile, and because after deciding not to climb the volcano I felt doubt instead of relief and everyone told us it was amazing, I think I'll just have to come back and climb it next time.

Congrats, you just read that monster of an entry! Hope it was worth it. Check out the map of everywhere I have been during the past 5 months (link on the side).