Thoughts under the curls: Day 51 - 56 Torres del Paine

Day 51 - Travel from El Calafate to Puerto Natales and Torres Del Paine.

4:45 am came early. We packed our bags last night, so we quickly got dressed, loaded our last minutes items in our bag, left our extras at the front desk, ate breakfast before our 5:30 bus pick up. It took another hour to pick up other El Calafate passengers. The bus is pretty basic, no frills kind of transportation. There really is nothing between these cities in Patagonia, just sheep, cattle, and horse ranches.

It took forever to get through Argentina customs and Chile customs with a bus of 38 people. The agencies were about ten minutes apart on a gravel road through more ranches. We finally got to Puerto Natales at 12:30. We quickly got our hotel and transportation vouchers at Fantastico Sur. We bought a duffle bag to leave some gear at one of the camps on the third day of our hike; only $21 USD which wasn't too bad. We will see on day three if it was necessary or not. Fantastico recommended it, so not a huge loss if unnecessary. The rep recommended a restaurant close by but I walked us to the purple number five instead of the maroon number 5. Luckily for me, the random restaurant made Kristen an awesome vegetarian sandwich. In fact she wants to eat there again in five days on our way back to El Calafate. I dodged a bullet on that one. My pizza was so so. We walked passed the hostel we reserved for our return trip and despite good online reviews it wasn't on a well maintained street in town. We decided to walk in and cancel it and find something else on our return. We had to walk about eight blocks to the train station and all of them seemed to deteriorate as we got closer to the bus station. It is obvious that:

1) only a few people in town benefit financially from the tourists as most streets and buildings are run down

2) being a heavy backpacking town, the tourist money is not abundant. Hence why many accommodations are hostels and not hotels.

We finally boarded our bus to Torres del Paine at 2:30 pm and arrived at about 5:00 pm. The hotel area is very comfortable, but rustic at the same time. We are happy to have a private bathroom for our first two nights. That wont be true at our next two accommodations. We walked around the grounds a bit and made sure we understood our hike for the morning.

There are many hiking trails in Torres del Paine, with the most famous being the W (think of the W like this "l_l_l") Trek which is four days and four nights and the path is in the shape of a W. It was fun to finally see the light bulb come on when Kristen recognized the "W" on 2D schematic of the park today. We are staying two nights at Los Torres Hotel in the lower right corner of the W. Our first hike will be up and back on the right arm of the W. We will stay again at Los Torres. Our second day of hiking will take us to the middle of the W where we will stay at Los Cuernos. Our third day of hiking will take us up the middle of the W and back down to the lower left arm where we will stay at Paine Grande. The forth day of hiking is up the left arm and back down before we cruise back to the bus pick up point.

Tomorrow is supposed to be the best view of the huge granite towers! Hoping for good weather. Day 1 and 3 are supposed to be the hardest.

We have all meals included on the hike since we are in the middle of no where. The dinner tonight was fantastic. A great buffet of all sorts of salads, meats, side dishes, and our top desert so far (like a warm chocolate lava cake, but with dulce de leche instead of chocolate). Yes, I had two. The best part of dinner was that all of the horses were let out to graze on the hotel grounds. We literally had gorgeous horses right outside our dinner window. How cool is it that the horses just coexist at the hotel and eat the grass on the grounds. Multiple times people came and went and they were not bothered. We are excited for our meals tomorrow as we have high expectations after dinner.

We tried to use their satellite internet to book a hotel for our return back to Puerto Natales, but it was painfully slow. Kristen isn't feel well, so she went to bed about 945. I packed for tomorrow's hike and was able to finish today's blog before bed. Yes, I have both my iPhone and ipad going on the W trek. I just couldn't trust leaving it at the hotel in El Calafate. Plus, I have my waterproof cases on them both and take my iPhone on all hikes. It comes in handy when it is too rainy for the good camera. It also does awesome panoramic photos.

Despite being a long travel day, the day went by extremely fast for me. It is amazing how much time it takes to catch up on blogs, take a nap, and read GQ (I find them to have the best articles. I fly through the first half, but the end articles are usually well done on random cool topics).

Day 52 - Hike to base lookout of Torres del Paine

What a great nights sleep. We both found it difficult to wake up this morning despite a good nights sleep. We had everything ready so we were five minutes early to 7 am breakfast. The breakfast as a whole was disappointing since we had such high hopes from a delicious dinner. It amazes me how salt can ruin food just as easy as it enhances it. They did have good juices and some delicious cinnamon roles despite no icing.

We left the hotel at 7:50 expecting to be gone for a long day. The trail map scheduled us to take 3.5 hours to Camp Torres and then an hour ascend to a lake at the base of Torre Sur, Central, and Norte. Having been in a bus all day yesterday, we were excited to get out and see the park today. The trail was exposed for 80% of the hike which ultimately took us about 1.75 hrs. The trail itself was a shared horse trail for the first 45 minutes which wasn't the best way to a spend the morning, hoping horse poop. However, this part of the trail looked over the wide open valley which I prefer to being in the woods. The ascend to the base was much harder than expected after we blazed through the bulk of the hike. We had to walk through a lot of moraine and some of it was up a steep hill. It was impossible to take big steps as it was like walking in sand and you just slipped back down hill.

The view of the granite towers over a perfectly calm and reflecting lake was amazing. We spent about 45 minutes watching a small cloud pass through so we could capture all of the towers in the perfect sun. We had the best possible weather today. The temperature about 65 with very little clouds and a direct and warm sun. I spent all but the first ten minutes in shorts and a tshirt. Kristen in pants and a tshirt. What was perfect was the lack of wind. Just two days ago they had 45 mph winds and today we had less than 5 mph! We got lucky. We planned to have lunch at the lake, but it was only 10:30. After taking multiple pictures and taking in the reflection of the towers, we descended back down.

We were told by the guide in El Chalten that we should go further down the trail to the Japanese Camp to see views of the backside of the mountain. We got back to Camp Torres and asked the ranger where to pick up the trail after we failed to find it. He explained that it was restricted to those who registered with the park office and proved that they had mountain experience. We were bummed as we were ahead of schedule and the weather was just perfect. Oh well. We took the same trail back and stopped to have lunch at the Refugio El Chileno where we had great clear views of the tips of the towers. We ultilmately made it back to Los Cerros our hotel for the evening at about 2:00, five hours early.

I want to find out how they estimate the times for the different trails. Even though I like to be ahead of schedule and enjoy the down time, it stinks when you plan your day according to the scheduled hiking times. We met a few other people on the trail who also complained that the trail times were off, so it's not like we are super hikers setting records.

We planned multiple options for tomorrow if our scheduled 5 hour hike takes only 2-3 hrs. We typically hike 3 miles in an hour with fairly flat terrain and tomorrow's hike is 6 miles with minimal elevation. We will wait to see how the weather is and how we feel. Having seen the weather change rather quickly, we want to take advantage of any good clear and calm weather.

Overall, the towers were beautiful to see. What made them cool was the calm lake at the base which gave an amazing reflection. The high banks of rocks at the lake made for various viewing points and helped us feel more secluded. The lake wasn't as clear as other lakes in the area as there is only a small river flowing out of it and minimal water melting into it. Despite it not being clear, the lack of water movement made for a smooth glass reflection of the towers. It is the second best hike we have been on with Fitz Roy still more impressive (having a glacier helps).

We spent the afternoon resting up. We both washed our stinky hiking clothes in the bathroom, so we could hang them out to dry. Now that I have the blog caught up, I will most likely nap while reading GQ while taking in the mountain views!

We finished the afternoon playing cards in the lounge area where we met a family of Michigan fans. We ended up taking a picture, which I think is priceless as he naturally held up the number two. Glad he knows his place.

The dinner doesn't open until 7:30, but we were one of the first in. It amazes me how other countries eat dinner so late. We asked our guide Pedro (in El Chalten) about this and he said most families eat late then go straight to bed, sometimes watching a TV show in between. We packed our bags as we hike tomorrow morning to our next accommodation, Cabins Los Cuernos.

Day 53 - Hike to Cabins Los Cuernos

We woke up this morning to a bright sky outside of our window which we were excited to get to our next destination (Cabins Los Cuernos) to potentially hike part of our 3rd day's route to campamento Britanico in the French Valley. We got dressed and walked to breakfast. As we walked through the main lodge, we looked outside to see the most boldly colored rainbow either of us have ever seen. We rain back to the room to get the camera and rain outside. The rainbow was starting to dissipate, but it was still gorgeous.

We had a nice conversation with a South African man for about 10 minutes. He explained how crazy the economic divide is between the few million whites vs the 50-70 millions blacks living in South Africa. They don't actually know how many blacks live there since the borders of South Africa are not monitored and are open for others to come in "illegally." He is the third South African we have met from Johannesburg on this a trip. They all explained how horrific some of the crimes are and how life is not take seriously in much of the culture there. Very sad. However, he talked about when he travels back home to it, there is just something crazy and chaotic that he loves. How he lives this technological and mobile world in the suburbs and he can drive an hour and be with "lions and indigenous people who have never even seen a computer."

By the time we settled up our hotel bill, we didn't hit the trail until 8:30. The rain was really only misting off and on, so it wasn't too bad. We were scheduled for a 4 hour hike along Lake Nordenskjold for much of our 11 km hike. We expected a boring hike, but it was surprisingly pleasant. It was rolling enough to keep the path interesting with various rivers to cross with hills and bends to explorer. At the same point, we didn't climb much elevation which we were ok with since we had all of our supplies with us for the entire five days vs just our simple day pack. Thus our load was probably 10-15 lbs heavier. All in all, the wind and rain came and went, but did not make the hike miserable.

We have been enjoying getting on the trail early as the W is very popular. By getting up early, we do not have to cross too many hikers which gets a bit annoying to stop and step aside, plus it slows you down. We didn't really see anyone until the last half our what ended up to be a 2.5 hour hike.

We arrived at 11, but thankfully, a cabin was open for us to check into early. We just made it to our cabin when the downpour started. Wow did we get lucky. It down poured for about three hours straight. We were able to eat lunch in the lodge and played a few games of cards. The rest of the afternoon was spent hanging out in our little cabin.

This Refugio has eight separate cabins that is basically a small little hut with one electric outlet and a nice wood burning stove. The Refugio provides all of the wood, kindling, and matches and even starts the fire for you. We just had to maintain it.

There was a small break in rain that we were able to walk around for or about ten minutes, but eventually we had to take shelter from the rain. The later the evening went on, the windier it got. The Refugio was packed at dinner. Many hikers were trying to dry their belongings out in the two fires in the lodge. We were so lucky to be in one of the 8 cabins where we had some privacy and a personal fire to dry out any wet clothes.

The wind has gotten pretty bad here to where Kristen is convinced our cabin is going blow off its stilts. At dinner a couple said they saw a man's tent fly into the air and they didn't see it come down! We can't imagine what it must be like to be in a tent right now. Cold, possibly wet, and a bit nervous for such high winds.

Despite the little hiking we were actually able to do today, I really enjoyed the day. We had a nice hike and were able to make progress through the W, but it was more enjoyable to be locked in a cabin with Kristen where we could just relax. It felt like a part time job to keep the fire going and the smoke out of our cabin. We played all sorts of card games tonight where she beats me 75% of the time no matter which game we play.

Additionally, I learned that no one had ever called Kristen a turd. I don't remember exactly why I used that word, but when I did she gave me this look like I was speaking in a foreign language. She confirmed that she had never heard anyone being referred to as a turd. I was shocked. She reminded me that maybe it was a central Illinois thing. I'm now on a mission to find out if other areas of the country call mischievous children, turds.

The eight cabins share a bathroom and showers. We planned to take a shower tonight as towels were available here (we are told they aren't at the next stop). Kristen eventually did shower, but warned me against it as the water was either freezing or scorching. So I sit here unshowered for the day which isn't too bad. I'm just not sure how I will smell come another 36 - 48 hours.

I am expecting it to be a long and rough night as the winds are pretty strong and they shake the cabin every now and again.Time to find out...

Day 54 - French Valley Hike

Long and rough night it was. The gusts of winds really did not stop until about five o'clock. Every five to ten minutes a wind would come through that shook the cabin. Many of them I woke up because of the sound the gusts made when it hit the cabin. Others, because Kristen would hit me as it woke and scared her. We both got up at three to put a new log on the fire which kept us pretty warm in the cabin. It was the only time we have been able to see stars since coming to South America. I wish I wasn't as exhausted so I could have enjoyed them more.

Our alarm went off at 7:00 and it really didn't feel like we slept. We packed our bags and headed down to 7:30 breakfast. This Refugio has been unique as breakfast is passed out to everyone sitting at the tables. Everyone eats at once. We had a very typical breakfast: coffee, OJ, toast, jam, corn flake cereal, and eggs. It was an ok start to the day. We grabbed our sacked lunches and headed out for our longest scheduled day of hiking.

It was very hard for me to get moving this morning on trail due to lack of sleep and having all of our gear in our packs. We made a relatively flat hour hike to Camp Italiano where we were able to drop off some of our belongings. We forgot our duffel bag in El Calafate, so we luckily bought one for twenty bucks in Puerto Natales. We put our shower supplies, extra clothes, sandals, and some extra food in the bag, locked it up and left it outside the ranger station. I was kind of hoping for a more secure drop off system, everyone simply dropped their bags off here. Buying this bag ended up being a great idea. I can't imagine how I would have hiked today if I had all of the extra weight on my back.

We left Camp Italiano with a bit of energy since our packs were now lighter. The two hours through the French Valley was a bit tough for me. I had absolutely no energy and could not get moving. The views on the hike were nice as we were in a valley between two different mountains with glaciers hanging on them. Additionally, we followed a beautiful bluish river most of the way up hill. We were surprised how dry the trail was since we had gotten so much rain. There were spots of puddles that we had to avoid, but you really saw the extra water in the creeks as it became more difficult to step on dry rocks.

The lookout was pretty amazing here as it took us to the end of the valley and it felt as if you were inside a huge horseshoe. The mountain range wrapped around the valley providing 270 degrees of mountains with huge granite peaks. As you looked down the horseshoe you could see the river run down the valley and into Lake Nordenskjold. We spent about ten minutes eating lunch and taking pictures. We had about two minutes of the lookout to ourselves. The wind was pretty strong which caused cold temperatures.

The two hours back down to camp Italiano was a bit easier as it was mostly down hill. The rocks and rivers slowed us down despite being downhill. After 16.5 kilometers (10 miles), we made it back to Camp Italiano pretty spent. We stopped for a food and bathroom break for about ten minutes. We stretched and reloaded our packs as they were not stolen while in the French Valley. We tried to lift our spirits for our 7.5 kilometer (4.5 miles) journey to Paine Grande where we were staying tonight. It was a bit difficult as we now had our heavy packs on and we were both tired. My knees were pretty achy after the two hour descend. Kristen was pretty terrible as her sinus congestion has gotten worse and gone into her lungs.

The first 2/3 of the hike went great as it was relatively flat and we were able to trot fairly easily. The weather slowly started to get windier, but it wasn't too bad as we were happy to have sun through the French Valley. However, the last 2.5 kilometers was brutal. We walked straight into what was now probably 25 miles per hour constant wind. We went over multiple hills expecting the lodge to be at the bottom of each one to only disappointment. Upon check in, the receptionist took a look at us and said, "is the weather turning bad?" It wasn't funny at the time, but we were extremely thankful to be in the warm lodge especially since it was starting to sprinkle.

We got a small room with a bunk bed in it. Kristen lite up with a big smile when they said it included a towel! The simple things in life. We didn't think we were going to be able to shower since we hadn't brought our own towel. The shower was amazing. We were both extremely tired after our roughly 15 mile hike today. I was extremely sore, but felt somewhat better after a stretch. I just need to rest the knees. Kristen got some hot tea to try and keep her sinuses in check. We watched miserable hiker after hiker come in from what was now pouring down rain. Some of them did not light up when getting to the lodge as they had to figure out how too put up their tents in 40 mph wind and rain. Many folks had no business hiking as they did not have the proper gear. Some in yoga pants with a poncho. This is Patagonia people.

We played cards and had a drink until dinner which as served at 7:00 pm. The dinner was spectacular. Not sure if we were just hungry or what. I would pay $20 at any restaurant to have the risotto again.

We were up in our room by 7:45 as we wanted to get some sleep. The heater in the room wouldn't turn on, so I asked at the front desk about it. They said it wasn't working today. What! All of the wet and cold hikers who paid to be warm were without heat. He offered to bring two additional comforters to our room which I agreed.

We both feel asleep quickly until a knock on the door at 10:00. Two hours late the comforts arrived. Not sure if this was the curse or not, but Kristen really couldn't go back to sleep after the knock. She was coughing and blowing her knows and having trouble breathing with her sinus congestion moving into her lungs. I got her a couple glasses of hot water that only worked for a little bit and halls and phenylephrine didn't work much either. One of the neighbors even offered sleeping medication. We both had another rough night.

Day 55 - Glacier Grey and return to El Calafate

The alarm went off at 6:00, but we were both exhausted and had no interest in hiking in the rain. At 7:00, we decided to get up as the sun had finally came out. After two nights of little sleep, we didn't move fast and weren't in the best of moods. We had a very similar breakfast as yesterday and decided to try and hike our last leg before catching the catamaran back across the lake to bus out of the park.

Luckily, we were able to leave the duffel bag of non essential items. The hike was brutal for me as I just had no energy. No rain, but a strong 20 mph head wind. Most of the hike was spent head down making sure I didn't break an ankle on rocks. We ultimately made it to the Lago Grey lookout about 2/3 of the way up the trail. The lookout had such strong winds, it took everything I had to stay upright to get one picture. We decided to head back and catch the earlier catamaran instead of the late one. We were able to get a few good pictures of the glacier and the beautiful blue icebergs at another lookout. We made it back to the lodge after about 3 hours of hiking.

As I reflect on the bus from the park to Puerto Natales, I have many mixed feelings about Torres del Paine. Kristen and I talked along the hike on the most ideal direction and stops along the "W" trek and I ultimately don't think there is an ideal as it doesn't exist. You have to get lucky to make it enjoyable. We were extremely lucky to have had proper gear to keep us dry, warm, and protected from the wind. We stayed in the nicest available lodging and sometimes that meant just a room with a bunk bed. We had plenty of warm food and cold beer and wine when we wanted. We had sunshine on three of the four days. And still Patagonia kicked my butt. I have absolutely no idea how people camped and enjoyed it. The wind, rain and cold had to be miserable. And this provided true by their looks. More times than not, the campers looked exhausted and some pissed at the world. And I am a sure I looked that way at parts of the journey. Additionally, the cold, wind, and rain is bound to get most people sick. I had a runny nose most of the time we hiked. Kirsten is in much better shape than me but she was restricted with horrible sinus congestion and a runny nose. Her cough sounds like she could have pneumonia.

I would not recommend hiking the W for most people. The weather will be bad during part of your hike. It is just not possible for good weather on all four days. It will be cold, windy, and rainy. It is so expensive and takes so much time to get here. The granite peaks are phenomenal to see, but I am just not sure it is worth it compared to some of the hiking available in the US.

I would only recommend the W to someone who was going to be down here anyways and has time available to hike only when the weather is somewhat favorable. When the clouds are overhead or the wind is so strong it just isn't even possible to see the peaks, so it can be a waste of time. Additionally, you must have proper gear. I would not recommend camping unless you like to be tested mentally and physically when on vacation. There is nothing relaxing and fun camping in Patagonia. Additionally, you should be in very good shape. I was on the edge of not being in good enough shape. If you aren't in shape, you are really risking your health. The last day, I was soo exhausted that I slipped twice. Luckily, I didn't fracture a wrist or ankle or hurt my knees.

We saw so many people who appeared to have just one day decided to add the trek to their vacation. They had not researched or realized that Torres del Paine is not for day recreational hikers. They were much slower hikers which meant that they spent more time in the cold wind and they were not able to avoid the rain like we did. Additionally, most people were limping around the lodge on our last night from exhaustion and sore feet or legs.

I would recommend the park to someone who had time to come into the park and stay at the Los Torres Hotel for a couple of days worth of hiking. But once again, I wouldn't fly here to just do the park. I would add it to another part of South America.

Kristen did enjoy the park much more than I did. She enjoyed being able to hike deep into the park and not have to do day hikes from the same hotel. If you enjoy this much more than day hikes to and from the same place, you may enjoy Torres more than I did.

Ultimately, we were unable to catch the last bus to El Calafate, so we had to sleep in Puerto Natales. We continue to be amazed at how little English is spoken in some of these tourist towns. Luckily, Kristen's Spanish gets us by.

Here is a list of what I had with me on my day hikes (extra stuff at the hotel).

This is what I wore starting most hikes

Goretex wind and rain proof hat
Sunglasses with a croakie
Merino wool tshirt
Merino or smart wool long sleeve shirt
Goretex wind and rain proof light weight jacket with hood
Non cotton hiking pants (can zipper into shorts if needed)
Non cotton underware
Light weight hiking belt
Smart wool or merino wool socks
Hiking boots
Thin gloves
In my pockets: waterproof/shockproof iPhone, good kleenexes, Chapstick, wallet with money and photo of passport.

Here is what was in my hiking bag:

3 liter camelback bladder
Waterproof pants that can fit over my hiking pants
Warmer waterproof gloves
Stocking hat
Ski mask
800 down North Face winter jacket
Camera in a waterproof bag
Waterproof bag that went over my hiking bag
First aide kit
Food in plastic bag
Sunblock
Waterproof bag for map

The only thing I wish I had, but didn't was a good pocket knife. Kristen got a thorn in her finger in El Chalten and luckily the park ranger was right there and we were able to use his tweezers.

Day 56 - travel to El Calafate

We both got decent sleep last night which was very important to our health and attitude. We are both feeling better and are glad that we have nothing scheduled today but bus travel, laundry, and rest.

It takes forever to travel from Puerto Natales, Chile to El Calafate, Argentina. We endured this in reverse a few days ago, but it is not any faster this time either. The only way we found to get to and from was by bus, which contains 40-50 people. We have to stop in customs to exit and then again in customs to enter. We spent over an hour trying to get into Argentina as they had trouble validating the US reciprocity fees. Getting this many people through all of the stops is brutal. Thank goodness I brought my ipad to blog and read magazines. Not sure too many hikers hike Torres with an iPad. The amount of time wasted getting to the Torres is another reason I hesitate to recommend a visit here.

I had to stop blogging on the bus as the journey tourney extremely worrisome as the bus driver struggled to keep the bus on the road, let along in our lane. At one point he pulled over and hammer and drilled into one of the tires. No communication as to the problem. The winds were strong, but nothing we haven't had already. There had to be something wrong with the bus as it could move side to side and everyone was gripping the handrails. The four hour bus ride turned into eight. One of the more stressful transportations ever. We really reflected on the fact that we review hotels, restaurants, and attractions before we book. This is easy as there are websites that make this easy. However. we really have not found a way to review safety and experiences on different buses, taxis, airlines, etc... At the end of the the day, this group is where mistakes can be catastrophic, not a loud night in a hotel or a poor dinner experience.

We never felt better to finally step foot in El Calafate. It also felt nice checking into a hotel that we had already stayed. It gave us some sort of familiarity which we both found nice.

I showered and shaved, so we could take our clothes to the lavanderia (laundry mat) where we had three loads of laundry done in two hours for $20. When we give laundry out for cleaning, Kristen has always itemized every item so we can ensure we get everything back. We did this just like in the past. After bringing the laundry back to the hotel, we had everything except one par of her workout pants. We went back to the laundry mat and the lady denied us giving three pairs of pants. She got her boss involved who got his boss involved. After about thirty minutes the head boss was only willing to give us money for one of the loads (~$7). We were both a bit pissed as we wanted our 135 pesos back at minimum. However, it didn't matter what we wanted, because they weren't willing to do more than 45 pesos. The boss said it was our word vs theirs. We argued many different points, but they spoke broken English which made it much more frustrating.

Lesson learned is that we will make an itemized list in front of them and check it upon checkout. Even though we had an itemized list, the boss wouldn't trust that we filled it out correctly or we didn't keep one pair of pants in our room. We ultimately have clean clothes now, but one workout pants less. :(

While Kristen packed, I went to the rec room to play some pool. There was an eight year old Spanish boy playing foosball entertaining himself. Once I started playing, he decided to try and communicate with me in Spanish. What ultimately happened was he would point at a ball and I would try and hit it in the pocket. I don't think he understood that I had no idea what he was saying. Every now and again I would throw out a Spanish word that I knew. After two games, I said buenos noche and went to find Kristen. An interesting experience. Despite having no means of verbal communication, we were able to play a game of pool together. Simple pointing and body language was good enough.