A Chilean Adventure

Sunday - To Torres del Paine! This is one of the most famous destinations, not just in Chile, but in all of South America. On the drive there, we actually got lost for the first time on the whole road trip. I blame poor road signs. Oh well, we cross the Argentina/Chile border without any problem. It was actually a lot easier than the first time because the crossing point was a lot smaller and without the huge crowds.

When we entered the park, we found that we would’ve saved a lot of money if we had had our Chilean ID cards. You have to get the cards within 30 days of arriving in Chile, but we just decided to wait until after our trip south. It probably would have saved us about $18 each. We also realized that now that we are back in Chile, we don’t have many Chilean pesos. We had just enough to enter the park when we pooled our money, and luckily they accept U.S. and Argentine money inside the park. ATMs are not nearly as wide-spread here.

“So, what is Torres del Paine?” you ask. It’s a large national park that has some very unique landforms. The torres (towers) are two big hunks of rock that jut straight up into the sky. I don’t know how to describe them without showing a picture. The park has a lot of different hiking routes, but most take several days because there’s only one real starting point. The most famous trail is to the base of the towers. From the starting point, it takes four hours to get there and four hours back. There is camping along all of the trails, but that requires carrying a lot more equipment.

We arrived at the starting point at about 6:00 p.m. and decided to get familiar with the surroundings before making camp…aka park our car. We’ve heard conflicting information about the weather in the park and nothing has been very clear. The refugios are about $30 per person, which is a lot compared to the prices for campsites and hostels, so I voted that we take our chances and sleep in the car again. I hope I’m not wrong because we really need a good night’s sleep before all the hiking tomorrow.

We found a little store that had some over-priced foods, but we were desperate. We had to consume all of our fresh foods before crossing the border and we didn’t stop at a store afterward. Our food bag basically just had bread, jelly, and manjar (dulce de leche spread). The little store had one gem that screamed at us to buy it…peanut butter! It’s nearly impossible to find anywhere in South America, so Danielle bought the only little jar that was there for about $6. I didn’t go in on it because I’m confident that the manjar will be a good substitute for it. We also bought two power bars each for energy up the long hike.

Then we loitered a bit. There is a nice little sitting room for people who stay in the refugio that also has a guitar available for anyone to use. We aren’t staying in the refugio, but no one was asking so we just made ourselves comfortable. Danielle played the guitar and I read for a few hours.

When we headed back to the car, we watched an episode of Gilmore Girls that I brought on DVD and went to bed. 

Monday - It was a good night! Not too cold, and we tried a new way to sleep in the car: one across the back seat and one across the front. It wasn’t bad, even considering that the front seat has bucket seats and a parking break in-between.

When we set out to start our hike, we walked past the real almacén (store) and saw that they had a lot more choices. We stocked up on some fresh fruit and camera batteries. After a couple of trips back to the car, we started on the hike about an hour later than we planned.

So, we hiked for eight hours, saw some towers, and then left. Just kidding! It was a tough and treacherous eight hours! The first hour was all uphill and some parts were pretty steep. Then it got easier and more fun as we had to climb over and around some stuff. The final hour was treacherous again. It was like the biggest rock pile you could imagine. Most were basketball-sized to tire-sized and some were huge boulders. All of it was pretty steep and it made the last hour very physically demanding. Luckily, all the people who were heading down were cheering us on and telling us how amazing it was at the top.

We finally got to the top and I’m not sure if I was most awed by the view of the towers, or by the amazing hike we had just accomplished. We ate the lunch we had packed and sat a while longer to enjoy the view. There were a lot of people up there and they were all from different countries and speaking different languages. In a strange way though, I felt some sort of bond with everyone because we all made it to the top.

The way back was a ton easier. The two uphill spots were now downhill, and we knew the terrain better. The final walk back to the car gave us a huge sense of accomplishment…and exhaustion.

The day wasn’t over yet though! We wanted to make it all the way south to Punta Arenas, but road construction set us back (that’s right…summer road construction!) Instead, we made it to Puerto Natales and treated ourselves to supper at “El Living.” We got some really good sandwiches and cake for dessert. The restaurant was really relaxed and reminded me a lot of the Sunroom Café on State Street.

We went to a hostel that was recommended in Danielle’s guidebook, but it was full. The owners are actually from Oregon and were helpful at trying to recommend other places. In the end, one of the workers said she lived nearby and already had some people staying with her, but she had room for two more. It was only $6 each, included a hot shower, and we got to sleep on “flip chairs!” I don’t know if you are familiar with that term, but Kayla and I used to have flip chairs growing up, so it brought back some fun memories. After eight hours of hiking, anything cushioned sounds fantastic!