Post 102: Torres del Paine (in the ass) pt. 1

Fellow adventurers,

Day 1 -

The bus for Torres del Paine picked us up at seven in the morning for our ride across the Chilean border. We did not know prior, but our transfer to the park was also a one day tour. Our guide, Marcius, spoke to us strictly about the agricultural products we were bringing with us to the park. Upon mention that we had salami in our sandwiches, he insisted we consume it before the crossing. Little did he, or the border agents know, we had a whole roll of it in our belongings. I hid it as we made our way through the border and baggage check. I was not about to sacrifice our only source of protein for the next six days in the park. No regrets there. Our food for the week consisted of dried pasta, soups, our treasured roll of salami, crackers, rice, canned lentils and peas, polenta, oatmeal, juice mix, and assorted condiments. All of which we made good use of, and nothing we went without using.

As we approached, we gazed upon the famous Towers of Paine. Paine is an indigenous word used to describe the color of blue which appear in the base of the towers. We stopped several times along the way to see sites we would have otherwise missed without the prior unbeknownst included tour. One of the highlights was seeing a spread of land recently affected by the fire which shut the park for a short while last month. Many of the trees and landscape were scorched beyond recognition, and the sheer force of the wind made it clear why the fire had spread so quickly.

The bus eventually dropped us at a ranger station many miles away from our first camp site. Marcius suggested we do a hike through a valley, explaining that it was very scenic and full of the local llama breed, named guanaco. We were not let down. The hike was stunning, and full of the before mentioned creature, in abundance. We strolled through savanna like grassland for two hours, surrounded by guanaco and their offspring. They never showed much fear at our presence, and went about their business with no care at all. The hike was one of the highlights of my entire time in Torres del Paine, and yet is one of the most untraveled areas of the park.

This trek ended at another guard shack, from where we had to hike another seven kilometers to the first campsite to set our tent up for the night. About six kilometers in, we were picked up by a friendly French couple who offered us a ride to the site. We were happy to accept, what a relief. While pondering a spot to set our tent, we spotted a fox in the brush around the site. We set up for the evening, made our first dinner of the hike and promptly fell right to sleep. We were in for a long hike the next morning.

Day 2 -

We had a late start on our second day, as we were exhausted from the prior. Our 11 plus kilometer hike to what we thought would be Campemento Italiano did not begin until well into the mid afternoon. The trail started at the main hotel of the park and set out along the lake. We realized the night prior that we had lost our cooking pot, so during the beginning of the hike June asked everyone she encountered heading out of the park if we would be able to buy theirs. Luck was ours after a few tries, a friendly German girl sold us hers for 5,000 Chilean pesos (about $10 usd). For me, it was like Christmas morning. The thought of cooking all of our food in two aluminum cups was a bit frightening and exhausting to say the least.

The trail continued for hours, through many varying elevations and landscapes along the lake. The towers showed themselves occasionally as we walked, kilometer after kilometer. Upon our arrival to the first campsite Los Cuernos on this side of the lake, we were informed that we would not be able to make it to Italiano or even Britannico, as they are both closed for the time being due to the fire. If we had only known that from the very beginning. Unfortunately for us, this meant we had to pay for a site on the private campground. We had the last of the litter since we arrived so late. Our tent ended up being set next to a cabin in the hills above the other campsites. I got a ticket for one person, since paying full price for the both of us in one tent was unfathomable.

Day 3 -

In the morning, we took advantage of the mass departures of campers and set up our tent in a better spot for the inevitable second night at Los Cuernos. Our plan for day three was to try and complete the Frenchmans Valley hike. This meant a full six hours in, and six hours back due to the situation with the closed camping sites. Unfortunately, my stomach was not agreeing with me, and we only made it to Campamento Italiano, about halfway into the valley. It was well worth our effort tho. The beginning of the valley allowed us amazing views of the mountains and glaciers that loomed above, and the scenery finally changed to forest like pine land as we made our way further towards Italiano. It was a welcome change from the Andean desert we had been surrounded by in days prior.

More to come soon...

Gavin y June