ODO: 335,315
Another lovely day of relaxing, and baking cookies this time! There is no wind, so we get to be warm outside, which feels amazing. Berne spends some time getting the truck back into 2WD, while KoKo eases back into work post cruise. We relax so hard we don’t actually make it over to the shipwreck to explore. It’s ok, the shipwreck looks like a lot of tetanus, so we admire it from a distance while we make plans for the coming days.
And we are back heading north on the Llama Highway (every paved road in Argentina and Chile), as we’ve named them all. There are infinite guanacos along the road. At least that’s how it feels. Our new best friend Wind is out in full effect to help us along. Our big plan for the day is to get to Puerto Natales, the big town outside Torres del Paine Nation Park, and to stop for a shower along the way. We are unsuccessful at the showering. It’s still very cold outside, so the thought of having to go outside with wet hair is too much. There will be showers in Puerto Natales. To get there we cross back, back, back into Chile. We’ve lost count on how many times we’ve crossed between these two countries. They take our eggs at the border, but not our veggies because we pre-cut them. Who knew? At the ferry, we arrive as they are loading, and drive right on. We continue our tradition of a ferry hot dog, and enjoy the calm crossing. It’s 11pm when we pull into the campground in Puerto Natales, so it’s straight to bed.
Around 5am a rap battle breaks out across the street, so that’s how we start the day. And with showers! The campground has fantastically hot, high pressure showers. After a big work presentation, it’s time for our resupply before heading into the park. This is the best grocery store we have seen in some time, so we get excited and buy way more groceries than we have room for. And then we visit a second grocery store. With chores and work done we can finally head into Torres del Paine! We come in through the south entrance so we can see as much of the park as possible. The plan is to meet up with our friends and go on a big hike tomorrow along the El Chileno Trail to Mirador Torres. Camp is a small parking area/campground just outside the park boundary with a fantastic view of where we will be hiking in the morning. Time to eat a big meal and pack our things for tomorrow.
We get a slightly later start than was planned, but that’s ok. Today is going to be long so starting a little late wont hurt anything. Our hike starts like all really hard hikes start, happy people enjoying a nice stroll along flat ground. But it doesn’t last. The first two miles are relatively easy, just across the parking lot and a large meadow in the chilly morning. The hike includes two steep uphills with a long section of gradual uphill in between. Past beautiful vistas, through dense forest, and over giant boulders, we spend four and half hours struggling our way to the top. It’s tough, but worth it. The end of the hike is a glacier blue lake surrounded by tall rock towers with the sun shining down through the clouds, and a condor circling. We enjoy a rest and our lunch before starting the hard part…the way down.
One of us has a hard time with uphill, and one of us has a hard time with downhill. Together, we are a seriously dysfunctional hiker. But we don’t let these inclines stop us! The trek down is very, very slow. Everything hurts and everything is terrible in that type 2 fun/never felt more alive kind of way. Two thirds of the way down there is a campground with a small bar, where we stop for a serious rest and mid hike beer. Knees are massaged, Advil is taken, and conversations are had with a nice couple from Colorado before we start our final descent. The bottom of the hill is a very welcome sight. We are so excited to be on flat again, we make short work of the last two miles back to the truck. All said and done, we hiked 16ish miles in ten-ish hours. There are the most delicious hot dogs at the food truck in the parking lot. Or we are extremely hungry, it’s hard to say. Everyone is in bed very, very early tonight.
Wow do we all wake up sore this morning! Some of us more so than others, but everyone is stiff and slow as we start our day. This is the downside of having to actually climb into and out of the camper and bed. Rumor has it the showers here are nice and very hot, so we decide that it the best thing we can do before sitting in the same position for several hours. As soon as everyone is covered in soap, the water turns off. The men’s and women’s showers share a wall so we get to try and problem solve this together. Berne opts to shake the remaining water out of each shower head to finish rinsing. KoKo stands freezing in the stall until help arrives. That help is a cleaning person, who alerts another employee that the generator has stopped. Berne stays for moral support.
All cleaned up, we cross back back back back into Argentina. It’s a long ways from the national park to the next gas station, and we end up having a roadside gas transfer so both trucks make the distance. Our destination is Park National Los Glaciaers on the outskirts of Calafate, and it is the most touristy place we have been so far. It looks exactly like every trendy outdoorsy touristy town in North America. It’s late in the afternoon when we arrive and the park is closing soon. The wind is in full force, so we look for shelter for the night in a grove of trees. We are unsuccessful, and the wind builds and builds all evening.
The overnight gale brought with it a bit of a storm, and we wake up to snow dusted peaks. We are up and into the park nice and early to beat the crowds. The drive in gets us a rainbow and some sneak peaks of the Perito Moreno Glacier we’re heading to see. This glacier is the world’s third largest reserve of fresh water, and we have the pleasure of watching it calve small and large pieces for a couple of hours. The small chunks make the most noise, bouncing along the wall on their way to the water. Incredibly, we get to see a large piece surface from under the water. Its extremely dramatic as it rolls over and bobs around.
After our morning show, we head off to the other half of the park, 200km down the road. Forty four mph winds have Berne wrestling the truck down the highway again (or still). We get to drive through another rainbow to reach El Chelten, where we meet, in person, another set of our traveling internet friends. Now there are six of us across three trucks. Braving (ignoring) the weather, our group walks into town for a get-to-know-you-in-real-life dinner. The weather keeps at it, so everyone heads straight to bed once we get back to camp.
The morning is sunny, and rainy, and windy. A quick chat with the park ranger reveals the afternoon winds will hit 100-120kmph. Yikes. Since this sounds like good weather for indoor activities, that is exactly what we do! We find the only empty coffee shop in town (this took three tries) and occupy a table big enough for our new gang. Early afternoon the wind arrives, along with an incredibly cold rain. Rumor has it that tomorrow will be clear skies, and we should get some good views of Mt Fitz Roy, which is why we are waiting around El Chelten. We end our day with an unintentionally fancy dinner at a local brewery. Back at camp, in the midst of the gale-force winds, we discover that when we dropped off our laundry this morning, we accidentally dropped off both our sets of sheets. You know what adds significantly to the warmth and comfort of a bed? Sheets…
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