Under the Stars

I took this picture about 50,000 times in an attempt to get my camera to capture the roundness of the moon...

I got to Puerto Natales on a windy Saturday afternoon, after yet another long bus ride, and even longer border crossing. I met this Australian guy Marty when we were checking into Erratic Rock -- this ultra cool hostel with about 250 of the greatest movies ever on VHS and some pretty rad people running the joint. We then met this English guy Matt the next day, complete with accent and stylish feauxhawk. I made the mistake of going to lunch with them that afternoon, and they then proceeded to talk me into going ton the 'W' with them ... Thankfully I might add.

The W is a 70 something Kilometer trek normally taken over a four day period of time, with most of the hiking within three days of the four total...

The only problem with deciding that you're going to go on a four day hike on a Sunday at 3PM in South America is this: It's a Sunday, its 3pm, and everything is closed. We actually ended up lucking out, and everything opened up for about two hours, which gave us just enough time to split up and buy the necessities. Of course, not only did we buy the necessities, but we were able to snag some Salmon, wine, about 3 kilos of trail mix, and the most important thing of all: Nescafe (Its a long story). We got all packed up, tossed the salmon in the freezer, and celebrated the fact that we had to carry no water the entire journey (It's all potable down here).


We got up early the next morning and took off, all packed up with wine and salmon, ready to face the wilderness. One dusty bus ride later, and we were at the park taking a boat ride to the first campsite, set up camp, and began our 22 km trek to Glacier Grey. The entire time wind was blowing in our faces at about 100 mph as we wound up and down to our final destination. We got back to our tents at about 9PM, busted out the salmon -- which made the other campers incredibly jealous -- used some of the wine to make a reduction sauce for it, whipped up some rice, and the manager of the camp proceeded to tell us that the building was shutting down and we had to eat outside. Cool, right? No, wind was still 100 mph, or however many kilometers an hour... We ate our cold but delicious salmon, and awaited our turns at a shower. After getting ready to hit the sack, we noticed the evening was ultra bright. A full moon jumped out over the spires, and we sat, staring at it, taking a hundred different pictures, and wondering what we were really doing here. The night was clear, and we just hung out, chatting the night away. Oh, and these kids from Missouri almost had their tent blow away. It was a Coleman, just in case you are ever coming to Patagonia and don't want to suffer through losing your tent...

The second day wasn'¿t all that eventful--just a lot of hiking into Valle de Frances... We pitched a tent at the junction and tossed our stuff in, went into the valley, and stood awestruck at all of the mountains around us. It was beautiful and the weather was perfect for us, as it would continue to be for the whole next couple of days, and really the entire trip. We got back to the junction and could have just camped there for the night, like everybody else, but no, instead we packed everythign up again and headed on down the trail. Of course, it was really hot, and when we got to a lake--a glacial one--Marty had to strip down and jump in. Actually, we all did. Why? Because you have to, at least once. We sat and soaked up the sun until we dried off, headed to camp, made some hot cocoa and pasta, chowed down, and proceeded to make the first of many ads for Nescafe (You can look for them on YouTube in the near future... Maybe...).


I wish I wasn't so lazy so I could post a movie of Valle de Frances, which gives you a 360 degree view of everything...


Proof of the dip.

We had shaved about 2.5 hours off of hour hike by going further the day before. We weren't really tired through, nd we let ourselves get a late start. AFter some more Nescafe and commercials we packed up, and started wandering. Really, we hiked for 5 hours straight with our packs until we settled down for dinner, where we played Sudoku and had a beer. We actually had dinner in the Refugio-- paid camp site with bunk beds--and it really wasn't as good as anything we had made up in the previous nights. In fact, I wish we had tried to make something out of whatever we had left... I know we would have made MacGuyver proud. After din, we busted a move and rushed through a 2 hour hike in 30 minutes. The sky was red and we knew that the night was going to be clear. We pitched a tent and left all unnecessary things, and began trudging up--bouldering over--the hill to get to the top before sundown. After some spills and bruises we made it up what was probbaly the hardest trek of my life, only to find a perfect rock to sleep on. We slept like babies, and I laid there, looking at the stars, dreaming, and giggling like a little kid. I woke up once in the middle of the night, and right in front of my eyes flashed a shooting star.

The alarm went off at 5AM, just in time to catch the first hikers getting up to the top. Fortunately, they were our buddies Miguel and Ben. We started the Nescafe and pouridge--which I will never eat again after all of it I ate on this trip--and sat patiently awaiting the sunrise. When it did, we were in awe. Just speechless, and the end came to a trip that is probably one of the most spectacular things that I've ever done. Not just because of the scenery, but the people I was fortunate enough to meet and the timing of everything--the weather, the night, the moon, the absolutely delicious dried melon we got in Puerto Natales, and the great people at Erratic Rock.


Marty, I, and Matt after the sunrise...


A Screensaver for those of you at work... Do yourself a favor, and instead of facebooking, plan a trip.

I'll post something about my odd experience in Punta Arenas de Chile, and then I'm off to Buenos Aires...