Patagonia!

I've returned from the land that is patagonia, and now, I shall give you a day by day description of my experiences. First, a little backstory:

Patagonia is the land at the bottom of South America, chock full o towering mountains, pristine glacier lakes and of course, glaciers. There are small towns, and "cities" but they have cities as much as maine has cities. So they don't have cities.

Day 1: Wednesday Night/Thursday: The trip starts with a final meal in Vina, which was el Guaton. Is there a better way to start a four day hiking/camping trip? I think not. After putting that puppy down, we headed to Santiago for our flight to Punta Arenas in patagonia. Our flight left Santiago at 2:40 in the morning, so we all did a bit of sleeping in the airport. Got in to Punta Arenas at 6 in the morningish, got a bus to Punta Natales, a city three hours north, at 8. From there we rented gear from Hostel Nancy,(tents, matts, stoves and such) and headed three more hours north to Parque Torres del Paine.

Now, by the time we got to where we were camping, the sun was already down. We were dropped off on a dirt road in the middle of the park and told to cross this field and river to where the campsite was. Also, it had been raining for the past few hours. This habit of rain will become quite a motif in the telling of said adventures in Patagonia. Off we went across the field(navigating our way through a herd of cows that was roaming through the area) to cross the river. Naturally, we were unable to cross the river, as it was a ragin in the rain that was coming down. Even our new found Brazilian friends whom were veteran hikers were unable to cross(more on this later!). Therefore, we camped on the wrong side of the river(with all the cows), in now soaked tents. We also found our what a lie a "two" and "four" person tent is, as they are not meant for normal sized humans- certainly not for such a hulking man as myself. The first night was cold, wet, and bitter in a crowded tent. I can remember three dreams from that night: I went back to Vina del Mar and got another tent for all of us, and then woke up. I went outside and saw a giant building that sold hot french fries and had free dryers. Woke up cold. Had a dream the people in a nearby hosteleria invited inside to sit by the fire. It was a long night...

Day 2; Friday: Although the night was desperate, with the rising sun came a new hope. We awoke to find that we could actually go inside the hosteleria and dry our stuff by the fire. Rejuvenated by our dryness, we pack up and head deep into Torres Del Paine for four days of hiking! The first day was probably one of the toughest hikes, heading straight into a valley nearest to the tallest Towers. It was pretty straight up(though not as steep as la campana) with INTENSE wind. Working out way through the valley, the trail snaked alongside the valley wall, making each step an important decision! Since the wind was blowing so strongly over the snow/ice covered mountains, there was always rain and sleet in the wind. A nice little peppering effect for ya! An example of how intense the wind was: While climbing up the mountain I had on my neon orange poncho(thank you Daddo) for rain issues. The wind proved its strength as it shredded the back off of my poncho, leaving me with a even more ridiculous looking orange smock. Pretty awesome, I know.

Ok, I gotta go to sleep. Class in the morning. But fret not, you still have over three more days coming, annnnd pictures! Excited? You should be. Have a good one.

-Brian

Spanish saying of the day: "Soy sin complicaciones. Por que? Por que es la buena vida." Something like that.