Puerto Natales - Torres del Paine

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Puerto Natales - Torres del Paine

Part I

Couch Surfing can be extremely unpredictable and crazy so, for anyone planning on it in the near future you must be prepared for anything.

We arrived in Puerto Natales around 8-9 pm and made our way to our CS destination. When we walked in the door we were greeted with a full house of a family and approximately 14 other CS’s. The house consisted of a main dining room, small kitchen, one functioning bathroom, 4 small bedrooms, and a small living room. All rooms were astonishingly poorly lit and filled with a musty smoky smell. If you are claustrophobic this house would have driven you stark raving mad (which trust me, after about 30 minutes I was going crazy and wanted to escape). There seemed to be people everywhere, which in reality there were.

When we arrived dinner was in the process and traditionally at this house, everyone who is there pitches in to buy and make dinner so off we went to buy dessert; ice-cream and fresh fruit. We all enjoyed dinner in a banquet style set up and surprisingly there was plenty of food for the 20+ people that were there. After dinner we all cleaned up and sat around talking story. 

There were CS’s from France, Germany, Spain, Chile, United States, Australia, and Argentina. For many of the CS’s this was their first CS experience and to say the least they were a little shocked about the experience. I took the liberty to reassure them that this is not how CS normally is and that this is a very unique situation. The sleeping arrangements were hilarious; Mike and I had the floor in the living room and there was a girl on a couch to our left and a girl on a kinda couch (two love seats squished together) on our right. It was not the quietest night sleep I have ever had but it was a place to sleep and we were grateful for that.

After one night in the house I was ready to leave and so the following morning we took the bus and headed to Torres del Paine.  

Torres del Paine is a National park known for trekking. Trekking: you hike with all your gear from campsite to campsite. The main trek that people do is a 4-5 day trail called the W (the trail is really shaped like a W). The other option is a 9-12 day trek called the circuit which is a full circle with the bottom of the circle being the W. Of course, Mike and I want to experience it all and so we picked the circuit. One thing we didn’t really take into much consideration when getting ready for our trek was the weight of food. Think about how much you eat all day then times that by 10 days and then by 2 people. Yep, that’s a lot of food and a lot of weight to carry.

The Circuit

Day 1 Unexpected travels – Our plans were to arrive at the drop off zone, walk to the entry camp, sleep there, and then get up early in the morning and make our first trek to the next campsite. But once we got to the park it was only 4 pm and the first trek was only 4 ½ 10 km away so we decided to skip the original plan and head to the first campsite.

Tip for any travelers going to Torres del Paine: The one crappy thing with National Parks is that they always charge an entrance fee. Mike and I have figured out that if you go before opening or after closing hours 8 am – 8 pm then you can get in free. But because we had to take a bus to Torres del Paine and of course there are not early or late buses we had to pay the fee. Along with the entrance fee they charge you to sleep at the campsites, which we didn’t know. Yes, they charge you to sleep in your own tent. Bizarre! Don’t worry though, we only made that mistake our first night :)

These (and orange spray painted trees and rocks) were our yellow brick road; you had to be careful and pay attention  because you can easily become lost out here and trust me we got lost a couple times :)

Along the trail were fields filled with beautiful wild flowers. Mike took the liberty of frolicking in them as we walked.

 

Note to campers: beware of which trees you set your tent up next to because there happens to be a lot of woodpeckers in the area. We got the pleasure of listening to this little guy all morning.

 

 

Day 2 Marshland Journey 19 km 6 hrs – A seriously long day! 6 hour 19km trek full of hills, wind, falling in poky bushes and getting lost in the marsh land. As we were getting closer to the next campsite we decided to take a detour and find our own campsite so we wouldn’t have to pay. As we were exploring we ended up in the middle of this muddy, smelly, marshland. We were hopping from one bush to another trying to avoid the swamp; if you stepped into the wrong place your boot would become fully submerged and stuck in the mud (and yes, I was the lucky one whomhappened to step in the wrong place). After about an hour of wandering we were exhausted. We ended up making our way to a river, finding a ditch just big enough for our tent, and calling it a night.

 

 

In the morning we decided to try out fishing unfortunately no luck 

 

Day 3 More walking 9 km 4 hrs – Another long day of lots of walking, but after breaking off the trail and finding a place to set up camp we were blessed to have one of the glaciers in perfect view from the tent. There was still lots of daylight left so we were able to wash our clothes in freezing water coming from the glacier.

Views throughout the day

In the back you can see the glacier we slept next to

Mike in front of the glacier

Day 4 Heavenly Treat 12 km 6 hrs – The morning started off beautifully with a wonderful bar of Cadbury chocolate with almonds. Since we saved money by not sleeping in refugio we were able to buy ourselves a little treat. 

Chocolate may not seem like that great but when you have the same meal everyday

Breakfast: oatmeal

Lunch: bread with cheese

Snack: granola bar

Dinner: either pasta or polenta

A sweet chocolate treat is better than finding gold at the end of the rainbow.

The rest of the day was full of sweat, mud, steep hills, rocks climbing, and an excruciating descent that seemed never ending. The best part about the day was when we finally reached the top of the mountain and all you could see was a spectacular glacier (Glacier Gray) stretching for miles.

You can tell how windy it is by my out of control hair lol

The view on the way up

Reaching the top of the climb was an incredible feeling of accomplishment. There is a memorial at the top filled with stuff left by hikers. There were things from all over the world; it was really cool.

 

Breathtaking Glacier Gray. The glacier stretch for miles and encompasses the entire valley.

 

The way down

When hiking you tend to think that the hardest part of the hike is over once you reach the top but for this hike we were sadly mistaken. Descending the mountain was hell. Imagine 35+ and 45+ lbs bags on your back and you are climbing down stairs that are 2 ½ - 3 ½ feet tall. Our thighs were burning, feet were blistered, and backs aching. When we finally made it to our camp we set up our tent and passed out.

Tip to fellow travelers: take ear plugs; you never know when you’re going to set your tent up next to a loud snorer 

To be continued...