Trekking through Chilean Patagonia
Friday, March 31st, 2006
A Patagonian road sign savvy to current trends in Latin American politics
After a tedious sixteen hour bus ride across bleak landscapes, dealing with border controls, a short ferry ride and stopping at every nowhere outpost en-route for food we finally made it into Puerto Natales, a very weird little port town on the Chilean side of Patagonia. It was not the best introduction to Chile, and when I went to find my mate Adam who I´d met back in Ushuaia, I found him on the verge of mental breakdown from arriving in the town a couple days earlier. Honestly, it was all a little bit too like Royston Vasey for my liking.
We made our plans for hiking in the Torres del Paine national park the very same day, got everything booked and ensured his mental well-being by heading off early the next morning. We had four beautul days of trekking and camping in one the most beautiful places I´ve ever been. We saw glaciers of blue ice, snow-capped mountains with the strangest formations and lakes of the brightest most unearthly blue. I can say little else right now as we only returned last night and got on a bus to get the hell out of Puerto Natales first thing this morning, so the brain is not firing on all cylinders right now.
We´re back on the Argentinian side again now in a place called Calafate, and should be here for close to a week, so my next objective (after getting thoroughly pissed for Adams birthday tonight) is to try to sort out getting photos back on here as they tell the story of these places so much better than I can.
At long last, some photos (more being added to previous entries in the coming week):
Day 1: The brooding beauty of Glacier Grey (Torres del Paine)
Day 2: The weird blue waters of Lake Pehoe (Torres del Paine)
Day 2: View of Valley Frances (Torres del Paine)
Day 2: View from Camp Italiano (Torres del Paine)
Day 3: Lake near the final campsite (Torres del Paine)
Day 4: View of the towers on the final day (Torres del Paine)
Ed