Naturally, I botched my promise to put up pictures in LA, but they'll be up soon. Hopefully.
The trip back to the states was pretty uneventful. Mack and I spent a day and a half in Guayaquil doing not much of anything but getting reacquainted with the world. We used the internet a bit, walked around a lot, had a few good (and very cheap) meals, and got the last bit of Ecuadorian sun.
Los Angeles was an awesome respite from the trip, as well as a great time to see family and ditch/upgrade/buy gear for colder weather. After my uncle picked me up from the airport, we went to a delicious breakfast diner in Manhattan Beach where I had several buttermilk pancakes and a plate of hashbrowns, and upon finishing, went to pick up my Mom at the airport.
The next few days were basically filled with random tasks that I had to accomplish before heading out to Kiwi-land -- I can't thank my family enough for helping me with everything -- among them being going to REI to replace boots and buy/replace some things, repair my glasses, send things to medical schools, return the phone, pack, etc. I also had a great time seeing my cousin Arielle whom I hadn't seen in a few years; everytime I see her, she grows about a foot. And she's as avid a reader as I have ever seen. We actually went to Borders and got her about 8 new books, many being ones that I remember reading as a kid. LA also had three awesome meals: Italian, sushi, and steakhouse. Sushi was definitely the favorite. I think it's fair to say that I stuffed my face while there, but it's probably for the best.
A few days ago, Mack and I met at the airport and headed on our flight to Auckland, NZ! with connecting flight to Wellington. The flight was great, mostly because I actually slept (the flight back to the states from Lima to LA I didn't sleep, for some reason). AirNZ also has a great selection of movies, so I got to watch Slumdog Millionaire and Defiance, both of which were very good. After arriving in Wellington (barely made the plane), we wandered around the city a bit and then caught a train to Masterton, where we were picked up by Tom, one of the guys that works at Pukaha Mount Bruce Nature Reserve, which is where we're currently working. He briefly took us to the grocery store (where we spent an absurd amount of money, but hopefully it'll last us a while) and then to the volunteer house, where we each get a bedroom with shared kitchen and bathroom. The only other volunteer here now is Diane, a French girl who's actually spending about 4 more months here for a college project.
So today was the first day on the job (yesterday, we just got a quick tour of the place and a good idea of what the place actually does. On that note, the nature reserve is basically a refuge for native birds that struggle to survive because of deforestation and non-native mammals that eat them. It's the first nature reserve to show that with enough pest elimination, the kiwi and other birds such as the kokako can survive on their own. The reserve has about 20 kiwi, with another 30 to 100 arriving next year! They also have smaller grounds for ducks and other birds, as well as eels and amphibians). Mack and I each covered two different trails through the forest where there are poison stations and traps for the rats, ferrets, and stoats that are the main problems for kiwis replacing bait, removing the poison, and getting rid of any dead animals caught in the traps. I myself, got about 4 rats and 1 huge, rotting ferret (yum). Very peaceful and relaxing activity for the most part! And we get to see the variety of ecosystems that exists in this very small area.
Anyways, that's all for today (internet access only until 5 pm). Pictures soon!
Thursday, April 23, 2009
Monday, April 13, 2009
Bedridden
Not me, don´t worry. We´ll get to that later.
After Justin got slightly less sick and we were all feeling up for a bit of travelling, we headed out of Vilcabamba on a mission to get to Chris´ site, which took us through Loja and then southwest through Zumbi and Paquisha. We arrived a little after 10 o´clock at night and promptly fell asleep on the concrete floors of what amounts to the living room (rented out by Chris) of Chris´ host family´s house.
The following day, we did our first real useful thing in a while, which was setting up three new computers in the local elementary school. Apparently, the computers had been sitting around for several months and required someone to build (crappy) desks to put them on. So it took us all morning and a bit of futsing to put everything together. Sadly, once the computers were on, all the kids started to play old nintendo, sega genesis, and SNES games using some game emulator that they have on all the computers. Oh well -- at least they are learning how to type ... or something.
Later that day, we were introduced to voli, which is basically a really lazy version of what the rest of the world calls volleyball. The only differences are really that you can palm the ball (a soccer ball, naturally) and hold it in your hand for a bit, plus the people on each team (3 per side) have very defined positions, which makes it far less dynamic than what I´m used to. Anyways, once you get the hang of it, it´s actually quite a bit of fun, especially playing with little kids because the adults are far too good and bet on every game they play. I also found it funny that I was usually the spiker because I was actually one of the taller people in the town. Another sport that we played on other days was indoor, basically soccer on a smaller conrete court, 5 on 5, with a smaller ball that doesn´t bounce. I was much more respectable at that sport.
Anyways, on our second, maybe third, day at the site, Chris was playing voli and hurt his back, which basically rendered him bedridden for the rest of the time that we were there. Sad, but true. From then on, the three of us spent a lot of time cooking, reading, and sleeping, plus playing the occasional voli or indoor game later in the day for exercise. We actually learned quite a bit of good cooking while we were here, including how to make granola and tortillas by scratch, turns out that it´s really easy. Chris´ host family was also extremely nice and had the four of us over for lunch and dinner on Easter, or Resurreción, as they call it here.
It was really awesome to see Chris for a little bit, even though he couldn´t move around too much -- we still managed to have a great time. Right now, Justin should be in the Galapagos or at least on the way, and Mack and I are in Loja waiting for our midnight overnight bus to Guayaquil. Good times! When back in LA, pictures will be up for sure.
Til then.
After Justin got slightly less sick and we were all feeling up for a bit of travelling, we headed out of Vilcabamba on a mission to get to Chris´ site, which took us through Loja and then southwest through Zumbi and Paquisha. We arrived a little after 10 o´clock at night and promptly fell asleep on the concrete floors of what amounts to the living room (rented out by Chris) of Chris´ host family´s house.
The following day, we did our first real useful thing in a while, which was setting up three new computers in the local elementary school. Apparently, the computers had been sitting around for several months and required someone to build (crappy) desks to put them on. So it took us all morning and a bit of futsing to put everything together. Sadly, once the computers were on, all the kids started to play old nintendo, sega genesis, and SNES games using some game emulator that they have on all the computers. Oh well -- at least they are learning how to type ... or something.
Later that day, we were introduced to voli, which is basically a really lazy version of what the rest of the world calls volleyball. The only differences are really that you can palm the ball (a soccer ball, naturally) and hold it in your hand for a bit, plus the people on each team (3 per side) have very defined positions, which makes it far less dynamic than what I´m used to. Anyways, once you get the hang of it, it´s actually quite a bit of fun, especially playing with little kids because the adults are far too good and bet on every game they play. I also found it funny that I was usually the spiker because I was actually one of the taller people in the town. Another sport that we played on other days was indoor, basically soccer on a smaller conrete court, 5 on 5, with a smaller ball that doesn´t bounce. I was much more respectable at that sport.
Anyways, on our second, maybe third, day at the site, Chris was playing voli and hurt his back, which basically rendered him bedridden for the rest of the time that we were there. Sad, but true. From then on, the three of us spent a lot of time cooking, reading, and sleeping, plus playing the occasional voli or indoor game later in the day for exercise. We actually learned quite a bit of good cooking while we were here, including how to make granola and tortillas by scratch, turns out that it´s really easy. Chris´ host family was also extremely nice and had the four of us over for lunch and dinner on Easter, or Resurreción, as they call it here.
It was really awesome to see Chris for a little bit, even though he couldn´t move around too much -- we still managed to have a great time. Right now, Justin should be in the Galapagos or at least on the way, and Mack and I are in Loja waiting for our midnight overnight bus to Guayaquil. Good times! When back in LA, pictures will be up for sure.
Til then.
Monday, April 6, 2009
Intestines don´t like intestines
Well, it´s been a fun adventure since I last wrote. We spent one more full day in Montañita, where we surfed/bodyboarded in the morning (while getting absolutely fried despite putting on sunscreen twice) and then hung out in the afternoon reading and interneting. Cooked dinner again, two pounds of calamari which we got for two dollars (gutted ourselves) with a little soy sauce-rice-vegetable concoction. Delish. And we got to meet and hang out with two of Chris´ fellow volunteers, Laura and Alea.
Next day we hopped on an afternoon bus after a morning of switching off on bodyboards and an awesome lunch. This began our journey to the next location in Vilcabamba, a hiking hotspot of southern Ecuador. The afternoon bus went back to Guayaquil, and we waited for a few hours to take an overnight bus to Loja. This is also where the trip started to take a turn for the worst, i.e. intestinal issues. Essentially, my entire time in Loja was spent in the hostel room, which was actually really nice. Chris had already been to Vilcabamba a few times and knew of a hostel called Izchaluma, a really nice place run by two German brothers (Peter and Deither). Our first afternoon there, we all just hung out. The second day, the other three went for a sweet hike (i.e. the Death Hike) called the Mandango loop, which takes you on a great ridge hike for a few hours. On the way back, they got some lunch, consisting of, you guessed it, cow intestines. Chris had eaten them before and thought them alright.
That just lead to more trouble. In the following days, Mack, Chris, and Justin all got sick. It was a fun-filled few days in Vilcabamba. Not much else to tell, or at least anything that you would probably want to hear. We did get to meet another peace corp volunteer, Corrie, who was really nice and put up with our sickness for a night.
Chris headed back to his site on Sunday, where we instead stayed in the town for the day since Justin was too sick to travel, moved to another hostel which was also very nice called Jardín Escondido. Following day we went to Chris´ site, arriving late at night.
The three days we´ve been here, we set up some computers at the local elementary school, played voli and indoor (i.e. soccer on cement), read a bunch (getting close to done with paradise lost finally), and today went to the parque nacional podocarpus outside of Zamora, which was awesome.
Sorry for the lack of pictures, I´ll post some in LA in about a week.
Next day we hopped on an afternoon bus after a morning of switching off on bodyboards and an awesome lunch. This began our journey to the next location in Vilcabamba, a hiking hotspot of southern Ecuador. The afternoon bus went back to Guayaquil, and we waited for a few hours to take an overnight bus to Loja. This is also where the trip started to take a turn for the worst, i.e. intestinal issues. Essentially, my entire time in Loja was spent in the hostel room, which was actually really nice. Chris had already been to Vilcabamba a few times and knew of a hostel called Izchaluma, a really nice place run by two German brothers (Peter and Deither). Our first afternoon there, we all just hung out. The second day, the other three went for a sweet hike (i.e. the Death Hike) called the Mandango loop, which takes you on a great ridge hike for a few hours. On the way back, they got some lunch, consisting of, you guessed it, cow intestines. Chris had eaten them before and thought them alright.
That just lead to more trouble. In the following days, Mack, Chris, and Justin all got sick. It was a fun-filled few days in Vilcabamba. Not much else to tell, or at least anything that you would probably want to hear. We did get to meet another peace corp volunteer, Corrie, who was really nice and put up with our sickness for a night.
Chris headed back to his site on Sunday, where we instead stayed in the town for the day since Justin was too sick to travel, moved to another hostel which was also very nice called Jardín Escondido. Following day we went to Chris´ site, arriving late at night.
The three days we´ve been here, we set up some computers at the local elementary school, played voli and indoor (i.e. soccer on cement), read a bunch (getting close to done with paradise lost finally), and today went to the parque nacional podocarpus outside of Zamora, which was awesome.
Sorry for the lack of pictures, I´ll post some in LA in about a week.
Monday, March 30, 2009
Quick Update
Yeeeah so we´re now in Ecuador, which is pretty crazy considering the fact that a week ago, it was snowing. Now it´s just really hot. Our way back up to Santiago was actually pretty eventful. We had assumed our flight from Punta Arenas to Santiago was direct, but turned out to have two stops on the way: Balmaceda (i.e. Coyhaique) and Puerto Montt. The pilot ditched our first landing in Balmaceda, which I´m pretty sure scared the crap out of some people, but I´m almost positive that it was just the ridiculous Patagon winds. Now, people are jumpy so we go quickly onto Puerto Montt without incident after some people checked out the plane to make sure everything was cool. Now in Puerto Montt, people started wondering what was happening, so making this short as possible, we jumped back on the original plane, then got off (which got a bit hairy after someone pulled out a professional video camera and started filming), and then they finally ordered a new plane to come which we took to Santiago. Basically, a trip that was supposed to take 3 hours took almost 12, as we finished at around 2 am. After failing to find open rooms in a few hostels, we slept at the airport in a nice little nook with no one around. Great travel day.
My only day in Santiago wasn´t particularly eventful. We walked around the city when it was really, really hot out to the Mercado Central and Plaza de Armas, as well as a few really pretty churches. We also walked through this huge market looking at food for hours. It was a crazy place. Also split a kilo of delicious strawberries in a park square.
Afterwards, we flew to Guayaquil to meet up with Chris, who very nicely showed up at the airport to meet us. We stayed in a hostel, walked around a bit, and had a beer apiece until the police yelled at us (even though there isn´t an open container law, dunno what exactly the problem was).
Next, we headed to this really cool town called Puerto López on the ocean. Our hostel was pretty awesome, split two cabanas and a delicious breakfast apiece for $10 a night. The beach there was beautiful, long stretch that we walked down the first afternoon we were there. Lunches and dinners we ate at the city center, traditional food for $1.50 a piece (things here are wonderfully cheap and in US dollars, both great things). The following day, we did this awesome trip on a boat for $15, starting with catching fish and then making fresh ceviche on the boat and eating it, just amazing. Then we went to a private beach and tossed the frisbee around for a bit, saw a whale, and snorkelled. What a day.
Today, we packed up our stuff and did a quick jaunt in a nearby national park, basically wandering around the beach, sitting around, throwing the frisbee, etc. Went back to town, ate another good lunch, and took a bus to Montañita, another little surf town on the coast, but it´s more like walking into a real life Hollister. Surfing, drinking, smoking (leaving that ambiguous), and just doing nothing. We arrived pretty late in the day so went for a jaunt down the beach and then rented surfboards for an hour going into sunset. I managed to get up on the first try, which was pretty sweet, and continued that success into the hour until I almost managed to get decapitated by another surfer. Toned things down a bit after that.
Chris cooked dinner tonight, $4 total for the four of us to eat rice with his version of an Ecuadorian tortilla, which is a little omelete type deal with onions, carrots, and peppers. And now I´m here. Off to go play euchre or pitch, whatever people are more interested in. And hopefully pictures tomorrow, if I can´t muster the strength to surf all day :-D
My only day in Santiago wasn´t particularly eventful. We walked around the city when it was really, really hot out to the Mercado Central and Plaza de Armas, as well as a few really pretty churches. We also walked through this huge market looking at food for hours. It was a crazy place. Also split a kilo of delicious strawberries in a park square.
Afterwards, we flew to Guayaquil to meet up with Chris, who very nicely showed up at the airport to meet us. We stayed in a hostel, walked around a bit, and had a beer apiece until the police yelled at us (even though there isn´t an open container law, dunno what exactly the problem was).
Next, we headed to this really cool town called Puerto López on the ocean. Our hostel was pretty awesome, split two cabanas and a delicious breakfast apiece for $10 a night. The beach there was beautiful, long stretch that we walked down the first afternoon we were there. Lunches and dinners we ate at the city center, traditional food for $1.50 a piece (things here are wonderfully cheap and in US dollars, both great things). The following day, we did this awesome trip on a boat for $15, starting with catching fish and then making fresh ceviche on the boat and eating it, just amazing. Then we went to a private beach and tossed the frisbee around for a bit, saw a whale, and snorkelled. What a day.
Today, we packed up our stuff and did a quick jaunt in a nearby national park, basically wandering around the beach, sitting around, throwing the frisbee, etc. Went back to town, ate another good lunch, and took a bus to Montañita, another little surf town on the coast, but it´s more like walking into a real life Hollister. Surfing, drinking, smoking (leaving that ambiguous), and just doing nothing. We arrived pretty late in the day so went for a jaunt down the beach and then rented surfboards for an hour going into sunset. I managed to get up on the first try, which was pretty sweet, and continued that success into the hour until I almost managed to get decapitated by another surfer. Toned things down a bit after that.
Chris cooked dinner tonight, $4 total for the four of us to eat rice with his version of an Ecuadorian tortilla, which is a little omelete type deal with onions, carrots, and peppers. And now I´m here. Off to go play euchre or pitch, whatever people are more interested in. And hopefully pictures tomorrow, if I can´t muster the strength to surf all day :-D
Tuesday, March 24, 2009
It Ours Always Best
Since we left Calafate, we travelled back into Chile to get to Puerto Natales, our base for getting prepped for going into Torres del Paine National Park, one of the more famous Chilean parks other than Pumalín. Crossing the border itself was a bit frightening -- we (i.e. I) had prepared a sauce for pasta the night before and had thrown it into my two nalgenes not thinking that the border police might be concerned about the 2 liters of fruits and vegetables that I was bringing into their country, along with Mack´s two packages of green beans, two pounds of cooked pasta, and other miscellaneous food items. I´m still not entirely sure how we managed to cross the border without getting fined, but I think if the food is cooked, somehow it doesn´t matter. I think the experience shaved a few years off of my life (especially as I was trying to literally dump the red sauce in the toilet at the border, I had no idea what to do. Mack had arrived in Santiago with a kid that had mistakenly brought an apple into the country and was fined $131 -- I couldn´t imagine what the fine would´ve been for us).
Anyways, after that somewhat harrowing experience, we got into Puerto Natales where after being solicited by a very talkative teenage girl to come stay in her house left there to go to a very reputable place called the Erratic Rock. The Erratic Rock has several different hostels and hotels, run by Americans who do some gear rental and the like while also booking tours and guides for visitors with larger budgets than ourselves. They failed to have any rooms left, but recommended a place down the street on the other end of the town square run by the 3 Isabellas -- yes, the hostel is run by three little ladies all named Isabella. It has actually been my favorite place so far to stay, since the little place had a lot of character, was clean, and had a nice kitchen. After dropping off our stuff, we went to a great talk at the Erratic Rock given by one of the two owners, Rustin, who basically gave us the low down on everything we needed to know about the park for free. Awesome. Before heading to bed, we bought food and packed.
We left for Torres early the next morning on a two hour bus ride to the park itself. It was a quite beautiful day, as we could see the Cuernos and the Torres just from entering the park. After a quick jaunt to a nearby waterfall, we took a catamaran across a lake to get to the trailhead.
A brief overview of our six day hike: we decided to do a somewhat longer version of the "W" trail (as opposed to the circuit) which would allow us a better view of Glacier Grey and make the trip a bit easier than the last one where we basically killed ourselves everyday to arrive at our destination before sunset. The trail, as you might guess, makes a somewhat "W"-like shape, though you still might have to squint a bit to see it. Feel free to visit the Torres del Paine map (it´s a pdf, just to warn you) to see the pictures of the trails.
Day 1:
So we were dropped off the catamaran at the Refugio Pehoé, one of the many ski resort type places that you can stay along your hiking journey. This also makes the trip waaaay easier for people that aren´t that serious about hiking because you can take a really light pack (i.e. clothes) and buy all of your meals at the refugios, as well as have a great night´s rest in an actual bed. Anyways, we started hiking up north on the W to have a nice view of Glacier Grey, one of the largest glaciers in the world save Greenland and Antarctica. After arriving at the Refugio Grey, we decided to walk the next hour to try to get to the free campsite where on the way, we all promptly bonked and had a pretty crappy evening trying to get our energy levels back up to par.
Day 2:
Did a quick day hike up north to try to get some better views of Glacier Grey, but turned back after a little more than an hour to arrive back at the campsite to get ready to move. We had planned to just go back to Refugio Grey, but since our morning light hike had been shorter than planned, we hiked all the way back to Refugio Pehoé where we cooked a hearty dinner in a nice little octagonal building provided to the paid campers.
Day 3:
Awful. We woke up to rain after not getting a great night´s sleep (the winds in Patagonia are no joke). Breakfast was great because we had bought some eggs and bread from the refugio which was a nice supplement to soup. The rain stopped for a bit but picked up with an even greater intensity about thirty minutes into the hike. We´ll just leave it that we did the hike in about half the time that the map says we should normally do it because we were cold and miserable. Early afternoon we got to Refugio Los Cuernos, where we changed into dry clothes and warmed up inside for the entire afternoon. Unfortunately, we went out later that night to find that the Patagon winds had completely destroyed Mack´s tent (i.e. the only one we brought) -- the guylines had been ripped off the tent, one of the aluminum poles bent in half, and the tent fly had a four-ish foot hole. One of the stranger things about the trip was that it happened to not matter at all. We simply rented a tent that was already set up for us, which was incredibly nice considering the fact that it was already quite late.
Day 4:
Backtracked to the Campamento Italiano and hiked north from there up Valle Frances with light packs. Just incredible views of the valley, plus views of glaciers and the Cuernos. Hiked back down and got back to camp at a reasonable hour. Justin was pretty wiped after the hike and dinner (which we bought that night, but was not nearly enough for hungry early-twenty somethings), so he slept while Mack and I patched the tent and pole. I learned that night that mooching and being able to speak decent spanish is totally worth it -- after talking with a bunch of the guys that worked there, I got a large loaf of bread for Mack and I to share for free (otherwise costing about $8). Sweet.
Day 5:
Hiked from Refugio Los Cuernos past Refugio Chileno to Campamento Las Torres about an hour away from the mirador of the Towers. The hike itself was pretty uneventful. It was a scorcher, and we were hiking uphill most of the day, thus leading to a bit of sweating. The winds in the valley leading up to the Towers were just ridiculous, enough to push you from where you were standing. We made sure to pick a somewhat more sheltered spot in the camp so that the tent hopefully wouldn´t get destroyed. Cooked dinner in a nice little shelter where we were able to meet come very cool people from all around the world (actually, one of the best things about the Torres del Paine hike was meeting lots of people). Prepped for our morning hike and headed off into a deep sleep.
Day 6:
Woke up ass early to what one might call a wintry mix, what sounded like mostly rain but turned out to be mostly snow. After sadly putting on our clothes to begin the hike, we moved pretty quickly up to the base of the towers in a few inches of snow. Once we had arrived, we could barely make out the towers because of the snow, which naturally turned into whiteout conditions soon thereafter. However, it did clear up a little bit for a few minutes, which were some great picture opportunities. Headed back down to the campamento, packed up, and then booked it down to the bottom of the valley to Refugio Las Torres, a Vail-esque huge hotel where we hung out until we were able to catch a van and then another bus out of the park. After arriving back in Puerto Natales, we bought bus tickets for the next day to Punta Arenas (our current location) and dinner in the form of many calories (1/3 kilo of cheeseburger for each of us with onions, peppers, eggs, mushrooms plus we split 2.5 L of ice cream for dessert). Overall, awesome trip.
Since the hike, we´ve travelled to Punta Arenas, which is the furthest south we´ve been yet on the trip. It´s a pretty big port town of over 100,000 people. Lots of character. The first day we got here, we basically hung out at the internet cafe and walked around town for a few hours, staying at the Hostel Fitz Roy. Today, we backed up pictures and took care of things on the internet, headed to this absolutely terrible center of consumerism called the Zona Franca (no taxes), and then went on a very cool personal brewery tour of the Cervecería Austral. Tomorrow, off to Santiago and then Friday to Ecuador to see Beels. Very excited.
Lastly, I can´t upload any photos because I can´t convert them to jpegs. I urge you to check out Mack´s blog for photos of everything, plus another take on the trip. Justin has also documented the past week or so in his own style.
´Til next time.
Anyways, after that somewhat harrowing experience, we got into Puerto Natales where after being solicited by a very talkative teenage girl to come stay in her house left there to go to a very reputable place called the Erratic Rock. The Erratic Rock has several different hostels and hotels, run by Americans who do some gear rental and the like while also booking tours and guides for visitors with larger budgets than ourselves. They failed to have any rooms left, but recommended a place down the street on the other end of the town square run by the 3 Isabellas -- yes, the hostel is run by three little ladies all named Isabella. It has actually been my favorite place so far to stay, since the little place had a lot of character, was clean, and had a nice kitchen. After dropping off our stuff, we went to a great talk at the Erratic Rock given by one of the two owners, Rustin, who basically gave us the low down on everything we needed to know about the park for free. Awesome. Before heading to bed, we bought food and packed.
We left for Torres early the next morning on a two hour bus ride to the park itself. It was a quite beautiful day, as we could see the Cuernos and the Torres just from entering the park. After a quick jaunt to a nearby waterfall, we took a catamaran across a lake to get to the trailhead.
A brief overview of our six day hike: we decided to do a somewhat longer version of the "W" trail (as opposed to the circuit) which would allow us a better view of Glacier Grey and make the trip a bit easier than the last one where we basically killed ourselves everyday to arrive at our destination before sunset. The trail, as you might guess, makes a somewhat "W"-like shape, though you still might have to squint a bit to see it. Feel free to visit the Torres del Paine map (it´s a pdf, just to warn you) to see the pictures of the trails.
Day 1:
So we were dropped off the catamaran at the Refugio Pehoé, one of the many ski resort type places that you can stay along your hiking journey. This also makes the trip waaaay easier for people that aren´t that serious about hiking because you can take a really light pack (i.e. clothes) and buy all of your meals at the refugios, as well as have a great night´s rest in an actual bed. Anyways, we started hiking up north on the W to have a nice view of Glacier Grey, one of the largest glaciers in the world save Greenland and Antarctica. After arriving at the Refugio Grey, we decided to walk the next hour to try to get to the free campsite where on the way, we all promptly bonked and had a pretty crappy evening trying to get our energy levels back up to par.
Day 2:
Did a quick day hike up north to try to get some better views of Glacier Grey, but turned back after a little more than an hour to arrive back at the campsite to get ready to move. We had planned to just go back to Refugio Grey, but since our morning light hike had been shorter than planned, we hiked all the way back to Refugio Pehoé where we cooked a hearty dinner in a nice little octagonal building provided to the paid campers.
Day 3:
Awful. We woke up to rain after not getting a great night´s sleep (the winds in Patagonia are no joke). Breakfast was great because we had bought some eggs and bread from the refugio which was a nice supplement to soup. The rain stopped for a bit but picked up with an even greater intensity about thirty minutes into the hike. We´ll just leave it that we did the hike in about half the time that the map says we should normally do it because we were cold and miserable. Early afternoon we got to Refugio Los Cuernos, where we changed into dry clothes and warmed up inside for the entire afternoon. Unfortunately, we went out later that night to find that the Patagon winds had completely destroyed Mack´s tent (i.e. the only one we brought) -- the guylines had been ripped off the tent, one of the aluminum poles bent in half, and the tent fly had a four-ish foot hole. One of the stranger things about the trip was that it happened to not matter at all. We simply rented a tent that was already set up for us, which was incredibly nice considering the fact that it was already quite late.
Day 4:
Backtracked to the Campamento Italiano and hiked north from there up Valle Frances with light packs. Just incredible views of the valley, plus views of glaciers and the Cuernos. Hiked back down and got back to camp at a reasonable hour. Justin was pretty wiped after the hike and dinner (which we bought that night, but was not nearly enough for hungry early-twenty somethings), so he slept while Mack and I patched the tent and pole. I learned that night that mooching and being able to speak decent spanish is totally worth it -- after talking with a bunch of the guys that worked there, I got a large loaf of bread for Mack and I to share for free (otherwise costing about $8). Sweet.
Day 5:
Hiked from Refugio Los Cuernos past Refugio Chileno to Campamento Las Torres about an hour away from the mirador of the Towers. The hike itself was pretty uneventful. It was a scorcher, and we were hiking uphill most of the day, thus leading to a bit of sweating. The winds in the valley leading up to the Towers were just ridiculous, enough to push you from where you were standing. We made sure to pick a somewhat more sheltered spot in the camp so that the tent hopefully wouldn´t get destroyed. Cooked dinner in a nice little shelter where we were able to meet come very cool people from all around the world (actually, one of the best things about the Torres del Paine hike was meeting lots of people). Prepped for our morning hike and headed off into a deep sleep.
Day 6:
Woke up ass early to what one might call a wintry mix, what sounded like mostly rain but turned out to be mostly snow. After sadly putting on our clothes to begin the hike, we moved pretty quickly up to the base of the towers in a few inches of snow. Once we had arrived, we could barely make out the towers because of the snow, which naturally turned into whiteout conditions soon thereafter. However, it did clear up a little bit for a few minutes, which were some great picture opportunities. Headed back down to the campamento, packed up, and then booked it down to the bottom of the valley to Refugio Las Torres, a Vail-esque huge hotel where we hung out until we were able to catch a van and then another bus out of the park. After arriving back in Puerto Natales, we bought bus tickets for the next day to Punta Arenas (our current location) and dinner in the form of many calories (1/3 kilo of cheeseburger for each of us with onions, peppers, eggs, mushrooms plus we split 2.5 L of ice cream for dessert). Overall, awesome trip.
Since the hike, we´ve travelled to Punta Arenas, which is the furthest south we´ve been yet on the trip. It´s a pretty big port town of over 100,000 people. Lots of character. The first day we got here, we basically hung out at the internet cafe and walked around town for a few hours, staying at the Hostel Fitz Roy. Today, we backed up pictures and took care of things on the internet, headed to this absolutely terrible center of consumerism called the Zona Franca (no taxes), and then went on a very cool personal brewery tour of the Cervecería Austral. Tomorrow, off to Santiago and then Friday to Ecuador to see Beels. Very excited.
Lastly, I can´t upload any photos because I can´t convert them to jpegs. I urge you to check out Mack´s blog for photos of everything, plus another take on the trip. Justin has also documented the past week or so in his own style.
´Til next time.
Sunday, March 15, 2009
Chaltén and Calafate
Heyo.
So after our four days of waiting at the estancia to leave, we finally headed out at 5:45 in the morning to catch a bus leaving around 8 in Cochrane, headed to Villa O´Higgins. After staying overnight in the town in a hospedaje, we started on one of our more intense travel days of the trip, beginning with a bus at 8. We arrived at a dock at 8.30, and hopped on a boat going across Lago San Martin with some beautiful sunrise pictures (wish I could post pictures, but it´ll probably be a while until I´ll be able to get going on that again). We arrived about noon, checked out of Chile at a little carabiñero office, and crossed the border on foot on a 15ish mile hike that took us until about 6. Fortunately, we arrived just in time to check into Argentina and catch 7 pm ferry across the smaller and very beautiful Lago del Desierto, with a huge glacier on our right and Mount Fitz Roy shrouded in clouds as we headed South. After taking a bus, we finally arrived in El Chaltén, a small town of 2000ish people at the foot of the Fitz Roy Range. Ended up staying in probably the crappiest hostel in town at the recommendation of two French girls that we had talked to on the way there, but we went out for our first decent meal in a long time that wasn´t carb (bread, pureéd potatoes, etc) + meat (sheep). Also, Mack and Justin have been sick for quite a while now, originating a little before we left from the estancia -- not sure how I dodged that bullet.
The following day, we did a quick day hike to see Mount Fitz Roy in the afternoon after spending the morning looking for a better place to sleep (found an awesome hostel about 2 blocks down the road). We spent a bit of time later that day debating how much longer to stay in the town, since we hadn´t yet seen Fitz Roy in all it´s glory (google image search it if you haven´t seen the mountain, it´s just incredible). Long story short, we decided to stay the next day which ended up being a rest day because of rain, and then got up ass-early (i.e. 3.45) the following day to do a 12k hike to get a nice panoramic view of Fitz Roy and surrounding mountains, including Cerro Torre. We had banked on the fact that the weather report had indicated good weather, and I think we got incredibly lucky because we got some ridiculous views of the mountain range (Mack may have some pictures up) just at sunrise and for about an hour afterwards. Unfortunately, we didn´t bring enough clothing and were all relatively cold, especially Mack, so we headed down after just an incredible view. Defintely a once in a lifetime experience, and incredibly lucky.
After the hike, we had some leftover rice and lentils at the hostel and left on a bus for El Calafate, which is SSE of Chaltén on our way to Torres del Paine. We decided to spend a day here, i.e. today, to go see the Perito Morreno glacier, which is essentially the only reason why this town exists. Way more touristy than Chaltén, and much more expensive. Unfortunately, we woke up early again this morning (we´re pretty tired at this point) and got to the glacier before sunrise to find that it was cloudy and rainy. Oh well. However, we did escape the $25 entrance fee by getting there early, which was awesome. We´re also hitting up an all you can eat place for dinner tonight, which is going to be awesome. On to Puerto Natales tomorrow, last stop before Torres. Until next time!
Check out Mack´s pictures.
So after our four days of waiting at the estancia to leave, we finally headed out at 5:45 in the morning to catch a bus leaving around 8 in Cochrane, headed to Villa O´Higgins. After staying overnight in the town in a hospedaje, we started on one of our more intense travel days of the trip, beginning with a bus at 8. We arrived at a dock at 8.30, and hopped on a boat going across Lago San Martin with some beautiful sunrise pictures (wish I could post pictures, but it´ll probably be a while until I´ll be able to get going on that again). We arrived about noon, checked out of Chile at a little carabiñero office, and crossed the border on foot on a 15ish mile hike that took us until about 6. Fortunately, we arrived just in time to check into Argentina and catch 7 pm ferry across the smaller and very beautiful Lago del Desierto, with a huge glacier on our right and Mount Fitz Roy shrouded in clouds as we headed South. After taking a bus, we finally arrived in El Chaltén, a small town of 2000ish people at the foot of the Fitz Roy Range. Ended up staying in probably the crappiest hostel in town at the recommendation of two French girls that we had talked to on the way there, but we went out for our first decent meal in a long time that wasn´t carb (bread, pureéd potatoes, etc) + meat (sheep). Also, Mack and Justin have been sick for quite a while now, originating a little before we left from the estancia -- not sure how I dodged that bullet.
The following day, we did a quick day hike to see Mount Fitz Roy in the afternoon after spending the morning looking for a better place to sleep (found an awesome hostel about 2 blocks down the road). We spent a bit of time later that day debating how much longer to stay in the town, since we hadn´t yet seen Fitz Roy in all it´s glory (google image search it if you haven´t seen the mountain, it´s just incredible). Long story short, we decided to stay the next day which ended up being a rest day because of rain, and then got up ass-early (i.e. 3.45) the following day to do a 12k hike to get a nice panoramic view of Fitz Roy and surrounding mountains, including Cerro Torre. We had banked on the fact that the weather report had indicated good weather, and I think we got incredibly lucky because we got some ridiculous views of the mountain range (Mack may have some pictures up) just at sunrise and for about an hour afterwards. Unfortunately, we didn´t bring enough clothing and were all relatively cold, especially Mack, so we headed down after just an incredible view. Defintely a once in a lifetime experience, and incredibly lucky.
After the hike, we had some leftover rice and lentils at the hostel and left on a bus for El Calafate, which is SSE of Chaltén on our way to Torres del Paine. We decided to spend a day here, i.e. today, to go see the Perito Morreno glacier, which is essentially the only reason why this town exists. Way more touristy than Chaltén, and much more expensive. Unfortunately, we woke up early again this morning (we´re pretty tired at this point) and got to the glacier before sunrise to find that it was cloudy and rainy. Oh well. However, we did escape the $25 entrance fee by getting there early, which was awesome. We´re also hitting up an all you can eat place for dinner tonight, which is going to be awesome. On to Puerto Natales tomorrow, last stop before Torres. Until next time!
Check out Mack´s pictures.
Sunday, March 8, 2009
A couple more ...
So a few more pictures that I forgot to post a while ago. Here´s Justin and Mack with the fish that they caught the second day of fishing nearly three weeks ago.
A very happy Mack cutting up literally half of a lamb in a shack. This is pretty normal Chilean territory. One of the gauchos, Luigi, helped Mack with the first few cuts, and then left Mack to the rest. Made for a very delicious dinner. Bob Volpi would be proud.
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