day 1 - into the wild

so we decided to chronicle our journey after all... 

blogged each night in the tent as we fell asleep.

here it is... day by day. our torres del paine adventure!!

weighed down by our gear, we caught a bus from our hostel to
      the park - torres del paine (meaning blue towers... I guess
      paine is the name of a tribe that once lived in this area...
      tho pete also read it means towers of pain, suppose we'll
      decide after this week). our bus driver, like all the best
      drivers here, drove like such a maniac I was certain this
      would be the most dangerous part of our trip. we would
      literally skid out on the gravel in the corners and fish tail
      in the straight aways and he was going so fast I got that
      roller coaster feeling every time there was a small
      downhill... just to get the adrenaline flowing before we
      start hiking I guess.
    

      we stopped to pay the park fee, 18.000 Chilean pesos (double
      that -ish to get the us conversion - they say this is the
      second most expensive national park in s. america, some say
      in the world) and get instruction on all of the things we
      can't do, in particular build fires (after a huge fire last
      year, started by careless - idiot - campers at a
      non-designated sight, threatened to burn the entire park to
      the ground... sad for everyone since then who comes here, we
      got a taste of the charred earth on our drive in)... next a
      video in spanish about the park and safety, with the funniest
      english translation interpretation - I think some meaning
      might have been lost but we got the gist.
    

      another bus ride and we were almost there! turquoise lagoons
      came in and out of view and we would get glimpses of the
      towering peaks disappearing into the clouds. the weather was
      borderline. we had been warned this place will throw all 4
      seasons at you in 1 day... try in 1 hour. it is fall here and
      the leaves give it away, just starting to change to brilliant
      yellows and deep reds. and the weather is also becoming
      season appropriate - at a stop today the wind that blew
      across the lake would hit the van with such force it would
      rock violently, pelted by rain and lake water. I wouldn't
      think so much about it except that we heard the wind gusts
      here can easily lift a hiker and consequently sprained wrists
      are more common than twisted ankles because hikers are caught
      off guard and get slammed to the ground by this invisible
      force so easy to underestimate.
    

      guanacos littered the hillside as we headed deeper into the
      park. they are like llamas/alpacas only cuter :) and we also
      ooed and awed as a massive eagle took flight directly next to
      the bus and pumped his wings, keeping up with us, or the
      other way around, just for a few beautiful seconds before he
      took off to higher altitudes and more impressive views.
    

      4.5 hours later (we were told 2.5 to get into the park but
      nothing goes quite according to plan here - keeps it
      interesting), we were finally dropped at the adminastracion
      entrance to the park, which creates "the q"... a little
      confusing but "the w" is the most popular hike here and the
      one we intend to do, with a few offshoots. the q is the hike
      in we did today plus the circuit, which is the W and then
      some. anyway, we had to hike a road to get to the trailhead
      and one guy told us go to this point then left and the other
      guy we talked to said said go to that point and take a right
      and what we eventually figured out was that you must go left
      then right and then the road leads to the trail.
    

      once on the trail we booked it because we were running out of
      daylight. the hike was less than 5 miles so we figured best
      to just get to camp with some dusky light remaining... but it
      was challenging not to be distracted by the 360 views of
      snowy mountain ranges, just like all the photos I have seen
      from Patagonia only more amazing because it was in real life,
      except that it was so incredible I kept wondering 'is this
      real life?!' and I couldnt stop taking photos of the clouds
      doing crazy things on the tips of the mountain tops and as
      the moon got brighter the clouds got pinker and it was nearly
      impossible to tear my eyes away from, which complicated
      hiking - thank goodness for trekking poles, they were
      definitely to credit for me not having taken a tumble or two
      today already...
    

      the wind was wild and everything we expected it to be from
      the stories. I guess it is the worst in the summer and dies
      down in the winter but if today was a transition to milder
      winds then I cannot imagine how people tolerate summers here.
      it is the kind of wind that peels your eyelashes back - yes,
      it was a direct headwind our entire hike. we leaned hard into
      it and I reminisced on visits to crown point in the gorge
      where my dad used to take the hands of me and my sister and
      tell us to jump and we would linger in the air, flying by the
      pure force of the relentless gusts of wind the columbia river
      gorge is so famous for. and if the wind here decides to
      snatch up your hat, you'd better be ready to sprint (thank
      goodness for pete's long legs), because that thing will be a
      mile away in a minute! this wind would slap you in the face
      so hard I could feel it go in my nose, slam into my
      oropharynx, and come right back out my mouth. it made it
      nearly impossible to talk, unless we yelled, and even then it
      would jumble our words and lead to a conversation of
      'huh?'s...
    

      we didn't see a soul on the trail our whole hike... camp was
      closer than I was expecting, or at least I can say that now
      that I am here, which was nice because our bags are a little
      large and I'm more than a little worried about our long day
      tomo. It is just us and one other couple in camp (funny
      story, when we used pete's uv steripen they asked us if they
      could use it. we were puzzled, what had they been using to
      sterilize the water during their trek? apparently nothing;
      they said the water is clean enough from the glaciers to
      drink straight from the streams... we lent them the pen). we
      set our tent near the cooking shelter, right along a big
      river with a stream nearby for water... dinner was couscous
      and tuna and spices, pretty darn good and for fear that we
      wouldn't have enough to fill us we overcompensated and made
      wayyy more than what would have easily filled us - first day
      is trial and error I guess.
    

      the stars were insane and we felt so fortunate to have a
      clearing in the sky to make out the milky way and orion's
      belt and hunt for the southern cross while sipping fireball
      :) incredible. it is so clear here!! no light pollution until
      the other side of the world! but yes, it is windy even at
      night. and between the wind and clear skies it is chilly,
      even for the fall, so we are bundled and thankful for all of
      our fancy gear. we'll see if we can sleep through the gusts
      so violent it sounds as though our poor tent will be ripped
      apart...