BIENVENIDOS A PATAGONIA!!

Punta Arenas – Puerto Natales

Para llegar hasta Punta Arenas, se sale de Chile para circular por Argentina y se vuelve a entrar mas al Sur. Resulta “curioso” pasar todo un dia, toda la noche y otro dia mas encerrado en un bus... Pero al bajar del bus, Dany ya estaba ahi esperandonos y nos alegro la llegada. Llevabamos como un año sin vernos y el conseguir encontrarnos ahi al otro lado del mundo fue genial. Pero aqui no se acababa la aventura. Estabamos a 17 de Febrero por la tarde ytodavia teniamos 1 hora para hacer la compra y luego volver a hacer 2 horas de bus para ir hasta Puerto Natales.

Ahi fuimos al hostal Backpackers Kawashkar que habiamos reservado y la verdad es que fueron super profesionales. Se lo recomendaria a cualquiera que vaya a Puerto Natales con la intencion de patear por el Parque National Torres del Paine. Ahi nos indicaron todo sobre el recorrido “W” que queriamos hacer y tambien alquilamos el material que nos hacia falta (tienda de acampar, sacos de dormir y cooking set).

Asi que el 18 por la mañana pillamos el bus que nos iba a llevar al parque nacional.

Punta Arenas

This was our first stop after finishing our 30 hour bus journey, we had finally made it to Patagonia!!! Just as we were getting our bags from the bus Danny arrived up behind us and that was it, the Patagonian adventure was about to begin.

Puerto Natales

After a quick hour in Punta Arenas to buy our food supplies for our 5 day camping in Torres del Paine, we had another 3 hour bus journey on to Punta Arenas. Thankfully we booked a hostel in advance as we were wrecked by the time we got there at 10pm. (Although we did have enough energy to go for some dinner and beers to celebrate seeing Danny.). Then the next morning it was full steam ahead sorting out tents, sleeping bags, gas stoves etc and then on we went to the famous National Patagonia Park, Torres del Paine, which was to be our home for the next 4 nights.

Parque Nacional Torres del Paine

Desde Puerto Natales, hay varias empresas que te llevan al parque. Cuesta unos 5000 pesos ida y vuelta. La entrada del parque son 15.000 pesos (4000 si eres Chileno).

Hay varias opciones para patear dentro del parque. Los trecks mas comunes son el “W” y la “O”. Nosotros optamos por la W (podreis ver en el mapa del parque porque se llama asi...) asi que teniamos que decidir si empezabamos por el lado de las torres o por el glaciar Grey. Como al entrar dentro del parque hacia buen tiempo, nos aconsejaron ir directamente a las torres ya que no siempre estan despejadas. Pateamos entre 3 y 4 horas para llegar hasta el campamento Torres (este es gratis). Pasamos la noche ahi y nos levantamos a las 5.30 de la mañana para subir a las torres para ver el amanecer ahi. (un pelin menos de 1 hora de subida). Como estaba un poco nublado no vimos los rayos de sol sobre las torres pero aun asi valio la pena subir y ver aquel paisaje. De vuelta al campamento, nos hechamos una horita en las tiendas para dormir un ratito mas y luego ya levantamos el campamento para dirigirnos al campamanento britanico donde teniamos planeado pasar la segunda noche. El camino de vuelta hacia el Albergue de las Torres (nuestro punto de partida el dia anterior) fue toda una aventura ya que habia unas rachas de viento de unos 100km por hora. Por momentos nos teniamos que agarrar a los arboles para no caernos, sobre todo que los macutos aumentan la resistencia al aire. Todo el camino hacia el campamento se realiza por un senderito que transcurre entre arbustillos y bosquecillos bajos. Se dominan varios lagos y lagunas de diferentes tonalidades. Que tranquilidad. La verdad es que estamos teniendo suerte con el tiempo. Hace sol y no hace nada de frio. Estamos caminando en manga corta. Incluso el pic-nic lo hacemos sentados en la hierba tranquilamente. Charlando los tres de buen rollo.

Las mochilas pesan bastante y auqnue teniamos planeado dormir en el campamento Italiano, cuando llegamos al Albergue de los Cuernos decidimos pararnos y dormir aqui, aunque sea de pago (3500 pesos por cabeza). Estamos a una hora y pico del campamento Italiano pero segun tenemos ententido es todo subida y ya estamos bastante tralladitos. Aprovechamos de estar al lado del refugio para pegarnos una buena ducha y la verdad es que se agradece... Por la mañana salimos tempranito hacia la parte “central” de la W. Segun vamos subiendo hacia el campamento Italiano, nos damos cuenta que hemos hecho bien en pararnos antes la noche anterior... Segun llegamos al campamento Italiano, plantamos la tienda de camping y asi subimos mas ligeros hacia el campamento Britanico y el mirado que esta media hora mas arriba. El paisaje aqui es diferente. Estamos al otro lado de las torres y se aprecian varias montañas con glaciares, cascadas, bosques de arboles muertos. Despues de una buena parada en el mirador, sentados al sol, volvemos tranquilamente hacia el campamento. Ahora que recuerdo, me tuve que despedir de mis gafas de sol que saltaron de mi cabeza a pegarse un chapuzon cuando me agache para pillar agua en el rio...que putada.

Tercer dia, 20 de Febrero, nos dirigimos hacia el glaciar Grey con el objetivo de dormir en el campamento Grey. De camino, nos paramos en el refugio Pehoe donde nos apretamos una hamburguesa de escandalo. Es la 1 de la tarde y solo tenemos un par de horas para ir hasta el campamento pero la lluvia y el viento que hay afuera no son muy motivadores... Es lo que hay asi que nos ponemos los ponchos y al ataque. Segun nos vamos acercando al galciar, podemos apreciar los bloques de hielo que flotan en el lago Grey que vamos bordeando. Una vez en el camping, ponemos nuestras tiendas y salimos hacia un punto mas arriba de donde se ve bien el glaciar. Es impresionante y aunque no haga muy buen tiempo, los colores son sorprendentes. Vemos como a unos 50m frente a nosotros, el glaciar que baja de las montañas y muere en el lago. Cuanto medira la pared de hielo que vemos haya. 15m? Mas. Apostamos con Dany. El dice que hay como 30m y yo digo que 15 como mucho...al final preguntamos y tenia razon el...

De vuelta al camping nos preparamos una buena caserola de puré y unas salchichas y nos vamos al sobre prontito ya que tenemos que madrugar para volver hacia el refugio Pehoe para pillar el catamaran que nos llevará de vuelta al punto de partida.

Han sido 4 dias de pateada fantasticos. Que bueno ver al huevón de Dany y sobre todo en un entorno asi.

De vuelta a Puerto Natales, devolvemos el material que habiamos alquilado, una ducha, algo de comer y pillamos el bus para ir a Punta Arenas. Punto en el que al amanecer, nos separamos. Dany coge un vuelo para el Norte y Annemarie y yo vamos a Ushuaia donde hemos quedado con los papis Berte!

Hasta luego Patagonia Chilena...

Torres del Paine

After just over an hour in the bus from Puerto Natales we arrived at the entrance to the famous national park in the heart of the Chilean Patagonia, known as Torres del Paine. Weighted down with our backpacks full of food and camping equipment we started the four hour uphill hike towards our first campsite, Campamento Torres. The plan for the next 4 nights and 5 days was to cover the 78 km of the “W” hike,  which promised to lead us around amazing snow covered mountains, high towering peaks, lakes and typically barren Patagonian landscapes. Thankfully the famous Patagonian wind didn’t huff and puff too much on that first day so we arrived safely to the campsite that night and I received my first lesson on how to put up a tent. Since I had only ever camped twice before (Inca Trail and Huayna Potosi) and both times the tents were put up for us, it was all new to me. Apparently I was a good student since it didn’t take long to get our tent on it´s feet and then the 3 of us set about cooking dinner on our small gas stove. Looking through our food supplies it was going to be a few days of pasta and hotdogs! We had an early start on the morning of the second day as Danny set his alarm for 5am and we started the 45min uphill trek to the bottom of the famous tower peaks, apparently it was an amazing spot to watch the sunrise so off we went. It was a tough climb (esp when your still half asleep!!) but the views of the tower made it all worth it. Although we didn’t get to see the sunrise as it was too cloudy L. Then just as we were about to descend again to the campsite for breakfast the famous winds we had been warned about started with force!! It made the trip down rather difficult and on more than one occasion we felt like we were going to be blown away, good thing there were plenty of rocks for us to cling on to!  Breakfast when we eventually made it down was well deserved! After a small nap we packed up the tent and began the long hike towards the next campsite. We were told that the weather can be very unpredictable in Torres del Paine and this was certainly the case on the second day. The sun disappeared giving way to the wind which soon brought along some rain showers and even more wind! At one point the wind was so bad, just as we were crossing a small path above a high gorge, that I got stuck and couldn’t advance, baseball hats went flying and Danny came close to loosing his backpack cover. We eventually got a slight break in the winds and began advancing again but we met others who found it too much and turned back. Thankfully though the bad weather went as quickly as it arrived and by lunch time the sun was shining, allowing us to have a picnic under the baking heat! The good weather continued and we arrived later that night at the second campsite, Campamento Cuernos. As it turned out the second day was by far the toughest and longest day so we were more than weary that second night when we arrived….and then we had to put up our tents!!! Over the following two days we continued on through the hike blessed with sun and good weather. It made all the difference as the scenery was amazing and we got to enjoy it without peering out from underneath ponchos and rain covers! We talked to a good few people along the way too and although there were quite a few people travelling light as they were sleeping in the refuges instead of camping…we were happy to be doing it the real way…except perhaps when we peeped into the refuges at night and saw them eating big hot meals when we were facing once again pasta and hotdogs! There were also a few rivers to cross along the way, the worst one being on the third day when we had to take off our shoes, roll up our clothes and try to not lose our balance as we went from one rock to another, with the ice cold river storming fiercely down between our legs. More than one person lost their balance and took a quick dip in the freezing water but luckily we made it over okay. Both Danny and Antoine had to do a bit of dancing at one stage to try and get their balance back but thankfully no one went down. One of the highlights of the whole hike was the fourth day when we arrived at the final campsite, put up our tents on the shore of the lake and walked just 5 minutes more to see the famous Grey Glacier. It was incredible to see the huge sea of ice wedged in between two mountains and then just in front, various pieces of sky blue ice which has broken off. It made all the sweating and pasta eating worth it! Then on the morning of the 5^th day our adventure came to an end as we walked the last 3 hours down to the boat which was to take us back to the park entrance. I can´t say it is an easy hike as it has some really tough parts and in general you finish exhausted. Although thankfully we had no problems other than a few blisters and a lost pair of glasses which fell into the river from Antoine´s head as he was washing our lunch dishes! Once on the bus back to Puerto Natales I think all we thought about was some good food, a hot shower and a real bed! However the day wasn’t over yet….after leaving our equipment in Puerto Natales we had another 3 hours by bus to arrive at Punta Arenas. Once off the bus there we had no energy left so gave in to a local woman offering us accommodation in her house. It turned out to be far from luxury but she did have showers and beds so it was enough for us. The night came to an end with a few beers to say goodbye to Torres del Paine and Danny, as we were leaving the following morning by bus to Ushuaia and he was getting a flight up to Santiago. See you soon Danny.