After El Chalten we headed to El Calafate to see Perito
Moreno, the famous glacier in the area. We’d already gotten a recommendation
from the couple we met in El Chalten who said that the best way to enjoy the
glacier was with a bottle of wine and some snacks. The buses that run to the
glacier drop you off and leave you there for 5 hours so you have plenty of time
to hang out. You can move around to the different viewing platforms to watch
the huge chunks of ice fall of the glacier. Every time a new piece of ice falls
it sounds like thunder because the pieces are so massive and fall from so high.
The size of the wave created when the ice falls in the water gives you an idea
of how big the piece of ice is.
We spent one day in El Calafate just hanging out at the
hostel so I could finish up some work for my TEFL-C certification. During the
day we met 4 French girls who were also just hanging out at the hostel and cooking.
Later in the evening they told us that they were street performers and they make
money by dressing up like clowns and putting on shows! Next thing we knew, they
were all in full costume and playing instruments. We had to get a picture with
them…
For those of you who keep up with the blog, you know that we
were planning to celebrate the New Year out on our 5 day trek through Torres
del Paine. As usual we were running a few days behind schedule, so we didn’t
make it out to the park in time. Instead we had our celebration in the little
town right outside of Torres called Puerto Natales. The bars in this town don’t
open until around 12:30/1, making it hard to have a traditional celebration
right at midnight. We found a little restaurant where we had some salmon and
Austral beers and got to watch the countdown on their flat screen TV. Once it
was the New Year, the waiter came around with champagne and another traditional
cocktail for everyone at the restaurant. It was not quite as impressive as last
year’s celebration in LA’s Bonaventure Hotel, but it was nice. After the
restaurant a few of the bars had finally opened up, so we stopped off at one
dive bar playing 80’s music for a few more drinks and some dancing. It’s
incredible how late people do simple things like dinner and going out,
especially in Argentina. Dinner happens around 10/11 and then the party starts
around 12/1.
We had saved New Year’s day to finish all of our little
errands before our trek. Neither Brett nor I thought about the fact that most
places are closed on holidays, so we were scrambling to find open shops to get
groceries, propane and clean laundry. We still didn’t have anything that we
could take with us for lunch and we didn’t want to have to buy groceries at
refugios inside the park, because we knew how expensive it would be. As we
walked through the city we came across about 15 little markets that were all
closed and we were so happy when we finally came across a carniceria that was
open. We got some bread and chorizo sausage to make sandwiches with. We bought
10 sausages for $3. A really good deal, but not the best sausage. I was so
disappointed when we made sandwiches on the first day and realized how terrible
the chorizo was, but on the second day they tasted much better! It’s amazing
how hiking for 7 hours a day can change your appetite!
To get out to the trail, we had to take a 4 hour bus and a
30 minute catamaran ride to get to Refugio Grey. We chose to complete the W
circuit going from West to East, so at about 1pm that afternoon we set out on
the first stem of the W, up toward Glacier Grey. I want to clarify some details
about this trek just so that everyone is clear about what this hike is all
about. We carried our tent, entire food supply, stove, clothes, Brett’s water
bottle full of Rum and my giant novel (the one that I never even got the chance
to read) for 5 days. The whole hike is about 80 km in total. Needless to say, I
wasn’t sure that I was going to make it all the way through day 5 without
showering and just living in the wild. Being the good girlfriend that I am and
a small bribe from Brett convinced me to take on the challenge. ;)
The first day we walked from 1pm to 7pm. We took a lot of
breaks along the way because carrying a huge pack and walking all day gets
tiring! A few kilometers in, the huge glacier and the lake that it created came
into view. It was incredible! The lakes created by glaciers are the most
unusual milky, light blue color. They get the white tint from the minerals from
the glacier that are still suspended by the particles of water. Really, all
over Patagonia we have seen the most incredibly colored bodies of water.
There is a refugio at the top of stem 1, but we’d decided to
go a little further to the free campsite, Las Guardas, that sits on a cliff
right above the glacier. As the day went on and I got tired of walking, I attempted
to convince Brett that we should just stay at the refugio. He assured me that
it would be worth it, so we kept on walking. The last stretch of trail between
the refugio and our camp was the most difficult of the day. There was a lot of
steep climbing and one small glacial stream to cross. We made it there just in
time to be greeted by swarms of little flies, so we cooked dinner very
carefully under the cover of our tent. After dinner we walked up to the mirador
where we got a stretching view of the massive glacier. The up-close view of the
glacier was worth the extra walking we had to do to get there!
On this hike we slept so much at night and woke up to stiff
bodies. I’m used to exercise, but aside from this trip I’ve never walked so
much in my entire life so my body felt it at the end of the day. Plus, it
changes everything when you’re carrying weight on your back. My body was
feeling much older than it is with all the aches and pains.
We set out the next day and ready to make it to the free
campamento, Italiano, right at the start of stem 2. Day two went by much easier.
We were walking faster and taking fewer breaks. If Brett would have been hiking
on his own, he certainly could have made much better time. I take a lot more
breaks and since I walk slower, he lets me walk in front just to be nice. We
settled into a good rhythm and made it to Italiano pretty easily within 7 ½
hours. By the time we arrived, there were already a lot of tents set up but we
found a nice, slightly secluded area to set up our tent. Our dinner menu on the
hike was slightly limited as we only had pasta, but this too was delicious
after a day of walking!
We attended an information session about the trek at Erratic
Rock, one of the hostels in Puerto Natales. The talk was helpful and it was
here that we were told that the 2nd stem of the hike, Valle de
Frances, is the jewel of the entire park. Because of this, we were extra
excited as we stepped out on our third day. The first site that we came to was
a glacier hanging from one of the mountains. This glacier, like Perito Moreno,
had ice breaking off of it causing huge, thundering echoes throughout the
entire valley. We chose a place for lunch with a good view of the glacier so we
could see all the avalanche-like ice breaking off. As we went further, the
famous granite towers came into view and we were surrounded on all sides by
beauty.
The walk back down the Valley was downhill and quick. When
we got back we pack up our stuff and headed to our next destination, Refugio
Los Cuernos. The trail went right along the huge Lake Nordenskjöld. As we were
about an 1 ½ out, the wind picked up and made it hard to walk straight without
being blown to the side. This is when we plugged in our Ipods and powered
through the last bit of trail.
The refugio was packed with tents! We walked and walked and
couldn’t find anywhere to put our tent. After searching we were forced to lower
our standards and found a plot of uneven ground right by the lake where the
wind was the strongest. It was a struggle, but we got the tent set up and
cooked up another delicious pasta dinner in the comfort of our tent.
Somehow Brett and I got on the schedule of starting our
hikes relatively late in the morning. We usually got started by 11am and it was
no different on the morning of the fourth day. Because we were camping in a
refugio, there were showers so I decided to take advantage of it and shower off
a little. It was nice, but we didn’t have shampoo so I had to save the hair
washing for when we got back.
On the fourth day there were rivers to cross, but no
bridges. Some people took off their boots and put on water shoes and some (like
us) just went for it and jumped from rock to rock until we were on the other
side. Along the way was a shortcut onto the 3rd stem that we’d
decided to take to prevent us from having to hike into the crowds of people
near Hotel Las Torres. From the shortcut
on, we were doing pretty steady climbing uphill for the rest of the day. By the
end, my legs were shaky and Brett’s boots had rubbed pretty serious blisters
into his feet. We were relieved when we showed up to the free Campamento Torres.
This was definitely the nicest place we camped during the entire trek and only
about an hour from the mirador of the granite towers.
People come to this site because it’s so close to the towers
and if you get up at 4am then you can hike up in time for sunrise. On special
days the sky and the towers both take on a pink color right when the sun hits
them. We’d been planning for this the entire time, so we got up bright and
early the following morning and packed up our stove and sleeping bags so we
could relax once we got there and make breakfast. It was pitch black when we
crept out of our tents and began the rock scramble up to the lookout. As it got
lighter outside, we could see that the sky was full of clouds and there was a
lot of wind. Despite this, we decided to continue on. There was a crowd when we
arrived and most of nice places to sit were already taken, but the view of the
granite towers and the lake below was incredible! I think the clouds that had
settled on top of the towers made the whole scene look even more beautiful. We
didn’t end up getting the clear day and the pink towers but it was definitely
worth the climb and the battle against the wind to make it to the top. Brett
and I found a boulder to sit on and boiled water for our coffee with
difficulty. It took about 20 minutes to get hot water with all the wind, but we
made it happen. Just as we’d mixed up our coffee, a big gust of wind picked up
and knocked Brett’s coffee onto his pants. Shortly after, our bag of instant
milk got blown down into the boulders and we decided that it would be best to
wait until we got back to camp to cook up our oatmeal and another pot of
coffee.
Knowing that it was our last day of hiking, I was encouraged
to hike a little bit faster than usual. This and the fact that most of the last
day was downhill, we got down to the bottom in only 3 hours. It felt so good to
have finished this five day adventure! When we got back, we had two hours to
kill before our bus came to pick us up, so Brett and I and the rest of the
people who had just completed the trek sat around outside Hotel Las Torres
relaxing and enjoying the feeling of sitting. Eventually we made it back to
Puerto Natales and I don’t think I remember a time that I was so excited to
take a shower. We celebrated our completion with lomitos (the delicious Chilean
sandwich) and a couple of Austral beers. There at the diner, we took in the
amazing feeling of accomplishing our 5 day trek.
