I arrive in Puerto Natales, Chile, in the afternoon in a state of chaos. My German friend and I were not on the same bus as we thought and, when I get there, I can´t find him. He has the information for a hostel, so I don´t even know where to go. My guidebook has like one page on the town, so I´m feeling pretty lost. I´m also a little freaked out to be in Chile, for some reason, so that doesn´t help me relax.
Everyone from the bus collects their bags and is off and I´m just standing there, overburdened by my baggage and trying to figure out what to do. Eventually, a lady approaches me and asks me, in English, if I need a place to stay. She has an inn two blocks away fro cheap. I feel a bit sketched out, like I´m being taken advantage of because I´m so obviously clueless, but having no other options, I go with her.
Her inn is totally weird and awesome. The decor is random and reminds me of being at my aunt´s house in the early 80´s. I notice lots of dirty teddy bears lying around and lace doilies. I have a 4 bed dormitory room to myself, also randomly decorated in a way that makes me feel like a sulky teenager again.
I start to feel more settled and hit the town to plan my hike in Torres del Paine park. The original plan was to do a 3 day, 2 night hike, but all of the huts are full and, if I want to get to my next destination, Ushuaia, before the 4th of January, I need to leave in 2 days on the 31st. This leaves me only 1 day for hiking. I´m disappointed not to spend New Year´s on top of a Chilean mountain, but I have no choice.
I get the bus to the park at 7:30 the next morning and do the first leg of the longer "W" hike that I had originally planned to do. The hike today is about 7 hours and will take me to the torres (towers) themselves. It´s more of a physically demanding hike than the others that I´ve done here. The first hour and a half go mercilessly uphill at a constant 30-45 degree angle. I take lots of food and water breaks and decide to take my time rather than push myself to get to the top quickly. The trail eventually evens out and goes through a forested area. Cóndors are flying around the nearby cliffs and there´s a rainbow halo around the sun that looks mystical and ritualistic.
For the last 45 minutes of the hike, I accidentally get off of the main trail and take an alternate route up to the torres. I have to climb these big boulders to get to the top, as opposed to taking the main route and just climbing up a hill. I´m happy that I´m on this trail, it´s more fun to climb the boulders and feels like more of an adventure. It´s a pretty busy trail too, so it´s nice to be here by myself.
It´s a clear and sunny day and the view at the top is so amazing. The 3 torres rise up above this mine green lagoon. There are small glaciers around the torres and in the surrounding mountains. I have an hour to eat lunch and hang out before I have to begin the hike down.
I get back to town at 10pm, have a quick shower and pack my bags. The next day, I´m heading to Ushuaia, the southernmost town in Argentina, at 4:30am. By the time I get to bed, I have only 4 hours to sleep. I wish I had more, but I figure that I´ll sleep when I´m dead.
