I saw snow! It was raining, then it started snowing, and it was amazing!
I got to El Calafate yesterday about 10am. Uneventful flight, managed to find people to share the 50 peso cab ride from the airport into Calafate. Met Kat at the hostel! It was great to see a familiar face. We drank lots of submarinos (chocolated melted in warm milk, made me a bit queasy) and talked heaps and caught up on all the events since I last saw her (in BA, after I missed bus to Mercedes).
Snow wasn´t all that exciting for Kat, being from Vancouver where they get lots of the stuff every year. For me, someone who haven´t seen real fresh snow for about 5 years, it was a real big pleasure. Especially since it wasn´t on a ski hill, reminded me childhood in China...
After lots of deliberation, we decided to come to Puerto Natales to hire all the gear before doing the Paine. On the way here the bus drove through fields covered in snow. I even ran about in the snow during the custom and immigration stops. It was awesome!!! Very cold though. Had a brief snowball fight with some other snow-lovers.
In Natales now, everything is finally sorted. It was stressful and complicated organising transport, equipment, food and gear to buy. But it´s done. I even found info on a bus that will take me to Santiago, via Punto Arenas and Puerto Montt. I just went to the bus office to buy the ticket, apparently they office closes at 1015, but their system shuts down earlier. Pretty annoyed about that, will have to buy ticket when I get back from Paine, hopefully it hasn´t sold out.
Okay! No more gibberish. I´m finally doing the thing I dreamt about most while planning the trip... sitting at the top of some mountain, drinking tea and watching the condors fly... wish me luck folks!
