The Towers of the Paine

The Torrres (towers) in the distance...beckoning

I am glad that Jeff's posts are funny, because it is all business around here in Southern Chile where we just finished hiking a 20km trail in and back out of the last stroke (or first, depending upon where you start) of the "W," which is part of the most traversed sections of the Torres Del Paine.

Sang shows us that we will be going up, up, up.

Yesterday, as I said, the hike we went on was pretty easy so our guide really encouraged us to try the one up to the Torres...after which this whole area is named...Torres Del Paine.  Torres means towers and I am not sure what Paine means, but the important thing is that we hiked to the three tall spires that really dominate this whole region.

Ummm, ridiculous.

Our hotel faces the horns of the Paine, another iconic feature of this national park and yesterday we hiked between a couple of those when we went up the French Glacier.

But, today, we piled into a van with eight Chileans at 7 am to tackle the hike that one of the women we've met told us was "brutal."  I have to admit, I was a little nervous.  Brutal is a tough word to willingly sign up for.

At our hotel, they set out bowls of dried apricots, almonds, cashews, some granola bars and have a long trough of spigots to get water for the day each morning.  After our first short hike, I learned to take advantage of the snacks...especially because right at 6:30 am when we roll down to the dining room for breakfast, I am not exactly hungry...but 8 miles into anything (especially a drastic uphill climb) I am only thinking no matter how many snacks I grabbed that I probably didn't bring enough.

We were told this hike had a steep ascent, then a rolling terrain and ended with a very steep boulder ascent.  10k in and 10k out.  We were given trekking poles, which I am so glad we had.  They really helped us (me, Gillian did fine) especially on the down slopes.

I have spent years of my life on a stair climber/step mill, it turns out that was a good thing...good training without even knowing it for today's hike.  My hamstrings and calves really took it on the chin (if they have one) with each upward hoist.  But, truly, it didn't matter, the views of the river that emerged from the canyon were beyond explanation.  I don't even think pictures can do it justice.  We hugged that river most of the way, crisscrossing it so many times I lost count.  Most of the bridges looked as if they were put together by some kids in a low level wood shop class and a couple of them said "Only two persons at a time," but in Spanish.

I can't imagine walking across this bridge
with a tent, food, or any kind of
heavy pack...it was hard enough as it was

The river raged in some places and trickled in others.  We were rationing our water, somewhat because of the lack of toilets on the trail (exactly zero--unless you want to use the "Chilean toilet," which has a nice view of all of the outdoors since it is actually behind whatever rock or tree you find), but also because as the day progressed, we knew that it would get hotter and we would want water more.  But, our guide, Sang, the gentle, kind guide we'd had a couple of days before pointed to a couple of spots in the river along the way where it was safe to fill our water bottles.

On the way down, we did.  Cool, delicious, refreshing water, straight from the stream.

But, getting to the top during the last ascent was the toughest part of the hike.  Straight up, boulder after boulder, until we came to a short traverse and then emerged at the lake that is directly at the base of the glorious towers.  WOW.  Sang laid out our lunch (I will let Gillian tell you tomorrow/Monday about the graceful move I made getting to the rock where we ate lunch...she also wants still to write about the Cat Lady that I promised a few days ago.) and we ate and rested until it was time to head back down.

I won't bore you with any more details of our long hike, just that we arrived back at the hotel at 5:30 pm, which makes for a long day.  We are beat tired, but to be honest, truly and honestly sad to leave.  Patagonia has been my favorite part of this trip, I really do hope I can return and bring Jeff and the rest of our family.  It has lodged itself in our hearts.  We met such interesting people along the way as well, some new friends, exchanged emails and phone numbers, just like real camp, with memories for a lifetime.  No exaggeration there.










I could talk on and on about it all, and if you can't sleep one night and need someone to drone on about Chile and hiking in some of the coolest places I've been, call me.

It's late, and I will add more pictures tomorrow, maybe from the Santiago airport if I can figure out the wifi there, or even Monday morning when we are at LAX for that leg of the trip...we leave tomorrow morning at 7:30 am, drive four hours to Punta Arenas, fly to Santiago for three hours and wait through a 6 hour lay-over and then an 11 hour 30 minute flight to LAX and three hour layover and THEN home Monday late afternoon.  Phew, already tired thinking about it.

Done.