Day Three: Where's my cotton tank top...

and shorts? 

I awoke (after a restless slumber in a one star rated Refugio) and stumbled outside. I looked up and saw sunrise colored peaks and a sky that featured absolutely no clouds. I pinched myself, thinking I was still asleep and dreaming. Fortunately, it was real and it was warm. 

After fortifying ourselves on instant coffee once again, (how hard can it be to make a few pots of real coffee?) we set off. I was wearing shorts and a thin long sleeve shirt. It seemed like eternity since I wasn't shrouded in full fleece and Windstopper. 

For the moment summer had returned. I felt energized and motivated. 

We trekked past fields of wild flowers to the next camp. The many peaks weeped waterfalls. It was all fun and games until we arrived.

The scene at the Chileno campground was a chaos of day hikers, horses (lots of poop) and backpackers. Everyone was there to see the objects of their desires (except the horses), the Torres del Paine. We checked in, set up and took off uphill.

One must not tarry in Patagonia when the sun is shining. You've got to seize the moment. We passed tour groups, mud holes and many rickety bridges. A series of switchbacks led to a high saddle. We crested it. There they were. 

I had to sit down to take it all in. Awesome is an overused descriptor. Same as magnificent, incredible and beautiful. The towers were better than I ever imagined and I have a lot of imagination. I was very happy to be there. 

I'll shut up and let the photos speak. 

Cheers,

Jeff

Day Two: What a difference a day makes (again)...

Good news: The rain and snow left with Santa and his reindeer. The winds aren't  strong enough to fly a kite. The temperature isn't screaming "Beware of hyperthermia" like on Christmas Day.

Bad news: Fresh White Death clung to the hillsides, the trees and dotted the muddy trail. 

As we progressed east, we glimpsed some streaks of blue above us. Glacier fed aquamarine lakes sat below us. Later on, the clouds parted. A mass of Patagonian mountains and ice fields materialized out of the mist. Wow! They really did exist. There was reason I was wearing fleece, a jacket and and a wool hat in the summer. I guess a little discomfort is OK for this kind of payoff. 

At the Refugio, my fellow backpackers and me scan the high horizon and smile. The Southern Hemisphere sunshine defrosts us from yesterday's White Death chill and damp.

We have no idea on what variety of sociopathic weather will arrive in the next few hours let alone the next day. For the moment, we're all happy. 

I'll take it. 

The weather for the moment is even warm enough for Jenny. She makes me look like an Antarctica explorer when it comes to cold. 

Cheers,

Jeff 

Day One: Christmas Day in Torres del Paine National Park...

It was a sullen mass of would be backpackers on the 3.5 hour bus ride to the park. The coach turned left onto the appropriately named "End of the World Road." From a distance we saw the jagged towers (the reason everyone's here). The closer our hard working bus got to the park the faster the majestic scene went bye-bye. Rain clouds and fog enveloped the would be views.

Meaning: we would all be hiking in rain clouds and fog.

We weren't happy campers.

We got off at the end of the road and began our 10.5 miles hike to the Grande Paine Refugio. A constant drip, drip drip was our unwanted hiking companion. Fortunately the wind took Christmas off. It would have been scary if this were not so. The terrain was mostly flat with a few bumps. My camera never came out of its plastic bag coating. It was an uneventful, underwhelming trudge to our shelter. 

As I write this, there's no reason to dream of a white Christmas. Fat juicy White Death flakes are now issuing forth. Irving Berlin and Bing Crosby would smile. I'm not smiling.

I'm just hoping conditions change ASAP and not for the worse. 

Chilean weather sure has a twisted view of summer.

Which reminds me. Come on Southern Summer! 

Merry Christmas to all and to all a Good Night, (You too Jenny). 

Jeff

If you don't like the weather wait...

Uno momento.

Our three hour bus ride from Punta Arenas to Puerta Natales, featured a bleak landscape. Stunted trees raised up from the ground at a 70 degree angle in a partial surrender to the cold winds. Here the survival technique is to bend but not break.  

In Puerta Natales, residents and outsiders are decked out in North Face, Columbia and of course Patagonia winter wear. It's the third day of summer. So strange. 

I feel I'm at the end of the earth, which I am. The next stop is Antarctica. 

Our destination is Torres del Plaines National Park . Its the showcase of Chile's natural playgrounds. The scenery is supposed to be beyond awesome. I think we will earn the views the hard way.

I'm not a bit concerned about covering the 52 mile loop around the iconic towers in a week. I fear the wind, rain and cold. This might be the most challenging hike I have ever done. Once a cold weenie, always a cold weenie.

I hope you all enjoy the warmth of your family and friends this Holiday Season.

Hola Jenny. It's probably warmer in Windsor, Colorado than here! 

Feliz Navidad from 50.1 degrees South latitude.

Jeff.              

The flowers aren't from around here. 

A not so tropical rain forest...

We hiked today in Pooey National Park. The name looked like that, sort of. As far as the weather went, the conditions were sort of Pooey. The park is jammed up against the Andes. The border of Argentina was a short distance further east. There's volcanoes nearby which we couldn't see due to the clouds. The region receives over thirteen feet of moisture per year. There is no dry season.

It was like hiking in Tucson, Arizona, only different. If we took too long a break, liverworts began to grow on our packs. Skin moisturizers wouldn't be needed here. It's a freaking wet place. 

Somehow it just didn't feel like the first day of summer.

Look at the photos. Isn't it amazing all the shades green can be? 

On the move to Patagonia manana. Come on summer!

Hola Jenny from Puerto Montt,

Buenas Tardes,

Jeff 

This ain't my idea of a summer....

Solstice.

Yesterday, we hiked along the undulating flanks of the Vallirrica Volcano. All was quiet except for the ever-present white plume of smoke emitting from the flat topped peak. Less than a year ago, it wasn't so quiet. An eruption  forced the evacuation of the nearby resort town of Pucon. 

Fortunately no one suffered the fate of the Vesuvius victims. There's plenty of seismic monitors  scattered about the moonscape and snow fields to alert the residents below. I thought about shaking the sensors to see if anyone would notice. If my scheme worked, it would have been free beer time in Pucon! 

The day was warm, sunny and mild.

Today en route to the more southern Puerto Montt, we find ourselves in a cloudy, clammy and chilly Chilean town. We see and smell gray smoke puffing from the chimneys of the wood burning stoves in this lakeside burg. It's 50 degrees here and that was the high. WTF! It's the summer solstice! 

In a few days, we will really be south in Patagonia hiking and hopefully dodging hypothermia. Check out the not so balmy 10 Day Forecast

Buenas Dias, Jenny (you wouldn't like this cold and damp either)

Weather for Puerto Natales, Chile

10-Day Forecast:

Monday

-- -- / 40°

Precip: 60%

Tuesday

AM Light Rain 54° / 37°

Precip: 10%

Wednesday

Showers / Wind 53° / 40°

Precip: 100%

Thursday

Showers / Wind 51° / 39°

Precip: 20%

Friday

Rain 48° / 35°

Precip: 50%

Saturday

Mostly Cloudy 57° / 40°

Precip: 50%

Sunday

Partly Cloudy 57° / 43°

Precip: 20%

Monday

Mostly Cloudy 56° / 43°

Precip: 40%

Tuesday

Showers 56° / 42°

Precip: 20%

Wednesday

Mostly Cloudy 58° / 44°

Precip: 20%

I would be an untruthful politician if I said I wasn't concerned or worried about this.

Wish us luck.

Jeff 

Negotiating Chile...

Yesterday was a driving day. It was also a "Back to School" day on how can we sustain our basic needs (food, shelter, beer and coffee) in a foreign country where shaking my head and smiling is my primary means of communication. 

After many kilometers of driving under the influence of hunger we discovered truck stops. They feature clean banos (bathrooms), good coffee and food we can identify. They even have showers and gas. One stop shopping for the road. If this trip goes south I'll just sleep in the Suzuki sedan in a Copec parking lot. 

As far as real shopping goes. Supermercados are the Super Targets of South America. We tried out a Jumbo store. I stocked up on toiletries, PB&J and loaves of bread. This is a country where when opportunity knocks, you better take advantage of it. 

The weather changed drastically over the course of heading due south. Gone are the days of tank tops and flip flops. Today's temperatures felt more like late fall than early summer. Fleece, tights and a Go-Lite jacket were the appropriate outdoor wear.

I'm going to freeze in Patagonia! 

Today we hiked in another National Park where the trails are ex-Jeep roads. This is the third Park and and the third rough road we trod upon. I'm beginning to see an emerging pattern. Maybe Conaf (the equivalent of the National Park Service) thinks "Hey we have these old logging and mining roads, let's make them trails. The Gringos won't know the difference!"

So far the only fellow Americans we've met are two Mormons on a two year Mission to convert the Catholics of Chile. I politely asked them to save their sale's pitch for the Chileans. 

Here's a few photos from today's National Park. We are on the northern edge of the Lake District

Hasta la tardes,

Jeff

PS. Hola Jenny again

PSS. Wifi is iffy.