Prayers Please

I just left the boat, checked my email, and called home. My father died Tuesday night, while I was on the boat and inaccessible.

Please keep my family in your prayers. Thank you.

Navimag - Day 3

After dinner and the horrible movie last night, some of the younger passengers gathered around one couple and their guitar. It took “Country Roads” and a little bit of wine to get me moving and to branch out of my comfort zone. I had a great time, and ended up staying up until almost 4am, sharing and finishing off the magnum bottle of red that I never thought would be gone. Unfortunately, we go started talking about politics. Everyone was very nice and open-minded about things except one British guy, who’s been living in Germany for the past 5 years. He is the first strongly anti-American person I’ve met on this trip, and maybe one of the worst I’ve met anywhere in my travels. Maybe. He prefaced everything with “no offense,” “in my opinion,” etc., trying to be nice, but after a while, it was just plain rude. I mean, I’ll be the first to admit that your average American is completely ignorant of topics concerning the rest of the world, and also how the US affects the rest of the world both politically and obviously economically. But he was making generalizations that were just insulting, about how he can’t stand Americans because they are ALL loud and obnoxious, coincidentally a description of the way he was acting at the time. Everyone else was very, very polite, mostly Brits, an Irish guy, and a couple of Aussies. We had a wonderful time, aside from the politically-charged banter from the one guy. I was actually glad his girlfriend had gone to bed early; if I was her, I would have been mortified and sent him to bed.

Because we were trying to beat the storm, we will be arriving to Puerto Montt much earlier than scheduled. We were supposed to arrive at 5am tomorrow; instead we will be there at 8pm tonight. We are allowed to stay on the boat, since we did pay for 4 nights, but we are not allowed to leave the boat and come back, making a run to the bus station tonight impossible. I’d love to have just an hour to run and check the schedules, which are not online or easily accessible without actually going to the terminal. Instead, I will have to wait until tomorrow to figure out where and when I will go next. The ideal situation would be a night bus to Pucón, or to the nearest town where I can make that connection, and take a day trip to Chiloé beforehand. But who knows. I love having flexibility, but I do prefer being able to access schedules, book, and pay for bus trips online.

After Pucón, I will head back to Santiago to meet friends, return my guide book and bip card, and take a day trip to Viña del Mar. My crazy German boys will be turning 24, and I’m sure it will be a wild couple of days. From there, a 24-hour bus to San Pedro de Atacama, then to Cusco and Machu Picchu for yet another grueling hike before returning to Buenos Aires via Lima. Then to Texas!

Navimag - Day 2

Day 2 on the boat. Today was a bit interesting because we had to change our course in order to beat a storm coming at us from the South. This required us to head into the Gulfo de Penas and the Pacific Ocean earlier than scheduled.

I feel like I’ve missed out on the sights to see on this boat trip, mainly because we’ve hit most of the high points somewhere between 5 and 7am. After only a day and a half in Torres del Paine, I still required a good bit of recovery time and haven’t woken up in time to get dressed and out to the deck. We arrived at Puerto Eden around 11pm last night, and passed through the English Channels and by Cotopaxi between 5:30 and 6:30 this morning. I heard the announcement, but since the loudspeaker is only in the hallways, not in the cabins, it barely woke me up. I started moving, but again, I was too late. I waited for breakfast at 8 while charting out a possible trip to Chiloe, then watched “The March of the Penguins” after breakfast.

We hit the “high seas” around 11am, and despite taking a motion sickness pill, the rocking was almost unbearable. I had it in my mind that the ship was big enough to reduce a good bit of the rocking, but I was sorely mistaken. After the movie, I headed back to my cabin to lay down for a bit with my iPod. I got up again for lunch at 12:30, but preferred not to remain in the dining/lounging area, which is covered in windows. I got in bed, yet again, to battle the waves and fell asleep for another FIVE hours. We’ll see how I sleep tonight….eek.

One selling point about this boat excursion is the camaraderie that apparently develops among its passengers, but I haven’t really felt that as much here, perhaps because of the low season and smaller amount of passengers. I am also the only person traveling alone, and one of maybe three people not part of a couple. I have generally been ok in terms of keeping myself busy and meeting other people, but this trip has been the loneliest part of my time here in South America. I think it’s a combination of having a warm room all to myself, the confinements of the boat, and the almost nonexistent single population. At least on the mainland, I can be out and doing something. Eva and Alex have been great, but I’ve also felt the need to give them more space and not cling to them, as the only people I know on this ship. They have been really great though, and I am anxious to keep up with their blog while they complete their trip around the world.

I'm on a boat!

Day 1 on the boat.

Last night, after the long day in the park, I showed up for check-in, on time, and ran into Eva and Alex again at the Navimag office. Since dinner would not be served on the boat that night, the three of us headed back to La Ultima Esperanza before boarding at 9pm. The owner of the restaurant recognized me immediately! I ordered the conger eel again, although I tried to shellfish sauce this time, because it was delicious and the price was right. Alex and Eva tried a seafood soup, king crab casserole, and albacones, which are these weird-looking shellfish, out of what looks like an oyster or clam shell, but it’s huge and a totally different texture. Poor Eva got sick from something in the soup, she thinks, and I felt so bad for recommending it! I know it’s not my fault, but still!

After dinner, we received some quick instructions from the Navimag staff and boarded the ferry. I was pleasantly surprised to find that my “shared” room was, in fact, not shared at all. Perhaps it was a result of the low season, or maybe no one else had booked a shared AA cabin, but I have four bunk beds all to myself. I feel a little bad, considering that there are couples sharing similar 4-bed rooms, but I might as well enjoy the private room and bathroom while I can! There’s an estufa (heater), hot shower, and the bed is very comfortable as well! I was surprised at how well I slept last night!

We were supposed to be woken up via loudspeaker at 6:30, but the announcement barely woke me up, and I snoozed for too long and missed seeking the narrow channel that were passing through. I made it for breakfast though! I was so excited to have eggs! I’ve only had eggs twice while in South America, whereas in the states, I have an egg almost every day. Breakfast was followed by a short presentation about the fauna of Patagonia, which I decided to view in Spanish instead of English. I understood most of the lecture, and was aided by the bullet points, which were in both English and Spanish.

There was an afternoon movie, but unfortunately I slept through it. I am amazed at how much my body wants to recover from the hiking. I haven’t been very sore at all, but just want to sleep all the time. Perhaps it’s the cold, windy weather and being on the boat. I did make it for the night movie, Machuca, which I’d viewed already while at ECELA. It’s a really great Chilean movie about the Pinochet era, given from a child’s point of view, which won several awards at Cannes, and probably would have won more awards internationally had it not been made in the same year as the Academy Award winner that year (I can’t remember what it was). I enjoyed the movie very much the first time, but even more this time, since there were English subtitles and I had the opportunity to understand everything, not just piece it all together. I was exhausted after the movie (and a couple glasses of wine), so I showered and went straight to bed.

Torres del Paine

5 October 2009

I hopped on a bus at 8am on Saturday and headed back to Chile, to Puerto Natales. Puerto Natales is the jumping –off point for excursions into Parque Nacional Torres del Paine, one of the most photographed places in all of Patagonia. The park is amazing, but it definitely requires at least a night in the park if you really want to hike and get the most out of it.

I arrived in Puerto Natales around 1pm and searched for a hostel. Typically I will book on hostelworld the night before, but that wasn’t the case for this stop. I was bombarded with flyers at the bus drop-off, and a little overwhelmed. So I just started walking. I found a nice hostel right around the corner from the Navimag port, and one that I recognized while searching hostel world a few days before (Hostel Natales). It was a bit pricey, but very nice. However, due to the low season, I was the only one staying there! Since there was no one to meet, I headed out to buy some supplies for the park, namely some waterproof hiking boots, as recommended by a girl in El Calafate. I also picked up some peanuts and bread for the park and had a fabulous dinner at Restaurant La Ultima Esperanza, down the street from the hostel. I got some funny looks, coming in very early for dinner (6:45) and alone. I had the conger eel with king crab sauce, as recommended in my guide book, with the Santa Digna Sauvignon Blanc from the Miguel Torres Vineyard. The eel was very good and the sauce very rich, and I topped the dinner off with some Mousse del Calafate, a native berry in Patagonia. It was an amazing last meal before the expected strenuous trek through Torres del Paine.

After packing my big backpack with only the essentials (or at least I thought), I had an excellent breakfast at the hostel and took a 2-hour bus ride to the park. The hostel was great to store my other belongings while I was on my trekking adventure. I planned to stay in one of the many refugios along the way and cook my own food there, as the guidebooks had mentioned was possible. We got to the ranger station, paid the fee, and were informed that only 2 refugios (aka albergues) were open: Chileno and Grey, which are on complete opposite sides of the park. With more than a day’s hike in between the two, this appeared to be a problem for me, with no proper camping gear. I didn’t know how this was all going to work out, but I knew that Day 1 would involve hiking up to the Torres, a 5.5 hour hike one-way, and staying at Albergue Chileno, about halfway down from the Torres. So 7.5 hours of hiking for the day.

The first stretch of the hike, the 2 hour trek to Albergue Chileno, was BRUTAL, particularly for this novice hiker who has never done so with a pack. It took me a little more than 2 hours, which is the estimated time given by the park service. I was honestly surprised at how many times I had to stop to rest my burning calves and my poor heels, in my brand-new hiking boots. Thank goodness for the breath-taking views; I used my camera as an excuse to stop more times than I’d like to admit. There were not many, but plenty, of groups hiking both in front of and behind me, so I wasn’t worried at all about the hiking alone. In fact, one group of older Israeli tourists, with a tour guide, was nearby me for a good majority of the hike up to the Torres and also stopped frequently. I finally saw Albergue Chileno in the distance; my light at the end of that tunnel! And it started snowing! I picked up speed along an easier stretch of trail, and made up a little jingle for motivation (since I can be a huge dork when left to my own devices). It goes like this, to the tune of The Eyes of Texas:
I am hiking in the mountains, in the Andes range.
I am hiking in the mountains. So glad I am my age!
I don’t care that it is snowing, ‘cuz I’m so warm from the hike.
I am hiking in the mountains; it’s something that I like!
I made it to Albergue Chileno just after noon. After booking an extremely overpriced bed (without bedding), I finally dropped my big pack for a day pack and headed back out onto the trail to Las Torres.

The trail to Las Torres got easier after leaving Albergue Chileno, although dropping the extra weight from the pack was part of that. It was along this 1.5-hour stretch, between Albergue Chileno and Campamento Las Torres, that I really started to appreciate my new boots. Despite the horrible blisters forming, they were amazing to keep out the water and the mud, especially in the areas where the trail was essentially hiking up a stream. I also would not have had the same traction in tennis shoes; it really would have been impossible without the boots, particularly in the uphill stretch between Campamento Los Torres and the viewpoint, Mirador Las Torres. From the campamento, you hike uphill through sandy terrain, then uphill through snow, rocks, and rocks covered with snow, where you can’t see where you’re walking. There are a few places from which the Torres can be partially seen from the trail, but they don’t come into complete view until you reach the viewpoint. I reached the top, finally, and was disappointed to see that the weather had changed, and the Torres were completely covered by the clouds and snow. They were not visible at all. But it happens…they’re only visible about 20% of the time, due to the crazy Patagonian weather. I decided to wait it out by climbing down the rocks toward the lake at the bottom of the hill. The lake was absolutely gorgeous, a deep aquamarine and halfway covered with ice and snow. I hoped that by the time I climbed back up, that the Torres would start to come into view, but I was not so lucky. Of course, it started to clear a little bit, after getting about an hour down the mountain, but it wasn’t clear enough to justify the hike again. It was getting colder and windier, and I was anxious to get back to Chileno for a shower. I will make sure to label the pictures clearly – the picture of me at the viewpoint, the picture of the Torres covered, then of the Torres coming into view from below, and the picture taken by friends, when the Torres were in full view the next day.

At Albergue Chileno, I met Eva and Alex, a Spanish couple who just recently embarked on a year-long trip around the world. They were also scheduled to take the Navimag ferry to Puerto Montt, and apparently I was mistaken about the check-in and boarding times, by a full day. I thought I needed to board on Tuesday night, when in fact, boarding was Monday night for a Tuesday morning departure. I am so glad that I met them; otherwise, I would have missed the boat! The three of us shared some good conversation, and overpriced meal, and a cold night in the dorm room of the albergue. I woke up the next morning to an absolutely gorgeous day – the Torres were in clear view from the albergue, at least the portion that can be seen from that area. I was tempted to hike back up, but with only so much time, it was imperative that I hike down to Hosteria Las Torres to check my email and confirm the boarding time. If, for instance, I had been on a different boat and didn’t leave until Tuesday, I wanted to have time to make it to Los Cuernos and up through the Valle Francés before catching a bus from the other side of the park the next day. But alas, Eva and Alex were correct, and I had to leave the park at 2pm that day. Because I’d been told that the Cuernos are visible for much of the hike, I stored by pack at the Hosteria (essentially a hotel, not a hostel) and planned to trek halfway (2 hours) to Los Cuernos before turning back to catch the bus. I made it to the halfway point, and still no Cuernos. I could see what I thought might be a Cuerno, but I could tell that any real view would be on the other side of the next hill, too long a hike to go and then turn back. However, the hike is a very rewarding one, with the trail winding its way around Lago Nordenskjold, the second biggest lake in the park and a main attraction for those tourists who skip the climbing and view the park from the road. The lake is a gorgeous aquamarine color, and I believe that the cause of the coloring is similar to that of Lago Argentina in Argentina’s Parque Nacional Las Glacieres, outside El Calafate. The color is no actually the color of the water, but is caused by the reflection of light and the minerals found in the lake, from the mountain and glacier streams that feed into it. The hike was not bad, but very muddy, and my blisters from the day before were killing me. Despite no view of the Cuernos, it was still a long, 6-hour day of hiking.

All in all, I am disappointed that the weather and my time constraints were such that I missed the breathtaking views that make this park as spectacular as it is. However, the personal gain for me in trekking up to the Torres, and just spending all that time outside, challenging myself, was worth the short trip. Torres del Paine is definitely a place I plan to visit again, when I have a good 4-5 days to trek the entire “W” circuit: up to the Torres, down to the Cuernos, through the French Valley, and to Lago and Glacier Grey. It really was an amazing experience that I will not soon forget.

Perito Moreno Glacier

2 October 2009

I arrived to the hostel late last night, but I was anxious to get in my full day and opted for the 8am tour. The tour bus came by the hostel to pick me up around 8:30, on the way out of town, before the 1 ½-hour drive to Los Glacieres. Our guide spoke both Spanish and English during the tour, so she was talking for literally the entire time on the bus, describing the different flora and fauna, the origin of the town of El Calafate, the history of the glacier, etc. After arriving in the park, we went straight to the boat dock to take an hour-long cruise up to the southern face of the Perito Moreno glacier, which sits on Lago Argentina. It was really unbelievable to see this glacier, which has been around since the last ice age, up close, and to look into the crevices and see the blocks of ice fall from the face into the water. There were a ton of icebergs in the water as well, that had fallen from the face of the glacier. The sound of the ice falling was really magnificent, but so unpredictable; it sounded like thunder every time, but you could never catch a photo, because by the time you heard it, the ice had already hit the ground. After the boat ride, we headed up to the restaurant and catwalks to the viewpoint. Again, these “trails” were raised metal platforms, similar to those in Parque Nacional Iguazu, but they were amazing at keeping your feet dry. It was raining the entire time while we were at the viewpoint, so I had to just suck it up, zip up the jacket, and head to the trail for the hour+ walk. The rain wasn’t too bad, but the wind in the Andes is so powerful, I very much regretted the decision not to wear my snow pants. We got back on the bus around 2:30 and headed back to town, which was perfect for me, as I wanted to do some shopping, explore town a bit, and buy my bus ticket for the next morning.

As always, the Patagonian weather was as unpredictable as ever, resulting in a snow storm in El Calafate when we arrived downtown. I still got out of the bus to brave the snow, and I was glad I did. Twenty minutes later, it was all sun and blue skies, followed by cold and wind in the early evening hours. I tried to get some pictures of these spring flowers just covered in snow, but I don’t think they turned out as well as I liked, because of the weak zoom on my camera. When the sun came out, it was absolutely brilliant, reflecting off of the freshly-fallen snow. After wandering around and purchasing a few souvenirs, I headed back up the hill towards the hostel, in search of this grocery store that was “just around the corner.” What I thought was the grocery store turned out to be the Argentine Home Depot – and they didn’t even carry duct tape for my poor jacket! Luckily, the grocery store, which did not look like one at all, was just beyond the hardware store, and they carried everything I needed for my journey into Torres del Paine: duct tape (aptly titled “Rapifix” here), rope, a flashlight, silverware, a Tupperware for my pasta, peanuts, bread, etc.

That night, the staff of the hostel was having a traditional asado, or BBQ, for one of their friends that was leaving town. The guy at reception invited me to join in the meat-eating, but I had already purchased food for my 1 night in El Calafate – breaded patties of broccoli! Weird, I know, but it caught my eye in the store, and I had to try them. While eating my delicious broccoli patties, I met some of the other guests at the hostel. There was the German girl I met on the tour, along with her South African boyfriend, a married couple living in Australia but from Florida (USA) and the Philippines, and some other girls from Czechoslovakia and Holland. After the asado, the staff treated us to some music, via drum circle. I never knew a tambourine could be such a versatile instrument – I thought one guys left for more wine, and he returned with a tambourine in a fancy case. I really liked the hostel a lot – it had a very good vibe.

There were also a ton of dogs that lived at the hostel or belonged to the friends of the staff, so it was entertaining to watch the dogs sitting outside while the meat cooked, just begging for a taste, then scramble when the scraps were deposited outside. One of the dogs, Mano, belonged to the guy who typically works the shift starting sometime in the middle of the night and ending after breakfast. He picked me up from the bus station when I arrived at 1am the night before, with Mano in tow, and I was so excited. Mano looks very much like Daisy! He’s a little bigger, with some black spots on the white of his nose, but their coloring is very similar. This poor guy – I probably told him about 6 times over my 2-night stay how much Mano looks like my dog. I’ve missed Daisy a lot since I came to Patagonia because there are so many more herding breeds down here, due to the sheep ranching. I kept seeing border collies on the bus from Ushuaia. I miss my baby Daisy!

El Glacier Martial & the Bus to El Calafate

Yesterday, I got started a little later than I’d planned because I was still so tired from the night before. I guess I returned from the bar around 11, but I was still very tired and wanting to snooze. By the time I was ready to get up, my roommate in the hostel was already moving around, and I was desperately trying to avoid an overly-enthusiastic conversation about my beautiful eyes at 8am. So I pretended to be asleep until he went down for breakfast. I had breakfast and finally got out the door a little after 10, only an hour or so behind schedule.

My plan was to visit Glacier Martial early in the morning, so that I could get a full day of snowboarding in, but I am so happy I was running late. Because the weather is starting to warm up, the lower part of the only run was closed due to the ice, and the lift did not get moving until 11:30 that morning, an hour after I arrived and rented my equipment. I had a decent day on my board, but 7-8 times down the same, icy run was plenty for me. In addition, it was RAINING. Not snowing, raining. I’m pretty sure I’ve never experienced that in my 20+ years going to the mountains. My jacket and pants did a pretty good job of keeping the water out, but I was still damp, and my feet were soaked, as the water soaked through the “breathable” areas of the snowboard boots. Every time I got halfway up the lift during the afternoon, I kept saying to my self, “this is the last one,” but of course, I’d have a good run and not want to stop. I had a ton of good runs this trip, despite the bad conditions. I even decided to try turning onto toe-side with my opposite foot forward, but after a few tries, the icy run changed my mind. In addition to my experience, it was Tobias’s first day snowboarding. I’d recommended that he check out the glacier prices for classes, rather than take classes at the resort, Cerro Castor. The hostel employees said it was much less expensive, because it only has one run, but for beginners and for practicing, that is not always a bad thing. I’m not sure how much lift tickets cost at Cerro Castor, but I assume they are closer to what you’d pay in the states; I paid about $12 for the all-day ticket and the one run. But he loved it, even in the ice and the rain. I remember learning on ice, and the purple spots on my bottom…he didn’t seem to have that problem, probably because he surfs when he’s home in Brasil.

We took a cab back to town and agreed to meet up later, for another round of Irish pub grub, as we did after the navigation the night before. Meanwhile, I washed another set of clothes and managed to burn a hole in my ski jacket. Yep. The cheap plastic lining inside was a little too flimsy for the super-power heater in my room at the hostel and melted within a minute. Literally, this heater was ridiculous; our room was like a sauna with it on. Luckily, only the inner lining and part of the stuffing melted, so the shell is still intact. I’ll need to find some duct-tape to ghetto-rig the jacket at some point, so I won’t loose more stuffing, but for now, it works. But there goes my problem with hauling ski gear through the deserts in Northern Chile and Peru; I was going to ship it all back from Santiago, but now I’ll just ditch the jacket to save space. Problem solved, and it’s $50 less to report to customs upon my return to the states! But add that one to my clumsy stories…just for y’all, Daniel and Damon.

I met up with Tobias and Mario at their hostel, which was really warm and had a rasta-type feel to it. I’d almost wished I would have stayed there, although I love how cozy La Posta was (with an amazing shower!). We headed for Dublin, one of many Irish pubs in this little town, and the one that was closed the night before. We had a few Beagle beers, the artesenal beer made right here in Ushuaia (on the Beagle Canal), and we all ordered milanesa with papas Dublin, which were covered in a rich and cheesy sauce…just what I wanted. I made up for it with a salad and simple bus food today, and with all the exercise in Ushuaia, my food baby is starting to disappear again. Thank goodness, just have to keep moving and stay away from the rich food!

We stayed out a bit late, but I still made it to my bus at 5am…and what a horrible bus ride it was, after a night of heavy beers. I decided to take the bus, instead of fly, because I’d get to see a little bit more of Patagonia. I would have taken an early morning flight, but the earliest flight would still put me in El Calafate by 2 or 3, not leaving much time to do any activities. So the 21-hour bus trip trumped. There’s no semi-camas either, and the roads are horrible, but I did see some amazing stuff through the window. By the time I woke up again, we were out of the tall mountains, more or less, and coming into the areas of Patagonia in which ranching is big. At one point, there were sheep on every hillside – tons of them. The combination of the sheep, jutting rock formations above, and the occasional llama-like animal (I can’t remember the name!) made for and amazing view. There was even a point at which the bus had to slow down and stop for an entire heard of sheep to clear the road! Watching the squatty little things run up the hill with their little lambs was pretty cool. Another exciting part was crossing the Straight of Magellan. The downsides? There’s no roads running from Ushuaia to El Calafate in Argentina, so you have to go through Chile. We only crossed the border twice, but each country required stamps to leave the country, so we had to stop 4 times. There were also 2 families with 3+ young children each, so there was always a baby screaming. And the bus driver put on some not-so-family-friendly movies on the bus – Slumdog Millionaire and Traitor, with Spanish subtitles. I was excited about Slumdog Millionaire until I realized that they speak another language for most of the movie, and I really needed the English subtitles to understand – the Spanish subtitles were not sufficient. And the bus ride was not direct – I have to connect with another bus by another company to get to El Calafate.

So here I am, sitting in the bus station in Rio Gallegos, waiting for my Marga bus (the other was Techni-Austral). Fortunately, I have a hostel employee that will be waiting for me at the bus terminal and has already set up tomorrow’s excursion. I’m excited for yet another fabulous day in Patagonia, on the Perito Moreno Glacier in Argentina’s Parque Nacional Los Glacieres.