Monday, April 9, 2012
Big city and the beach
Well, we left Patagonia on Saturday and have been farting around Santiago, and a couple beach towns. It's been a big change from the beautiful mountains, small towns and 50 degrees, rainy, and clean air of the deep south. Now it's big cities, pollution, the beach and 75 degrees. The girls went back to Santiago tonight to start their training as English teachers:(. Clint and I are staying an extra day or two at the beach before we head back to Santiago to fly home
Thursday, April 5, 2012
Meat me in El Chalten
We spent all day Tuesday traveling in Argentina to get to El Chalten . We came here to see Fitz Roy and Cerro Torres, two epic mountain peaks. Our first day here we hiked 16 miles, frozen in the snow to see the views, but saw nothing. The clouds were too thick.
El Chalten is known for its homemade ice cream. So Carly and I treated ourselves to a pricy 6 dollar bowl of ice cream.
Today, instead of doing another hike, we treated ourselves to real cup of coffee(most is instant coffee) and lounged around all day until Fitz Roy finally showed through the clouds(never did see Cerro Torres.)
Another popular feature here in Patagonia is the Parrillas. Its a heavy duty meat grill. This being our last full day of relaxation, we decided to go hog wild at one of the several Parrillas here in Chalten. We ordered a meat sampler to feed four people consisting of lamb, steak, chorizo and blood sausage. The sampler set us back about 80 American dollars. We decided to finish off the evening with some high dollar ice cream which we ate a combined weight of 1 kilogram.
Here are some photos of today's adventure!
Wednesday, April 4, 2012
"many pumas"
Clinton Perrywinkle writes about a portion of our trek:
The first leg of our journey into the less -travelled circuit of torre del Paine consisted of dry, twisted thorn bushes mixed with gnarled trees which had suffered from a fire years previous. Our spirits were high as we trekked parallel to the massif and were able to distinctly see the famous Torres. The wind whipped across the plains as we made good time. After several miles, we abruptly encountered a swift but smoothly flowing river on the north eastern side of our trail. The wind died and the warmth of the sun allowed us to shed our layers and continue hiking without sweat drenching our packs and clothes.
Around three o'clock in the afternoon, and having made good time, we crossed a heavily forested creek with a man- made bridge. The water was cold and crisp. Shortly thereafter we came upon acampento Seron. Perhaps half an acre was nestled at the base of a hill with green grass and a few scattered trees. Perched at the edge of the camp was a small dwelling built from corrugated metal and wood. This structure was bordered up for the upcoming winter months. We sat and ate our first lunch of the trip after shrugging off our packs (which were quite heavy with provisions for the next eight to nine days).
After studying the map briefly and consulting with one another, it was decided that we should stay the night at Seron since the next leg of the hike was approximately eleven miles.
After an hour of relaxing in the Chilean sun, we set up our tents and organized our gear. Suddenly, a horse galloped from around the small hut and into view. The rider wore tall boots and dark clothes which were dirty from riding. Atop his head a beret sat perched at an angle. He dismounted and informed us that he was a park patrol and would be camping here for the night. Throughout our conversation with him, we noted a distinct sarcasm toward us coupled with a haughty air of authority. His name was Christian. When Kelly asked about the wildlife in the area Christian informed us that among other animals, pumas roamed the park. "How many have you seen here in the park", inquired Kelly. " I have seen many pumas", replied Christian. And with that he quickly flung his saddle bags over his shoulder and strode away leaving the four of us unsuccessfully suppressing our laughter and using his quick one- liner as our motto for the trip.
The first leg of our journey into the less -travelled circuit of torre del Paine consisted of dry, twisted thorn bushes mixed with gnarled trees which had suffered from a fire years previous. Our spirits were high as we trekked parallel to the massif and were able to distinctly see the famous Torres. The wind whipped across the plains as we made good time. After several miles, we abruptly encountered a swift but smoothly flowing river on the north eastern side of our trail. The wind died and the warmth of the sun allowed us to shed our layers and continue hiking without sweat drenching our packs and clothes.
Around three o'clock in the afternoon, and having made good time, we crossed a heavily forested creek with a man- made bridge. The water was cold and crisp. Shortly thereafter we came upon acampento Seron. Perhaps half an acre was nestled at the base of a hill with green grass and a few scattered trees. Perched at the edge of the camp was a small dwelling built from corrugated metal and wood. This structure was bordered up for the upcoming winter months. We sat and ate our first lunch of the trip after shrugging off our packs (which were quite heavy with provisions for the next eight to nine days).
After studying the map briefly and consulting with one another, it was decided that we should stay the night at Seron since the next leg of the hike was approximately eleven miles.
After an hour of relaxing in the Chilean sun, we set up our tents and organized our gear. Suddenly, a horse galloped from around the small hut and into view. The rider wore tall boots and dark clothes which were dirty from riding. Atop his head a beret sat perched at an angle. He dismounted and informed us that he was a park patrol and would be camping here for the night. Throughout our conversation with him, we noted a distinct sarcasm toward us coupled with a haughty air of authority. His name was Christian. When Kelly asked about the wildlife in the area Christian informed us that among other animals, pumas roamed the park. "How many have you seen here in the park", inquired Kelly. " I have seen many pumas", replied Christian. And with that he quickly flung his saddle bags over his shoulder and strode away leaving the four of us unsuccessfully suppressing our laughter and using his quick one- liner as our motto for the trip.
Monday, April 2, 2012
Argentina bound
We're headed to Argentina in the morning to see a few more views before we leave the Patagonia region on the seventh.
And here are a few more pics from the trip, the Grey Glacier!
And here are a few more pics from the trip, the Grey Glacier!
Sunday, April 1, 2012
The eight day circuit
In Torres Del Paine, there are two trekking options. The first, most popular is a five day route called the "W" that stays on the front side of of the park, where we can see the most popular views of the park. This route is in the shape of a "w" and we can do it in a series of backtracks in order to see the most impressive views.
The other route is an eight-day trek called the "circuit" that includes the W but takes you around the backside of the mountain range as well.
We opted for the Circuit and set out around the backside of the park first. Here was our packing situation: we had two 2-man tents. Clinton perrywinkle was gracious enough to carry our entire tent, so I helped the girls carry part of there tent. About 3/4 of the way through our second day, I realized I had forgotten to pack the part of the girls' tent I carried after the first night of camping. So we made the decision for Carly and I to stash our packs run back to camp 1 carrying nearly nothing to grab the tent I left. Abbe and Clint would then carry on to camp with our heaviest items. After Carly and I ran for about two miles, we were turned around by a Patroller on the trail, because our plan would put us into camp after dark which is something they don't allow. He then escorted us back to our packs and on to our second campsite.
The patroller told us that two other patrollers got the message about our tent via radio and would bring our tent the following day around two in the afternoon.
Our tent never showed up though, so frustrated that we had wasted a day, Clint and I snuck out of camp at 7:30pm and ran/speed walked to pick up our tent. We had to sneak into the first camp with our lights off to grab our tent, because we were out "after curfew."
We returned to our camp at 2:30am after a 23 mile round trip over a ridge twice, battling 40mph winds, and rain.
We continued on the following day to enjoy five more days of backpacking. Here are a few shots from our trip I took with my phone. Many more photos to come as soon as I can pull them from my real camera!
The other route is an eight-day trek called the "circuit" that includes the W but takes you around the backside of the mountain range as well.
We opted for the Circuit and set out around the backside of the park first. Here was our packing situation: we had two 2-man tents. Clinton perrywinkle was gracious enough to carry our entire tent, so I helped the girls carry part of there tent. About 3/4 of the way through our second day, I realized I had forgotten to pack the part of the girls' tent I carried after the first night of camping. So we made the decision for Carly and I to stash our packs run back to camp 1 carrying nearly nothing to grab the tent I left. Abbe and Clint would then carry on to camp with our heaviest items. After Carly and I ran for about two miles, we were turned around by a Patroller on the trail, because our plan would put us into camp after dark which is something they don't allow. He then escorted us back to our packs and on to our second campsite.
The patroller told us that two other patrollers got the message about our tent via radio and would bring our tent the following day around two in the afternoon.
Our tent never showed up though, so frustrated that we had wasted a day, Clint and I snuck out of camp at 7:30pm and ran/speed walked to pick up our tent. We had to sneak into the first camp with our lights off to grab our tent, because we were out "after curfew."
We returned to our camp at 2:30am after a 23 mile round trip over a ridge twice, battling 40mph winds, and rain.
We continued on the following day to enjoy five more days of backpacking. Here are a few shots from our trip I took with my phone. Many more photos to come as soon as I can pull them from my real camera!
Saturday, March 24, 2012
Happy trails
Whelp, we woke up today and found a better hostel, cause ours was a little creepy, then prepared for our backpacking trip that we're starting tomorrow morning. We'll be on the trail for eight or nine days.
"most people die at 20 and live til there 75"
Here's a view of what we're going to see:
And the other is of us and our new friend Don Jaun.
"most people die at 20 and live til there 75"
Here's a view of what we're going to see:
And the other is of us and our new friend Don Jaun.
Deep South 3-23
Back at the airport yesterday morning, we found out that Carly's bag is still lost, but we did find Clint coming out of the bathroom and decided to keep our flight to Punta Arenas. The scenery and weather outside the airport was very similar to that of my hometown, Crescent City. We took a bus to Puerto Natales. This is the last city before we get to Torres del Paine, which is a national park where we will be doing an eight-day backpacking circuit of 56 miles. 
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)