First day of term. Damn. I was having a pretty great time travelling around and generally having an awesome time. Oh well, I had to come back and do a proper job at some point I guess. It's been a while since I posted so here's an update on what I've been up to.
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| The famous towers in Torres del Paine |
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| What a dramatic place |
I spent 4 days trekking in the Torres del Paine national park. This was truly one of the most spectacular places I've seen in Chile, breathtaking mountains, Patagonian wildlife, pristine rivers and lakes. The weather however was not 100% cooperative... I went with my housemate Roberto, who has a little bit of trekking experience and was also really looking forward to it. Day 1 was a beautiful day, sunny and not too windy. We got a precious view of the 'Torres' ('Towers') that give the park its name and after a decent dinner got some rest. Day 2 onward got worse and worse, driving rain and super strong wind. By the end of Day 3, Roberto had decided he'd had enough of walking in wet and cold clothes. By this time we'd done the whole 'W route' (named after the shape the route makes on a map) and seen the incredible Grey Glacier, and Day 4/5 would be devoted to walking the same paths in reverse, so it's kind of fair enough that he called it quits. From our location, there was a catamaran that zooms across a lake and takes you back to the park entrance. With 5 days worth of food, and I guess energy, left, I was keen to make the most of my time in the park so decided to combine the last two days of walking into one day and marched back across the park, aiming to beat the catamaran. 30km and 5 hours later I arrived at the park entrance, just 5 minutes after the catamaran!
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| Glaciers all over the place |
Day 4 was definitely the worst weather, 70kmph wind and horizontal rain hitting me in the face. For me, that's why I went to Patagonia, to experience how wild nature can be. Some parts of the park, particularly the most photogenic parts and viewpoints were so cluttered with fumbling tourists that those parts lost their magic for me. I really valued the early start and awful weather that convinced people to stay in their tents and gave me a day to myself to experience how wild Patagonia really is.
Arriving back in Puerto Natales, the nearest town to the park (still 3hrs away though!), we had a decision to make, how would we get back to Concepción? If you look at a map of Chile you'll see that the country disintegrates into lots of little islands about two-thirds of the way down. Patagonia is right at the bottom of the island zone, which makes it incredibly slow and difficult to get back up to the North. Having flown in, we had no issues getting South. Roberto panic bought a 27hr bus through Argentina to Osorno... I took a bit more time to find a cheap flight to Santiago, I felt quite sorry for him though... I spent a few days in Santiago with some of the girls from Cambridge, thanks to Claudia and her flatmates for letting me sleep in her flat again! It was nice to see some familiar faces again and catch up with everybody.
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| Valerie got it right. I was a moron with frozen toes |
I came back to Concepción for a day, then Loncoche for a day, then Pucón again. Phew. Busy few days of travelling! I chose to spend the last few days of my holidays in Pucón, one because I had stuff still there, and two because I enjoy spending time with the friends I made there. With Valerie, her boyfriend and Daniel, we went to the Termas Geométricas, the nicest hot springs in the area. On the way, we found a path to explore in the National Park of Villarrica. Safe to say I wasn't prepared to go hiking, I only had flip-flops! I went hiking regardless, but nobody told me there would be snow on the ground!! And then to top it off it actually started to snow, in Pucón, in the summer... It was an undeniably beautiful place though. Then we continued to the hot springs where we spent 4 hours defrosting, awesome.
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| I was in no way expecting it to be snowing :( |
I spent a couple more days lounging around in the shop in Pucón, it's a place that has really shaped me. I'd like to think I'm a much better guide, coach and Spanish speaker than before. I also met a lot of people who helped me have a great time, shout out to Valerie and Daniel. Also thanks to the work-experience guys for generally making me laugh, definitely saw them get a lot better as paddlers over the season.
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| Shahid and Daniel, guiding dream team |
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| The work-experience kids with the boss before the waterfalls dished out beaters |
Now I'm back in Conce to start work, motivated and well rested. This semester will be an interesting one. I've gotta get cracking with my year abroad translation project, start physiotherapy, and go to the gym to build up muscle around my shoulders. I will be updating you soon to let you know how week 1 of classes went!
