Torres Del Paine

When I first arrived at the airport in Punta Arenas to kick off my Patagonia trip, I was really hesitant about doing the three days in Torres Del Paine. I was thinking what if it's too hard, if i get lost, if I'm too cold, I was basically filled with doubt and fears about the upcoming three days. But as soon as I took the bus ride the following morning from Puerto Natales to the park, I knew that this was going to be awesome. The first hike I did started right after I entered the park. I dropped off my things at the refugio and started on my way with just my camel back and the lunch they had packed for me. The hike was everything you could want to see in a hike. There was a birch tree forest which turned into a mountain pass that looked over a flowing river which turned into a homemade swinging bridge. It was sunny, then it snowed, it was flat then it went up hill then twisted and went down hill. It was awesome. The hike took me to the three towers which were situated in front a frosted lake. :) In total I would give the hike a 5/10 for difficulty and a 8.9/10 for awesomeness. It made me really thankful that I did the Villarrica volcano first because after that trek, everything seems like a walk in the park to me. I filled my camel back in the streams with the clear flowing water, and have never tasted water that pure. It was almost sweet.The duration of the hike took a total of just under 6.5 hours and was about 12 miles round trip. That night I stayed in refugio which was like spending the night in a ski lodge. I felt really spoiled. They fed me a big dinner, had a roaring fire place, comfty blankets, and a hot shower. What more can you ask for after a day of hiking?
Day 2 I took the catamaran over one of the lakes within the park and went to Refugio Pehoe. The ride was wild because it was one the windiest days ever. We had winds up to 70kmh and of course I went up top to check out the scenery and was rocked like no other. By the time the boat ride was over, it was already one oclock, which kind of bummed me out a little. But I rushed to the Refugio, dropped off my things, and headed on my way. This hike was a shorter one and realatively easy. Since I only had about 6 hours until night fall I had to book it. At the end of the hike I crossed this awesome bridge over the roaring river that was rocking fiercly back and forth due to the crazy wind. I knew that I didn't have much time and should turned back but decided to go a little farther to the next trail, and I am so happy that I did. I started to climb these big boulders covered in snow and walked for about half hour before I knew I had to turn back. I stopped and looked around. All of a sudden I was surrounded by a water fall on one side, a snowy mountain peak on the other, and a turquoise lake behind me with a rainbow over it, meanwhile the wind is blowing so intensesly that the snow is dancing across the lake. It felt unreal. I had met some friends on the catamaran so had a great dinner with them and passed out early because I knew that my last day was going to be a long one.
Day 3 I woke up early and was on the trail by 8am. This hike was just filled with amazing panoramic views. You pass three lakes, and the third of which is where Gray Glacier is. Glaciers are amazing. They are the clearest, most intense blue color I have ever seen, they appear to be glowing. You could not make a crayon this color. This was my long hike, and it was an intense one since it contanstly was up and down hill, but that just added to the incredible views. I ended up right about the glacier that spread across the tail end of the lake. So beautiful. The weather was perfect, I ended up hiking with just a long sleeve shirt on.  After hiking for about 7 hours round trip I walked up a hill and saw an amazing rainbow over the lake. At that point I realized I was lost, and of course as soon as that happened it started to rain and the extreme wind started again. So I freaked out for 2 seconds, then backtracked my steps and finally found the trail. Probably entered top ten scariest things that have ever happened to me. Being lost in the wilderness, by myself, in the freezing cold, in South America. After that I would give that hike a 7/10 on the difficutly, just because I was so sore after 3 days and it was a long distance of 16 miles roundtrip. After three days and  35 miles of hiking, I treated myself to a Austral pale ale and waited for the catamaran to pick me up and dreamed about coming back with Scott and doing the all the trails the park has to offer. This trip was really amazing. torres Del Paine is a fantastic park.The trails are really well marked, (when you're not chasing rainbows) and the scenery is so diverse, it doesn't make sense that all these things are next to each other. I wish I was a better writer and photographer to really demonstrate what this park meant to me, but I guess you'll just have to visit it yourself. 

Chiloe

the ferry

 To arrive to Chiloe from Valdivia, I had to take a 7 hour bus ride. I really don't mind long bus rides at all,
the seats are fairly comfortable, I don't have to carry my heavy luggage, I always sit near a window so I get an amazing view, and I get to think about a million things without trying to think. For me it's really a way to unwind. The scenery there was absolutely spectacular. It was so green, the more south I go, the more amazed I am by the landscape, the vast rolling green fields, with backdrops of massive, magestic volcanoes, and  large clear lakes, rivers, and streams. Since Chiloe is an island I had to take a ferry, which made me think of my mother and the time that we drove to North Carolina and drove 6 hours out of the way just to take a ferry,
and it made me really happy. The ferry was great, I lucked out with amazingly blue skies, and I got to stretch my legs and walk around the ferry and smell the fresh Pacific ocean. I arrived to Ancud, which is the second bigggest town in Chiloe, and felt like I had entered a fairy tale. The "city" is filled with houses that all have wood tiles of all different colors, old forts, and fish and artesian markets everywhere. Ancud is placed on top of a bunch of hills and therefor there is amazing views of the water. I really loved Ancud. I bought some smoked salmonand ate that with some curry vegetables and quinoa at the hostel for two nights and it only cost me 6$ for dinner for two nights. Chiloe is filled with a magical sense to it, because it is an island it defintely has a completely seperate identity from the rest of Chile. It has strong beliefs in mythology,and the plaza de armas is filled with statues of all the different mythological beings that influence the culture here.  I spent my day walking around the cityconstatnly smiling and feeling so lucky that I am able to experience this. I finished my evening with a piece of kuchin (cake/pie) and watched the sunset from one of the old forts on the hill. The second day I woke up early to find the town covered in a thick, eerie, fog/ mist, which I heared is common
for the island. I decided to take a bus to the capital of Chiloe, Castro, which is about 1.5 hours away. The views, yet again, left me in awe,the hills of every shade of green with farm animals like sheep, goats, horses, and cows roaming all along. All the houses are tiny, yet are miles away from one another. When I arrived to Castro, I went to the tourist office to get a map and randomly ran into a friend that I had met in Valdivia. It was completely random! We exchanged some stories, and throughout the day constantly ran into eachother, which was really nice, because he was the only person I knew on the whole island, so it was nice to see a face I recognized. I spent the day walking around the town. Castro, for me, does not have the same charm of Ancud, but it is very unique. It reminds me of Waimea, 100 years ago, if Waimea were on the sea and had a strong nautical theme. I don't know if that makes sense, but that's what I felt.There's a huge market of fish, and homemade goods, and a good majority of the houses are perched on stilts called "palafitos", which is really neat. The cementary is absolutley beautiful and looks of the entire town. Castro is the third oldest town in all of chile and was founded in 1567, and the age is quite evident in the town. I returned back to Ancud, to my beautiful hostel,and fell asleep listening to the rain. The third day in Chiloe, I planned to stay however, I talked to people and realized that there are no buses around town on Sunday. Walking around the town on a Sunday in the rain and fog, made it appear like a completely different place than I had explored 2 days prior. It was like a ghost town, there was nobody around and all the buisness were closed, I really felt like I was in a ghost story. The last thing I did before I headed to Puerto Montt was go to the Ancud Regional Museum, which I am so happy I did. It cost about 1.25 to enter the museum. It is so extensive. It has everything
you would want to know about Ancud from the indigenous people and their myths and culture, to the Europeans, to the national park of Chiloe, which is 1/3rd of the island, tothe earthquake of 1960, which destroyed a good portion of the island, to a skeleton of a blue whale that washed ashore in 2003, which was amazing to see the size of that animal. I'm so happy I took the trip to Chiloe, I without a doubt plan to return and rent a car and discover the small towns, the national parks, and the penguins that are home
to the island. I could spend an entire summer here just exploring. Chiloe is a magical place. So I headed back to Puerto Montt on Sunday and just checked into a hostel and got my things ready for my big trip to Torres Del Paine. I'm actually really nervous because I have the trip planned so much that I am afraid I will miss a bus, or get lost, or miss a deadline, or something along those lines. The rest of the trip it didn't matter if my bus was 2 hours late or if I wanted to sleep in, but now I actually have a schedule so that gives me butterflies. But, no sense in worrying about the future. I am excited to hike for three days and stay in the park.
Torres Del Paine, Here I come. 

trauco: known to seduce young women and pregnate them in their sleep.

pajaritos

The Shyre

Valdivia

the city

Valdivia is a fairly large city that is located right on the river located about 2.5 hours from Pucon crossing dozens of bridges, which all have a name, over the clearest rivers I've seen. It is also a university city, which influences the city a lot and gives it an unique style. The city was settled by Germans so it definitely different than any other town I have seen in Chile. The city is set up like this. There is the main city, which has plenty of things to do, beautiful German inspired old buildings, as well all the commercial things one could want. At one end of the city is the river, which is lined with boats, sea lions, and  a market with fish of all kinds, vegetables, and people yelling. It's full of personality. There is a bridge that crosses the river which is called Isla Teja. The Universidad Austral de Chile is on that side as well as museums, little cafes, and tons of parks. I would love to live there. The university is beautiful and has it's own botanical garden and when I arrived it was the first week of classes so it was full of life. I stayed at the hostel Airesbuenos which is so charming. The backyard is full of herbs and there is a pet cat, 2 chickens, and a duck. The first day I arrived, I walked all along the city and got my fill of museums.

the duck

The second day I took a bus out of town to a natural reserve called Curinanco. It follows the coast line of Valdivia which is absolutely breathtaking. It reminds me Northern California with giant green cliffs with a strip of sand lining the ocean. The majority of the ride was on a dirt road and the bus was filled with fishermen and students. At times I thought the bus wasn't going to be able to make it up the turning roads. The reserve was at the end of the road, literally the road just ended, and was up a hill in the middle of nowhere. It was a little spooky at first, because there was not a soul anywhere. The trails where overgrown, but I was determined to get a good hike. Without a doubt, it was one of the most beautiful places I have ever seen in my entire life. The trail twisted through shrubs, then overlooked the shore line, then out of nowhere, led to this ancient forest with ginormous trees that all lined the shore. It was breathtaking. The only noise I heard for the duration of the hike was the wind, the waves, the birds, the bees, and my footsteps. So great. The Valdivian coastline is so amazing, I would love to spend my entire 2 weeks just exploring the parks. After that amazing day, I went back to my hostel to get my stuff ready for the following day and realized that I could not find my new pants that I splurged on and spent almost 100$ for my hiking trip in Torres Del Paine. Turns out I had left them in Pucon. So I spent my last day on a bus for 7 hours going back and forth to Pucon to get my stuff that I had forgotten. Not exactly how I would have liked to spend my last day in Valdivia, but it was my bad. So after the constant traveling, I talked to the owner of the hostel and she said I could of just asked for them to put the pants on a bus and could have picked them up at the bus station. Knowledge learned. 

views from the absolutely amazing hike

                            

 After that I needed to get a beer. So I went to the Kunstman brewery to end my day. I ended up seeing some people from my hostel there so I joined them and found out that it was St. Patty's day. So I drank my German amber beer and ate Curry Shwitzle in Chile. We all went out that night to an Irish pub and everyone was drinking green beer and wearing green hats. It was definitely a mixup of cultures. I left the following morning with a bit of a headache  from the night before and headed for my 7 hour bus ride to Chiloe.

What the city is all about.

The City is filled with my two favorite things: parks and art.

Into the Lake Region

I am not sure if summer camps were inspired by Pucon or Pucon was inspired by a summer camp, but everything about this charming town brings me nostalgia of going away during the summer to camp. The town is surrounded by three volcanoes and a giant lake. All the buildings of this small town are made of wood there is a distinct smell of a camp fire everywhere you go. It is the low season so the town is not packed, but everyone you see is geared up to do some type of adventure, its like a commercial for North Face or Colombia. The hostel I stayed at is named Ecole. It is extremely comfortable and the beds have feather down blankets. The living room is scattered with books and there is a wood burning stove. They have their own restaurant, which I have treated myself to every night, which features a vegetarian, all local, home made menu. Every meal I have eaten there has been amazing and the best food of my entire 7 weeks so far. The town offers any adventure you can think of from horseback riding to hidrospeed, which is basically rafting down the river without a raft... 

the common architecture of Pucon

The first day I arrived I decided to check out the town by renting a bicycle. I biked throughout the city and along the woods and river that surrounds the city. Mounting biking is hard, especially if you think that you are going to go for a leisurely ride and end of getting lost and confused and biking 40km. But I did see amazing scenery and got some great exercise.

sights along my bike ride. 

The next day I decided to hike Volcano Villarrica. The volcano is 2.847 meters high (which is 9, 400 ft)and is covered in ice and snow. I always assume I'm in good shape until I do something extremely challenging like this. I really thought I was not going to make it. It was a constant incline and my group marched on like it was flat ground and they did this every day. We had to use ice picks and those spikes you put on your boots. I was hurting every single step.. but when we did arrive at the top it was incredible. The view was absolutely breathtaking, you could see the other two volcanoes and the lakes. We were right on where the sulfur was coming out of the top of the volcano. It was amazing. To get down the volcano, they had created "slides" which were basically paths where we sat on our butts and slid down. It was exhilarating, freezing, and overall great.

My last day in Pucon was a rainy one so I took the local bus to the town over, Villarrica. It's a cute town and has a strong Mapuche influence. I walked around the town for a couple of hours, and returned to Pucon and finished my stay there with a great vegetarian dinner and an early night under quilts and feathered down blankets.

Villarrica

River Region here I come.

Last Weeks in Vina Del Mar

The last two weeks flew by! After returning from Mendoza I was exhausted and filled with so many postive thoughts and memories. I came home to find my new roommate, Maya. She is 20 years old and from Holland. The week went great, we ate dinner together, watched movies, and got along like we knew eachother for a long time, as if we were real roommates. She's very sweet and we have a lot in common. The weekend after we went and saw the sand dunes in Con Con. Which is a town 15 minutes from Vina. The sand dunes are awesome, but it is such a shame the way people in Chile litter and have regrets in doing so. Here is this amazing natural beauty and people don't think twice after throwing their trash all over it. I think that has been my biggest beef with Chile. It's such a beautiful country, but they haven't gotten the memo of how to put trash in the trashcan, let alone recycle. They will realize sooner or later.

Anyway, the following school week I had a new professor, Francisco. I liked him a lot and thought he was very inteligent. However, something that amazes me is the ups and downs of learning a language. The week before I was top on the world and thought I was finally getting comfortable and confident with Spanish. This week however, I feel as though I have lost my ability to speak Spanish. My tongue cannot pronuciate anything and everything is jumbled in my brain. It's very frustrating. Learning a language is such roller coaster for me, when it's going good it's the best feeling and I feel so proud, then comes the weeks when I feel completely inadequate and a lost cause. Not going to let it get me down though, I know the next two weeks traveling I will be obligated to speak a lot of Spanish, and I am just going to read a lot and hopefully it will come back...


 So I have reached the end of the first part of my trip. All in all I did have a good time in Vina. It was very mellow and slow paced, which I think is a good way to start a trip. I met a lot of good people and I really got to know the city. The school was really good to me, and I think I have progressed quite a bit. 6 weeks did fly by however, and I look with great anticipation to the "unknown", which is the rest of my trip. I am very happy that I still have 10 more weeks to work on my Spanish and hope that the time will help me be more comfortable with the language. I begin my "vacation" today, I am going south. The itinerary is something like this: Pucon, Valdivia, Chepu (a small town on the island of Chiloe), Puerto Montt, Punta Arenas, Puerto Natales, Torres Del Paine National park, then off to Buenos Aires. Tonight, in 6 hours, I leave for Pucon and should arrive tomorrow morning at 9am. I don't really know what to expect because every time I picture something in my head, it's usually not at all like that. Part of the excitement of life. So my bag is packed, my bus ticket is in my wallet, and the hostel is booked. Hopefully the next blog I write will be filled with amazing stories of the adventures I have in this 2 week trip. 

kids sandboarding down the sand dunes

a typical chilean dish

Sausalito lake in Vina

 

the city is filled with awesome sand sculptures 

my bag all packed for the trip

Bon voyage!!!

Week 3 and 4

So this is going to be a long post since I have not written in 2 weeks and a lot has changed in the past two weeks, so you might want to take a seat, put up your feet, and put on your reading glasses. I last left all my readers ( all 6 of you) at the end of my second week in Chile. The weekend that followed was a fun weekend. Friday, I actually went out until the wee hours of the morning with my roommate Todd and his friend Craig from the United States. It was really fun. We talked, we drank, and we tried to sneak into an after hours club, without success. The following day I was useless and spent my time doing laundry, watching movies ( in Spanish por supuesto), and in general being a lazy bum. I made up for my idleness however, the following day. Crag, Todd, and  I woke up early in the morning and took the bus to La Campana, which is a national park about an hour from Vina. We started our hike at 10am. At first it was slightly difficult and took some getting use to because it was all incline. However, in general the first 6 km of the hike went fairly smoothly.  Then came the last 1km of the trek. At the time I thought that it  was probably one of the most physically challenging things I have done in my life. We had to hike across giant boulders on the mountain at a 45 degree angle. I was literally shaking from fear. Then we had to basically rock climb up the huge boulders and had to stop every 5 minutes from exhaustion. The last 1km probably took up about 1 hour or more. But as we reached the summit, all of our bad spirits and exhaustion dissipated, and we were nearly speechless. We had climbed 1.900 meters which is about 6300 feet. The view was spectacular and the endorphins were in high spirits and we truly felt proud of ourselves. After eating our avocado sandwiches and taking in the view we started our descent. I was very scared at first considering the angle at which we were descending. We were making good time however, until we stopped to let some fellow hikers pass in the opposite direction. That is where things went wrong. By doing so we somehow lost the trail. Remember before when I said that the last 1 km of the ascend was one of the most physically challenging things of my life, that was before we got lost. We were lost for about 1.5 hours and had to horizontally cross the mountain. Beneath our feet rocks fell 6000 feet below. We were short on water, and already exhausted from our trek up. I was really scared. I was thinking that we were going to be those people who get stuck on a mountain and have to get picked up from a helicopter and I was thinking how I don't have insurance and how much that would cost. It was really intense. But Todd trekked ahead and used his binoculars to find the trail. After crossing loose rocks that slipped beneath our feet we had to push our way through thorny bushes and create our own trail until for the love of god we found the trail. Then after all that we still had to trek 6 km down to the bottom. I was sore for 5 days and have never had so many blisters. But I am sure that it was probably hilarious to see what we looked like. We were completely filthy, we had cuts, scrapes, our hair a mess, and we walked with a limp. It looked like we fell down the mountain, tumbled into a river, and spent the night at the bottom in a hole. But it was an experience I will never forget. We also saw really cool wildlife, such as: Vizcacha ( a mix between a chinchilla and a rabbit), a Chilean Hawk; which was eating another bird, a Chilla fox, and a tarantula.






The following week was pretty hard for me. My roommate, Laurel, had left and I guess I didn't realize how much I enjoyed spending time with her until she was gone. I was feeling very homesick and bored with the city. I also was put into a higher level of Spanish and it was quite difficult for me and I felt inadequate so therefor I spent every day studying alone and was getting very sick of being by myself. However, on Thursday night on the bus to Mendoza I realized that this is most likely the last time I will travel  for a long period of time by myself. therefor, of course there will be times when I am lonely, but I should also relish in the fact that I can be completely selfish and do whatever I want to do without consulting anyone else. Try to focus on the half full glass...

Lobos del marinos in the Valparaiso bay

Last time the roomies were all together

The start of the hike, so mellow we thought.                                  

We crossed this horizontally. so scary

So beautiful, at the top above the clouds

We made it!!!

     Hi guys!! high on life.

See the mountain in the far distance. The very top of the mountain... That's where we hiked to.

A tarantula just hanging out.

However, all my sadness and loneliness dissipated after I went to Mendoza. I LOVE MENDOZA!!! I stayed in the international hostel and met so many people that were so nice and welcoming. The city itself is amazing. There is a huge park that is about 1/3 of the size of the city, which I walked all around, and many of the streets are closed to vehicles and people sit drinking and eating and laughing and listening to music. It's really quite magical. I also went white water rafting, repeling down a mountain, and hiking. It was the most fantastic time that I have had in the past 4 weeks. Mendoza is surrounded by the Andes and the view is incredible. It was so much fun to raft down the Mendoza river. I fell into the freezing water after hitting a boulder, and that just added to the fun. I talked so much spanish, got to party a little bit, and met so many people that live in Buenos Aires, who I am going to meet up with when I study there. Seriously, Mendoza changed me for the best. I am so incredibly optimistic for the rest of my travels and I still have my smile on the face from the weekend. I recommend to any to visit Mendoza!

Me and the rafting guides in front of the Mendoza river.

Does not even come close to the beauty in real life.

The road the bus drives on to get to Mendoza from Vina.

When I got back to Vina yesterday I had a new roommate. Her name is Maya and she is 20 and is from Amsterdam. She seems very nice and we had dinner together and watched a movie. Come Monday I had classes and have never felt so confident with my Spanish. I can understand so much more, and felt so comfortable speaking. I also signed up for private lessons and attended my first one. I am really happy I signed up for them. We are going over the book I am reading and practicing my pronunciation, which is what I struggle with the most.

There will always be times in your life when after you've done something out of your comfort zone that is difficult, you ask yourself, " Why on earth did I do this and why I am putting myself through this when I could be living my easy life back home." But when find the answer, it's worth more than anything.