Chile - Torres del Paine circuit, boat and train and bus north to Peru

On the 25th of February, I took the ferry to Porvenir. Porvenir is the largest town in Chilean Tierra del Fuego, and the furthest south I have ever been. It was very windy and cold. I had lunch in the Croatian Club. Southern Chile was mostly settled by Germans and Yugoslavians, and they still have a lot of social clubs. It is a small town, so after lunch I took the ferry back to Punta Arenas.

The next day I did a big food shopping and took the bus to Puerto Natales. On the 27th, I took a bus up to Torres del Paine National Park and began a great walk. Most people walk the circuit of the Paine Massif in about ten days. I had 18 until my boat left, and I was determined to use them all. So, I set out on the world큦 slowest circuit of the park.

Day 1 - Two weeks worth of food is very heavy. I figured out that I had about 28 (13 kilos) pounds of food and that my pack weighed between 60 and 70 pounds (30 kilos). I walked from Hosteria Los Torres, up the valley to Campamento Los Torres.

Day 2 - After a bit of a late start, I left for a day hike further up the valley. I went up to the Japonese camp, followed the bend in the valley and hiked up next to a glacier to the head of the Silent Valley. From there I was able to scramble up to the base of the huge pinnacles of rock that tower over the area. Looking between two of them I could see all the way down to the viewpoint that was my next days destination. My day hike lasted 11 hours and I got back to camp at 10 pm.

Day 3 - I took a morning stroll from the campground up to the viewpoint of the towers. They were also impressive from this view. I spent the afternoon hiking back down to Hosteria Los Torres to spend the night.

Day 4 - I set off to start the circuit in a clockwise direction. Most people walk in a counter-clockwise direction, and I later began telling people that I was doing the anti-circuit. With my heavy pack, this was a long, hard day. I passed a few lakes, went over a minor pass and camped at Los Cuernos.

Day 5 - The Bader valley has no trails and is barely mentioned on the maps, but it was calling to me. I hiked up the valley and from the top, I had a third view of the Torres and looked down on the viewpoint from a second vantage point. This was another long day hike. When I returned to the campground, the people in the mountain refuge were just starting to get worried and come looking for me. It was after dark, and more importantly, after dinner. They sell dinner for about ten dollars at 8:30 pm. When I got there, dinner was over and they gave me the leftovers for free.

Day 6 - I took my final hot shower for a long time and then moved up to the French camp. I found a nice spot and listened to ice chunks fall off of the French glacier on the Paine Mountain.

Day 7 - The day started out with clear blue skies and I headed up the French valley, passed the British camp, and then started scrambling up the side of the valley. I was headed up to a point, from which I would be able to look back down the Bader valley from another view point and be able to see the Torres again. Unfortunately, the weather did not co-operate. As I got higher, the wind got faster and the snow started coming down horizontally. Eventually, the wobbly stones became slippery with a layer of ice. I crested two false summits and was probably about 45 minutes from the top and the viewpoint that I wanted to reach. For some reason I decided that it was getting a bit dangerous and I knew that going down, into the wind, was going to be much harder. It was a very difficult decision, but I turned around and began my descent. As soon as I turned around, I was blinded by the snow being blown into my face. My black fleece pants were soon caked in a layer of ice, which protected my legs from the wind and kept me warm. After an hour of going down, the sun came out and the sky cleared. I felt like a fool, if I had continued up I would have arrived at the top with the good weather. But, if I had continued up and the weather had not cleared, it would have been a very, very long and difficult day. Soon it started raining again and the last few hours back to camp were in the rain.

Day 8 - I declared a rest day and read a book.

Day 9 - I finished off my second book of the trip and moved camp to Pehoe. I made a little sign to trade a book and had no luck exchanging them.

Day 10 - I strapped my sign to my chest and fought the wind for the day. Since I was doing the anit-circuit, everybody was going the other way and could read my sign. Everybody told me that they had left their books in town or had burned them on the pass because they weighed too much. I made it to the foot of the Grey Glacier in the early afternoon, set up camp and watched the glacier for the rest of the day.

Day 11 - Up until this point, the portion of the circuit I was on is also called the 큌?and most people, especially the organized groups of older people, only do this portion. I was now on the true circuit and the trail got much more difficult. The rivers did not always have bridges, the trails were on more exposed cliff sides and the slopes got steeper. It took me all day to get to Campamento Paso.

Day 12 - It was time for another day hike. I followed the edge of the glacier up the valley to the Forgotten valley. I wanted to go to the head of this valley, but the foliage was too thick.

Day 13 - Now, after eating much of my food, my pack was starting to feel pretty manageable. I headed up the steepest part of the circuit and made it to the pass in time for lunch. Usually it is windy and cold up there, but today was sunny and warm. I spent about two hours having lunch and enjoying the views of the Southern Ice Field. It is about 180 miles long and the largest non-polar ice field in the world. Then it was an easy descent to Campamento Los Perros. A fox came to visit me around sunset.

Day 14 - I had planned a day hike up another side valley. After about an hour of bush bashing, and another hour of walking up a flat rubble filled valley, I reached a glacier. After only two hours, I had reached as far as I could go without ice tools. So, I went back to camp and tried to trade my books.

Day 15 - I shifted camp down the valley to Refugio Dickson. Some people saw me with my book exchange sign and my beard and thought I was the Forrest Gump of the circuit, walking forever and trading books along the way.

Day 16 - I had planned another full day hike, but it was raining pretty hard in the morning. After lunch I skirted the lake and tried to get into the Secret Valley. This portion of the park is covered with sharp thorn bushes and progress was incredibly slow and painful. I eventually found it easier to walk in the lake, even though it was cold. I got to the bottom of the valley, looked up it, wished I had more time, and then went back to camp.

Day 17 - By now I had almost no food left and I barely noticed the pack on my back. I flipped my pack in the air, flung my arms through the straps and headed off to the final campground. I saw another fox along the way and then had my first hot shower in a long time. Somewhere along the way, daylight savings time ended, but no body told me. So, while I was sleeping in until 8:30, everyone else was getting up at the early hour of 7:30. At night, I was staying up until 10 or 11 and every one else was going to sleep by 9 or 10. I liked the old time better than the new time. I realized that the time on my watch is pretty arbitrary out there. All I really need to know is how many hours of walking are left until I reach my destination and how many hours until sunset. The actual time is irrelevant. I think on my next hike I will set my watch so that I can wake up for sunrise around noon, watch sunset around midnight and maybe stay up until two in the morning before turning in.

Day 18 - I was out of food and time. I finished the circuit and caught the bus back to Puerto Natales.

My favorite kind of hike is a day hike, up a valley to the top and then looking down into the next valley. I got in a couple of these on this walk, but had to pass up about eight more valleys I would like to explore. All in all, it was a great walk, even if it was too short.

On the 16th of March, I went to the dock to get onto the Puerto Eden, a boat. They let us board around midnight. I went down to the bottom of the boat, in what I think was a former hold near the engine room. My room had 23 beds, mostly in three level bunks. I found a good top bunk and went to sleep.

On the 17th of March, I had breakfast, read a book, had lunch, watched a movie and then, finally, they were done loading the cargo of cows, horses, sheep, and trucks onto the ship. So, after 14 hours on the boat, we started our journey north. The next three days were spent watching movies, reading, meeting other people, looking for dolphins and seals, admiring the fjords and glaciers and sleeping. This trip took us north through the channels and passages of Patagonia. It is supposed to be comparable to the Inside Passage from Alaska to Washington. But, we saw fewer animals, and even though it rained most of the time, we had better weather.

On the 20th, we docked in Puerto Montt. I took a bus to Temuco and then the night train to Santiago. The next day I caught up with my friend Jason and met some of his Chilean friends. On the 22nd, we took a night bus to Calama. After a 22 hour journey we arrived. The next morning, we toured the largest open pit copper mine in the world. Jason left after lunch, and I took the night bus to Arica. Yesterday, I took a taxi across the border to Tacna, Peru and then the afternoon bus up to Arrequipa.

Today I am not doing much of anything, except eating. I forgot how inexpensive Peru is and how good the food is. I am trying to have at least one ceviche every day.

I had two memorable dreams recently. In one I spoke in Spanish. This was the first time I ever dreamed in another language, even if it was only two words. In the other dream, I read a book. I have been reading a lot of books this past week, and in my dream I did not see pictures. Instead, I read all about what I was dreaming about.

In Chile there are lots of men with long hair and beards. Here in Peru this is not so common. Today, for the first time in many months, someone stopped me take my picture because they thought I look like Jesus. I was crossing the plaza, in front of the big church, and I guess someone wanted a souvenir photo with me.

Tomorrow I will go back up to Ica to play in the sand dunes until the weekend. I will spend next weekend in Lima with Luis and Karem and then fly home on Tuesday.