The first hike

Well this was one of the most disasterous hikes I have ever been on yet it was also amazing and beautiful so we got a bit of the good and a bit of the bad.

The first day we woak up at 5 am to be outside for the bus at 5:30 am which was to take us to Torres del paine in Chile. Well the bus didn´t show for a good 45 mins making us very worried that the hike had ended before it had started but finally the bus rolled around the corner and we were away. All three of us attempted to catch some well needed sleep on the bus but they refused to turn down the air conditioner so sleep was almost imposible as we sat shivering in our seats. The next big problem arose as we attemped to cross into Chile. None of us had remotely considered the idea that some of the food we had brought for the trip would be illegal to bring across the border. As it would happen about a third of the food we brought had to be taken away from us by the chilian border officals who precided to spray it with some sort of liquid and then burn it all - all those lovely avacados so sad! We attempted to say on our border documents that we had no illegal goods but they went through our back packs and Anna ended up with a long list of the contraband she attempted to cross the border with. Luckly we ended up with no fines but it meant that we were on heavy rations for the rest of the hike. Finally we reached the park after passing herds of llamas which was pretty cool. The mountains loomed in frount of us amazing and beautiful but as we discovered this was a land of mountains but it was also a land of wind! As we drove to the starting point of the hike - a ferry that took us across a lake - wind shook the bus so hard that it rocked violently back and forth. At this point dark clouds began to form and rain began to fall in heavy sheets that fell almost horizontally because of the gale force winds. Now we had been lead to believe that the weather would most likely be good. Everyone we met who had done it came back sunburnt and with stories of blue skys. Now I know you are always supposed to prepare for the worst but we got lazy. Anna and I had been waiting to buy fleeces in Bolivia where they would be cheap so we only had cotton sweat shirts and as my friend Alyssa would say ¨cotton kills¨and we discouved this very first hand! As we exited the bus in to driving wind and rain we were soaked almost before we could put our raincoats on. Huddling beside a small hut waiting for the ferry we began to question our decision to do this 5 day hike at all. Once we were on the ferry Anna had already developed the first stages of hypothermia. Once we reached the other side we collectivly decided to camp there and to attempt to get anna warm. There were Refugios along the way these are buildings that people can rent beds in so there was somewhere warm for her to sit - this refugio was particularly nice because it was meant for rich tourists to spend one night in the park. Even with this it took anna several hours to regain any body heat. It was a rather scary situation. We finally decided that we were all ok and that it was time to go to bed in the two person tent we had rented for the three of us. So we squeezed in and spent the rest of the night listening to the howling wind and wondering if it were strong enough to rip the tent up from around us.

The next day broke the storm and brough blue skys. We day hiked out to a glacier called grey and then hiked back to camp and packed up and hiked to the next camp site. Now I must refer to our diet because it was a speical kind of misery. We had rationed a bit of oatmeal for breakfast. One can of tuna and crackers between the three of us for lunch and a quarter of a block of cheese and one sausage and bread between the three of us for dinner. Not an exciting meal plan. IT was spiced with one chocolate bar a day and a few packs of cookies for the trip. I will tell you it has been nice to eat a real meal and some fruit since I have returned to civilization. I don´t want to look at sausage or tuna for a while. Oh I also forgot we each got two hard boiled eggs a day. That was my favorite part!

Anyway the third day brought more rain and we spent the morning in the tent pretending that it was big enough for three people to relax in. Then we packed up and headed for the next site, although once we arrived we decided to continue onward. After about another hour or two we came to a huge glacier fed river that had no bridge. We had to snake our way across very slowly and carefully as to not fall in and be swept away! Finally we reached a cross roads and decided we had gone far enough and chose to camp there illegally because we were exausted. But of course a couple on horse back who worked for the park found us and told us we had to move a half and hour before sunset so being three cute girls we used out powers of persuation to convince them that we just couldn´t move and they finally let us stay.

The forth day broke with more wind and rain and a huge rainbow. We hiked up the side of one of the mountains and down into a valley between to mountains beside a gushing river. We made our camp at a camping spot and then continued deeper in to the valley and finally climbed up and up until we were sitting in the bowl of the mountain staring up at the three towers of rock that the park is named after. I just about died of exaustion and cold but as we reached the top it was worth it the towers were amazing and just then the sky cleared and the sun poured down on us.

The finally day saw us retreat out of the valley and down on to the patagonian steps. It was a good hike and a hard hike but it was definitly an experience.