The Best Trip I have EVER been on...

This week we had a few says off for vacations and I decided to plan a trip to the South of Chile, Patagonia. I went with Jennifer, Kate, Matt, Leif, and Beth. I did most of the planning which was both hard and fun, and I'm really proud of how the trip turned out. We only had from Wednesday to Sunday to make the trip so we weren't able to fit in everything we wanted. I had two important attractions that HAD to be seen: the Penguins and Torres del Paine. So we took the four hour flight down to Punta Arenas where we could go see the Pinguinos (Penguins)!! We found a local bar (La Madera) on Wednesday night and we danced salsa with all the locals (or at least tried to).

On Thursday we cought a big boat from Punta Arenas to Isla Magdalena. It was a two hour boat ride then we got to hang out with the Penguins on Isla Magdalena (which is in the Strait of Magellan) for a whole hour. There were thousands of penguins and i got so close to one that we were almost touching!

Friday we took an early bus to Puerto Natales (three hours away). You can only access Torres del Paine from Puerto Natales. Puerto Natales is anther port city that has brightly colored houses and tin roofs. We had lunch at a great pizza place then took another two hour bus ride to one of the entrances to Torres del Paine (called Laguna Amarga). We had encountered a little problem in planning where we were going to stay at Torres del Paine. We thought we could stay at a refugio (hostel) on the mountain but we went and asked the information serivces in Punta Arenas and they informed us that we could only stay at this hotel called Las Torres. And she informed us that for 3 twin beds it would cost $300 dollars. So we had decided to cheat the system, we made a reservation for 3 people but we decided that all 6 of us would stay there. We were really upset that that was our only option but we knew we had come too far to turn back. We took a transfer (small bus) from the entrance to the park (Laguna Amarga) to Las Torres (the hotel next to which the trail that we wanted to take started). The transfer was a really long bus that was super narrow. We drove half an hour over a dirt road and over a tiny bridge that barely had enough clearance widthwise.

We arrived at the hotel Las Torres and half of us checked in while the other half of us snuck in. Lo and Behold...the super expensive hotel only had 3 twin beds!! So we decided it is what it is. Then we saw a refugio down the road, and we were really angry that the tourism lady had blatently lied to us. We decided to take a short hike and then have dinner. The area is like a storybook land- the most beautiful place I have EVER seen in my life. We hiked around for a few hours and we found some horses and a stream. We went back to the hotel and went to the ONLY restaurant in the area (its quite secluded!). It was a very fancy hotel where they were appaled when we asked for tap water and they referred to us as Jovenes (young people). Quite an interesting experience...

Our next problem that we encountered was that to hike to the viewpoint to see the Torres (for which Torres del Paine is famous) was supposed to be a 9 hour hike round trip. Also the only bus back from Laguna Amarga on Saturday left at 2:30. You can do the math...its impossible. So I decided that NOTHING is immpossible and we would wake up at 5:30 and see how far we could get hiking as fast as we could. The girls had to each share a twin bed and one of the boys camped out on the floor as an extreme stormed raged outside (I thought well guess we wont be hiking tomorrow if this continues). When I woke up the next morning at 5:30 ready to round up the troops I realized that it was still dark outside. So I let everyone sleep in until 6:30 and then we were able to get out of the hotel by 7:00. Just in time to start hiking as the sun rose over the mountains. We had made PB&J sandwiches the night before and had decieded to only take two small backpacks with us so we could hike as fast as possible. One was mine, in which I put my big camera (very heavy haha) and the other held our food. We didn't end up starting the trail until 7:30 but it started out absolutely beautiful! After about 20 mins we realized that we were essentially hiking straight up a mountain in the mud (from the rain). It was the hardest hike I had ever done, and also the most beautiful. We had two people in our group who hadn't ever hiked before and although I worried about them I knew that our only chance to see the Torres was to keep up a fast pace. We kept going and going even admist much dismay and mutiny, but we were able to keep the group together. We ent up the mountain, through a valley, accross a windy drop off, over many simple bridges and FINALLY made it to a lookout where we could see the torres. It rained a bit throughout the hike but mostly only drizziling. At the lookout we admired the Torres which were covered in mist and then we ate our PB&J's and prepared for the trek back. We kapt up a good pace back the way we had come and we arrived back at the hotel at 12:30...we did a 9 hour hike in 5 hours!! I was so proud of everyone...especially our non-hikers!!!

We got back in time for the free transfer that left our hotel at one to take us back to Laguna Amarga. Luckily there were 6 seats left. We walked up and the snooty transfer driver told us we couldn't take the bus becasue we didn't stay at the hotel (ageism). WE told him indeed we did stay at the hotel and he told us no this is private (while the other guest were telling him to let us on). We argued and argued and finally he let us on. We went to Laguna Amarga where we caught our next 2 hour bus back to Puerto Natales. In Puerto Natales we cought our 3 hour bus back to Punta Arena. We arrived back at Punta Arenas around 8 and returned to our first hostel (Hostal Fitz-Roy...as suggested by K&A...great place!). We went out to a nice seafood dinner for Beth's 21st birthday!! WE had the BEST seafood Ive ever had in Punta Arenas. After dinner we trudged over to a dancing club where they played 80's music and music videos. Then at the club Beth and I participated in a salsa lesson, until it turned into a competition and we ran away. We were every tired so we didn't stay long. Then we woke up the next day at 8 so we could get on our plane back to Santiago.

A very tiring, fast-paced, and succesful vacation!!!