Torres de Paine plus some...

Since my last blog (never thought I would be a blogger!), I headed further south and back into Chile to visit Torres de Paine National Park. This park is a huge tourist attraction and has many options for seeing the park, from 5 star hotels to free camping. I opted for the latter and decided to do a 8 day trek that circled the park as well as some of the other side hikes to see the great panoramic views as well as the head tilted way back views as you stare up at the beautiful walls and towers of the ¨Cuernos¨ and the Torres. The light that hits these rocks through the clouds often produces beautiful colors, especially at dawn and dusk. One of my favorite features of this area is the distinct colors of the lakes, rivers, mountains, and sky coupled with the dramatic topography. The trek was good fun and I met great folks from all over the world (including a family friend of my uncle that was told to look for me but didn´t really think we would cross paths). I definitely never felt alone during this trip but really enjoyed backpacking solo and going my own pace. Some days I would walk for 12 hours and others I would nap, read, and eat my heavy load of fresh veggies and fruit. I covered a lot of ground and experienced every extreme of weather. Luckily, when I passed through the most exposed part of the circuit (El Paso de Grey), I had perfect weather. The day before people had to turn back as they faced 140 mph headwinds and flying ice. I sat on the pass at 10 in the morning in my t-shirt for half and hour looking out on the vast Grey glacier that connects to the Southern Patagonia Ice Field.

The three great views in the park (in my opinion) are of the Torres (towers) de Paine, Cuernos (horns) de Paine, and the Grey glacier. My photos are organized in that order.

I am now in Santiago after visiting my good friend and his wife one last time at their beautiful ranch on the Rio Baker. I am now staying with my host family that I lived with when I studied abroad here 6 years ago. I lost their phone number and email so I just walked to their house with the hope that they still lived there. Indeed they did and they demanded that I stay with them. Within an hour of my surprise arrival, we all sat down to a wonderful lunch feast that my host mom whimsically whipped together.

I head north on February 20th to one of the driest places on earth- San Pedro de Atacama and will enter Bolivia from there. Within the skinny borders of Chile exist the two extremes of weather and topography. I am sure the north will be as photogenic as its southern extremity...

Much love to all!

Guanacos roam the grassy plains that flow into Argentina.

Mi casita.

Sunrise from camp spot below Torres de Paine.























Early morning at base of Torres de Paine. Very windy and all the climbers had retreated.





















Dinner on Super Bowl sunday. This little refugio didn´t have a TV to watch the game, but the view framed in the doorless entry served me just fine.




















Walking toward the beautiful Cuernos de Paine.

Getting closer. The top third of the cuernos is a different mineral than the bottom 2/3 and millions of years of erosion have exposed these layers that once where underground.

Magnificient light coming off the snow.

Walking beneath the Cuernos with my head tilted way back.





















I thought it was summer down here!? Walking up the valle de Frances, it started dumping snow.

On top of the Paso de Grey and far above the expansive Grey Glacier. I had perfect weather, but this is seldom the case and the wind can literally knock you over.

Looking down on the Grey glacier.

Ladders help you get through the steep drainages that drop into the Grey glacier.

Getting a close up view of the Grey´s beautiful blue ice on board a five star boat excursion. I jumped on this boat at the last minute just as it was leaving thinking it was just a transfer across the lake. But ended up being a very luxurious boat excursion for all the hotels in the area. I was stinking pretty good at that point and I am sure all the women in high heels and fur coats loved it! The boatmen even chipped off some ice to serve us whiskeys and pisco sours on the rocks! I explained my situation that I didn´t have nearly enough money for this excursion and I just wanted to get to the other side of the lake, and the servers said no problem and to kick back with them and have a second round of libations. They even gave me some trail mix for the road!


Perito Mareno Glacier.
Another beautiful and very active glacier. People joke that every time someone buys a SUV a chunk of ice the size of a house falls. If that is the case, 3 SUVs were purchased while I was there...

Good friends Jonathan and Mary Ann at their hand made home on the Rio Baker.