trekking in the patagonia

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the internet here is not to good so I appaulogize for the lack of bloggs.

I spent a few more days in Ushuaia thewn planned. that is a hard place to get out of very limited buses this time of year. Loved the town and the people. i hooked up with a group of other travels and we rented a car for 3 days and went off to explore what the city known as the southern most city in the world had to offer. we went to the harburton ranch and took the boat over to see the penguins. great photos opp. then stopped at the flag trees on the way back to Ushuaia. The hostel we stayed at had a great kitchen and I ended up being the groups chef. we had a lot f extra time , it was great to have people to cook for. the wine here was amazing too so we had lots. we did a day hike in tierra del fuego national park which led all the way to the chile border. Thomas and i decided to head off to Torres del paine to do the five day trek known as th "W" we took the bus to puerto Natels with a british couple we met in Ushuaia, they were wanting to do the w aswell so we teamed up an went together. it really cut down on the cost of things to do it in a group. we all pitched in for food and gear and had things spread out amongst us all for weight.

We got the 7:30 am bus to the park and started the trail right away to make it to the campsite early. we started on the east end of the trail as the weather was looking good and we wanted to get a good view of the towers of paine (torres del paine) three huge granite spires know as some of the most dificult climbing in the area. I heard it is rare to actually see them this time of year with the weather beeing so bad. we got lucky that way for the first day. After we set up camp it was another hour hike/scrammble to the look out for the towers so we went to check it out. after getting to the top i waqs not to sure about doing it at 5 in the morning to catch the sunrise. we stayed up there for awhile looking in awe at the mountain, so amazing. we were all awake well before 5 freezing are you know whats off. so we put on the head lamps and started our ascent to the look out. it was a hard scramble not beeing able to see where you were aiming it was easy to get off in the wrong direction. it was good to have done it the day before for familiarity purposes. when we got to the top you could see the towers with the stars out behind them. the sun came up but there was no clouds in thsky to lend to the pink hue of the morning sun. the light was great and the phots will be choice. on the way down i slipped off a bolder and twisted my knee, I think I looked like a goonie bird on crack trying to land on a stick. anyway a long way still to I hiked on back to the camp. we pack everything up and left promptly for the next campsite 9 hours away. The weather turned nasty in no time with rain and a bit of snow. by the time i arived at the refugio half way my knee was the size of a small melon and quiet sore. we still had a few hours to go to the next campsite. The others went ahead an got the camp set up and I hobbled in just at dark. we spent another cold wet night in the tent. you could hear the wind blowing through the trees with such incredible force and the tent would shake violently. you could also hear the avalanches falling from down the valley at least one an hour. in the morning and after a few advil i was off to hike a couple more hours to the boat across the lake to the bus back to puerto nateles. I really wanted to finish the trek but i also didn´t want to risk more damage to my knee and not be able to enjoy the rest of my time down here.

At the refugio were the boat stops i ran into a guy I had met in peru a couple of months ago. he and his buddies had just came off the trail. they had been camping at that end of the trail that night and where awoken at 4 am when a branch was blown down by the wind and landed on a tent close to theirs. there was a dutch couple in the tent and the guy got hit very bad. he sustained serios head injuries and who knows what else. they had to give him mouth to mouth and he brought up a lot of blood when he started to breath again. It really makes you think when you are that far from any real help how fragile life really is. he was taken by boat and ambulance to Punta Areanes 5 hours away. Hopefully he wll survive with out any problems. There was alot of sad faces leaving the park early.

I am spending a few days in Natels chillin out till the others get done the trail then I am off to Al Calefate.

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