rain rain go away come agin another day

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Im back in chile again yes thats right more border crossings! i have about 8 enter and exit stamps now for this country!

Ok im back of my treck in the torres del paine national park and am feeling like i need foot replacement surgery!

this is the story...

Myself, hannah, mayo,gil and wes set off on out 3 day treck to see the glaciers and lakes of the park on a nice sunny day. The first day we set up camp and hiked 9 hours up and down to see the towers (hugh granite mountain pillars) which was amazing dispite the rock climb/scramble up the mountains.

We were really lucky as we got to see the famous 3 towers (mum i have sent you a post card of these) as the clouds cleared (some people had been there for hours waiting).

day 2 ....this is where the doom begins....after about 2 hours of walking with full sized rucksacks cramed with tents, camping gear and food it started to rain and as forest gump would say it rained and it rained and it rained and sometimes it even rained sideways!

We were wet through after 6 hours of walking through mud, swamps and trying to hop accross rivers but actually getting soaked in the process so when we got to a camp (not the one we were planning to stop at) i was a full on cripple, the blisters from walking in wet shoes were enough to make anyone cry!

The thought of putting my hiking boots back on and heave my rucksack any further up and down mountains in the pouring rain was traumertising so we decided to set up camp ...however it didnt stop raining did it! so our tents got wet and we were like drowned rats by the end of it all.


Wes and gill found some plastick and we helped make a shelter as the woods we camped in were water logged, it was like something off bush tucker man, it was great!
We set up a camp fire to be told we wernt allowed it but kept it going anyway as our stuff was wet! note waterproof jackets and boots are a lie they are deffinatly not waterproof!

After some food cooked on the little gas stove and some wine (yes we brought wine as thought it would be a nececity we finally went to bed at about 2am...it was cold and wet and in the morning it was still cold and wet, ugh wet clothes to put back on blistared feet...great and to top it off we got up late so had to leg it for a 5 hour hike to get the catermaran back or else it would have been another night in a wet tent with no dry clothes!

Day 3 ...now it probably all sounds awfull but actually i did have a good time apart from lugging my rucksack up the steep mountains that was a killer i really at one point thought i was going to collapse under the wait luckily i had gil to shuv me up the hill to keep me going! and i had hannah looking like somethging from the jamacan bob slay team to keep me entertained! (off the film cool runnings)

on the last leg of the treck me and hannah were practically running, it seemed to get easier, maybe it was something to do with the fact my boots were so wet and squelching i was just wading through the rivers and did a stream run for about 4 hours of the journey not caring what i stepped in...i was looking like stig of the dump by this point but knew if we went quickly we could catch the last catermaran and bus back to the hostal.

We made it and halaluya too, i was nearly skipping when i saw the the last camp where the boat was! apart from the rain and the mud the scenery was incredible every now and again i would look around and see the icy mountains looming above me and the turquiose lakes...stunning!

Overall an unforgetable trip we never made it to the glacier due to everyones feet, hip knee, wet clotes and tent issues.....if only people hiked in wellies like what you where to festivals ...thats what i was thinking whist trudging through the streams, would be so much easier!!!

mental note.... never let anyone else do the food shopping for camping you end up lugging round all the wrong food like apples and carrots and a million packets of crackers!

another mental note ..... bring a waterproof cagool that is actually waterproof

another mental note..... dont go hiking up mountains in the rain with a rucksack ever again!

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Photos

the torres
this is what we hiked to see for 8 hours,we were looky that the clouds cleared for a moment to see the peaks

gorgeous views in the torres del paine national park
even though the walking was tough the views were incredible

me and gill and my huge rucksack
this is what i had to cart round for 3 days!

wes drying his boots off
this is whenb it rained and rained and we camped in the woods