THE "W" AND THE TOWERS OF PAIN

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The border guards on the Chilean side was a bit strict, cant bring along meat and fruits or you get fined $4,500! We were also asked if we have been to yellow fever areas as there apparently an outbreak in the north of Argentina. Soon as i arrived in Natales I looked for the Kashewar hostel owned by a dude named Omar. Nice guy, there is room but i have to provide my own sleeping bag and is a bit cheaper. So got myself money from ATM and also met Neil and Louise here, they just arrived from doing the Navimag trip from Puerto Montt. Chris and Mick was on the boat too and I met them and we all hang out together. We were told to attend a talk given by this guy at Erratic rock hostel about Torres trek, he was very animated American dude, lots of good info and he has a good sense of humor albeit a bit overreacting. At this point since Luoiseand Neil is only thinking of doing a 2 day hike I will be hiking on my own. Went back to the hostel and started listing down things I need for the hike as i need to rent them from Omar. Then Chris a young lad from UK was listening while Omar explains to me the route, he realized we have the same itinerary so we agreed to rent the gears together, tents, sleeping bag, etc. We will share food as well so we were off shopping I was a bit apprehensive about huking with him because i dont know if we will get along very well but he seems to be alright. there were also bunch of American girls doing the hike for the first time, in fact a number of people from the hostel are doing it and we all started forming a group.

The next day we are off, got picked up by the bus for Torres, it took us about 3 hours to ge to the park and Chris me and Neil and Louise and Mick will hike together starting from the CONAF office, the last bus drop off, it was raining and cold as well so ot a good start. I decided to break down the days of our hiking and highlights.

THE Q AND THE W TRAIL:

Day 1:

-5 hour walk from CONAF office, they call this the Q if you start here
-got lost right away! 20 minutes into the walk, lady from the office said there is a big sign for trail, there was none! we have to backtrack, oh boy not a good sign
-beautiful walk, sun peeking every now and then, some trails are flooded or with puddles, not so windy until late in the afternoon.
-lots of horse shit on the trail quite annoying
-we stopped every now and then to take photos and rest
- my first time to hike carrying a 17kg bag, holding up really well
- near the Lago Paine Grande camp site was spectacular view of the Paine with Lago Pehoe's dark green color
-campsite was huge with kitchen, this is a paid campsite but we managed to dodge the fee, we were trying to pay but the dude said he is baking bread and cant be bothered at that moment, so we set up our tent
-discovered that the tent is quite small, this will be a cozy home for us not much space and Chris is 6'3"
-we set up tent for 1st time, wind is picking up put some rocks so it wont blow away where the pegs are
-Neil and Louise and Mick will stay at the refugio and they said is quite expensive and no heat, people not friendly either
-Chris went for a swim in the freezing lake butt naked and I have to take his photo, later on we discovered he was not waist deep in the water to cover his privates as i did not look i just point, turn away and shoot, photos deleted
-camp was busy with people cooking in the kitchen to save gas, good toilets though with showers.we had pasta and tuna for dinner, very good!!
- we both did not sleep well, I was cold and was raining a bit too that night, forecast for next day is rain

Day 2:
-Neil came to wake us up beautiful sky few clouds yay!
-got up and we decided to walk to the Lago Grey lookout point about an hour and a half walk
-sat and have snacks at the mirador admiring the beauty of the glacier
-we packed up and moved on to Camp Italiano, 2 hours walk
-Mick has to fix his blisters in his foot and Chris helped me adjust my backpack
-walk a bit harder up and down in spots, good weather
-when we arrived in Campo Italiano it got grey and sky was gloomy and rain started
-wind started to blow as well, we set up camp near the stream under the trees, very cold!
-walked to Valley Frances the most beautiful part of the park so they say and was true, spectacular glaciers and autumn colors, climb was tough among boulders and crossing a stream
-got to the mirador but decided to walk some more, water is so clean and pure and cold here, we get drinking water from streams
-decided to get back after 2 hours walking up and appreciating valley frances
-at the camp started to cook the rice dinner with calamares sauce, we both now look forward to every meal as we try and recuperate from the long days walk
-we set up tent in a slope and i always slide down every time i move needless to say i did not sleep well and so did Chris, freaking cold
-got up very early for a very long day ahead, not looking forward to putting on our cold damp clothes again


Day 3:
-walked to campo los cuernos about 2 hours to meet up with mick and company
-very very windy and the forecast was 50km winds, nearly got swept by the wind near the beach trail wow quite dangerous with heavy pack, raining as well crappy weather!
-when we started walking towards hosteria los torres where neil, mick and louise leaves us it was very windy, louise and i have to sit down one time so we dont get blown by the wind and my beanie flew away caught by neil, thank goodness
- later on the weather got better, sun came out and wind died down a bit but would suddenly blow from out of nowhere
-4 hour walk on fantastic scenery, waterfalls lakes etc.
-at the junction we said bye to the others and we sat down to have lunch in the rain! then we moved on to tackle the big uphill walk
-darn hard walk uphill, heavy pack sore shoulder and feet wet and rainy and windy, miserable walk, and ground is slippy, muddy i hate this stage!
-when u think the uphill was done there will be more! only consolation spectacular scenery of the river below the valley, cloud is clearing up a bit but still cold and windy
-rested so many times this stage i felt like i was gonna die, shoulder bothering me
-finally arrived at the beautiful campsite after only 2 hours, total walk is 7 hours!!
-very cold camp, cooked spag boognese for dinner yummy!
-we both stretched a bit as we are both sore
-went to bed early and for 1st time slept very well


Day 4:

-early rise at 630am to walk up the Torres mirador, 45 minutes of hard walk uphill, dreaded to put on manky smelly clothes, 4 days of no washing they can stand on their own by now, me and Chris used to each other´s smell by now
-did not get to avoid the boulders!damn boulders quite hard to climb, loose rocks a danger as they may fall to the person below you
-set up at the top we took our stove and cooked bfast and took our sleep mats and sleeping bag out to get comfy, very cold and windy! water took ages to boil
-sun came out around 8:20ish and we saw the colors across the towers, beauty!
-German and Finnish guy joined us on top most already went down too early
-spent 2 hours there admiring the Tpwers and just chill, weather got better, clouds dissapeared nice warm sun
-trek down was a struggle, boulders again
-Chris posed naked pointing to the Towers, yelling at me to hurry up an take the damn photos as he was freezing his nuts off, literally, quite funny
-packed up and we walked back taking our time
-Chris and i tackled the hills for the last time and i dont know why he chooses the more difficult path, the narrow ones, the steeper ones, oh did i mentioned we hiked up a ravine the day before for a short cut??
- arrived at the hosteria las torres to take a shuttle
-Chris walked the rest of the way to the entrance where the bus leaves for Natales, i stayed and waited for the shuttle
-beautiful sun but cold
-saw guanacos outside of the park, we did not see them while hiking, only horses
-very relieved and proud to have finished W trek!! quite an achievement on my part


Back in town we got ourselves sorted, shower was busy ran out of hot water at Kashewar hostel.
Celebrated by going out to a party hosted by all hostels in town at the Erratic rock, then went to a disco house drinking pisco sour straight, between 3 of us we finished 2 bottles! Lots of dancing with the American girls studying in Santiago, got back very late and just passed out tired! we celebrated with a big dinner at carlito's, hamburguesa grande!!

Hang out in Pto Natales til the boat leaves on Tuesday for Puerto Montt, while at the Kaweskar hostel i cooked adobo and nilaga for the boys, an introduction to Filipino food. Sorted my NAVIMAG discount fare on the internet and ready to leave, check in is 1pm til9pm today, Monday.

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Photos

TORRES DEL PAINE
CHRIS AND ME

TORRES DEL PAINE
LAGO PEHOE

TORRES DEL PAINE
FRANCES VALLEY