Day 6: One side of Torres Del Paine to the other

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Up far too early with this eternal sunlight down here and my knee is so stiff I can barely move it. After knocking Michelle around for a while trying to get out of the tent I finally made it to the washroom and main hall for breakfast. Coffee is a wonderful thing and again I had my staple of white bread and cheese. Gooooooooo travel diet, the eternal meal in Latin America for veggies!

We all pitched in to help Christian 2 pack up our campsite and we got on board the boat for 10:00 sailing back across Lago Pehoe. Everyone helped with my bag as well and we all sat on top deck enjoying the view. Short public bus ride to the start of our supposedly scenic and informative walk to the Information Centre. What a total bust. The highlight was almost getting run over by a steam roller in a construction zone (seriously - will get photos to prove it), not my idea of exciting truth be told. The Information Centre was interesting but I could have taken the bus to it, and saved myself knee some grief.

After the Centre, we bussed locally to what can only be called the Wild West of Torres Del Paine. We were near the east border of the park, dry, dusty, one small shelter that was being painted (I can only imagine how much dust dried in it), with the tune of "wooowoowooooo, wa wa wa" going through my head. There Dange and I sat, monitoring everyone's bags while they went on a 3 hour hike that I didn't feel up to. Whistling has never been my strong suit, and add a dash of dust inbetween the lips and the sounds of the wild west turned into croaks that made a few people stare at me in bewilderment. Between the dust devils and the scorching sun, my eyeballs felt like grit and trying to read my ipad while swiping off the sand every 30 seconds or so got a wee bit tiring. Almost dug through the bags to find a bottle of wine (I knew Lisa had one hidden) but too lazy to try.

Eventually boredom set in and I went for my own mini walk; which turned out quite nice. Made it up the hill to a small meadow where the guanacos' were hanging out and some stunning views of the Park as well. Didn't wander far, but what I did discover is that the slower I went, the better my knee handled it so I was determined to attempt the trek to the Towers the following day; but at my own pace. I decided to talk to Christian about leaving early to give myself a head start, thereby not holding back the group and not feeling like I was perpetually trying to catch up.

Learned the mountains took 1 million years to form in 3 layers: sediment, followed by volcanic then a third layer of sediment. They have guanacos and puma and mountain cat (not to be confused with mountain lion). But he did say that North Americans refer to same cat as puma. And cougar (which I thought) but here in Chile they are different. also found out that condor, the elusive bird in my photo collection is a type of vulture! Makes them seem way less romantic in my world now!

The bus came, and we boarded it to our short ride to the park, via roller coaster style. The driver was on a serious mission (my guess is they had bets on who could drive the 3km the fastest), and in the back of the bus we were getting some serious air, causing some of us to raise our hands up and squeal! Crossed a bridge that was possibly 2 inches wider then the mini-van (no joke) and that was the ONLY section he drove less than sucidial speeds.

Camp was already set up and we ran into Fede (our leader who had to bus for 2 days to join us due to a recent surgery that wouldn't allow him to fly), he had just arrived. To our amusement and his severe horror, Fede our self proclaimed princess of a tour leader walked with all his gear to the wrong camp; about 2/3 of the way up to the Towers before he realized he was lost. The camps have (almost) the same name and apparently everyone in Chile was on a mission to make his miserable. Oh the horror! After he showered, calmed down, his stories became the amusement of the dinner conversation, making most of us snort out our pisco through our noses we were laughing so hard!

The best part was I had talked to Christian 1 and said I wanted to attempt the hike, but leave considerably earlier then everyone else so A: no one was waiting for me and B: I didn't feel pressure to hurry. There are no wild animals, no sheer cliffs to fall off of and the trail is extremely well marked so I was not concerned about trekking on my own. Christian agreed, however he wanted me to take Fede. Um - Princess? Seriously? After listening to him whine and bemoan about hiking and how he would never do it again I wasn't sure that was the best option. BUT Christian reminded me that it was his job, so with a small giggle I agreed and asked him not to tell him until I went to bed:-)

I had mentioned this to Michele and in her wonderful dry humor she kept asking Fede to explain his relaxing day for tomorrow while I was all but bursting out laughing. Fede had plans to sleep in, read, go to the hotel down the road and see if they had a spa. snicker. He's going to love me!!!!

Wrapped up the evening, prepared for the following morning and set off to bed, with visions of the Towers in my head and confident that I would do this. I'm far more stubborn then my knee, right?

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Photos

Lake Pehoe
Our sailing back across Lake Pehoe - with a view of the Towers, tomorrows nemesis.

Random hike
My own solo hike to the top of the lookout

Info Centre
Information Centre at the East entrances to Torres Del Paine NP

Info Centre
Torres Del Paine map at the Info Centre showing the "W" route and where we had hiked and where we were off to.