la junta!

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hello!

what a great past few days! aly and i just got back from our first backpacking trip in patagonias lake district! we caught the bus from puerto varas to the small town of cochamo on the 28th, two hours later we were standing on the side of a gravel road in the middle of patagonia. (awesome! beautiful!) we got a ride up the road to the trailhead with some other mountaineers (i think they were swiss) and started our 15km hike to the la junta valley. someone hiking out warned us that the la junta region gets 360 days of rain a year but it was a blistering plus 28 and not a cloud in the sky... he said that he wished us the sunny 5 days of the years! thanking him we moved onward and began to realize that this was not going to be a dry trek.... the trail was muddy!!! wetter than any trail i have ever seen, think juan de fuca and west coast trail combined and on steroids! anyway onward we slogged through the rainforest locked trail putting our trail runners to the ultimate gear test! 15 ish kilometres later we came upon a the la junta camping area, it was beautiful! we were surrounded by HUGE peaks and lush rainforest! so beautiful!most of the other people saying at the campsite were climbers who hike in and stay for weeks to climb the 1200m granite faces of these giants! aly and i made our dinner that night and went to bed exhausted. the next day we woke up to more sun! with a bit of sunscreen and a national geographic to read between the two of us we suntanned in the great chilian sun and then strapped our muddy shoes back on to do a day hike... "the circuit of waterfalls" it is called. this took us a few hours and we saw some fantastic falls... the pictures do not do them justice. then next day we woke up to.... you guessed it, RAIN! not just a spitting rain... a downpour of rain! so we packed up and got out canadian hiking move on! bolting out of there in record time we got to the road and decided instead of spending an extra night in the pouring rain that we would attempt to catch a bus back to puerto varas. so we got our move on again and hiked the road out... a record 6 hours and a soggy, sloppy mucky 22km later we were back on the side of the road changing into our dry gear, making soup and waiting for the bus we had heard rumours of would come around 4:30ish... so our surprise at 4:15 there was the infamous bus!!! hurray and sigh of relief! so that was our trip! we are spending today writing and calling home, doing laundry and attempting to dry things our before heading to wet chiloe island!... haha... so all is well! much love!!!! -monica!

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Comments

[Aly]

Sounds fascinating!
Just read a few of your entries. It sounds like you are having a wonderful time - hopefully things have dried out. We have been busy shovelling and there is a major winter storm coming tonight. On the bright side, my cross-country skis and Jas have been getting a workout this winter. Jim can't wait to head south to Texas on the 20th. Enjoy the next leg of your journey and keep up the blog- we are enjoying hearing all about your adventure. Be safe-

[Robyn Joffe]

Holy wow
Mona and aly what a wonderful venture rain sleet and sunshine all in one day sounds fab! We sit at -28 with snow and ice and ridiculous drivers bubi's bday tomorrow we will take her for dinner (Dom's also) enjoy and cherish your time away we miss u and luv u much aunty rob 's also)

[Neil Jennings]

Is it the weather or is it you?
Monica darling, So nice to get word from you on the blog. Not quite as good as having you here, but much better than not hearing how you are doing. So you go to the other end of the world and still it rains on you. After your last trip to BC, I am now thinking you have a future in witching water. Stay well and keep up the good work. Love, Papa J