Torres del Paine

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On Wednesday, we got to sleep in a little bit. Breakfast was as usual at EcoCamp - pancakes that are more like crepes with jelly and butter , some cereal that reminds me of cocoa puffs, granola, eggs, etc. Really good! We needed a solid breakfast today for the long trek to see the famous torres del paine. Daniel warned about the terrain - 1.5 hours uphill on the start + 2 hours of hills in the forest + another 45 minutes or so of really steep terrain. Luckily, the first third of the trail was so compacted it was almost like pavement; this made it much easier on tired legs. The trail was dry and dusty. As we were passed by gauchos on horseback, Jessica and I wished aloud for our own caballos (horses)... We continued on our own two feet.

The forest provided welcome shade on our warmest day yet. It was, of course, beautiful - feeling like a rainforest almost. We had to cross a number of bridges - some scarier than others - in order to pass the many waterfalls and rivers that run through this area. The water runs so clean here that you can drink straight from it - we filed water bottles and like a horse drawn to water, Eric even drank straight from the creek. 😊

That last third of the hike was brutal. Jessica and I took a lot of breaks, starting to hike again only after being coaxed by our male companions who were already at the top. We joked that we had to stop and rest so that we could "let them win". I had another "omg" moment as we hiked up the mountain side; it seemed like it was a sand mountain. I thought to myself, how in the heck did it get so sandy?! Its a mountain, for pete's sake! Hiking a 60 degree angle up a mountain side in the sand is no day at the beach. It got very rocky at the top, to the point we were weaving in, out, around, and over boulders. The view - once we turned a bend and over a ridge - was spectacular. The towers we're stunning and the brutal hike seemed well worth it.

The way down seemed to take forever, but we had a good time anyway. Today was Eric's favorite day, my adventuresome husband really loved the climbing the boulders. Later, we enjoyed our last dinner with our group, more skipbo and some jenga before crashing in our dome.

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