Torres del Paine = Towers of Pain

What´s in a name? Perhaps a hint as to what you´re about to encounter.

6 days and almost 100 kilometers later, we had a lot to show from our excursion in Parque Nacional Torres del Paine.

For instance:
Mea had blisters on top of blisters;
Tim had crumbs from days earlier still clinging to his beard;
and I had a stench that would make most trash men weep.



Glacier Grey in the background, and a galcial lake with stupendous striations reaching out of it. Oh, and Tim eventually trashed the pants, considering they were ripping more with each step and the well-intended duct tape couldn´t stand up to the job for once in its storied career.



It was amazing - difficult, but completely worth it. We traversed the "W," which is thus named because you roughly trek a W. We opted against the full circuit because we were told it was closed due to rock slides, but that hadn´t stopped many people who we passed along the way from doing the full circle. However, given the fact that I haven´t had much physical activity in quite a while and Mea and Tim atrophy away on the motorcycle, the full circuit might have killed us. We could never keep up with Kristy, a friend of mine from USAC with whom we constantly crossed paths in the park. She seemed to never break for water or just the sheer exhuastion that seemed to be ailing us at 5-minute intervals. Meaghan bore the brunt of Tim and my jokes because of her performance the first day. We labeled it "step, step, stop." In her defense, Tim and I weren´t any better.



The infamous Torres del Paine. We luckily got a pretty good look at them. The weather changes rapidly every several minutes - meaning that we encountered snow and sun during our 30 minutes or so wondering at their magnificence.



We saw all the weather that Patagonia could work up: snow, sun, rain, and horrific wind. The sites were astounding. Although not fully clear, Torres del Paine were still spectacular after a very difficult scramble up a steep, rocky mountain. The waters had an incredible variety of colors: gray glacial rivers, green, brown and blue lakes, enough streams to keep us well-hydrated (those were mostly clear, and it was nice to not worry purifying the water before drinking. Often times rather than fill up bottles we would would simply use a mug for a few sips before moving on).



Tea Time with the Happy Cups. We generally ate as soon as we got to camp because we were always famished after a day of hiking! Meals ranged from pasta to soup to polenta. We ate well and didn´t have to rely too much on the overpriced park options.



Staying at only free camps made for several long days (trudging past pay camps late in the afternoon to walk several hours further to the free site). However, it was that or pay more than we had for a hostel in Puerto Natales. Torres del Paine is hugely inflated. Entrance - $20, loaf of bread -$ 5, dinner in a refugio - $16. I´ve been lucky to get student prices several times thanks to my ID cards.



Los Cuernos behind Tim and I while we enjoyed a relatively easy day in Valle de Frances. We stayed at the same camp site two nights and spent the day enjoying the views on the middle leg of the "W". Mea and I during a particularly cold break during one of our last days.



After having mainly hitched thus far, time pressures are making us take some buses. We caught a bus out of the park (about an hour and as usual overpriced...even after talking the driver down a tiny bit) and then paid less on a bus we caught/hitched with at the border crossing for about 4 hours to El Calafate in Argentina. The bus was empty and the Argentine border guards said he couldn´t take us, but they didn´t want us to be left at the border, so they allowed us to continue!



Torres del Paine was an amazing experience - and photos, fortunately or not, cannot do justice to the vistas. Oh, and Paine doesn´t mean Pain at all. It´s a name, but I took it took mean Towers of Pain, as I bet many other awe-stricken, out-of-shape hikers have.