Part 3 - The Walk - Day 3

To your comments :

• Hermano : it depends on the day, I will show you a map where distances are written. But between 7 and 20 km a day... And I did not get any phone number in Torres del Paine !

• Mr President : yes, merveilleurs is the word !

Anyway there was a 3^rd day ! As you might remember, I was having breakfast everyday in the refuge and it was not really really good... So some people would not eat everything but me... I ate this ugly / disgusting milk with rice there was, and when André asked if someone wanted his, I rised my hand. So maybe they noticed or not that I was hungry, but Andrea gave me a part of their lunch bag so this day I had a lot to eat and that was a nice feeling of safety !

So I left camp los cuernos, following my fellows indians New Yorkers. But they distanced me within the first hour. I know it might confuse some of you that I can actually be distanced, but I'd like to remind here that I was carrying a big backpack, whereas Rahul and Navin haf smaller ! So I was no more with them when I arrived on the beach.

Two hours and a lot of nice landscapes later, I arrived at the first stop : camp Italiano. For the faithfull gugusses that have readme so far, you might remember it was the place I planned to rent a tent in the first place. That would have been a freezing night mistake !

But I could here drop my backpack to start the trail through the "valley of the french". And this track was rocky ! I had luck because my ankle stood it good.

There is not much to say about this part, except that the landscape was beautifull, maybe I didn't mention it already...

Sometime one might hear an avalanche falling from the snowy montain, but nothing dangerous because our part of the vally was dry.

The first stop on the way was a spot on a little galcier, where I found Rahul, who was waiting for Navin, who had gone further to see the second mirador on the Torres.

While I was chatting with him Leah and Jasmine arrived so we kept going together. Most of the way was either rocky, or in a forest, but most rocky... From this place I will actually remember this image of a dead burned forest in the middle of a very green and healthy one !

We saw André and Andrea who were better equiped than me (with trecking sticks)

And the more we went, the better we saw the torres .

We went through camp Britanico (what a joke to put a camp Britanico in the middle of a french valley...) which was made of... Small little thing that might (or might not) protect you from the wind. It's a little bit like someone built a cover with trees and called that a camp. But there was people enjoying it (at least you are not crowded!).

We met Navin on the way, but he was going down because the New Yorkers still had a lot to walk that day.

But when you arrive on the top, you see that :

And you are happy :

So what is it like... Like Grenoble but without the town ! You are surrended by mountains (some of whom you can climb on, but I has been told that you then have to sleep on the wall, because you have not enough time to do it completely in one day!), it's beautifull, the down side if very flat and Paris seems far away.

We ate there and I left the girls soon because I knew I needed time to go down. Some people can tell I'm very very (very) carefull when I go down. So I take my time and maybe 20 minutes before arriving at the Italianos, I'm caught up by Leah and Jasmine... (no of course I let them).

We did not stay long at the Italianos, because we still had a 2-hours walk untill the next camp. This part was really windy, and cold, and windy, but still marvelous / beautifull / magical.

Paine Grande is a very huge camp ! The atmosphere is more comfortable, but the spirit is not the same as in smaller camp where everyone gather at diner time, and stay in the heated place after. But there is internet, a mini-market, a restaurant and so on (warm nice spacy shower...)

I asked the receptionnist of los Cuernos to book me a tent for this camp and he did, so I had tent and breakfast paid without giving money. Everything was well !

There was a lot of people, a lot of group so it was not really easy to meet new people here, but there was a lot of different languages spoken.

I had the opportunity to load the battery of hernan's phone, and there was no PIN code as well as... No Servicio acqui.

Hmm... But it was allright, a almost warm tent, something to eat, a place to take the catamaran the next day and I could almost pay everything here with my credit card.

I slept well.

Part 3 - The Walk - Day 2

There are not only girls on the way and there is nothing to know about the counter...

Anyway I woke up for the second day in Torres del Paine and I had breakfast meeting some people from Grenoble, that told me the typicall stuff a tourist should do here (which is wake up early and go to the mirador in order to see sunrise) really worth it.

Well, who told me that ? A certain Marion that has made an Erasmus semester here and decided to have a year break working and visiting the country.

I left after having said goodbye to John and Diana and I was on the trail for the most part of the day. There was a lot of people, but it seemed to me there was more going from West to East than the other way.

As I already said you can't really get lost

The small lake

All the day I was not far from André and Andrea, but I didn't knew them at that time. Depending on the break we made or the pictures we wanted to take, there were 5 min ahead or 5 min late...

Here you can see André and Andrea 15 sec ahead !

As I said before, the weather can change very (very) (very very) quickly. I remember hidding behind a rock to put my clothes on again (I mean 'more' clothes!) becaused I had been surprised. And thare had been no corner nor cliff before the change !

As I had been told by Marion and her friends, most of the day I was going along a lake, blue or opal I can't say but beautifull for sure.

I had a break here, with a lot of wind, but so nice !

You can almost refill the water anywhere...

André told me that I missed a Condor while I was walking. He said he saw him because he saw his huge shadow on the ground. But a few minute later, I heard him crying "COOOOOONNNDOOOR" and I had time to take this picture :

I also had some time to consider this : walking alone has some very good parts I won't detail here to not be considered as a misanthrope, but one should consider his music playlist first. Because there are some very long parts still ! Plus there are actually some dangerous places where you can fall and disapear. If no one has seen you I don't know what happen. But it cas usually be done easily. I later met Leah and Jasmine who told me they were lost and had to climb a little bit with their backpack in order to catch again the trail...

Arriving at the second camp (Los Cuernos - The Horns), I met two indians of New York City. Two men ! The first one is consultant and the second works at the university.

Arriving in the camp...

And that is the story of how I met Navin and Rahul !

There was also a dutch that is used to treck and the two fellows I had been seeing all the day.

I think that this camp was the best of the three I saw. It had the perfect size, good comfort and you can pay with your credit card !

But I went to bed early because my shoulders started to hurt at the end of that day, and I knew the next would not be a piece of cake...

Part 3 - the Walk - Day 1

No, just kidding, I was not alone... Right after the bus I asked two girls if they were not heading by any chance to my destination : Camp Chileno. And they were !

And that's the story of how I met Leah and Jasmine.

They are australian, and was visiting South America (Argentina, Chile, Bolivia,...). Once again the opportunity to meet new people and discover new cultures... For instance I learned that australian don't usually eat fresh prawns but cook them with a barbecue...

But most of the time we did not spoke because we were walking... The landscape is beautifull, and it would be useless to try to describe it or to show here all the great things there are to see in this park, so let's just enjoy some photos...

First spot

A long walk ahead, but we are not alone on the trail

Even on the first day, we understood that the weather was not very, very, very nice, even if it was summer. The sun can shine for an hour, but when you turn the corner the wind can be blowing so strongly that you need to change your clothes... But 10min later, you might want to take them off again.

The least I can say is that the trail is very-well indicated. It's very hard to get lost here... But it's going up...

The valley to camp chileno

Arriving at camp chileno

Arriving in Camp Chileno, Leah and Jasmine put their backpack in the tent I was renting for the night, because they would later leave me here and keep walking to an other camp down the valley. So I checked-in, "met" a welsh couple that understood that my tent was theirs, which didn't helped us to go soon... But they were both nice and everything went well after a confusing moment made even more confusing by the accent (sooooo British) of the woman.

Back on the trail

Start seeing the torres !

Wanting to climb...

So anyway, we went to the mirador and after a 2-hours walk, we saw that :

I was wearing the Raid's t-shirt, which I think is the reason why I was able to do this walk !

After going back down I left Leah and Jasmine and then I started getting ready for the evening.

Because the "night" can be chilly here, I went inside the warmed refuge were I met an other australian, that asked me about my plan so far (it's a good way to start a conversation here...). So I told her that the day after I was sleeping in Camp Italiano, hopping that they would have tent to rent as they was doing here... But she convinced me to ask at the front desk, which I did.

There is no tent to rent in camp Italiano, but there was still free tent in the nearest refuge : camp los Cuernos. I was able to book a tent here for the next day !

It was not so easy to be in a place were everybody is eating a warm meal after having eaten cold beans and with no money to buy anything... So I decided to check my supplies and my money. I put 11000 Pesos away in order to be sure to be able to take the catamaran (the way out of the park), which left me a good amount... But not knowing if I was going to be able to use my credit card in Punta Arenas made me think I needed to be carefull...

I also met here Diana and John, two australians that went back from Ushuaïa. They leave in Puxen (west side of Australia). They were delighted of their trip to Antatica, were they lived on a icebraker and practice Canoe... It was nice (watch out falling !) and they show me some pictures they made of sealions that stood maybe 2m away from them.

Anyway, after this 50/50 evening (50 nice speaking with people, 50 freaking out from the lack of food), I slept very well in my warm sleeping bag... Everything was well.