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.