Saturday, June 1, 2013

Thursday & Friday November 25 & 26, 2010 Torres Del Paine National Park, Chile














 

…so after I closed things on my last post, we eventually got around to dinner.  It’s cook-out time – Patagonia style.  This is not your typical grill on the propane tank in the back yard and cook some veggies in the kitchen kind of thing.  Leo and Andrew drove into Puerto Natales the night before (a huge undertaking in itself considering the time we got in and the road conditions, not to mention the distance) and picked up beef, sausage, potatoes, corn, onions, pumpkin – geez, there was enough to feed a small army, and began the fire about 2 hours before I thought we were supposed to eat.  Well – that’s the idea.  I don’t have that patience, but a small fire and slow cooking produced the best food, and great conversation while waiting, that I had the entire trip.  The onions, potatoes and pumpkin were wrapped in foil and put directly on the fire.  It may well have been the highlight of the trip – gastronomically speaking.  There was even enough left over for sandwiches for our hikes the next day.

Speaking of the next day, we began with a short hike to the hotel past our campsite that we hadn’t seen yet.  There was a waterfall that Louise wanted to see.  It was an easy walk along the gravel road as long as busses weren’t blazing by you making you eat their dust.  A walkway down to the lake and we came across a couple that were stopped, filming a deer lying down on the side of a hill.  The lady had walked to within about ten yards with her tri-pod set up and the deer just didn’t pay any attention.  I thought she was a bit close, so when she started to move, I thought I would take her place, but she just moved even closer!  Well – she did eventually get the shot she wanted, so then I took her place.  Got some good pics and video.  Good video for me anyway.  It was just a deer looking at me looking at it – but I thought it was kind of cool.  And it was all so quiet as I was doing the video.  A short walk later and we’re at the waterfall where it was cold and windy and noisy.  I didn’t realize the difference till I watched the different clips.  The hotel that was next to the waterfall looked like it was designed by an architect that had never seen a tree before, let alone a waterfall.  It reminded me of a trailer park that had gotten out of hand so they decided to attach all the trailers together with vinyl siding – pretty ugly.

The afternoon walk was the toughest of our stay at Torres.  We decided on doing the condor viewing site.  The sign indicated it was 2km up the mountain, but I think that was from point A to point B, and didn’t include the zig-zag to get there.  Back and forth, back and forth we went until we got past the tree line.  At that point, the fear of heights that Louise suffers from took over.   Fortunately, it was a very scenic overlook, and she was content to stay there and wait for Paul and me to return.  I’m glad we met a couple from Colorado that were on the way back down.  I asked them to tell the lady in the green jacket (Louise) that I hadn’t fallen of the side of a cliff, because it was taking a little while longer than I thought it would.  We finally got to the top - cold, windy, beautiful, but no condors (#%*#!*) – turned around and came back.  Louise was still there waiting for us.

This was our longest stay in one place, and deservedly so.  That being said, two full days is not enough time to see a park like this.  It’s like staying 2 days at Yellowstone – it’s beautiful, but too much to see.  I’m sure I took enough pictures to last weeks – but many of them are of the same thing. The sleeping domes were very comfortable, but I’ll be glad to get back to a heated bathroom that doesn’t have cold tiles to step out to after a shower, and you don’t have to share with the rest of the campground.

Tomorrow morning, it’s up and at ‘em early for our trip out of the park, and on our way to Cerro Sombrero.  We’re getting close to the end.  What a trip!!

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