…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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