After hanging out with Glaciers all day you can imagine we were tired, so a 6 hour bus trip to Puerto Natales was more than welcomed. We crossed the border from Argentina to Chile, there was no doubt about it, we were in Patagonia.(of course we were there already but this was as far south as I would be going) Look up Puerto Natales on Wikipedia and you wont be too impressed but I can tell you that Puerto Natales became one of my favorite cities quickly. Its a small port town with a cool atmosphere. It was no Valpairiso or Puerto Montt in terms of energy but if your looking for a good place to stay before or after a hike this is it. We stayed at a "Grade A" hostel called Eratic Rock Hostel. Its owned by an American guy who happend to be from Oregon. It was so refreshing to be able to talk a fellow West Coast guy and most of our conversations always led to the Oregon Ducks, the NFL, Hippies, and the State of Jefferson. On top of that it was just a great hostel with a hospitable staff who remembered my name all the time. We were lucky to find it when we did because they were probably the only place in town that celebrated Thanksgiving. Turkey, stuffing, potatoes, pumpkin pie and an actual NFL game. Words cannot describe how happy I was on that night. Thanks E.R.! It was also Pauls first T-day and he says he approves of the holiday but thinks that American Football is for pansys.
The "W" Trail
The next day at 7 in the morning we set off on the trail. There was 7 of us in total, spanning from the countries of the U.S., New Zeland, Poland, and Denmark. 7 people...4 days...with nothing but tuna,rice, pasta, and tons of candy.(and Pauls Black Label that he had bought) We were young and full of anticipation, I thought that we might even get a medal after the whole hike. Our flames were quickly doused as soon as we stepped on the ferry that would take us across the lake. The wind was howling, raindrops pelted our faces and the cold cut to the bone. It looked like it would be a long 4 days. It was a quiet boat ride for me. I quickly ran through a variety of excuses I could make in order to get the heck out of there. My friend Dan(from Poland) smoked another cigarette. I had to poop. We finally docked and there was a huge line of people waiting to leave the park on the ferry. As we walked past them they stared at us without an ounce of envy and I swear a woman did the cross thing across her chest. (Note the reaction also could have to Pauls really short Rugby shorts he was wearing) The weather wasnt letting up we knew we just had to do it. I had been waiting a long time to do this trail and like in any good story the bigger the conflict, the better the story. So we put our heads down and went for it.......
Next up the "W" part II
No comments:
Post a Comment