Torres del Paine, Chile

Hi Everyone, We are back in Ushuaia today (southern tip of Argentina), and in four hours we embark on our Antarctic Cruise!!!!!!!! (two of those exclamation marks are mine and the other six are Dena's :) ). Before we go offline for 12 days or so, we wanted to give you all an update on our camping / hiking trip in Torres del Paine national park in Chile. It was a fairly grueling trip (especially for someone as out of shape as me), covering about 50 miles in 5 days, almost all either uphill or downhill (my knees still hurt, 2+ days later). The camping added an element of difficulty / funkiness, but we navigated our tiny two person tent and mini gas stove fairly well, including delicious dinners of instant soup & rice, mac & cheese, pasta al pesto, and tortellini! Why did we subject ourselves to all this (not to mention the rain and crazy wind, up to 70mph in some places)? In short, the spectacular views. The three highlights of the trip were: Glaciar Grey, the third largest reserve of fresh water in the world after Antarctica and Greenland. The French Valley, the middle part of the hike, which is nestled between tremendous granite cliffs on one side and a glaciar covered mountains on the other, with a raging river running down the middle The Torres del Paine (towers of blue - no idea why they are called that), after which the park is named. The Torres are impressive enough during the day, but according to the informational lecture we heard prior to going into the park, they glow majestically red at sunrise. So, up we woke at 3:30 in the morning, along with dozens of other hikers, and scampered up 45 minutes from our campsite to the viewpoint in the dark (over boulders, through streams, etc. etc.). It was freezing cold (literally), but fortunately we had brought out sleeping bags and camp stove, so while most everyone else froze, we had a cozy little breakfast. In any case, we waited until about 7am, but there was no redness, majestic or otherwise. After the hike we went back to Puerto Natales (the launching point for going to the park) and had a very chill recuperation day, and we even managed to watch the Super Bowl. It was't easy finding a bar that had the game, but we finally saw a place with a satellite dish, looked inside, and saw a bunch of Americans sitting around a TV... It was a great game, but I have to say it wasn't quite the same without a) the Patriots playing and b) the commercials... One final note about the very interesting hostel we stayed at it Puerto Natales, called Erratic Rock. It is owned / run by three Oregonian ex-pats, who range from far-left to ultra-far-left (i.e., socialist) political views. This works out well for us visitors, because they really are trying to help you enjoy the park, rather than nickel and dime you for every service. They give a free, incredibly helpful 2-hour talk every day to any prospective hikers, regardless of whether or not they are staying at the hostel. They serve the best breakfast we've had yet in South America (eggs, homemade banana bread, etc.), and most importantly, they have a good sense of humor. For example, above one of the toilets there is a sign that says "If you poop here it will not flush and after you leave everyone will look at it." That's all for now. Wish us luck (and warmth) on our cruise! Love, Amit and Dena

Glaciar Grey French Valley Amit modeling the "two-man" tent Cool tree Warm and toasty in our sleeping bags, waiting for the sun to rise at the Torres viewpoint The Torres del Paine (cleverly named, North Tower, Central Tower, and South Tower) Us on day 5, at our funkiest... Good thing cameras don´t capture smell :)