Our last long multi-day bus trip

Getting from Mendoza, Argentina to Cusco, Peru took a few days, but I’ll cover that in a small, rather than large post. Unfortunately we did not take a single picture during these few days, so this post will be visually bland. We checked out of our hostel in Mendoza and spent the morning laying around in a park close to the bus station, reading and talking and eating the meat leftovers from the day before. I gave a leftover leftovers (one dark blood sausage) to a stray dog and we walked to the bus station. This was a quick ride, beautiful like most bus rides, and arrived in Santiago around 7:30pm. We ate and got back on a bus at 10:30pm for the long trek north to the border. This was a 30 hour trip and we arrived just before 5 am in Arica. We were wrecked, waited in the bus station for an hour and at 6am we decided we needed a break before we got back on a bus, walked across the street and rang the doorbell of a Hostel that had its light on. The door was answered by a man who you could tell was sleeping, he checked us in- and turned off the sign. All they had were private rooms, this was different but nice.

We went to bed, slept in till noon and woke up from the heat. The room was small, no air conditioning and the bathroom was in the hall. For us it was amazing to be sleeping in a bed. We each take a shower, also amazing, and go on the hunt for food. We find a market a few blocks away, buy fruit, olives, water  and ice cream. Then find a pizza place that, after we ordered, realize they microwave their pizzas. It was okay. We go back to our sticky, hot, perfect hostel room and tried to get internet. The next morning we get a taxi across the border, this was Sunday and the border was not open until 2pm so we waited in line but made it to Tacna, Peru about an hour and a half later (though a banana was taken from Veronica by the border patrol- she should have known you can’t take fruit across boarders).

Our final destination was Cusco but we decided to break up the trip because we still weren’t completely recovered from the Santiago-Arica 30 some hour trip. We bought night tickets to go to Arequipa and spent the day in the bus station talking and went to a 6 sol ($2.50 US) menu that I had my eye on the first time we came through Tacna a few months ago. We boarded the bus at 11 and the trip was supposed to be an 8 hour trip, so we would get in around 7am. For what ever reason we arrive at 4:30 am and have to sit in bus terminal until 6am for companies to open. We realize this was a mistake and should have just gone straight through. We buy our tickets and are leaving at 7:30am and at 7 Veronica realized she left her ukulele on the last bus- she runs to the company whose bus we just got off as I take our luggage to check into our new bus. She unfortunately has no luck and is told that- Yes the bus is still in Arequipa but no she could not go to it, and that they would email her if they found it. We knew exactly where it was, behind the window curtain in seat 36. An email has yet to arrive.

We get on our final bus before Cusco, a city I am very excited for. As we were leaving we realized that Arequipa actually has some beautiful snow-capped mountains that we did not see when we arrived because it was still dark outside. We had to take an economy bus because the nicer busses only leave at night and we just wanted to get there. This bus ride would be our worst of the trip yet. I am sorry if this is about to get negative, and maybe it was because it was the last of many back to back bus rides (though I don’t think so, I think it was just plain bad) but that is what this bus ride was, negative. It was supposed to be a 9 or 10 hour ride, but ended up being 12. We had the first two seats but had two kids sharing one seat behind us and a baby sitting catty-corner. The seats did not recline at all, 90 degrees. There was no air and our window did not open, and it got hot. There was no bathroom on the bus; we had our first bathroom break at 10 am. This consisted of stopping at a small restaurant in the middle of beautiful, rolling, treeless hills, then everyone getting off, and 30 of those people walking into the field and going, men and women, all going to the bathroom in front of each other. Veronica stayed on the bus and did not see this site, I on the other hand took part in the community bathroom break.

The next stop was at 4pm at a bus terminal, that is 6 hours or two Transformer movies (I mean that the bus showed Transformers 1 and 2 back to back and was about to start the third movie after the break but someone complained). I was really hurting at this time, extremely uncomfortable because of the seat and heat and lack of a bathroom and I was feeling sick. Instead of another movie, one of the passengers gave the driver one of her personal DVDs of local peruvian music. This choice did not bother us, but with this being an economy bus, the usual 3 or 4 TVs was only 1, at the very front and their solution was just turning up the volume full blast. So blaring native peruvian music got old fast, and when they decided to just replay the DVD when it got to the end was not happily received by us. I had taken to just sitting with my head between my knees and blocked out the music.

There was also a women on the bus, who was serving hot food. I do not mean the usual people who hop on and off the busses when in towns and sell food, but rather a passenger who was selling hot food for hours. Veronica was under the impression that she had some sort of cooking system set up, I did not choose to worry too much, I was busy feeling sick. The baby sitting close to us also cried, like all babies do on buses, no more than usual, but her mother (or at least the woman the baby was with, I’ll assume mother) used the method of hitting the baby when it cried (not punching or hitting hard, but still hitting, a baby). The baby was less than 2, and obviously did not respond warmly to being hit.

As we were pulling into Cusco a teenager got up and sang some native peruvian songs with a technique I do not really know how to describe it besides saying nasal but not in a bad way, I somewhat enjoyed it and people gave her tips, including us. The trip seemed to get worse and worse until we finally got to Cusco (minus the girl singing, that was nice, though strange) but made it and were excited. We loved Cusco and though it was hard to get to, we say definitely go!

Michael…

Mendoza- city of new friends and wine

The lazy, shady streets of Mendoza

Mendoza is quite a lovely city.  Everywhere you look there are ancient trees towering over the streets, shading pedestrians from the hot Argentine sun.  There are entire streets closed off to cars, devoted solely to café culture and are dotted with colorful chairs and umbrellas, as well as colorful diners.  Time after time, Michael and I meant to catch a bus somewhere, but ended up walking 5, 8, 10 kilometers because the walks were just so lovely.  Now, we arrived in Mendoza because we had heard wonders about the amazing wine and wine culture of this region of Argentina, and we simply did not want to miss out, and every time we mentioned to people that we were headed to Mendoza, I kid you not, they responded with, “Oh!  You have to do  bikes and wine tour!!”  but more on that later…

Pretty houses

So we arrive in Mendoza after what seemed like a week on busses, but I think was more like 2 days, then a day in Santiago, then another day on a bus, so we were not only exhausted, but just wanted to put our feet on solid ground and sleep on a bed, darn it!  So as soon as we got off the bus in Mendoza, a man offered us a hostel, and sooooo unlike us, we accepted it.  “Take us there!”  we said.  It was a lovely one minute walk from the bus station- pure bliss in our minds!  The hostel, Savigliano (“wine maker”), boasted our three absolute must haves: free wifi, included breakfast and hot water- we’ve learned these are all we need to survive on- but also swimming pool!!  We soon learned the swimming pool was a glorified bucket, but no matter, we had our golden trifecta and were happy.

We checked in around 7 am- I know, hellish- and literally fell face-first into our bunk beds for some much-needed catch-up sleep.  We rose around noon and decided to finally go explore the city.  Let me tell you, we were not disappointed, but I guess you figured that from my opening paragraph.  Loveliness everywhere.  We just walked, and walked, and walked, and realized how much we still felt Torres del Paine in our bodies, but were pleased about finally having beds to sleep in.  Because of our tiredness and soreness, we mostly just moved from park to park, taking small lazy, shady naps all throughout the day, and so thankful for the man who brought irrigation to Mendoza.

We finally went back to the hostel to fix some sorry excuse for dinner (I may have only drank beer that night as my tummy had still not recovered from TdP…) and we met this very chipper, very blonde couple, Emil and Lisa, and we instantly liked them- mostly because they were from my beloved homeland Sweden.  No, just kidding, because they were lots of fun to hang out with- but being Swedish didn’t hurt.  We spent the evening chatting and getting to know each other, and it turned out the Emil and Lisa had plans to “bike and wine” like Michael and I did, for the following day.  Emil and Lisa both left lives in the high-end restaurant world back in Scandinavia, so they really knew their stuff about wine and we were very excited to be with such accomplished connoisseurs.  They were also looking to learn a thing or two about saving money, and I just happen to be dating a secret weapon of stingy, so I kindly offered his services for the day.  Our plan was set, we would meet the next morning at breakfast for our boozy adventure.

Just as planned, we breakfasted and then our four-some was off.  We caught the 10 bus, #173 (NOT #174 and NOT #172!) and about an hour later, were in sleepy Maipu, a town made of wineries and bike companies (I wonder, how did this tradition begin?  Who put these two magical things together?  Could this somehow be a sport?  Is there no biking DUI here like in the states?  So many unanswered questions…)  We were immediately bike-bombed by cuties in muscle tees and bike shorts to chose his and her, respective, bike company, but we decided to keep walking to try to find the “best” deal.  We were trying to get bikes for $20 Argentine Pesos, most companies were offering $25, but we ended up getting swept up into Mr. Hugo’s brilliant business plan at $30.  He lovingly welcomed us in with open arms (not a word of English, mind you), promptly filled our glasses with cheap wine (my favorite- at 10 am, no less) and sat us down with a very well-worded, English-speaking associate, who presented us with the golden ticket- a map!  And turns out, they’re the only company that’s insured.  And then, they did us one better.  They offered both couples…TANDEM bicycles.  That’s right.  They tandemed us.  How can you say no to that?  Obviously, we didn’t know how.

Emil and Lisa, our new Swedish friends

Most excellent bikers of the day

So off we went, super awkwardly and lookin’ real dumb, but hey, when else are you gunna tour wineries in Argentina on a TANDEM bicycle with a Swedish couple?!  Oh, by the way, did I mention, Emil biked from Rome to Sweden???  Oh yeah, so Michael and I, being the EXCELLENT bikers we are, were just in some great and equal company…

Emil and Lisa preparing their tandem

Look Ma, no hands! (Me, not Michael)

So there are about 20 or so wineries, 2 museums, 1 beer garden and 2 olive oil factories along this route, so obviously (and hopefully) you can’t actually hit them all.  So we first make our way to a wine museum where we sneak into a tour and are offered some free wine- excellent on the stingy factor.  Emil and Lisa are only mildly impressed with the “goodness of the wine” factor.  Next we hit up an olive oil factory.  This olive oil factory is quite the over-achiever, as it also produces a ton of liquor and chocolate.  It costs $10 to do the whole tasting, which includes 4 olive oils, 1 balsamic, 4 olive tapenades, 2 pepper sauces, olives, 4 dulce de leches, 4 marmelades, 3 dessert sauces, 3 types of chocolate and something like 10 liquors- woah.  So we decide this is worth it, and then learn, IT IS!  SO delicious!  I’m not a big shooter of liquor, but we each get to pick two and so we each do our pick and then share with the rest of the group, so we all get to try everything- excellent stingy tip.  We even end up buying a roquefort olive tapenade because it is that delicious- something Michael never does- I am very grateful for this change in character and attribute it to Emil and Lisa’s cuteness.

Delicious treats to taste!

Bikes in the vineyard

 

Next we decide to go to the very last vineyard on the map and make our way up.  We decide this is responsible so that we won’t be going such a long distance to return the bikes after we’ve had more and more to drink.  So off we go, in tandem, on our tandems.  In a few minutes, the road gives way to some pretty massive construction, and the lovely and precise bike lane, just flat-out disappears.  We wish the map had said something about this.  Little by little, Michael and I are being schooled by Emil and Lisa, which obviously is because we have the older and much worse bike, and not at all because they are more sporty and better prepared for physical activity that us.  But seriously, after 20 minutes, we can’t even see them.  But bless their Swedish hearts, they keep stopping and waiting for us, and Lisa even insists “don’t worry, we love to stroll!” Oh yes, us too Lisa!

An hour later, (these tiny maps make everything look so much closer!) the tandem tandems have still not reached our final destination and we are starting to worry about time, so we cut our losses and duck into the closest vineyard, which happens to be La Familia de Tamasso, the oldest vineyard in Maipu.  We decide to do the full “tour and tasting” here, as it is the oldest vineyard with the most prestige.  The “tour” is a little disappointing, as it lasts only about 7 minutes and is essentially just a walk through their basement, but hey, we’re living in the winey moment and have fun.  The tasting, according to Emil and Lisa, was not so good, but Michael and I being wine novices were able to overlook “goodness” and just throwback 4 glasses of wine.

our tour guide at Tamasso, notice all the glamour shots of the Wine Festival princesses in the background!

Lil chica eatin' some grapes

Vineyards

After this things start to get a little fuzzy.  We may have gone to two more wineries.  I know we found one that was quite lovely and very modern, reminded me a lot of my beloved wineries back home in Augusta, Missouri, all marble and cold, flat stone with gorgeous views overlooking the vineyard.  Here we stopped and enjoyed our first white of the day, a nice, sweet Sauvignon Blanc that we all agreed was one of the best we had had all day.

Grape pulp- skins, seeds and stems, oh my! p.s. it's not actually a good thing to have the stems in there because that means the grapes weren't "hand-picked"

Here’s a fun fact- I don’t care for white wine one bit, I find it almost unpalatable and it typically gives me migraines, so I really just avoid the stuff, but I learned in Ancud with Sandra and Britt that I really quite enjoy a nice, smooth Sauvignon Blanc.  I was discussing my love of elderberry with Lisa and she mentioned “Oh, you must love Sauvignon Blanc then, because it has very strong notes of elderberry and gooseberry,” and finally, it all made sense!  I found this very interesting…

We needed to return our bikes to Mr. Hugo by 6 and 5:30 was slowly creeping closer, so we decided to get back on the road.  Michael and I took the long way home to see what we missed- and of course it looked like we missed all of the coolest ones- but who knows really.

We slowly and creakily arrive back at Mr. Hugo’s and the party is just getting started, free jug wine is abundant!!  All of the tourists who have rented bikes from Mr. Hugo report back to this Mecca of  boozy stranger conversation and we hunker down to get started.  We meet all sorts of nice people, namely a guy from Israel and these three people (two girls, one guy) from Hawaii, and spend the whole night talking.  Around 9 p.m. we remember we haven’t really eaten anything and decide to catch a bus back to Mendoza.  We all continue to talk and act like best friends, as like-minded travelers often do, and we end up inviting some of our new friends back to our hostel for some dinner.  There we drink some beer and chat some more before eventually being kicked out by the hostel staff- all in all, quite a good day.

The gang with Mr. Hugo himself

New Hawaiian friends!!

More new Hawaiian friends!!

Lovin on Mr. Hugo

The next day we decide to take it easy and explore the huge park in the city, Parque San Martin.  It’s about 10 km away, but we decide to wander/walk as it is such a beautiful day.  Along the way, we stop at a lovely  sidewalk restaurant and finally have some famous argentine Asado.  Asado is essentially a giant plate of different meats like steak, sausage, chicken breast and some mysterious intestines.  Michael is in heaven.  I try a bite or two and decide that I am meant to be vegetarian.  The park is so enormous that we barely scratch the surface of the entrance before decided to head back for some dinner, but not before doing some solid park napping, our favorite past-time.

Meat plate or, Asado

So much meat!!

Just minutes away from gorging himself on assorted meats

Fountain in Parque San Martin

Risers? in Parque San Martin

Pretty pretty Parque San Martin

The next day we caught a bus back to Santiago and were sad to leave our lovely little home in Mendoza.  We truly enjoyed our short time in Argentina with lovely people, lovely wine and a lovely city.

 

Torres del Paine- translation: towers of blue (though a more realistic translation is towers of PAIN)

Making our way to Patagonia and down to Torres del Paine was a must do for the both of us while in South America. Yes it is about as far south as most go, unless you can make it to Antarctica, and so this meant it would not be easy to get there.  In actuality, it is pretty easy to get there. There is an amazing boat that will take you from Puerto Montt through the fjords and drop you off in Puerto Natales after 3-4 days. We would of loved to do this, but it was outside of our budget, around $400 if I remember right for the cheapest cabin, but anyone wanting to go down I would recommend taking it one way. We opted for the bus. We were told this was a bad choice and being on a bus for 36 hours was going to be awful, it only took us 30. We did not feel this way at all. We left Puerto Montt at 11 a.m., paying $80 a piece, and after a few hours we were in Argentina. This was a beautiful drive, and we went though little towns that reminded me of Colorado and gorgeous lakes until the sun went down. Sleeping on the bus was- well sleeping on a bus. We woke up to what we were told was a boring drive, but we felt different. It reminded me of the great plains and after just watching (and loving) Dances with Wolves in Ancud- we could not help but see the similarities in landscape.

There are two boarder crossings on this bus ride, Chile to Argentina than back into Chile, but they are not bad at all. You are not able to take foods into Chile, especially fruits because Chile is amazing at their level of fruit production. They have the natural barriers of the Andes mountains to the east, dessert to the north, ocean to the west and mountains and cold to the south that they currently do not have the same pesticide issues that most of the world has, so they take their fruit very seriously. Anyways we make it across the boarder but then our bus stops, a truck with a trailor pulls up next to us and they unload everyone’s luggage into it, we are worried because we have never seen this done before but are told not to worry and just stay seated. We drive a few KMs up the road and everyone at the front of the bus is told to go to the back. We are going through a weigh station. Glad to know we just did the high majority to the trip at a safe weight.

Anyways, we make it to Punta Arenas and I run in and buy 3 of the last 9 tickets on the last bus to Peurto Natales (the third being for a guy from California we met on the ride named Brendan). We have 45 minutes before that leaves, we grab some cold empanadas (I don’t recommend these), juice and a candy bar and are off for 3 more hours to our final destination for that day. We arrive, it is 11, and we wander the streets looking for a hostel, and after a few failed attempts, find one that is perfect for us. It is called W circuit trek hostal and costs 8,000 cp ($16) each. The shower and bed were worth it and the free breakfast and great location made it that much better. We bought some last minute supplies, got our 2:30 pm bus tickets to the park and went out for pizza for a last meal. We were able to leave our bags at the hostel and we were off.

pre trip pizza

The bus ride to the park was fine, 2 hours with great scenery. We check in, pay the 15,000 cp ($30) entrance fee, each, and realize it is a little later than we expected. We paid the 2,500 cp each to have a van take us to the trail instead of walking the hour and a half because of our unexpected lateness and we start hiking.

Here is a map if you are interested. It may be helpful to have it open when reading.

There are two main ways that people hike the park, the shorter is called the W and is in the shape of a W. With this you hit some of the biggest sites like the towers. This is often done east to west, starting at Hosteria Las Torres and ending at Refugio Grey (they then hike back down and take the catamaran to a bus pickup). The other option is the circuit. The W is part of the circuit but it is also made up of walking once around the mountain range and then one over the range. This usually takes another 3-5 days to complete on top of the 3-5 that the W takes.

We chose to do the circuit.

We were dropped of at Hosteria Las Torres and walked up the first part of the W, towards the towers. We camped at Camp Torres, a free campsite and with our packs being the heaviest they would be, it was tiring. We decided that we both did not need our huge packs. Especially since this was Veronicas first real big hiking trip, she took the smaller backpack. But do not get me wrong, it was heavy. It weighed 25 lbs and consisted of our most dense objects (liquids, trail mix, cans. Etc). It was also continually reloaded, so throughout the trip my pack lost weight while hers stayed the same. She was even carrying the tent on the last day.

one of the refugios, not the one we stayed in though

can of beer (later used to make the stove) bread and cheese, and okay first nights meal

But we set up camp, and that night was brutal. Almost everynight was brutal and we were underprepared. We had bought some cheap sleeping bags, and when I say cheap I mean $10 at a store in Ancud and we thought we could get through it. Yes, we got through it but it was bad. We tried different tequniques, sharing bags for body heat, water bottles, and found that each just using their own worked best.

Anyways that night we tossed and turned and got little sleep, waking up to frost on our tent and it being about 6 am we decided to cut our losses and start to hike the last hour to the summit and try to catch the sunrise. We were slow moving but made it. There was fog on the towers but that didn’t matter. There was a special feeling between us and the other 20 some people who had also made the morning trek. The sun was wonderful to watch and it was COLD. Many people had brought their sleeping bags because it was cold just sitting on rocks, we did not get that memo and our butts froze. But we had made it and felt great.

sunrise at the towers

at the towers

look at those clothes-

covered in mist

We walked back to our tent and took an hour or so nap, then packed up and headed back down the trail. We were told to see the towers on the first day, so that if at the very end you wanted to see them again for what ever reason (bad weather the first time or maybe your body hadn’t endured enough pain), you could. We hiked back past Hosteria Las Torres, and up towards Camp Seron. This was a 4 hour hike, but we had some trouble finding the trail at the start. Once we were on it, the hike was beautiful. We did okay with the first 3 hours but that 4^th we started to get tired. It was all flat there was a road that ran somewhat along with the trail. We were confused, and tired and after an hour and a half had passed, thought maybe we had missed the camp. 20 minutes later we realize, NO, we are just slow. We set up camp, feeling a little defeated for being slow and make some noodles with a pesto sauce Veronica had whipped up and froze back in Ancud.

I like to use sterno when I am unable to make fires. Yes, it is slower than a stove, but in the end it works, costs less and is smaller than a stove. Well I looked and looked but did not find sterno in any of the cities. Instead of renting a stove I thought this would be a good chance to try a penny stove. This is a stove made out of two pop cans with pin holes, a penny and alcohol. It is pretty much free to make and I have heard some people who swear by them. After this trip, I would not recommend them if you are in a group, they may be okay for one person in a summer or warm night, but it left something to be wanted for us. Especially when heating up waterbottles for our sleeping bags to keep us warm at night, and I would have to refill and light the stove two or three times to get the full liter of water to come close to a boil. I also am no expert and was unable to get the results some penny stove veterans may be able to reach.

Anyways we have another rough night sleep but wake up feeling great. We have a slow start and start hiking at 11 am. The next camp is Refugio Dickson and it is 6 hours away. Long story short, we do it in 7 and are exausted. We get into camp just past 6 pm, relax and take showers (I know, the refugios are real nice, but I will get back to that later). We talk with some nice people, one of which lives in NYC and get ready for bed.

the back part of the circuit

able to drink water right out of the streams

It is about 845pm when Veronica realizes she does not have her seal. About a year before we left on the trip the two of us went to Chicago and because of a bet (where Veronica dared me to eat a hot pepper) she had to get me a present. I chose a buy one get one free stuffed animal octopus from the Chicago Aquarium, she chose a stuffed seal. We use them for pillows when we travel and more importantly conversation starters with people and children. Well the seal was gone. After a failed attempt at asking the non-english speaking campsite worker if anyone had found a stuffed animal seal, I took off. I thought he was probably lost somewhere in the last 10 minutes of our hike when we sat down. I started to run. I had a head lamp, though the sun was still up, and decided to turn around once it was dark. Well I ran to the next place I thought it may be, 30 minutes back, nope. It was starting to get dark but I didn’t want to turn around just yet. I ran another 15 minutes and it was not dark, but I had to keep going, another 15 minutes and there he was, smack dab in the middle of the trail. It was not a little past 10 pm and I was thrilled, but nervous. Yes there are pumas in the park but every sound I heard gave me the spooks. I jog back, and get a stern lecture when I arrive from the campsite director.

Him: You were here before weren’t you

Me: yes, I had to go back, my girlfriend dropped something important

Him: that? The thing in your hand?

Me: Yes, it is her nephews and she would be in huge trouble if she lost it (a small lie but somewhat true)

Him: Oh was she crying a lot about it?

Me: Yes (I thought that was a weird thing for him to say, but thought agreeing may be a good idea)

Him: That was against regulations, was it worth risking your life over?

Me: I am sorry, I did not go back that far, I did not consider it that dangerous

Him: you could have died, what if you would have fallen and broken your leg?

Me: I could fall and break my leg during the day, I could die at any time on the trail

Him: Okay fine

I was not sure if he stopped the conversation because he didn’t think I was listening, or now that it was over there was no reason to argue. I got back into the tent and Veronica was thrilled, though worried I had been gone so long. We fall asleep and had an early morning.

We were going to make it over the summit of the mountain and were the first ones up in Refugio Dickson. We leave by 745 am, though it was 15 minutes after we wanted to, we were still leaving more than 3 hours earlier than the day before.  We felt good in the cool morning and the shade of the forrest. And we made okay time. We take breaks every 30 minutes, first a 5 minute break, than after 30 minutes a 10 minute, using that method over and over. It was taking us an hour and ten minutes for every hour the map said and made it to Camp Perros just after 1. We sat down, had some lunch and relaxed before our next part, the 6 hour, most strenuous part of the trail. Up and over the summit.

I called her nonnwok- like ewok

sign explaining summit

towards the top of the summit

Veronica did this part much easier than I did, I was tired from the night before but her drive helped fuel me. Some of that trail was bad, flooded and steep, some was really nice. We made it to the top of the summit and saw the glacier, Glacier Grey. It was magnificent and enormous. We had been told to walk the trail counter clockwise because of the next part of the trail. We would be walking it down hill and people said it was much worse going up. This trail was very steep and did not have a lot of water access and I agree it would be extreme going the opposite direction. But we were beat, our knees were shot and it was tough. We pull into Camp Paso and sleep well. We have an okay morning, getting off about 10, feeling we needed the sleep. We make it to Refugio Grey in less than the time it said and this puts some wind in our sails.

DG

This was at the top of the summit, very special piece made up of sticks, bracelets, string, etc.

seal hanging out by ice

glacier grey- breath taking

We hear that the next refugio is 3.5 hours away and that it was the worst hit with the recent fire. It may or may not be closed to camping but if we can push through another 2.5 hours we can make up some real time. It is early afternoon and we feel good and decide to go.

does this not look exactly like a deer?

large rock that was split on the side of the trail, it reminded me of the ten commandments

This seemed like a good choice for the first hour. Than we hit where the fire was, with very little cover from the sun, we start to drag. We are given different stories from passing hikers how far we have left and our attitudes start to drop. We know we must be close and are told it is still an hour away. The sun is going down and we are on our last string. My knees are throbbing, my right shoe had fallen apart, I had to put a band of duck tape around to keep the sole on and my left foot has multiple blisters. A jolly bunch of day hikers with no packs passes us quickly and they are whistling. Instead of cheering us up, this breaks us, Veronica starts to cry from exaustion, we need to stop. We make it to the refugio and are told there is no camping. We rent a room and the cafateria hot dinner and are amazed. We had been given some money by Britt, the husband of the workaway, telling me to take Veronica out somewhere nice when we were down south. The refugio only took cash and without that money we would not have enough. It was a sign, and though the large portion of instant mash potatos topped with chicken and veggies would not normally be a nice meal, tonight it was gourmet. Thank you Britt, truly thank you.

the fire, this by no means shows the magnitude of the fire but it shows some up close damage

our food at the refugio. Question how many pieces of bread is too much to take? 6?

No, still not time to talk about the refugios. The next morning we were off at 740 am, we had 9.5 hours today, and that was with us skipping the middle vertical part of the W. With my boots being broken and my knee injurt from a year before being brought back, we were okay with this decision. This day was okay, ups and downs, a lot of rocks on the trail, more water breaks, and because of this, better attitudes. The second to last hour we hit a wall but then really pulled through, making that final hour in 30 minutes, with the fear of maybe missing our bus.

We make it full circle. Back to Hosteria Las Torres. Take the shuttle to the bus, bus to Puerto Natales and back to our hostal. We are beat, dead, limping. It would take us about a week before we could get past the pain our bodies were in.

my left foot after we finished the hike. I knew I was drinking a lot but still felt dehydrated. This must of been where all of my liquids were going to.

Here is the thing, we were trying to do the trail in 6 days, that would be hard for most, but our first day started at 530 pm. We were trying to do it fast to make it up to Mendoza, Argentina for their national wine festival. In the end, because of busses we missed the festival. But we also had some other trouble. Looking back I would recommend renting better sleeping bags. A good nights sleep can make all the difference in a hard hike. The stove may have helped if we could have boiled liters of water to stay warm, but it was what it was. Looking back, maybe we should of paced ourselves more, taken 8 or 9 days. But really I am happy with how we did the trail.

One of the nicest things about this trail is that you can drink the water, straight from the streams. I have never had this before and it cuts down on a lot of worry.

Okay now the refugios. There are a number of them throughout the trail and they are buildings, sometimes cabins, sometimes hotels. They may have bunk bed dorms or real rooms, they serve hot meals and cost a lot more than camping. But we were able to experience one, and though it was expensive ($30 a person per night, than $12 for the meal each), it really was not that expensive. We saw 30 somethings, parents with their kids and realized that not everyone wants to camp in a tent. If this brings more people to the beauty of Torres del Paine, all the better. It reminded me of something my older brother David would love. Being able to work hard, hike a lot, see amazing views and at the end of the day be able to spend a little more money for a hot shower, bed inside and warm food. Or maybe a family that had some people who loved hiking and others who just want to hang out with mountains in the back ground.

Anyways, I was very impressed with many things. With the park, with the mountains, with the glacier (this was very special) and also with Veronica. I took to calling her “Tough Nonns” and this seemed to fuel her. She was no wimp, and she was doing something that was kicking my butt. In Ancud she took on a new motto, that being, “don’t be a wimp”. I love this motto for the way she takes it and in order to get through the circuit at Torres del Paine, in 6 days, with cold nights, NO, you can not be a wimp!

the huge burgers we got the day after the hike. A hike is not complete until that reward meal and I feel burgers do that best.

Michael…

LIVING in South America

So I was thrilled we were able to set up a workaway for multiple reasons. It was completely necessary if we wanted to stay anywhere close to our budget, we could stop sleeping on busses and we could make some friends that we could enjoy for more than a few days. I am now sold on the idea and we will be taking full advantage of our 2 year membership on the rest of our trip. Actually anyone wanting to spend more than a week somewhere, I would say check it out. We did not have huge success as far as having many people opening their doors to us, but the family that did invite us to live with them in Ancud was perfect for us.

I really liked this tree, in their backyard

At an end of school BBQ for the girls at a beach about an hour outside of Ancud. Yes…the food was good.

Tabanos- a very pesky horse fly that swarmed us like crazy for the first 3 weeks, they would burrow/bite but not draw blood, doing no real harm- just being bugs

Veronica has gone very much into the loving family and emotions we had in Ancud, and yes, yes, yes, I could speak volumes on them, but we both knew that we should both write about Ancud, and in order to not have two seemingly identical posts, I will be focusing on other topics.

We went to a beatles cover band that was AWESOME- I was expecting much worse but they sounded very much like them, played a ton of songs and they let me keep the set list- ha. Though they did have 5 guys and 1 girl in this version of the beatles

They had a festival for the Calueche, a ghost ship, where different ships dress up and parade around the harbor.

Driving the ghost ship

A very big part of our time in Ancud dealt with the maqui berry and the Isla Natura company that Britt is pouring his heart into. I had no idea what the maqui was when I first arrived so do not feel out of the loop. It is a new super fruit that has the highest antioxidant and ORAC values of any fruit in the world. It is called the new and better acai (just Oprah hasn’t supported, then in a lawsuit unsupported it…yet). For people who want to know more, we very much immersed ourselves in this berry and would love to tell you more, just make sure you buy from Isla Natura– just like acai there are already scammers out there for maqui. But we did market research, contacted stores in the US and made handouts and some improvements to forms. This is definitely an interesting company that we are going to be watching for it may start to boom any time now!

The ballet we saw one of the first nights, the girls did so well.

the empanadas of El Sacho. It took us a week of going before we finally got to try them, everyday for a week they were either closed or not serving them that night and finally they made an exception and told us they would secretly make us two. SCORE

As far as a personal developement, I learned to drive stick while in Ancud, and let me tell you, I am…. average. The 2nd week there, Sandra brought it up that we needed to start driving because it would really help everyone out with us needing to get to and from town. Veronica and I had similar manual experience, she had spent a weekend learning in college and was now scared of trying, I had sat in the driver seat of my families stick corvette without it being turned on and wanted to learn. I was chosen and this is how it went down.

Sandra: go in the field and practice

Me: I don’t know how to drive stick

Sandra: oh, neither did I, but if you just go out and practice you’ll do fine

Me: no, I mean I don’t even know how to start

a few youtube videos and a two-minute conversation with Sandra at the car, we were off- to the field and beach, to multiple, multiple stalls, but it worked out. I drove the 15 minutes back to our place that night, in 3rd gear, and luckily the streets were pretty empty and I only stalled once, at a stop sign.  I would get much better at stick, picking up tricks from different people as I went and I am pretty comfortable now, especially since I had to do 4X4 driving on big hills everyday.

Yes, I do drive stick

One of my duties was picking up Senora Yolanda, the family’s house cleaner on M,W,F- those were interesting conversations, often involving if it had rained in the last 48 hours

Outside our loving shala

Ancud was a wonderful place to spend time, it had a super market but you could also get a lot of fruits and veggies at local vendors. Veronica got to cook a lot of fish, which she became pretty good at and it was a very walkable city, for when we did not want to drive.

One of the things I did was make documentaries with Tamia and Miska. Tamia’s was on how water affected Ancud and Miska’s was on life on Chiloe (yes Miska, it will be done soon). This was great fun and the girls got as much of a kick out of it as I did.

Another thing that I really liked was the mythology. I have two favorite tales, the invunche and the trauco. Being an island and the last major strong hold of the spanish in South America, the island had a very different feel than the rest of Chile. They had a mixture of Christianity and local lore and it made for real magical feel.

Dardis??? According to the sign in the park: the trauco is a seducer of maidens, a deformed and repugnant dwarf with coarse fingers and very strong. His clothing is made of vines from the trees and he carries a wooden staff, the pahueldun, and a stone axe. If someone bothers him, he is capable of killing them by merely looking at them or he could sentence them to death within a year. He appears to young women in erotic dreams, bewitching them and attracting them into the forest, to stimulate them to the point of sexually possessing them. Women who have been seduced by him assure us that he is undeniabley attractive.

According to the sign in the park: The Ivunche is the doorman at the cave at Quicavi, he was stolen from his family at the time of his birth and given to the witches. once in the cave, he is raised naked, and the witches begin to mutilate him, beginning by twisting the bones of one of his legs so that he cannot run away. He is fed with the milk of a black cat and remains of human beings taken from cemeteries, and is only allowd out of the place of confinement to eat. The flesh of the Invunche will cure any illness, which explains why his mortal remains are the cause of dispute amond the witches.

We were able to explore somewhat, but truthfully not as much as maybe we should have. On weekends we would take walks around town, rather than drives around the island. We would take advantage of our kitchen and bake breads and even pretzel rolls instead of going out to eat. We did splurge once and do a nice dinner, and invented a fun idea for at home fancy appetizers.

All dressed up for our fancy dinner out, we had given ourselves a nice dinner as a Christmas present and finally got around to doing it in Ancud.

The appetizer idea we had, make yummy cracker treats with all sorts of makings

more yummy treats

gourmet appetizers

One of the biggest things I learned was how much work it can take to run a home, especially a certain way. This family has chickens, lives out in the country, grows their own veggies and does not have a dishwasher. It really is a ton of work to do things like this. It is fun to think, oh ill have a garden when I get older, or oh it would be nice to live more simply , but it can take up a lot of your time. This family has made a reality out of it and it is wonderful, but not as easy as it sounds.

The families green house where we watered lettuce. This is where Tamia told me she waters the weeds.

Veronica cooking fishies

some good home cooking

But we feel we did a lot in Ancud. When three new workawayers (Lisa, Matt and Jade) came in the last week we were there, we realized how much we had learned and grown. We were able to tell them what they needed to know, but also realized that exploring and finding things out on your own was all part of the fun. Of places in South America, I have a feeling we will be back to Chiloe.

here pengy pengy pengy

We went to see some penguins, the only place in the world where these two types live together. Aggressive little buggers.

hugs while watching penguins

Veronica going to see the penguins

Michael…

Te Amo Ancud!

Me with Tamia, Miska and Meli

There is so much to say when it comes to Ancud.  In fact, I have to be honest and say that I put off writing this post for a little too long because I hardly know where to start.  Michael and I had been looking for a workaway, with no luck whatsoever, since we arrived in South America.  We had only been responded to three times: two responses told us no, and the third was Sandra wanting to know more.  Little by little, we built up a small understanding of each other through the internet and a skype session in Huanchaco, Peru.  We loved the idea of coming to work for this family and help with their yoga studio, burgeoning maqui berry business, and their three beautiful girls.  Michael and I never wanted to talk about the possibility of living on a gorgeous island in Chile with a beautiful family too much for fear of jinxing it and losing this incredible opportunity.  But as the time grew closer, it was looking more and more like living on Chiloe was going to become a reality, so we bought our tickets, packed up our bags, and hopped on the first bus out of Valparaiso to Ancud.  We were thrilled!

Britt and Sandra’s home (left) and yoga shala (middle right) on the beach

Remembering back to what it was like meeting each member of the family for the first time seems so strange now because, after living with them for almost two months, they really become our family away from home.  Sandra, the mother, lights up any room she enters, and managed to take our breath away with her beauty, warmth and kindness when she first walked into their office building to greet us.  With her, was her precocious 4-year-old daughter Meli (may-LEE) as beautiful and full of life as the tree she is named after.  Also with them was Jess, their current workawayer, who was from New Jersey and would provide Michael and I with lots of encouragement and advice on how to be good workawayers ourselves.  After running some errands in town, we set off for their home, a little removed from the city of Ancud, to meet the rest of the family.

Sandra

Melicita!

Sandra and Britt’s home is just as much a member of their family as any of their girls, so full of character and individuality.  Sandra had studied architecture, so they built the home themselves, and it was absolutely gorgeous, made all from beautiful blonde wood with windows facing their beachfront property.  Their home always had an air of magic to me, as if it could be the Weasley’s summer home. The house had only just received electricity the year before, and the family didn’t even have a road coming in until 4 years earlier.  Sandra had also owned a restaurant and so the kitchen was absolutely lovely and a joy, I soon learned, to cook in.  Something else very special about the house was Sandra’s yoga shala down near the water.  Sandra is incredibly devoted to her yoga practice, and she had had this shala built to be her own personal sanctuary from the world to do her practice in peace.  Along with meeting their beautiful home, we also met their lovely twin daughters, Tamia and Miska.

Enjoying Sandra and Britt’s beautiful kitchen!

Tamia was very soft and sweet and bashfully said hello and welcomed us into her life, while Miska was alert and enthusiastic, determined to be our tour guides and tell us everything she knew about everything.  Through time, we saw so many layers to these beautiful girls- I saw so much of myself in both of them.  I was trying so hard to teach them things about how to behave and how to think about things in a new way, but I realized that they really taught me so much about myself, about all of the things I have been through as a girl who became a woman, and how that’s tough for girls anywhere, anytime, whether their growing up in the middle of the United States or on an island in Chile.

Tamia

Miska

We finally met Britt a day or so later, as he was away with the family’s tourism company where he had been serving as a guide.  Britt, an American, is very charming and bright and both Michael and I were intrigued by him because he was living out our little experiment- he had traveled to South America, but never left.

Britt with Meli and our new friend, Bode…Bode is traveling all around in a VW van with his family!!  Check out their blog www.bodeswell.com!

After a few days of camping outside, we were moved into our new home, the family’s (other) yoga shala in town, where we would be teaching a children’s English class followed by children’s yoga on Tuesdays and Thursdays.  I was also to teach an adult yoga class on Saturdays (only one person ever came- shout out to our buddy Neno!!)  Michael and I had quite a colorful array of little nuggets every Tuesday and Thursday, but our regulars where Diego, Leonor, Emilio and Andres.  Diego, a very charming 8-year-old, called us “Tia” and “Tio,” which means aunt/uncle, and is a term of endearment and respect, and was an exemplar student.  He tried so hard and did really well.  He was so sweet and full of so much life and energy.  We loved getting to know Diego 🙂  Leonor, 8, and Emilio, 9, were brother and sister and both were very sweet and calm, and excellent listeners.  Both worked very hard and had great English skills!  Andres, 9, was the cousin of Leonor and Emilio and was very quiet and shy at first, but wow! did that boy come out of his shell!  Andres was so full of energy and definitely knew how to have a laugh- and his English skills weren’t too shabby either!  Tamia, Miska and Meli, being beautifully bilingual, would help us run the classes and translate when needed- sometimes they helped a little too much 🙂

Our new home, the yoga shala

Our new friends Maria Jesus, Leonor, Emilio and Andres, learning all about clothes!

Me with Gaspar during cooking week!

The class wishing Michael a Happy 25th Birthday!!

Michael, Meli, Diego, Tamia, Miska, Tais and Mia doing yoga!

Michael with Diego, Andres and Mia- such a good teacher!

Our friendly slug visitors

As time went by, I became very close with Sandra.  She had a way of speaking to me that would affect me for days and cause me to think about things I hadn’t wanted to think about in years.  In the first few weeks on the island, I had what I call a spiritual breakdown, which sounds terrible, but was so positive.  With Sandra acting as a sort of gatekeeper, I delved into these issues I had been repressing and really came clean to myself about some absolute truths about my own heart and mind.  I had told myself that I was going on this trip to deal with these things, and then I had just continued to sweep them under the rug, but living in Ancud, being with Sandra, delving into my spirituality through yoga, I literally couldn’t hold those things in anymore.  So I let them go.  It took about a week to let everything within me settle again, but when it did, I knew I was no longer the same person, that I could no longer look at the world and at myself the same way again.  I will always be thankful to Sandra for helping me come to that turning point.

Eating the stalk of a nalca plant- tasted just like celery!

In the great scheme of things, our interactions and short stay with this family seem so small, but somehow, they feel so enduring.  Sandra, with her seemingly ageless wisdom and love for the beauty in everything, taught me so much about family and being strong- not being a wimp.  Meli, with her sweet grace and effervescent happiness, is someone who I constantly found myself wanting to be around more.  I think sometimes we forget the amazing wisdom and insight that little ones can have.  Tamia, who knit me a centillo (headband) in a matter of hours, is so incredibly talented and stronger than she knows.  Miska, strong-willed and full of passion, can (and will!) do anything she sets her mind to.  This turning point between childhood and adulthood, whatever that in-between stage is, is so, damn, hard- especially if you’re smart as a whip.  It reminds me to be gentle, because you never know what someone, even a 10-year-old, is going through.  Finally Britt, who knew the right way to do everything, made me exhausted just hearing about everything he had going on, reminded me of my dad, and many fathers, who know so much and are trying to find the best way to teach others.

Meli, my little bug!

We’ve always been told, don’t talk to strangers- but look what can happen when you take a chance on some strangers.

Enjoying the beauty of Chiloe!

Thank you endlessly for welcoming us into your home, for loving us, feeding us, teaching us your way of life, and being our temporary family, but forever friends 🙂

Our love to Ancud.

The view from our shala home at sunset.