A Fish!

Wednesday, March 11

After a week of extreme travel is was nice to get settled again in Puerto Varas. Daniel and I did a quick tour around town before the rain rolled through. Puerto Varas, it turns out, is a beautiful city when the sun is shining and you can see the volcanoes overlooking the lake. When it’s dark and raining, it’s not much to show off, and I felt bad that this was my brother’s first impression of my temporary home. Fortunately, however, the skies began to open up on our way home and the sun poked through the clouds. There was no better way to take advantage of the impromptu sunshine than to fish on the beach for a couple hours before dinner.

Pearl joined us after about 45 minutes, and as we were talking about how impossible it would be to catch a fish here, due to the lack of coverage and protection on the open beach, Pearl snagged a small trout. The funny part was Pearl had never caught a fish before and didn’t even know she had one on the line. It wasn’t until the fish jumped 5 feet from the shore that we knew she had hooked one. We finally got it up to the beach and just as we were pulling it ashore, it flopped and released itself from the hook before we could get out hands on it. With no photographic evidence, I could be making this whole story up, but you should know that after today I will be fishing with a new purpose on the beach outside our apartment. Now I know for a fact that there are fish in these waters and they want nothing more than to be caught by me. What a way for Pearl to end her stay with us before she boarded her bus back to Santiago.

Lapis Lazuli

Tuesday, March 10

We spent our final day in Punta Arenas exploring the city and the various craft markets around the city square. Everywhere were carvings and jewelry made form Lapis Lazuli, an exotic blue stone for which Chile is well known. Daniel and I collected some gifts for everyone at home before making our way to the hill overlooking the city of Punta Arenas. From up above the city we could see a rainbow of houses painted in bright vibrant colors. The Straight of Magellan lay beyond the sprawling streets teeming with cruise ships and fishing vessels. It was here that we truly felt as though we were at the bottom of the world. It was as if the world really was flat and that beyond the hills of Tierra del Fuego and the Straight of Magellan the edge of the earth fell off into Space. What an awe-inspiring and humbling feeling.

Back down in the center of the city we found a diner type restarant called La Luna where Daniel had his first experience with Chupe de Jaibas. Chupe de jaibas is a typical Chilean stew with crab baked in the oven to form a golden brown crust. I absolutely love chupe and Daniel had the same reaction. It is so rich with large chunks of crab meat that it is almost impossible not to enjoy.

After lunch we strolled down to the costanera to get a better look at the shores on the Straight of Magellan. It was almost time to head to the airport, and we didn’t want to miss our opportunity to experience the Straight up close and personal. Gray sand ran into the blue waters and as we approached the shore a cool breeze kicked up. The wind was coming from the south today, which meant it was running directly off of the Antarctic Peninsula into Tierra del Fuego. I brushed my hands through the water to see if it compared to the waters in Boston, and oddly enough it did. The temperature was somewhere between Boston and Maine, which means very cold. We sat on the beach contemplating whether or not we were in the Atlantic or Pacific Ocean, and settled on the concept that we were in neither. The real answer…the world may never know.

Magellanic Penguins!

Monday, March 9

We spent the night at Magellnia in Puerto Natales again, with an early morning wake-up to catch a bus back to Punta Arenas. This was one of the more interesting bus rides of our trip, because we had no seat reservations. The bus driver and his deaf-mute assistant assured us that their would be open seats, but as more people piled on and we continued shuffling our seats, we realized that there were only 3 open seats with 4 of us remaining. Pearl graciously volunteered herself to sit in the front cabin with the bus driver and the deaf mute for a 3 hour ride to Punta Arenas. It was an interesting experience for Pearl because she spent the next 3 hours using a mix of Spanish, English, and sign language to communicate with the two men riding shotgun. Interestingly, enough the 3 amigos had a great time telling jokes and random stories of the road. Only at the bottom of the world would something like this happen.


We made it into Punta Arenas and immediately booked a spot on the ferry to Isla Magdalena, the home of 130,000 Magellanic Penguins. With our spot secured we checked in at the cheapest hostel we could find, and settled on Backpackers Paradise. The price was right at $5000 per night despite the crowded rooms and thin walls. Backpackers paradise doesn’t offer more than a roof and a bed, but that’s all we were looking for on this night.


We dropped our bags and did a bit of exploring around Punta Arenas. This city has a lot of character and history. It sits right on the banks of the Straight of Magellan and has had centuries of European exposure and influence. The architecture reflects bits of old Spain and France, while the city boasts a history rich in exploration of the South Pole and Antarctica. In fact, Punta Arenas was the launching pad for Shackelton’s expeditions to the South Pole.

After a quick seafood lunch in the center we headed for the port where our ferry was waiting. We boarded, and the old red cargo ship chugged along for 2 hours until we came upon Isla Magdelena. As the ferry slowly approached the shore we could make out thousands of black dots on the island. My heart skipped a beat knowing that this was the seasonal home to 130,000 penguins. The penguins migrate from the north during breeding season to inhabit the island in the summer months creating Monumento Natural Los Pingüinos, one of the largest penguin sanctuaries in all of South America.

Groups of the Magellanic penguins glided through the water alongside the boat, catching small fish and ignoring the intrusion of tourists upon their breeding home. Spread over the gentle hills of the island were thousands of bunker type nests where infants and adolescents, in their fluffy gray molting feathers, waited while their parents searched for food in the sea. As we made our way along the single path traversing the island we heard yelps of excitement from the birds. Many of the penguins seemed intrigued and intimidated by my bright yellow shoes as they cocked their heads side to side as a warning to remain clear of their nest. While ropes lining the path were meant to keep the tourists in check, the penguins had the run of the island, crossing and even napping in the middle of the path. At the top of the island was a red and white lighthouse where you have a 360 degree view of the island. The air was so clear we were able to see the island of Tierra del Fuego and even Punta Arenas in the distance. After about and hour we were ushered back to the boat by our annoying guide, and as we shoved off a full moon began to rise over the horizon.

Back in Punta Arenas we sat down to a celebratory dinner at La Marmita to congratulate ourselves on completing the “W” trek. The food was spectacular and reasonably priced. It was nice to fill our bellies with hearty meat and fish after 4 days of canned goods & soup on the hiking trail. This was an experience unlike any other, and it is one none of us will soon forget.

Torres del Paine: Day 4 - Hiking on Glacier Grey

Sunday, March 8

We woke up with plans to continue our hike up the trail along Glacier Grey, but something caught Lily’s eye. A lodge at the back of the camp was advertising hikes on the glacier itself. We made a group decision to splurge on the glacier hike and hopped on the boat just before it shoved off for the glacier. Everyone was gleaming with excitement as the boat made its way across the lake to the “calm’ side of the glacier. The guides explained that a glacier is a frozen river, and there are parts of the glacier that are more calm than others just like calm spots in a river. The "calm" area located behind a giant rock island was ideal for the hike because it was more flat and didn’t involved the dangers of ice crevasses.

When we landed on the island everyone strapped on the mandatory gear of crampons and ice picks. This couldn’t have been more hardcore. After a quick rundown of the safety procedures, we were off with our guide Pancho. The colors were even more remarkable than we had pictured. The sun was shining and highlighting every shade of white and blue imaginable. We crossed the frozen landscape and approached a deep blue ice cave where we saw the only living organism on the glacier…the Patagonian Dragon. This insect-like creature looked like a scorpion and fed off the lichen in the pools of the glacier.

We continued our journey across the glacier, when the guides stopped us to look into a Moulan. Moulan’s are deep crevasses caused by water running through the stress lines in the glacier. The holes then expand at an exponential rate due to the strong winds blowing across the surface of the ice. The result, a hole 10+ meters deep with rushing cascades of water. The guides strapped on lines to our safety harnesses and served as anchors as we leaned over the edge looking down into the moulan. I had never been so happy to be wearing crampons because one false step and I was toast. After about 3 hours, our journey was coming to an end, but not before Daniel and I filled up our water bottles with sweet crisp glacial water. It was absolutely delicious.

The guides led us back to the boat and the captain played frogger with the icebergs as we crossed the lake. I think 200 icebergs broke off from the glacier from the time we were dropped off until now. We were told that the iceberg had been retreating almost 30 meters per year. An astonishing rate to say the least. It was beautiful, but also a bit nerve-wracking because one false move and we would be in the water with the floating chunks of ice. We made it across and put on the after burners to make it back to Refugio Pehoé to catch the last ferry. The trail back was scheduled to take 3.5 hours which would put us back by 6:15pm with the ferry scheduled to leave by 6:30pm. We made the hike in 2:45 hours and had plenty of time to relax in the grass before the ferry came. This trip couldn’t have been more amazing. We were extremely fortunate with the weather, saw some of the most spectacular scenery nature has to offer, and got to hike on a frozen river!!! Trips don’t get much better than that.

Torres del Paine: Day 3 - Lago Grey and Glacier Grey

Saturday, March 7

Daniel and I didn’t get much sleep last night because of the strong wind and rain. The tent held up fine, but it was really loud and my thoughts were engrossed with hiking in the rain when we woke up. It was still raining when we packed up the camp, and it continued to rain for about an hour as we pushed on to Refugio Pehoé. The scenery did not disappoint as we followed the shores of Lago Skottberg. Massive gusts of wind shot down from the jagged peaks in Valley Frances and swept across the surface of the lake with eye-popping force. We had never seen patchy gusts show up out of no where with such power and blow mist right off the surface of the lake up into the air. The only thing I can compare it to are the gusts off of the Logan Airport runways from jet engines when landing. These gusts, however, were unpredictable and 10 times as strong. They could easily snap the mast of an N-10 or laser.

We arrived at Refugio Pehoé just after noon and sat down for an early lunch. Salame sandwiches again. In order to keep on schedule, we were back on our feet after 30 minutes. We passed through the valley on our way up to Lago Grey with bright blue skies ahead of us. As soon as we turned the corner at the ridge in the mouth of the valley we were hit by the same gusts that we thought we had left behind at Las Torres two days earlier. Apparently the far side of the “W” is as well know for wind as the near side because gusts build up throughout the day and sweep down the glacier across Lago Grey. Luckily, the sun was so warm that the wind didn’t bother us very much. It was more of an obstacle to our balance than it was to our body warmth. It was so bizarre, however, to be warm and see huge icebergs floating by in Lago Grey. Even still, the icebergs were a welcomed sight because it meant we were close to the glacier.

Two hours in and we saw the mouth of Glacier Grey. What a beautiful sight. None of us had seen a glacier before, and we were blown away by the beauty (and the wind). The sun sparkled off of the jagged peaks and crevasses of deep blue as the glacier rose up into the mountains. Glacier Grey was fed by massive amounts of snow from the mountains to the north, and the glacier itself served as one of the exits for the snowy build up of Campo del Hielo Sur (the southern ice fields). We were still about an hour from Campamento Grey and the dwindling daylight told us to keep moving.

We made it to the campsite in no time and were now face to face with the glacier. The deep glacial blue from the crevasses was mesmerizing. I always thought the Glacier Ice flavor of Gatorade was a joke because it was so bright and neon, but that was the actual color in Glacier Grey. I had never seen such a vibrant blue, and we could see it from miles on the mirador just above the camp. We made a new friend at the mirador to help take some group pictures, and he turned out to be a really interesting guy. His name was Dan and he was a venture capitalist from San Francisco. He was hiking through Torres del Paine by himself as part of his 2 week tour of Patagonia. We invited him to have a salmon pasta dinner with us and he happily obliged.

The dinner was quite good and we made so much pasta that both Daniel and I were in heaven. It was the last night so we could eat as much as we wanted knowing that we didn’t have to save anything for another night. Also, it meant that my backpack would be significantly lighter as I had been carrying much of the food throughout the trip. As the sun set over the mountains, a bright red color emerged from the horizon and served as a beautiful contrast to the blue in the glacier. What an absolute gem of an evening, and a welcomed way to spend our final evening in Torres del Paine.

Torres del Paine: Day 2 - Valley Frances

Friday, March 6

We awoke in the dark this morning to get an early start on our marathon day of hiking. 12 hours of trails, peaks and valleys lay ahead of us and we wanted to knock off as much as possible before lunch time. We said good-bye to Las Torres and made our way back down the valley we had hiked up the day before. The winds disappeared and we were able to enjoy the scenery a bit more as the sun came up over the hills at the mouth of the valley. This was the second consecutive day I saw the sunrise, and, to be honest, I hope it is the last in a long time. There is nothing about the sunrise that excites me or expands my capacity to appreciate nature. Sunsets are just fine for me.

We made the turn along the bottom part of the “W” towards the middle section of Valley Frances. The reasoning behind our ambitious hike today was the relatively flat terrain between the Torres Valley and Valley Frances. We were able to cover a lot of ground without dolling out too much punishment to our bodies. While hiking through the grassy planes between valleys we ran into a herd of wild horses. They were about 20 strong and were directly in the middle of our path. We had no choice but to bob and weave our way through the herd trying not to spook any into giving out a swift kick to the chops. One thing I have to mention was the monstrous fart one horse let out while we were passing through. I try to hold my blog to a higher standard, but that was far to impressive to leave out. This horse literally farted for 45 seconds straight. And it wasn’t a little squeaker, this was a serious whoopi cushion of a fart for a length never before heard by man. Kudos to that horse.

After about 6+ hours of hiking we made it to Campamento Italiano at the base of Valley Frances. Daniel and I felt right at home. Unfortunately, the camp was closed to prevent over crowding, but we heard rumors that if you arrive by nightfall you can still setup camp. So we dropped our packs at the campsite to reduce our weight and had another quick lunch of peanut butter and Nutella. The hike up Valley Frances was breathtaking. It was basically straight up for 3 hours. On the left, across the river cutting through the valley, was a massive rock face covered in snow with a miniature glacier parked at the base. We were hiking parallel to the mountain for no longer than 30 minutes when we heard a thunderous boom from above. An avalanche had started and was crashing down the rocky face. It was amazing. None of us had seen a live avalanche before, and that was no the only one. For the next two hours we were graced by the thunderous crack of 5 avalanches falling onto the glacier base below. We couldn’t have been more fortunate.

Oddly enough Valley Frances had completely different climates on each side of the river. On the left side was the towering mountain cover in snow and ice with ice mushrooms at the summit. We later learned that this peak was Torres Principal and was so high that water vapor froze on contact with the rock creating ice mushrooms. On the right side was dense forest that rose up into the rocky outcrops of Los Cuernos and the rear side of Las Torres. There was no snow to be had on the entire right side despite the snow covered peaks no more than 500 meters away on the left. Absolutely amazing.

We finally made it to the top of Valley Frances as we climbed to the top of a rocky outcrop designated as the mirador. At the top of the rock we were surrounded by a 360 degree amphitheatre of granite towers, rocky peaks, and snow covered crags. The scenery was spectacular. We couldn’t believe our luck with the clear weather we received for the second straight day. We could see for miles. The stark contrast in climate, environment, and rock consistency around the amphitheatre was puzzling to all of us. We couldn’t understand how there could be artic conditions on one side and rainforest on the other. I have never been so close to the mysteries of nature and never been so captivated by her beauty. Planet Earth could have done an entire episode on this place it was so amazing.

The sun was beginning to set as we made our way back down the valley. We made it back to Camp Italiano amid the crashes of more avalanches with barely enough light to see the outline of the camp. The rangers gave us permission to camp, so we propped the tent and made dinner. We had avocados stuffed with tuna and pasta soup. What a meal! Everyone was stuffed to the gills and immediately hit the sack as the 12-hour hike really took its toll on the body. Luckily tomorrow is a lighter day.

Torres del Paine: Day 1- Las Torres

Thursday, March 5

Waking up this morning was painful, but the pain quickly dissipated as the excitement for our Torres del Paine adventure set in. We ate a quick breakfast before the bus was outside our hostel honking for us to board. The first thing I noticed as we stepped into the crisp morning air was the sun rising over the hills. I can probably count the number of times I’ve seen a sunrise on one hand, and this sunrise was no different. I would easily trade the beauty of the rising sun for a couple extra hours of sleep. We climbed aboard the bus, settled in, and conked out for the next 2 hours.

I awoke to guanacos grazing in the hills as we approached the entrance of Parque Nacional Torres del Paine. The entrance to the park was a simple a lodge where visitors paid the $15,000 pesos entry fee and received a trail map of the park. The first thing we noticed was the weather. There was a line of clouds stretching across the entrance of the park covering all of Torres del Paine. Behind us were clear skies and sunshine. Our first priority before beginning our hike was to decide at which end of the “W” hike to start. The far end began at Glacier Grey and worked its way back towards Las Torres. The near end, which begins at the entrance of the park, starts with a hike to Las Torres and works back to Glacier Grey. Las Torres are the namesake for Torres del Paine as well as the iconic centerpiece of the park, representing an awe-inspiring masterpiece of nature’s beauty. Before arriving we had heard countless stories of visitors who co]ame to the park and never saw Las Torres because of fog, clouds, or other varieties of poor weather. Torres del Paine is equally known for its beauty as it is for it’s extreme weather, ranging from hurricane force winds to successive weeks of rain, snow, and clouds. It is extremely rare to have more than one day of sunshine and clarity on a trip to Torres del Paine.

Needless to say, our group was at a crossroads. Conventional wisdom says if the weather is poor to start your trip, then begin at the far end with the hike to Glacier Grey and hope that by the time you make it to Las Torres the weather clears. When we arrived the weather was partly clear, but it was early enough in the morning that there was promise of the clouds burning off as the sun became stronger throughout the day. We took a gamble and decided to start with the Las Torres and hoped that the clouds would indeed burn off.

We exited the bus and climbed in a small van with 8 other people on our way to Refugio Las Torres, the start of the hike. With 12 hiking backpacks strapped to the roof and 12 passengers in the van was rumbled along a pothole-ridden dirt road when we approached an old rickety bridge. Gaurding the bridge was a sign exclaiming “Peligroso”, meaning “Danger”. The sign basically said that the bridge was not made for the weight of a vehicle plus all of its passengers, and instructed everyone to exit the vehicle and walk across before allowing the vehicle to pass. Our driver barely took notice of the sign and steamed across the bridge. Everyone was so overcome by shock and surprise that nobody made a move, yet everyone’s eyes harbored an unspoken glimmer of hope that we would cross unharmed. Fortunately, we made it unscathed and were at the start of the trail in no time.

We strapped on our packs and got underway making progress up over the ridge and into the valley of the first leg of the “W”. As soon as we turned the corner of the ridge, and were exposed to the wide open expanse of the valley, we were literally slapped in the face by a driving wind. Standing on the edge of a cliff with 40 lb. backpacks, we had a difficult time staying on our feet. We were warned of high winds today, but we never expected to experience them right of the bat. In vain, Daniel predicted the difficulty of walking in the impending wind when he facetiously mentioned that his only fear on the trip was getting blown of the side of a cliff. Truer words have never been spoken.

After about 2 hours of hiking into the wind we made it to Campamento Chileno, our campsite for the first night. We dropped our packs and had a quick lunch before hiking the rest of the way up to Las Torres. As we got closer, the clouds began to lift away and it looked as though our decision to start on the near side of the “W” was going to pay off. We climbed above the tree line when again we were hit by a wall of wind. This time, however, the wind was coming from our backs and the gusts were literally pushing us up the steep inclines. After hurdling boulders and trekking through streams, we finally made it to the Las Torres and they were more extraordinary than any of us had imagined. We were blessed with crystal clear skies and everyone began snapping away with their cameras. We scrambled to gain sure footing in the howling wind, but continued to get knocked around by 75 MPH gusts. The towers were absolutely beautiful. They were framed by a turquoise lake at their base, rocky cliffs on each side and puffy cumulous clouds above. With such clarity it was easy to see the blue tint in the rock of the towers, from which they get their name. Torres del Paine roughly translates to “Blue Towers”. After 30 minutes of being in awe, the cold started to get to us and we decided to head back to camp.

We made it back to camp in the valley and cooked up a quick meal of beans and sausage. Not exactly the gourmet meals my brother and I are accustomed to at home, but it did the trick. Everyone was in such high spirits from seeing Las Torres that we hadn't even notice we hiked for 6+ hours today. Exhaustion was impossible to avoid. We were all in the tent by 9:30pm ready for our longest and hardest day of the trip in which we planned on hiking for 12 hours. Valley Frances here we come!