Patagonia! (Please pass the band-aids)

On March 12, my friend Ryan and I headed to Patagonia for a six-day trek in Parque Nacional Torres del Paine in the southern tip of Chile! We completed the "W," a famous route that brings hikers to a glacier, through a rocky valley, and to the Torres del Paine themselves. We flew down to Punta Arenas, then bussed to Puerto Natales where we took another bus into the park. This map shows all three locations, all down at the end of the world!

After entering the park, we took a ferry across Lago Pehoé:

From there we hiked to our first campsite near Glacier Grey. We had hail for our first ten minutes which made me laugh as people had warned me about the crazy weather in Patagonia. The wind there is unlike anything I've every experienced. I was blown fully over twice during the trek and had quite a few close calls, especially with my balance thrown off by my big backpack. Here's our first site of the glacier from a distance:

I was pretty excited:

Along the trail the first day we met an extraordinary man named Ian from New Zealand. He's sixty-nine years-old, has one fake hip, and maintained about the same pace as we did wearing Teva sandals. Sigh. We camped next to him at our first campsite and in chatting with him I discovered he'd lived in Maine for two years and went contra dancing every Saturday at the Wescustago Hall in North Yarmouth for those two years. Yimes!

Here's a view from the first campsite, complete with icebergs from the glacier:


Also along the trail on that first day I developed some fierce blisters on my heels. I thought my hiking boots were broken in enough, but I was sorely mistaken. Here's a shot of my heels a few days later:

The blisters made the trek painful, but when I look back on the trip, I think more about the incredible place and the incredible people I met than about how much my feet hurt. Which they certainly did.

On our second day we headed back to the refugio and campsite by the lake where we got off the ferry. Before we headed back, though, we took a quick hike to a viewpoint to get a better view of Glacier Grey:


We ended up staying our whole third day at the campsite by the lake because it was pouring when we woke up and a few people who headed out on the trail came back because the weather was so miserable. There's a quincho at this campsite, which is a little enclosed gazebo-style hut where campers can cook and hang out, so it was a lovely day playing games and socializing with other trekkers in a dry, relatively warm environment.

On the fourth day we headed to the French Valley which makes up the center prong of the "W." We didn't actually make it to the very top of this climb because it started hailing and was getting dark, but the views we did get were stunning:


On our fifth day, we headed toward the third prong of the "W," at the top of which sit the Torres themselves. This hike took us along Lake Nordenskjold with its other-worldly green water:


On the morning of our sixth day, we woke up at 5 a.m. to try to have the traditional sunrise-on-the-Torres experience. We opened the tent door to a snowy, cloudy day, but decided to make the forty-five minute climb to the base of the Torres anyway, just in case. We passed many disappointed hikers shielding themselves from sleet on the trail, but when we arrived, the clouds parted a bit and we were able to see this much of the Torres:


I was glad we hiked up, even if our view left a bit to be desired. It poured for the rest of the day so we were soaked by the time we hiked down to the refugio near the park entrance, but a wood stove, a cup of hot chocolate and switching to flip-flops healed all. That night, back in Puerto Natales, we returned to the amazing vegetarian restaurant we had found and shared a beautiful meal with a couple of people we had met on the trail. Climbing into a real bed that night, complete with a down comforter, will be among my highlights of 2009.

Overall, it felt wonderful to be back in a place where I was in awe of everything around me. I love Santiago and all its smoggy personality but a reminder of the epic possibilities of nature is always welcome. I also found myself feeling incredibly nostalgic for the camping days of my childhood. As soon as I heard our tent zipper for the first time, I felt this visceral yank into my memories and suddenly wanted to be sitting around a picnic table with my parents by the light of a lantern, drinking cocoa from my purple camping mug with its matching spoon and fork. The nostalgia travelled with me for the duration of the trip and I felt a strong sense of gratitude to my parents for providing the outdoor experiences they did when I was so young. Though the trip was not without its ups and downs, I feel extremely lucky to have had the experience.

Orientation! Couch surfing! Business cards!

Today I became the type of person who can say, "Here, let me give you my card." Brooke, VE's Executive Director, surprised me this afternoon with a field trip to a swanky graphic design firm in Las Condes, an upscale part of Santiago, to pick up our new business cards! Check it out:


Life has been pretty wild since the last time I posted here! First off, I've moved out of my first apartment and am currently sleeping on a fold-out in the living room of my friends Jess, Paul, and Chris's apartment. Though my apartment in Ñuñoa was beautiful, the situation grew increasingly uncomfortable with the couple who lives there. I wasn't allowed to have more than one friend over at a time, and didn't feel welcome to be in the living room when they were home. Also, it can't go unsaid that when my friend Julia and I both lived there, we got reprimanded for having a holiday cookie party. I simply can't live with anti-cookie types.

So even though I'm living out of a suitcase, I'm much happier and more relaxed living with Jess, Paul and Chris. I can sing in the shower, sprawl in the living room, plus the apartment is as central as one could hope for, right in Plaza Italia, about a three minute walk from the VE office. Now that I'm full-time there, I couldn't ask for a better location.

My move came at a bit of a crazy time: I told the couple I would move out on March 1, the day before Orientation began for the new class of volunteers. They told me to be out before noon, so I ended up moving on February 28th as I needed to pick up one of the new volunteers at the airport at 6:45 a.m. on the 1st. February 28th also happened to be VE Palooza, a traditional VE event where good-bye speeches are given for volunteers leaving in the next three months. Palooza also includes silly prizes, such as "Best Fanny Pack" (fanny packs are cool in Chile, I promise). Though the day was hectic, Palooza was thoroughly enjoyable. The Director of Volunteer Relations traditionally hosts the event, so Daniel and I co-hosted. Here we are presenting Paul (left) the prize for Best Dance Moves:


The next day, whether we were ready or not, Orientation Week took off, starting with the traditional welcome dinner at Hostal de Sammy. The six new volunteers, hailing from England, Austria, Hungary and the United States, are pretty much fantastic. I loved getting to know them over the course of the week and felt even more fortunate to have the opportunity to closely watch the Orientation Program knowing I'll be running it the next time around. Over the course of the week I accompanied Daniel and the newbies to the majority of the presentations, being introduced to the speakers as the next Director of Volunteer Relations. After the days' official activities would end, Daniel and I would work on tasks for the next day, revising our own presentations while attempting to keep up on other work, such as the March budget. It was a happy marathon--by the end of the week we were giddy and delirious, hovering ravenously around the coffee pot. Ann, our Director of Programs and Operations, laughed at my naive excitement as I gushed about working in the Office after midnight and spending three hours in a public health clinic with one of the new volunteers. "Oh, the honeymoon stage," she said.

The week assured me further that this is where I want to be. Despite the sleep deprivation I felt thrilled to be doing such important work. And halfway through the next week I took off for a ten-day trip to the southern tip of Chile to take a trek in Parque Nacional Torres del Paine. But that's a topic for my next post!