| Jan 27, 2006 - Puerto Natales, Chile
| We arrived in Puerto Natales in the afternoon of January 27th. Another main stop on the Patagonian stretch of the Gringo Trail, Puerto Natales is a small port town surrounded by the many rivers and inlets that make up southern Chile, and is known best for being the launching point of expeditions to Torres del Paine National Park.
We had originally thought we'd leave for Torres the very next day, but considering we had a lot of shopping to do for the week-long trek, and we were all exhausted from the 6-hour bus ride, we decided to take it easy for the day, use the 28th to get all our stuff together, and head out on the 29th. This gave us some time to relax and see the town a bit as well. We ran into Katie again here (was originally travelling with these boys, I met her in Salta with them, and saw her in Bariloche as well), who recommended a burger place to us famous among backpackers and boasting the biggest hamburgers in the world. I had to check it out. John, Carmin, and I went to eat there, and lo and behold the monstrous creation that was served to me on a plate was easily the most gargantuan thing referred to as a hamburger I had ever seen. It was good too, maybe not the tastiest ever, but darn good and simply colossal. While eating there I see Matt through the window walk by on the sidewalk. The Matt from Matt and Andrew who I hiked with in Peru, ran into in Cusco, and chilled with in Santiago at the Love Parade. Turns out they were in town and about to start their Torres hike the next day. We all hung out together later in the night as well, and solidified our plans to meet up once again for carnaval in Salvador. The only other noteworthy news of the day came from John and Carmin. John's knee, an old injury, had been bothering him for the past few weeks and he re-aggravated it pretty badly during a long rocky descent on the Fotz Roy hike. From that point on he was pretty sure he would not be joining us for the Torres trek, and had been making other plans accordingly, especially since his trip here in South America was much shorter than ours, and he did not plan to leave Patagonia with all of us anyway. But then Carmin decided that he would be joining him, would skip Torres as well, and would try to meet up with us later on, if nothing else in Brazil. When you've been travelling as a group of 6 for some time you get used to it and form a certain dynamic. So the idea of being only 4 of us in Torres was significant and quite a change, which is why I note it here. Plus the fact that John and Carmin were the two closer to my age, though still 2 years younger, and together we made up the council of the elders. Now I'd be spending Torres with two 20-year olds and a 19-year old. Damn kids.
Anyway, the next day we got to business, eventually. We said goodbye to John and Carmin in the morning, and then made a royal breakfast of large egg sandwiches stuffed with just about everything. It was just a continuation of the genius culinary creations we had been making, and a sign of more goodness yet to come. The rest of the day was basically shopping for all the food and last-minute suppies we would need, and then preparing our delicious dinner as well. Sausage burritos with all the right fillings that, according to Dan, still ranks up there as possibly the best home-cooked meal we had on our trip (and this comes months later, after its all over). After which we prepared our packs and had an early night. The Torres del Paine Trek, one of the few things we all had actually planned before even getting to South America, and had been most excited for and anticipating all throughout, was finally going to start tomorrow. |
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