Torres del Paine day 3
Trip Start
Oct 19, 2007
1
114
126
Trip End
Ongoing
Torres del Paine,
Chile
Saturday, March 1, 2008
For the most part I hate being dirty and I never liked playing in the mud even as a kid. I usually try to avoid mud at all costs but today is different
Backside of Torres mountain range
. Because of the rain from yesterday much of the trek is muddy and slippery but instead of trying to circumvent the muddy path in search of a more dry substitution I find myself actually enjoying trampling through mud and sliding down small mud laden hills and declines. Tom and I are getting along great and I think we both come to an unspoken understanding that Avida is slightly retarded which later on is confirmed by Avida himself through his propensity for loquaciousness. Avida's retardation will become the basis for much laughter later on although now we are still quiet about it and only laughing to ourselves. We have a long day today if we want to stay on Avida's ludicrous schedule but like I said my pack is noticeably lighter and I feel extremely strong with no soreness at all. We walk past a beautiful lake with a small glacier in the mountains above it and I actually take my camera out for like the 2nd time to get a couple of pics. It is hotter out here than a Mercedes or BMW driven by a Mexican and my back which my bag is flush against is full of sweat. But then we start our 3 hour ascent to the highest point in the Torres. The climb is mostly over boulders and it is extremely windy which makes this part of the trek very dangerous as it is easy to lose your balance and get your leg caught in between rocks or boulders or even worse break a leg or an arm if you really get thrown off balance. I could even see someone cracking their head open fairly easy out here especially with the wind whipping around like it is
Backside of Torres mountain range A
. But all in all the climb is a good time as it is challenging and dangerous which adds to the adrenalline rush. After about 2 hours of climbing the weather turns noticeably colder and although I am working my ass off I start to get the chills and I need to start putting on warmer clothes. After we get to the top of the mountain it is snowing and I am cold as shit. I have to put on my winter jacket and hat and I use my bandana to put around my face to keep the wind from freezing it off. This is unbelievable. Just 3 hours ago the sun was beating down on me and I was sweating and hot as fuck and now it is snowing with a bit of hail and I feel like someone stuck me in Dr. Evil's cryogenic freezing capsule. So up and up I walk seeing nothing but the sky in front of me as it is very steep but then all of a sudden I get to the very top where it levels out and then BAM, I am all of a sudden standing above this enormous glacier. This was the coolest experience of my life and I actually got chills the other day just talking about it. What makes it so wonderous is the fact that you can't see the glacier at all until you get to the zenith of the mountain and then out of nowhere the land before you completely opens up into an entire new realm and you are suddenly standing over this massive glacier and it happens in a split second. It will be a memory that I will cherish and never forget as long as I live. We begin our descent which for me is actually tougher since it is much harder on your knees and I broke one of my kneecaps back in highschool and ever since it has never quite been the same
Glacier Grey
. We stop at some point and eat more cookies which we are beginning to do more and more often. I love cookie breaks and you have no idea how awesome they are. I suppose it is like a small reward for completing another leg of the journey but more than that I am beginning to realize that they are a necessity because you get so hungry and are in need of so many calories. We walk along very steep cliffs which is quite dangerous as the wind is still prominent and if you fall you are basically more fucked than the Knighs Templar once France ran out of money. We get to camp like 2.5 hours earlier than expected according to the map (we walk extremely fast) which is nice as it gives us a chance to fuck around a bit and for me to catch up on my diary. Later on Tom and I are standing outside our tent talking about whatever and Avida who is in his tent starts clamoring on out of nowhere about how much food he has and he sounds like he just got a brand new bike for xmas he is so happy. He tells us he has enough bread for 2 sandwiches per day and 1 kilo of rice left and Tom and I start dying. Now this and of itself isn't that funny but Avida finds it necessary to give us updates on his provisions about once every hour and it is so meaningless and stupid that it becomes extremely entertaining. We never even ask about his food supply, he just tells us out of nowhere and the thing is we could be talking about how Pluto may longer be considered a planet and he'll just randomly throw in the fact that he has 5 packs of raisins and half a box of banana powder left and me and Tom just stare at him in wonderment and say "wow"
Highest point in Torres del Paine Natl Park
. And for some reason this particular night we can't stop laughing about it especially since he was in his own tent and not even part of our conversation. I love this kid and if I ever need to laugh I can just think about Avida and all his superfluous food updates. Man, when I take off my socks my feet smell like a dead fetus and I wash them off in the stream. Yeah, I'm starting to smell a bit which is to be expected since I haven't showered in three days and I have been walking kilometer after kilometer with a heavy pack. I have some deodorant and some soap so I think maybe I will wash up a bit in the stream tomorrow. The thing that sucks is that all the streams are from glacial runoff so they are fucking freezing. The other thing is Avida and Tom give me a bunch of shit for even bringing any toiletries at all. They call me a quisit or something like that which basically means a pussy in Hebrew but whatever, I guess I'm just not accustomed to smelling like Moses who probably didn't shower for 40 years while wondering around aimlessly in the desert. For some reason Tom and I aren't very tired tonight and we crack jokes for a long while as we lay in the tent and mostly at Avida's extent.
fin
