Torres del Paine day4
Trip Start
Oct 19, 2007
1
115
126
Trip End
Ongoing
Torres del Paine,
Chile
Sunday, March 2, 2008
Today is a rather easy day compared to what has come before as we start the W and wind our way around to the front side of the mountain range
Machete, Knife, Shawn - deadly
. We come across a shimmering lake that reflects the closest mountain and looking at the reflectin of the mountain in the lake is like looking at the world upside down (sort of like GW Bush does). Anyways, it's pretty sweet and it reminds me of that time in Forrest Gump when he jogs past that mountain lake which gives off the perfect mirror like reflection of the surrounding landscape. According to this dude we met nothing poisonous exists in Torres. There are no poisonous animals nor poisonous food which means that anything you can find that is edible you can be assured that it is safe to eat. We find some red berries along one of the paths and they have an artificial watermelon taste and I eat as many as I can since they are so good. Avida even puts some in his pocket Napolean Dynamite style (except with berries instead of tots) in order to spice up his rice dish later on that night. While we are chilling eating berries Avida accidentally breaks Tom's walking stick by sitting on it and it snaps in half. And here's the thing about walking sticks, finding a good one takes time because it needs to be the correct height and it needs to be light yet strong and sturdy and once you find that perfect stick you sort of become attached to it. Walking sticks are invaluable out here. When I first saw people using them I thought they were pussies but they help tremendously especially for going downhill and for crossing streams that have nothing more than a few wet rocks protruding out of the water allowing you to hop from one to the next
Mirror Lake - Torres del Paine
. Avida once fell in love with his walking stick so much that he tried to take it on a plane with him but they wouldn't allow it and he probablly cried. He has carved all these intricate markings in his current stick with a knife and he has stripped all the bark from it and it looks like something a medicine man may have once carried. His stick is perfect for trekking and I give Avida credit, he is one hell of an outdoorsman. We have like 45 minutes to get to the next base camp which is the nicest and biggest in Torres. After Avida breaks Tom's stick (that sounds gay) and we finish up eating our cookies and berries Tom takes off like a Jew escaping Egypt and within 10 minutes he is out of sight. What the fuck is he doing. I mean we don't necessarily walk right next to each other all the time but usually we stay within eye sight of each other. I assume he is pissed off at Avida for busting his stick and when we get to the base camp Tom is nowhere to be seen and I begin to think that he just skipped this camp and went on to the next one. The worst part about this scenario is that if he really did break out that means I may have to spend the night with Avida and that means a lot of repeat story time. That turns out not to be the case though as he had to hurry up and basically run here because he hates shitting in the woods. I completely understand. This base camp is enormous and really nice. It also costs money to stay here so we obviously won't be staying here but even if we weren't cheap we need to get to the next camp a couple hours ahead in order to stay on schedule. There are probably 100 people running around, sitting on the grass, setting up tents and I notice right away there are also some decent chicks here to boot (they probably smell and have hair all over the place but from a short distance they are at least nice to look at)
Mountains - Torres del Paine
. The sun is shining, there isn't a cloud in the sky, the mountain range is breathtaking and it's more or less a perfect day. The bathrooms here are nice and I decide to wash my face and shave as I hate facial hair and it's been 4 days since I last shaved. I get made fun of for even having a razor let alone using it. We buy some food just to make sure we have enough to get us through the remaining few days. We could have probably gotten by on what we had but this way we can have bigger meals and since we have like 3 cookie breaks a day we can always use more of those badboys. Today for some reason I feel like a bit of a badass or at least like I fit in with everyone else. I have learned a lot about surviving outdoors and I know I could make it on my own if I had to which is a cool feeling to have. I'm pretty proud of myself today and I feel wonderful as I lay out in the sun on this perfect afternoon and I start thinking how I am conquering the toughest challenge of my life which includes more than just the long trekking episodes but also having to deal with extremes of hot and cold and being dirty all the time and dealing with mosquitos and sleeping in a tent that is too short and being uncomfortable and having to hang out with Avida. I start thinking about how I need a vacation from my vacation though and how nice it would be to just sit on a beach somewhere with a margarita or caiprinha in hand. The last month has been a lot of hard work and I am really looking forward to getting to Pucon and swimming in the lake there and laying on the beach.
Fin
