The biggest attraction in southern Chile, Torres del Paine, is a Unesco Biosphere reserve and quoted by many as the finest national park in South America. Clearly we had to see what all the fuss is about. We made our way across the border to Puerto Natales, the nearest town to the park, to prepare for the trek.
There are different hikes you can do within the park and we opted for the four day W trek with three nights of camping in the park. We had to pack our sleeping bags, mats, tent, stove, gas and cooking/eating gear to carry around with us the whole time which meant that packing as little and as light food as possible was essential. For Monika and I this was a bigger challenge then carrying it all for 60km around the park. Obsessive overpacking of food happens to run in the family for both of us and I was raised by a grandmother who once crossed Europe with a kilo of kajmak (Serbian cream cheese) and half a pig in her suitcase during the times of foot and mouth disease when travellers were being forced to disinfect hands and feet before entering an airplane. Luckily for me I was also raised by a wonderful mother whose slightly obsessive planning and managing skills rubbed off on me and I am proud to say we were one of the few campers who did not come back with excess food and had just the perfect amount to eat out in the park.
We were very lucky to meet two wonderful boys in Calafate who travelled with us to Puerto Natales and did the trek with us. Dean and Omri are sweet and super witty. They provided entertainment during the whole trek and looked after us during our girly moments. Considering it’s Monika and I these were very rare but every now and then a little extra help with one of the tent pegs or someone man enough to go stick his hand into the freezing river for the fifth time to fill up the water bottle (when it’s equally as cold outside) was very much appreciated. We really had a lot of fun together and it just wouldn’t have been the same if we had done it by ourselves.
The park itself is very beautiful although there is nothing in particular that stands out by itself as being amazing. I think it’s the whole experience that makes it special. On day three we trekked almost 20km with our backpacks (which weighed over 10kg with the gear) and then left them in the camping spot and trekked another hour up to the top of the Torres (the famous mountain peaks that gave the park its name). It was really hard but the satisfaction and sense of achievement you feel afterwards makes it worthwhile. And even though it was really cold at night, our tent was a bit breezy and we didn’t have the best night’s sleep, I always looked forward to the next morning’s trek.
Highlights of the trek included Monika’s overdose on glucose energy tablets which involved her skipping up the hill (with all her stuff), while belting out Polish war tunes and serenading us with Ave María. We also got to drink the most delicious water in South America which was in abundance with all the streams around the park, and I met a French boy who had the most beautiful manfeet I have ever seen, even after trekking for various days. You learn to appreciate the wierdest things when you travel.
The lowlight, apart from waking up freezing to death a couple of times during the night, was this curry pasta we had to eat one night. We brought pasta for our evening meals with soups and powdered sauces because it’s light. Somehow we convinced ourselves that the curry sauce would be perfect for the trek even though we were missing half the ingredients (basically all apart from water). We were wrong, it was disgusting and we had to force ourselves to eat it to avoid having to carry it with us for the rest of the trip.
All in all it was a great experience and even though the muscles in my shoulders ceased to exist and my knees have taken a sabbatical I wouldn’t have changed a thing (except for the curry) and recommend it to everyone! We arrived back in Puerto Natales exhausted but happy and took a bus south to Punto Arenas, our final Chilean destination, the next day.
