Crónicas Patagónicas Torres del Paine III

After a quite comfortable nigth sleeping in that kitchen, I woke up really early, had breakfast with Ricardo and hit the road again. This time I would walk alone and, if I wanted to stick to the plan, it had to be a long way. My plan was to walk all the bottom part of the W and also climb to the French Valley (right in the middle, the second leg of the W). More or less 15 km and, appart from the Valley part, I would have to carry my backpack all the time.

So first stop was supposed to be the italian camp, more or less in the center of the W and the place where I was supposed to go the previous day before I decided to split with the couchsurfers. However I never made it there. As I was getting close the weather got really bad and it started to rain quite heavy. Because of this, and seen the big clows covering the valley, I took te doubious decision of skipping that part and continuing to the other edge of the W. It pissed me off a bit not to cover that part but I had been said that with good weather I wouldnt see anything up there so it was not really worth it. Here so you can see a pic of the valley so you know what it was about…

And here we reach the point in which, once again, I fucked it up with one of my terrible ideas. I see in the map that the way to the place I am going now is a bit unconvinient, going first up to the valley and then down again. So I come up with the idea of leaving the path and find a shortcut. I thought it only made sense to reach the italian if you wanted to progress further North to the valley and, since I had decided not to do that, I could just go West to the next refugio. In fact, at the beginning I was just checking whether that was going to be possible or not but then I found this path which encourages me to go on. No good…The path suddendly dissapears and I end up trapped in a really dense forrest of very low trees with plenty of branches in which is fucking difficult to walk. The problem is that I have been stupidly stubborn with this and got really deep in there. Go backwards is not an easy deal either.

I dont know how much time I spent in there fighting with that net of branches. It was really desperating for quite a while. When I finally made it out of that hell, what is coming next is too much better. A sort of nasty swamp where you keep getting your boots totally wet. But going back means having to cross the forest again and that is just a too scary idea. So I keep going through the swamp, trying to sorround a sort of lake. According to the plan that might take me back to the trekking path and the easy life there.

What the map does not say is that there is a river to cross before that. And there are no rocks here, time to get really wet. I take off my boots , get me trousers up and jump to the water. As soon as I hit the river ground I sink almost to the waist. That fucking mud must be a close relative of the quicksands. The bastard fucked me up. I mange to get out of there but my legs are totallly soaked. And, what is worse, my camera happens to be in one of the pockets of my trouser so it got pretty wet too. Noooo, not again. Sad but true, she is dead. That camera that survided to the Chapada Diamantina, to the thieves of Salvador de Bahia and to quite a few drunken nights, didnt make it in Torres del Paine. Maybe it is just a problem with the batery, I will have to find out. Anyway, I have lost it for the trip and that really piss me off.

However I have more urgent problems to take care of. I still have to get out of the mess I got myself in. Just to complicate things a bit more, something is wrong with my right leg. It must be a muscular thing, it really hurts after I have been walking for a while. To the point I have to stop for a while until the pain goes away. Well, I will spare you the rest of the details of this regreteable adventure. The important thing is that, quite a while after, having had to cross a few rivers more and climbed some hills, I made it back to the proper trekking path.

You have no idea how happy I was about been back there, see those trees with marks indicating the way… Well, anyway, it might sounds like it was really hard but in fact that was what I fancied about my alternative itinerary. If not for the camera thing, I would tell you I was happy of having got into that mess. It was a sort of “survive in Torres del Paine” extreme experience and also gives me something to write about. A shame it also had some negative consequences: lost time, fucked up camera, physical damage and soaked clothes. Actually this last thing might become a serious problem. I am shivering and it would not be fun to catch a pneumonia.

So I gotta keep moving as fast as I can. I have to make it to the refugio’s stove as soon as possible. The path in this part of the trekking goes through the hills in between the Nordenskjol lake and the East horn of the Paine. That means uphills and downhills all the time and the mud everywhere makes things a bit more difficult. At some point you reach a high position from which you can see the refugio (Los Cuernos) but it is not exactly encouraging cause it looks fucking far away and there are plenty of hills on the way. In any case, the way is beautiful and very worth the effort, as everywhere in this park. In its last part before reaching the refugio, the path gets you to the lake shore and you can appreciate its absolutely clean deep blue water. Torres del Paine is amazing!

In Los Cuernos I stopped for almost an hour. I have to eat something and get dry. I more or less manage to do both things. Apparently we didnt buy all the bread we needed and I just have for one ridiculous sandwich. I am fucking starting so I have to add cheese rolled in raw saussages. Umm… tasty…On the other hand, I made to get most of my legs dry but not my ass which I cant get too close to the stove without been fucking ridiculous. Well, at least I change my t-shirt and my underwear so I am a bit dryer inside. Enough to continue the walk.

Refugio Torres is still four hours away, at the East edge of the W but things have improved a lot. It is not rainning anymore and I am finally totally dry. The way is easier and views even better. Once again, you have the lake on your right and now the impressive snow covered Almirante Nieto peak on the left. I stop a few times to admire the landscape (well, also to rest ;). The place is simply spectacular.

When I finally make it to the refugio Torres I am really exhausted but quite happy after this day of lonely adventure (as long as I manage not to think of the camera). I seriously consider the idea of paying for a bed in the refugio instead of camping but there is something that makes me decide for the second option. Apparently they can light a fire for me in the camping, right next to my tent. I picture it in my mind: myself cooking a very tasty pasta and finishing the day very warm and drinking rum in front of the fire. Very spiritual, maybe I get some inspiration and write philosophy like the brazilian guy.

Unfortunately, this tempting situation never occurs. Just when I am done placing the tent, it starts to rain very heavily. I hardly had time to jump inside the tent so I dont get wet again. The dinner plan radically changes and I end up eating pate with a spoon instead of that cooked pasta. That famous pate bar they french guy claimed is the only thing I can eat without having to cook.

After a while the rain starts to sound loudly hitting the tent. I have a look outside and discover it is not rainning anymore, now it is snowing. For some reason, the tent, which by the way is really small, is letting some water to get in and my feet are getting wet. I hadnt told you so far about my sleeping bag. The zip are broken so you cant close it. It is only usable as a blanket. The other nights that I slept under a roof that was not such a big issue but now it means I am freezing and getting wet.

Finally, the leg I injuried during the day is now cold and I am really in pain. Well, what can I say, this was probably the worst night of my life. In such a situation, I didnt get much sleep and I was really looking forward the new day to get out of that fucking small and wet tomb…

Itinerary Day 3

Paco, master of disaster

I think there was a lot of this already in this post but… I still have more… So here I am, hading to Los Cuervos after having survived to my “shortcut” when I get to this part of the path whis is totally muddy. Great, mud again, I am kind of afraid of this shit but there is no way to go around. There are rocks on the left and a cliff on the right. Well, I guess it wont be too deep here but, just in case, lets do it fast. I do this very long step and then quickly another one… I made it! I am on the other side of the mud. Well, there is a just a small problem… I am missing one boot.. Shit, it got stuck in the mud. I am a fucking retarded and my shoelaces were not propertly tied.

This might seem a minor issue to you guys but I can tell you it wasnt. The shoe is right in the middle of the mud and I cant reach it with my hand. I look around and find a more or less long and thick stick. I tried to recover the boot with that but is so stuck in the mud that I cant move it like that. I am happy nobody is passing by, the scene must be very embarrassing…

Its quite an absurd situation cause I cant recover that fucking show without getting myself in the mud. I can think of one solution but it might turn into a fucking mess. The idea is to use the stick in the mud a bit far away from the shore and hold it with one hand while I put my body horizontal. Then I can use my other hand to reach the boot.

But… I can see it coming… the stick is gonna break and my face will end up in the mud. And I know that is exactly what you bastards are expecting to happen Well, there is no other choice, lets go for it… I stick the thing there, lay down and… what it really happened you will never now, the important thing is that I got my boot back

Tags: Patagonia, Torres del Paine, Trekking