Patagonia, Chile

We have moved way south since the Pachamama trip and are now pretty much on the bottom of the planet in southern Chile, not too far from Antarctica. To get here we had to stop through Santiago, which really is just another big city that we couldn't wait to leave. The only things really to come out of Santiago were our new addition to the team, Nick Hier... and this picture of me and Zack riding the cable car high on the hill in Santiago and wondering if it was tomorrow yet. Nick went to CU with Zack, and has been enjoying skiing in Colorado and working for the family business. He will be completing the final 6 weeks of our journey with us and adds a new fire to the crew. He is also a soundboard for me and Zack to finally have someone to complain to each other about after 11 weeks. He also rounds out the 6ft-plus white guy crew, promising to make people question if we are all related and further making fitting in small South American cabs even more challenging. So everyone give Nick a big welcome to the Great White Hike.

The big reason we came all the ay down here was to see Patagonia, the large region of Southern South America (Chile and Argentina) famous for mountains, lakes, glaciers, hiking, hiking and camping. We flew into Punta Arenas and bused it to Puerto Natales, the jumping off point for Torres del Paine National Park. The most popular hike in Torres del Paine is the "W", four days and three night of hiking in and out of the valleys along the lakes in which the trails make a big W (see, its not just a clever name). The highlights are Glacier Grey, and the Torres - the three huge towers of rock that you can see from both the front and the back in the valleys.

We spent 4 days hiking all day, and three nights pushing the capacities of our rented sleeping bags and tents that are clearly not made for people of our size. We bought all of our food the night before we left in a hurry and it became apparent very quickly that we did not bring enough food once we saw some girl on the boat gorging herself on a huge sammy. After 2 days of our bland oatmeal and instant coffee breakfasts and trail mix lunches, we found ourselves spending a lot of our time on the trail intricately describing what we would put in a sandwich. It was Zack's 26th birthday on the third day, and we found it a perfect opportunity to suprise the bithday boy with two huge sammys purchased at the campsite kitchen that morning. The sandwiches were a little overpriced but it was worth every centimo to see the joy on the kids face. Not to mention we got to stuff our faces as well.

The final night we spent at the base of the Torres, just a 45 minute scramble up the rocks to see them overlooking a small lake. There is about a 10 minute window right at sunrise where the rocks glow orange and the sunrises through the valley so we set the alarms for 530 am and began our climb in the dark. We continued our streak of great weather for the epic pictures and were able to get these shots. We stumbled tired and sore back to the campsite to pick up our packs, eat breakfast and continue to the bottom even more tired and sore. We arrived a pathetic, dirty, and tired mess... glad to be back to civilization.

Getting little to no rest, we boarded a bus early the next morning to see the Perito Moreno glacier, one of the largest in Patagonia, probably THE largest but I was asleep for a lot of the bus ride while he guide was talking. It was a big piece of ice, and we got to see pieces of ice fall off the big piece of ice into the water and make a big splash. It was pretty radical actually. Oh, and you may notice something different about my face in the one picture. On the bus ride home from Torres I found myself chewing on my mustache and realized at that very moment it was about time for it to go. Zack says he "hates change" (as if the beard was normal) and demands I grow it back instantly. I never thought it would get to the point where I got made fun of for NOT having a beard. However, I might be done with facial hair for a while, at least until this Movember.

We are on the move again tonight to head a little more North to the Lakes District, to start in Chile and cross the Andes into Argentina. Its just about a week until we meet up with three more of our favorite Americans in Buenos Aires, rent an apartment, and enter the final leg of the journey. Exactly five weeks to go from today.... Which reminds me, what's up with Bay to Breakers??