Okay, we hiked the “W” for “3” days. Therefore, the title should be:
Wind, Wet Gloves, and… BATHROOM!!
Bet you didn’t see that last word coming!
Day 1: Santiago
Plane ride. My father slept like a baby, even my mother got a couple winks. I got a couple hours. I was dying the whole day. When we arrived in Santiago, Chile, all I wanted to do was to take shower, eat food, and crash. And the hotel was not ready for us. I took some infused water and sat around with my dad, my mother the one who always handled front desk hotel stuff. After around ten minutes, my mother came to us with news of a downstairs sauna. I was ready to take a shower like nobody else. It was average. At least it was warm, for some time but it was one of those really annoying public restroom handles where you push it and it turns on for like a second or two. This one lasted a bit longer, but still, it was unexpected. But I was clean. All was right with the world. I could brush my teeth and retainer and be happy. After we were done, we looked at the next thing on our list: eat food. A staff member at the concierge desk was apparently vegan, same as my mother! Therefore, we were able to find a recommended place at Patio Bellavista. Only problem was India-level traffic. Yeah. BAD. But we reached a small vegetarian place with walls almost completely green. For the first time, we drank Cherimoya (custard apple) juice and I wolfed down my burger quite quickly. Before long, we were ready to head for a funicular and teleferico tour to see the city from above.
Only a short distance from Bellavista, we walked over to the funicular line and stood outside for, like, half an hour in the hot sun, tired. Because I still needed sleep. I tried to catch some sleep with my head resting on my father’s shoulder but I couldn’t because we needed to keep moving forward, buy the tickets, and we soon reached the front of the line. That did not help. We were not in the front of the funicular and didn’t have much fun, but the view was fantastic. Reaching the top, we walked to the teleferico for a few minutes and got pushed in the same one as this annoying selfie-taking couple. I couldn’t talk to my parents because some other people were also there. I’m pretty sure they were also censored by us. I quite liked the tram ride and we had a good view of the thousand-foot tallest building in South America. My mother found it disappointing. There, at the stop, my family and I mentally decided to insist next time on our own car. However, there was an ice-cream and waffle place! I was game. We all sat around, eating our disappointing ice cream but having a great time anyway. Then this pigeon, like it owned the place, just walked in the shop and went behind the counter. It was chased out. We soon boarded our own teleferico car and happily chatted and talked, reached the stop, walked to the funicular, took it down, caught a taxi, and headed for the hotel.
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| View from the Funicular |
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The room was ready by the time we arrived and we reached and crashed. Before long, we were arguing about what to do for dinner. People were sensitive to those who were vegetarian or vegan but there simply was not enough options. The whole time, I had wanted to try a place called Varanasi until we looked it up and realized it wasn’t Indian. You know what I’m going to say next. IF THE (insert curse word here) PLACE IS NOT INDIAN, THEN DON’T CALL IT “VARANASI”! What a rip-off! But we did find an Indian place that did have a rice and lentil dish. That was all I wanted, so we walked to this restaurant, Rishtedar. Good food, but they were totally dressed up and the interior looked like something out of a Bollywood movie. They even gave my mother and I pottus (bindis, sticker kumkum, whatever you call it). I’m pretty sure they didn’t know we were Indian. In Tamil, there is a phrase for this: Suryan ike torch (Suryan is the sun god and “torch” is just in English.) Basically, the meaning is giving Suryan a torch is really redundant. That was pretty much what they did, but their intentions were honorable and the food was quite nice, just what I needed. We returned to the hotel for a night of real, actual sleep.
Day 2: Valparaiso
The day was outright boring. We woke up. A guide took us to the city of Valparaiso. We saw a floral clock. We saw the ocean. We saw some Easter Island stuff in a boring museum. We ate some really salty rice. We took the same car back. We were done.
The typical argument about food ensued once more. This time, there was a walkable distance to an entirely vegan restaurant, with apparently great dessert and bread rolls, Café Cajú. We walked in a similar pathway to Rishtedar, but a couple of streets differently led us to the place. They had literally just closed because of this weird meeting thing. Then they just gave us a couple pie slices, apple and raspberry, and a thing of red cookies.
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| Poster at Cafe Caju |
Today though, annoyingly, we were going to have to gather energy for tomorrow, even though we weren’t actually hiking. My mom was just annoying about these things, but I still think she’s great! So we didn’t have anything to eat yet and decided on room service. I liked the idea of a nice pesto gnocchi, so that’s what I ordered. Thirty minutes later, the creamiest pasta I have ever seen arrived. And I can’t stand cream. I had, like, three pieces and hoped the apple and raspberry tarts would be any better. It tasted like pine trees. Naturally, my mom loved it, she loves anything that tastes like the earth and health and pine trees. My dad tried something and said he felt like a woodpecker. Whatever it was, I knew it wouldn’t be that great if I judged it by the cookies. They tasted healthy. Nothing else needs to be said. My family and I turned in for another night.
Day 3: Heading for Ecocamp
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| Mercain pepper |
We woke up early and I wasn’t happy. Boarding a plane from the Santiago airport, we flew into Punta Arenas, a small airport I didn’t care much for. Heading into the van, we began our long drive, two hours to Puerta Natales and another two till Ecocamp. The route did have much bird life, lapwings, upland geese, even some rheas my mother took pictures of. I wasn’t happy since my mother stole all three honor badges: spotting the bird, identifying the bird, and taking the best picture. I carried the attitude all the way through till Puerta Natales until we stopped for lunch. With the lentils, there was also a smoked pepper we would all fall in love with on the days to come. I also met two people on our tour, soon to become my favorite, S and his father, M.
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| Ecodomes |
After seeing the ecocamp office, we left again. Before long, we soon could see the small domes ahead of u— what? Yes, domes! They were so cute and sweet, nice little green pods that looked like alien huts. We played along with this and pretended we were aliens. Entering the camp, the first thing I noticed was the wind. It hit us all fairly hard and it was cold out. My mother checked us in and we walked to Alien Hut 9, which I called ‘Earthern Port, X1’. It was warm. The stove heater was roaring and the upstairs, yes we ordered a dome with a loft, was even warmer. I decided to sleep up there. Taking turns on the hot shower, we were clean and headed to the bar for our first debrief. The bar had some of the best orange juice and little snacks I ever experienced. Maybe I was tired, hungry, and thirsty but I don’t know what it was; I just ate around half the snacks. After learning about the hike and what to bring for tomorrow, we headed into the dining hall.
We all sat at our designated table and formally met the rest of our tour group and our guides (Mercedes and Enrique). There was S and M, then three friends, O, C, and T, out of which O was the most experienced, and a couple, R and L, out of which L had already done the W Trek and R’s first hike ever was this. After some hot food and bread, there was dessert. I was all, yay! Trifle!, and then it came and I was all wow! It has nice decorations!, but then, I tasted it and I was all TRIFLES ARE SUPPOSED TO BE CUSTARD, NOT YOGURT!!!!!!! That put me off. But anyway, we finished our dinner and walked back to the suite dome, where I went straight upstairs and slept. Or, tried to sleep. My mother and father seemed to be arguing about something. When I paid closer attention, I realized dad lost the camera bag. Again. We had the camera but the bag contained my father’s wallet and our house keys. We didn’t find it, we were dead. So yeah. Eventually I fell asleep when they did.
Day 4: W-Trek Day 1 (French Valley)
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| Boat across Lake Pehoe |
Small thought, I cannot think of the word “bathroom” and feel the same way ever again.
Weather: windy and rainy
Weather Forecast: rain only at 4 PM and no need for rain pants. Boy, they got that wrong. After that, I did not trust Mercedes for information at all.
So anyway, we were suppose to wake up fairly early to head for breakfast and pack our lunch. We were told there was no need for rain pants as it would only rain at 4 PM. My mother, though, packed mine just in case I needed them after 4. With our bagged sandwiches, our tour boarded the van to head to lake Pehoe (peh-hway) where a boat would take us to the trailhead. For the first time, I experienced true wind in Patagonia. I didn’t like it. I hoped the boat would be warm and possibly be comfortable. It was cold. The floor was wet. Around four tour groups were packed in. I nearly fell asleep. When we arrived, though, the Refugio was warm. Yes. That night we were to stay in a dorm-type environment. Just wait.
Before long, we started the trail, the rain pouring. It would only rain at 4, they said. No need for rain pants, they said. By the time I reached the end, my thermals were soaking wet. On the way, I was in a bad mood. I worried I wasn’t enjoying nature enough, like I didn’t care about those three lakes we passed. But it was really interesting when the wind blew the water across and it looked like large mist particles forming one of those science museum tornadoes. Anyway, I was pretty grumpy. Then, I decided to ask some alien prompt questions, seeing as the domes were alien huts.
Examples (try them and see how you like them):
If you were to live in a house in your alien world, what would it look like?
What would these aliens look like?
Design a fruit in your alien world. What would it look like? Taste like? How would it grow? What are some of its properties?
And I cheered up. I was starting to love the hike. I was proud. I walked in some nonsense (when reading this, say “some nonsense” in an Indian accent. That’s how I’m thinking of those words as I’m writing.) weather with, like, only four breaks or so. By the way, this was the middle of the “W”, down French Valley to the Italian camp and a glacier lookout.
We finally reached the campsite after crossing a “two people at a time” bridge. By this time, my mother decided to take out my rain pants. S, M, my mother, and I were crowded into this small sheltered area, not heated, just no rain pouring down over my food. We slowly chewed down our flat, cold, tasteless sandwiches, grateful all the same. And then, with two picnic tables crowded with people from around two tour groups, my mother tried to put on my rain pants over my pants, shoes on and everything. It was ridiculous. but. It worked.
As we began the next part, to the lookout, my legs began to dry up, even warm up. But my, my father’s, and mother’s gloves were soaked. My hands were freezing and aching like crazy. I was pushed to the limit, what with windy, raining, sopping wet gloves, and the longest mile of my life. Once again, we played another prompt question game I had played with my father so yonder ago I forgot about it. It’s called “nalla (meaning “good” in Tamil) brain and loose brain”. Basically, one of us gives a scenario and the others playing have to say what nalla brain (the sensible person) would do and what loose brain (the idiot) would do. For example: there is a very steep path down a hill on a hike. They have to come down this long hike within an hour. Nalla brain would use a hiking pole and walk and walk only down, watching the next step, though briskly. Loose brain would roll down the hill, using the hiking poles to vault over rocks.
Try one: there is a short, mostly safe path down a snowy hill, though a blizzard so extreme that you can’t see five feet ahead of you accompanied by the worst winds form a huge storm. There is a sheltered cave at the top. What would either do?
With this, we got to the top. We could barely see the glacier, rather, we ourselves were being blown off the cliff. Literally, I was being pushed by the wind, so my parents grabbed me and all three of us were being blown off the cliff. Around a yard from the edge, we ducked and stayed where we were. That was also how we took the pictures.
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| Back at the Refugio - Cold, Wet, done with Day 1 |
We returned, same thing back, bridge, three lakes, last mile being drawn out for too long. The Refugio actually seemed not horrible now. The shower was pretty bad, out in the open, but at least it was sort of warm. And we were right outside the bathroom door. I will never know the context of this but some guy walked right outside the door and all we could hear was “Bathroom!! BATHROOM!!!” Like, what?
The events:
We arrived and set up sleeping bags, the three friends with my father, mother, and I. That meant two snorers. We relaxed and heard the “bathroom” thing.
We noticed O, C, and T take their shoes somewhere. We had no clue where.
We then figured out there was one heater that everyone was using to dry their things.
We came late and things didn’t actually dry.
We stood in line for half an hour for a not great dinner.
We turned in for the night.
I started out too warm so my father helped me get out of the bag and remove my thermals
I moved to a different bed.
Then, I couldn’t sleep because both Dad and O were snoring
Then my father decided to go to the heated room without warning
My mother was really starting to worry, what if Dad was locked out? Locked in the bathroom?
Then she thought of this random guy I knew from a class I took years ago, V and she knew she was dreaming.
Two hours later, my dad came back as the heater was turned off. My mother had found my father by following his snoring.
Meanwhile, O started to snore.
During all this, I was sleeping.
Then my father’s snoring returned and I woke up my mother at, like 5:30 to tell her I couldn’t sleep
I lay down in her bunk for a few minutes and we talked about V
I returned and slept for the last twenty minutes
Day 5: W-Trek Day 2, best day (Grey Glacier)
This was the absolute best day. We, if the weather was good, would walk only one way, then take a boat across the Gray Lake, then take the van back to the ecocamp. But the boat would only run if the weather was good. Considering yesterday, I was worried. But when we started the hike after waiting in line for an hour for breakfast, I was quite optimistic. The weather was pretty nice, with only a drizzle. But the gloves were still wet.
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| Grey Lake Viewpoint where we checked if boat was running |
Considering yesterday, we had developed a key.
Patagonia one minute = 4 60-second minutes
Patagonia flat = up and down and up and down and up and…
Patagonia “almost there” = WARNING: DO NOT put your faith in these. If you do, you are making a huge mental mistake. Wait till you see your destination.
Keeping this in mind, we calculated times till breaks and whatnot. We then reached the lookout where we would check if the boat was running. If so, we continued to the Gray refugio (we weren’t staying there). If not, we turned back. AND IT WAS!! The downhill to the refugio were a killer. I was fine, but my mother has a hard time with downhills as her knees hurt like, well, you can compare it. At one point, we were so close to the water we could almost touch it.
A very excitable part of the hike for me was when one of our guides spotted a bird and I immediately noticed its chicken-like structure and gait and where it was (near vegetation near water) and called it a rail. I don’t remember what type of bird it actually was but it was some sort of rail. I WAS RIGHT!! That was nice.
Near the refugio was the real test: the downhill to the beaches. Before long, we could see the refugio, which meant we were actually almost there, meaning around ten or so minutes away (not the Patagonia almost: an hour). And it had what I was looking for: a nice cup of hot chocolate. There were coffee, chocolate, and milk powders with hot water and I made myself one of the best mochas. After a lot of snacks, we began the ten minutes to the boat.
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| View of Glaciers from the Boat across Lake Grey |
The wait was agony, however short it was. I still remember when it first arrived, how I was the first of my family. The seats were padded, there were tables, a snack bar, lounge music, and the best part… heat. There was also no guide either, so basically (and this was my favorite part of the trip), we just rode along, didn’t step outside to see the glaciers, talked, and stayed warm and comfortable. It was heaven and peace on earth.
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| Pebble Beach |
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| The Van that took us back to Ecocamp |
Landing on the beach, Mercedes had tricked us and just now sprung on us that we needed to walk for another thirty minutes. I was laughingly fuming (is that a thing?). But it was nice. The black beach was beautiful and so was the forest a pathway led up to. Before long, we reached the van. Before long, we reached the ecocamp. Before long, I was back in the bar, voraciously eating those tiny bar snacks and sipping my orange juice.
Day 6: W-Trek Last Day (Mirador del Torres)
This was the best weather day but worst hike (beautiful, but the last mile was scary). We set out quite early, straight from the ecocamp to reach the trailhead after thirty or so minutes. On the way, I did spot lapwings and ibises, both beautiful and some of the only birds I saw on the trip. After crossing a river, the uphills started. There were about five hills at some ridiculous slope and we took maybe one break. I found it discouraging but after was our Patagonian “flat” (see key). For some reason, this part of the hike felt extremely short, though it was longer than I imagined. We would rest (meaning for around 15 minutes) at another refugio where there were many rufous crowned sparrows. Can I just point out how strange it is that when I go to Chile, I want to observe and take pictures of rufous crowned sparrows and barely glance at, say, a willet, but if someone from Chile who barely thinks twice about rufous crowned sparrows saw a willet in California, their phone would probably be bursting with willet photos.
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| First Break at the Refugio. Still have another 4km to go |
After a luna bar, we started off again, reaching forest. Oh, and for the first time, my gloves were dry! We had, the previous night, taken our own dome heater all to ourselves and completely dried them. Throughout, we saw flashes of mountain views but I didn’t really care. I prefer to be immersed in a forest like I was just then.
The log before the last mile (which I’m sure you know by now is never good or easy. I mean, I don’t get that. Do people who make trails decide, you know what, let’s test their resilience. Why don’t we push them the last mile and make the rest disproportionately easy! Good idea!), I refer to as the Dreaming Log. We sat there, drank water, ate snacks, and dreamed about a nice Indian restaurant at the top, accompanied by hot chocolate and a hot tub.
And the last mile started. It was a lot of mountain view and scrambling over rocks. I was placed in the back so we could go at a slower pace. For some reason, because of this, I could barely keep up, which was really annoying. But later, we arrived where we could see our destination. I thought: great! We’re almost there! Then I saw the line of dots of people moving so far ahead and I mentally groaned. A couple of minutes away we saw snow on our path. Snow, on our thin, winding, cliff facing, heavy-backpack-facing-the-cliff, scary path. To make matters worse, that snow soon became ice+scrambling over rocks. I was scared, as were my parents. Once we reached, I didn’t care. I just dreaded going back and didn’t think much about the view. Oh, and I slipped and scraped my leg slightly against a rock due to heavily trodden ice.
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| The Towers of Paine |
But going down wasn’t that bad! It felt much shorter and less scary. Probably because the backpacks weren’t facing the cliff. Another thing, I’m much more comfortable in the forest and I had that to look forward to. The moment I touched the first tree coming back, I felt better. Going down went quickly, stopping at the same refugio. Before, though, we did stop at a nice mountain view area where Enrique (as you may recall, one of our guides) suddenly fell backward from where he was sitting into the bushes. That was really funny and the rest time really helped for a much faster travel back. By the time we returned to the refugio, the trail was closed to those going toward the destination.
Oh dear! I never described the destination! What this area was famous for was these three peaks which gives the “tower” name to the park: Torres del Paine. Due to glaciers carving out the peaks, there was also a lake at the bottom. Ok, we’re done here.
After that was that same short part. Except now, this was the last mile. So yeah. You guessed it, it felt way too long. Nonetheless, I was the third to reach the ecocamp, O being first, followed by S. M then arrived. Mercedes actually arrived slightly behind me (I believe). After bar snacks and pineapple juice, followed by a reunion with my parents, who were the last to arrive, I believe the W-Trek was one of the best things I had ever done.
Day 7: Who Cares (Punta Arenas)
We drove the same drive in the van after saying goodbye to the domes to Punta Arenas. There, we first walked around and looked for shirts for the three of us along with seeing what we thought was the Straits of Magellan. Booooorrrring. Anyway, then we went to a small coffee shop where they had a simple cheese and avocado toast. LOVED IT!!!!!!!!
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| Straits of Magellan - Punta Arenas |
Then we went to the airport and flew to Santiago. We arrived at our hotel, La Quinta, and ordered a nice soy sauce, vegetable, and rice room service thing at 1 in the morning. Then we slept.
Day 8: Answer: Nobody (except maybe my mom)
We spent the day in Santiago. We first ate breakfast in La Quinta and took a cab to Mercado Central. The place smelled like fish. We don’t eat fish. Water was everywhere, dripping on me. I shuddered.
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| Mercardo Central |
Then, we tried to find a place called Govinda’s, expecting Indian food. First of all, we couldn’t find it, going on the wrong road about five times until my dad asked around. Then we found out they didn’t have Indian food. Let me just say it was bad, to the point where I can’t describe it. There was some algae soup, horrid curry, and some strange leafy marinara thing that wasn’t way to horrible. Then they didn’t take credit card. Then all of us felt like throwing up. I didn’t know about the lecturing thing in my father’s “testimony” but I didn’t think much of it. It was, in terms of name versus food, another Varanasi.
Dad: To be lectured on the courtesy to learn the local language by your waiter is not the best way to start one’s meal, but that’s what confronted us. And then the meal - to sit in a place surrounded by familiar photographs of Lord Krishna and his friends but get served in a confusing manner about a 3 course meal none of which is Indian nor Chilean is not the second best way to trigger one’s appetite. But that's what came down upon us. And the food, who puts sea-weed in Rasam? But that's what was poured into us. All in all, a very very forgettable lunch.
Me again: Then we went to the airport, boarded a plane, and finished.
Summary:
Best memory/highlight: the second day, especially the boat
Favorite quote: “Bathroom!! BATHROOM!!”
Coolest thing seen: the rain and wind. Oh, and snow.
Most ironic thing: on the boat ride, an Indian family who probably didn’t go on the hike (there were many small children and their boots were clean) were stuffing their faces with Haldiram’s snacks while we didn’t eat anything there (but I suppose I had hot chocolate). I love Haldiram’s.
Actual neatest thing seen: ECODOMES
Funniest thing: Bathroom thing deserves another mention. Now, whenever someone says “bathroom”, I turn to my parents and say it the way I heard it!
BYEEEEEEE!
