Day Seventy--Thursday--March 3--El Calafate, Argentina to Torre del Paine, Chile
If I thought waking up yesterday at 7:00 was early today I had to wake up at 6:00 a.m. because I was being picked up at 7:00 a.m.
Marta was very sweet, she told me she would have a small breakfast waiting for me at 6:45 a.m., even though their breakfast doesn’t really start until 7:00 a.m. It’s very true on Trip Advisor when people comment that the owners or staff can make or break a hotel, b&b or any accommodation. The room itself isn’t great but the house is very comfortable and the people I met staying here were also very nice. If you need complete “room” comfort and the need to be “in town”, I would say this isn’t the place for you.
I had been a bit nervous about being picked up because I had no idea who was picking me up but the person I’d been communicating with from the hotel told me it was confirmed that someone would pick me up. I would believe it when I saw it.
I was bleary eyed at 6:15 when I got up took my bags down the stairs and had a cup of coffee. Marta was awake and I talked with her a bit and at 7:10 the car arrived for me.
There were four other people in the black SUV, I said hola and got in the front seat.
The sunrise was amazing. I tried to get some photos as we drove out of town but unfortunately there were so many wires in the way. But it was an incredible sight.
We drove in silence for a long time. The driver didn’t say a word to me or anyone. I thought how can we sit in this car together for 5 hours and not say a word. Oh well.
The landscape was beautiful. There was nothing for as far as you could see except for the land and the sky.
About 2 hours into the ride the driver stopped at a gas station. I was glad to be able to use the toilet. At this stop I discovered that there were 3 men and one woman sitting in the back. Still no one was really talking. I think everyone was tired.
When we were back in the car the driver said something about getting to the border and handed each of us forms that needed to be filled in. He also handed me a paper explaining all the food items that are not allowed to be brought into Chile. He said they are very strict and we must declare any food items that we have. I show him that I have an apple and he says I need to throw it away. I don’t think I have any other food.
It was another 20 minutes before we got to the Argentine border.
Crossing the border was an interesting experience especially coming with a driver as opposed to being on a tour bus.
While waiting in line one of the passengers from the SUV started to talk to me. He asked where I was from and I he told me that they were all from Brazil.
We were waiting in quite a long line because there was a bus load of people who had gotten to the border before us. This was a small office with only two people so I knew it would take a while. Anyway, we finally get our passports stamped and return to the car. The driver, still not very communicative, continued driving for about 10 minutes and I saw the sign that we were now in Chile.
We get to the Chile immigration/border office and need to take all the luggage out of the car to put through the x-ray machines. This is not for security but for food items. They stopped me and asked me to open one of my bags. I’d forgotten I had a bag of peanuts. I got a little nervous and said I forgot about them and fortunately they were not one of the “bad” items so they allowed me to keep them. Phew.
The driver had told us that if you don’t declare having something there is a large fine to pay.
After all the luggage was scanned, we put everything back into the SUV and drive maybe one block when the driver says we need to change vehicles.
I thought this was the strangest thing ever. We took everything out of the SUV and into a hotel van.
Really.
I’m not sure if the driver explained it to Nelson (the man from Brazil), but Nelson said he’d heard the driver didn’t have the necessary papers to drive us into Chile and that’s why the hotel van was picking us up here.
It took another almost 2 hours along dirt roads before we got to the hotel. The weather was not very good, although it wasn’t raining, it was very cold and cloudy.
The driver of the van stopped at a view point in front of Lake Sarimento. There was a plaque with information about the formation of the lake and the history of the land from millions of years ago. The mountains were covered with clouds and I thought it was a waste to take photos. However, I decided I would take a few. In the end I was glad I took the photo as a comparison to the beautiful days I did have.
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| clouded over Torre |
We arrived at the hotel and I was taken to my room #60. It was at the far end of the first floor through two buildings. I was starving so immediately found the restaurant. It was rather empty. They offered a menu with several entree choices for lunch. I ordered the fish. It was pretty good.
They offer a menu at lunch because there aren't many people who eat lunch. Most people are on excursions (hikes) and take a bag lunch.
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| Hotel Las Torres |
This was the most expensive part of my journey. It was all inclusive: food, excursions and transportation to and from El Calafate. I can see why these places are so expensive. It is far from anything.
I’d done a lot of research on what my choices were and decided on this. There is a famous "W" hike that takes 4 or 5 days or you can do the “O” which takes 9 days. People who do these trails are backpackers and either stay outside in a tent or find a room at a refugio (a cabin). There are several refugio’s along the trails. I knew I wasn’t going to backpack and I didn’t want to hike great distances by myself. I wasn’t familiar with the park and didn’t think it was a wise choice to do it by myself. There were a few other much more expensive choices (Explora and Cascada) and a few lesser expensive but outside the park so this is what I ended up with.
This is the only hotel on private land and it was the first hotel in the park.
It is very basic for the price they charge. The food is o.k. not great.
After lunch I thought I would go for a short walk close to the hotel.
I asked the girl at the front desk if there was a short hour hike I could go on. She gave me a map and told me it was maybe 1 or 1.5 hours a little circle. O.k.
It was about 5:00 p.m. and I knew it stayed light late so I thought I would be o.k. There were many clouds looming in the sky but it didn’t look like it was going to rain. I got my camera and took my backpack with me.
She told me the trail started at the kiosk so that’s where I headed. When I got to the kiosk I heard a group of kids speaking Hebrew. I told them it was just crazy that I was hearing so much Hebrew because my daughter was in Israel. There was a group of about 8 Israeli's who had just finished the W trail.
I showed them the map I was given and asked if they knew where the lake was. One girl said it was not close and straight up hill. They all looked very tired. They were waiting for the bus to Puerto Natales. I asked what was more difficult hiking the W or training for the army. These two girls said hiking the W. Really. What was I in for?
Well I headed off on the path hoping for the best.
I walked a short distance and crossed a very rickety bridge over the Paine river. I continued on this path and asked several people if they knew where the lake was.
"Yes you can continue this way but it is a bit far", one man I stopped told me.
Maybe I was on the wrong path, but I didn’t see any other one so I continued. The Israeli girl was right about the path being straight up. I continued for another half hour and then ran into a Korean family. When I showed them the map the woman said it took her 8 year old son 6 hours to get to that lake. O.k. I was on the wrong path. It was now 5:45 so I knew I was in the wrong place and decided to turn around. The Korean family was walking down and I stayed with them until we got back to the bridge that crossed the river. When I got back to the hotel it was after 6:00p.m. When I went inside to the hotel the girl at the desk asked if I’d enjoyed the walk. I told her I must have gone the wrong way because I was walking up hill and never saw a lake after walking for 45 minutes.
“Oh, she said, I did that walk the other day and it only took my a little more than an hour.”
“Well, I must have gone the wrong way”
Oh well I’ll try something tomorrow.
At 7:00 p.m. every night the guides talk about what excursions are available for the next day. I went to the lecture to hear what my options were. I didn’t want to do the big hike on the first day and not be able to do anything else so I thought I would start out with something not too difficult or long. I signed up for horseback riding in the morning and a hike in the afternoon. After talking with the guide I discovered that I was the only one signed up for these activities. I told him it wouldn’t be much fun to go by myself so I asked how many people were going on the lake walk which was a moderate 12K. He told me there were 4 others signed up so I said I would switch to that excursion. He asked me what I wanted for my bag lunch and I ordered the smoked salmon.
There were two choices for dinner at the hotel; either eating in the bar or a buffet in the dining room. I wasn’t in the mood for a buffet so I sat at the bar. I could also have internet and write in the bar. They had a limited menu and I ordered a caesar salad. It was dull.
I staying in the bar for a while writing but the internet was so slow that I was unable to upload photos to the blog. Disappointing but what could I do. Goodnight.
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