the end of the world, patagonia

it's funny because while i trekked along through patagonia, i remember being overwhelmed by feeling something and wanting to say or scream or sing something, but i never really could do much of it. i smiled a lot. actually, i did at one point make sure to sing something from frost valley, some tacoma cheer and some silly jingles (ie, agalina magalina for those of you who get me), because i just had to tie my frost valley magic into the patagonia magic. and then i managed to get some other songs out, but not many, because hiking along with a 40 pound pack or whatnot wasn't the most diaphram-opening state. so, here i am supposed to reflect. and even during the hike when i journaled i couldn't find much to say. i was stuck writing more about the bare details, how the group dynamic was, how my clothing was keeping up, how the weather was, the heavy but memorable sensation of such a heavy pack, the couple of tripups we faced. "This place is, for lack of better words, AMAZING no más," i wrote. I also wrote that i was happy to be traveling with my oh so fabulous camera. it felt like i was sharing the experience with it ;-).

these were some vistas BEFORE the hike even sTARTED. my friend taylor is a bitty speck in the middle of this photo above, and there's a rainbow floating there too!

on the ferry ride, the colors are so awesome. we were amazed by the blue of that water.

so, on all those surface details, there is little to say but GOOD. we were blessed with weather--essentially no rain. sunny hikes. not too much wind. the group got along really well. i was very well clothed--always comfortable hiking, and more or less WARM at night. i was, ill add, wearing maybe 6 layers plus hat plus socks plus warm sleeping bag plus 5 people in a four person tent.

yeAH, glaciers! a huge one! and little floating bits.

the hike itself was just the perfect bit of hard and not so hard and totally enjoyable. each hike/each day took us through parts that were entirely different from what we had seen before. we started off with this fantastic glaciers, hiked through more savanna looking areas, sound of music like backdrops, large lakes with islands that reminded me of jurassic park or something, always huge mountains, one next to another and all looking so very different. we climbed upwards to be in rocky areas, shorter trees and vistas of all the COLORS hitting patagonia. fall/winter is moving in. so beautiful. really, a lot of the hike was flatter ground. and so all you could do was kind of look around mouth sorta open eyes pretty wide, and then smiling or something, because the place really is unbelievable. all that unimaginable and magnificent stuff that comes with idea of "patagonia" was REAL. and the pictures just don't do it.

it was magical doing it all with jeanie. to have someone around to say i love you to, because that was all you felt like doing. sappy? always. but what else is there to do at the end of the world!? when everything is so amazing! and then i got to know the other people (there were 7 of us ! ), and ended up really getting to know a couple of awesome girls, the kind you don't always meet. and we did at least one crazy thing like jump into an ice cold lake in basically very cold weather. and went to sleep no later than about 10pm, which was late. that is cate's dream life :-).

brrr

and i basically got through it all harmlessly. the boots i have are a bit small, so my toesies were really aching a lot of the time. but, by the end of a night out of the boots, i started each day off strong. and the last day, in an attempt to speed up the pain i was going to take with my toes, i mostly ran/scurried down the mountain, which triggered my old aching knee problem i remember oh so well from my outward bound trek in costa rica a few years ago. bUT, that was AFTER the hike so whateveerr. even though i'm walking around kind of limping its like i'm still carrying some part of patagonia with me. in a strange painful way.

there are jeanie and taylor hiking along to the left! so bitty.

and this here is the ePIC one--LAS TORRES. look at those colors. so incredible.

we finished up at the main base camp, a big snazzy hotel where we had some coffee and lulled over how great cushiony sofas feel around the bod. we were in the national park Torres del Paine, by the way! and we did what's called, "the W." from east to west. we finished waking up to take a sunrise hike up to the torres to catch its sunrise.

and we made it back to Puerto Natales, the small city nearest to the park. went out for some delicious beers at an american founded place, actually. a microbrewery, some of the most delicious beer i've had down here--the dark brew, always my preference. the next day we walked around for some souveniers, and the whole group save cate left at abotu 1 pm! meaning i had a whole day, utnil my bus at 8pm, to wander about myself. i had a bunch of reading to do, so i went to some cafe and got that done just a bit before dinner time. i really was just dying to go back to the american restaurant, for a hearty cheeseburger, fries and one of those delicious brews. funny, how i was so amazed at my being a little dot at the end of the world, and eager to get myself to the american bar. it was comforting and delicious :-D.

and after a 3am flight and directly to my 10am class i hobbled back home and now i'm taking a break from all the reading ive got to catch up on! and so i'm warm and cozy and even sipping on some cheap red wine! there is no denying being back so comfortable like this is not just fantastic. but, also comign back had a melancholic-tough feeling. it was so awing all of it, it made things seem so right, knowing i should be just where i was! and then, back with school and other things looming/waiting ahead it was hard not to feel a bit bleh. and yet, it passed! today was beautiful and i'm reading interesting things and..this wine is good.

enjoy the photos. GET YOUR ASS TO PATAGONIA