Coming to America... Today!

Today Melissa and I begin the long journey home. I will spend about 30 hours on planes and in airports as I leave Punta Arenas and bid my final farewell to Chile in Santiago. Then, I'll get the privilege of experiencing Peruvian immigration and customs as I take a pit stop in Lima. I'll enter the good old US of A via Miami, where I'll get the pleasure of visiting with immigration and customs again. From Miami it'll be smooth flying to Philly, where I will proceed to spit on any Flyers gear I see, and then off to Rochester after a relatively quick layover. Easy-peasy, right?

I would appreciate any prayers for a safe, easy, and comfortable flight. 

If I can manage, I'll write some more posts along the way because there's still so much more to say about our South American Adventure! 

Pictures from Day 4 on the W

 

 

 

I'm not fooling anyone. I want to go home.

Day 4 on the W: From Camp Frances to Camp Torres

 Today was a disaster for me, a straight up disaster. I slept awful again, despite setting up camp in a fairly serene setting. Camp Frances was a series of wooden platforms nestled into the woods across the side of the mountain. It was really quite quaint. The trees were tall and straight and seemed to bear most of the brunt from the wind. I initially said that the wind sounded like a train running through, but I later amended my statement because it's more accurate to liken the sound of the wind to water rushing out of a dam. I wish I could have captured the sound. I cell phone recording didn't come close to doing it justice. If I closed my eyes I could picture the wind as swirling and gathering in the distance before it rushed out up above our tent. If I wasn't so miserable it would have been magical.

Because of the wind I was freezing most of the night. I really struggled with my sleeping bag. Before the trip I bought a Big Agnes 20 degree plus sleeping bag. I should have been golden. I found myself oscillating between being chilly and being sweaty, which I don't think helped me get warm in the long run. I tried sleeping in just a shirt and gave it the good old college try for about 30 to 45 minutes, but was FREEZING and had to eventually put more clothing on. Ultimately, when I could stay directly on my sleeping pad sleeping on my back I did alright, but if I flipped to my side and slept in a spoon position a bit of my body would hang off the side of the pad. Because our tent was positioned on a wooden platform every time the wind would gust we'd get air pushing through the floor of our tent and then through the part of my sleeping bag that was hanging off the sleeping pad. All in all I think the temperature rating of my sleeping bag was fine, but it wasn't wind proof. The noise of the wind and the cold made for an awful night for me with practically no sleep at all. 

Fatigue would have been one thing, but after getting just a little sleep in the early morning I woke up sick. I had a sore through and could feel congestion settling into my nose and my chest. I was not happy to be feeing this way, but at the same time thankful that I didn't start feeling poorly until day four.  Despite all my hopes of avoiding her, Aunt Flo came to visit right before we started the trail. If you don't know what I'm talking about, just consider yourself lucky and keep on reading. What sucks is that I had very low energy, felt like someone was sitting on my chest all day, and had been feeling particularly positive. Oh, I completely forgot to mention that while we have been blessed with pretty amazing weather, even with the wind, today it started to rain. We oscillated between a fine mist and downright right all day and never managed to catch a truly sunny moment. This did very little to help me feel better.

I set my intention at the start of the day to be focused on the positive aspects of my day and it was quite the challenge. I like to think that it's mind over matter and that I can make any day a positive day, but it just did not happen for me at all today. 

Today was our longest hike - about 5.5 hours total. It doesn't sound like all that much, but when you consider it included elevation changed on the side of a mountain in the wind and the rain while carrying an extra 40 pounds or so... yeah, it's a bit of a longer hike. I was miserable through 95% of it. The trail map showed the changes in elevation and showed a big inclined within our first hour of hiking, but then was supposed to be a gradual decrease in elevation with some oscillating elevation changes. I maintain the map lied. It felt like a near constant uphill climb to me. Every bit of my body screamed at me for those 5.5 hours. My head pounded and my chest hurt. My positivity mantra changed to a chant of survival. My internal dialogue was a constant stream of reminders that it was impossible to give up, that the only way off the mountain was to walk there myself. The wind was the strongest we had experienced yet - 45 mph! There were gusts that literally pushed me from my stance. I joked that I managed not to fall off the mountain, but if it was going to happen it would have happened today. I wish I could have gotten a picture to show the line of hikers digging it and bracing ourselves against the wind on the side of the mountain. It's something that as I think about now is a bit more scary to me than it was in the moment. 

We finally arrived at Camp Torres and I felt absolutely miserable. I was barely dragging my feet and trying to dig as deep as possible for motivation to continue to our specific campsite and help set up our tent. As soon as we did I forced myself to change out of my sweaty clothes and to down some water. I then crashed and slept for a little more than an hour. When I woke I felt some of my energy restored, but unfortunately I felt like the cold set into my head and chest even more. 

While I slept Melissa hung out in the Refugio and mulled over our plans for tomorrow with a hot chocolate.  I was relieved when she suggested that we catch the last bus "home" to Puerto Natales instead of hiking our fifth day as originally planned. The weather report called for more rain and obstructed views, which meant it was pretty pointless to hang around and for me to push through another cold night and another day of hard hiking in the rain. So, we packed up as fast as we could and caught the last bus. Our time on the W has come to an end. 

Pictures from Day 3 on the W

This may have actually been the only photo I took on my phone on day 3. I'm honestly not 100% sure this was from Day 3. It's all starting to blend together already. 

Day 3 on the W: From Paine Grande to Camp Frances

Last night was awful. Absolutely awful. The wind screamed all night and even though great efforts were made to keep our tent tied down it, several ties came apart as the wind whipped at everything. My sleep with fitful at best even with earplugs. The fabric of our tent and rain fly smacked and rattled to no end. The temperature also dropped as the sun set and while I didn't have a thermometer I would bet that it made it down into the mid thirties. Pair that with the wind and on again off again rain it did not create the best sleeping conditions. We were advised to place our tent as close to the foot of the mountain as possible to avoid the worst of the wind, but the best spots were already taken, so instead we chose the quite side of a building. It helped, but it also meant that our parcel of land was slightly sloping. Aside from being restless and cold, I spent most of the night trying not to slide into Melissa. (Side note: My sleeping pad is awesome so far, except for the fact that it's slippery. Putting a slippery sleeping bag on top means that I slide off when trying to get settled. Once I'm set I'm ok and I love the pad, but jeez is it a game when I initially get into my sleeping bag! I'm not even going to comment about my clumsiness and my ridiculousness when trying to get fully into my mummy bag!)

Once we got up and moving things were better despite to being cooler and overcast today. We made a relatively short hike (about 2.5 hours) to Camp Italiano where we took a bathroom break. We were initially going to pause and eat lunch there, drop our packs, and hike further to a lookout point. If you imagine the W again, today we hiked from the bottom of the first line up to the middle of the second line. We decided to continue on for about 30 minutes to our campsite for the night, Camp Frances. It was like skipping over to the third line of the W, but pretty much only moving laterally. Camp Frances is a bit different than what we've already experienced because it's basically a swath of semi-cleared land that travels up the side of the mountain. Platforms were build for tents, so we're a whole group of tents that are nestled into groups along the mountain. It's pretty quaint.  

Because the weather seemed a bit unpredictable today we opted to continue to Camp Frances so that we could pick a good spot, set up our tent, and get our bags protected in case it rained. We had the option of grabbing a few necessities and hiking back to Camp Italiano and then the view point that is about an hour north of Italiano. After we made some satisfying ramen for lunch Melissa and I both recognized that we were hitting a wall as a result of a stressful night and from the stress of traveling so much in general. We agreed that we could take a nap for about 45-60 minutes and still wake up in time to get the lookout hike in. Yeah... we slept for about two hours. Our plans were forfeit. 

It worked out great through because we hung out, listened to some audiobooks for a bit, made dinner, chatted some more, and here we are back in our sleeping bags for the night. It's still windy and chilly, but we're more protected from the wind so we're hoping for a much more restful and cozy night in our tent. 

To be honest today was just a pretty ok day. The hike was the easiest for me, but there were few good views because most of everything was obscured by the clouds and mist. Although, I would like to publicly offer some praise and thanks to God. We have been so incredibly blessed with the weather on this trip. Except for last night we really have had amazing weather. The weather report initially said it was going to be cool to cold and raining our entire time in South America. We have had sunshine and blue skies almost every day and even though today was overcast and misty, most of the concentrated clouds and rain were in the distance. It was almost if the sun walked with us across the mountain. It never fully cleared, but it could have poured on us all day and it has yet to happen. Fingers crossed that this blessing continues!

In summary, today We did some hiking, moved our housing, and here we are going to bed again. It was a simple day and I'm ok with that. 

Pictures From Day 2 on the W

 

 

 

 

Day 2 on the W: From Grey Lake to Paine Grande

We survived the night! This was not really a question for Melissa, but I'll admit I was a little iffy. I mean, I HAD to survive - there's nowhere else to go. What I mean more so is that I made it through the night unscathed. Melissa and I were exhausted after our long day yesterday so it was a stretch for us to stay up until 9:30. We wouldn't have even made it that far had we not absolutely had to. 

The directions for how to reserve the camp sites are insanely confusing - particularly when you're trying to piece together information from various sources across the internet. Truthfully, I can't comment on that part too much because Melissa really did the research and the planning for this trip. However, I did read some and I found all of the information to be confusing - some conflicted others, it was hard to find the most current information, and here's the real kicker: the park is controlled by three different entities. It's split between a private family, the government, and a corporation. They all have various interests and objectives, and from what we've heard they don't necessarily get along. Of course, this means that as one treks across the park, reserving camp sites means working with three different entities. Throw in different types of accommodations one can reserve and different cost and this whole deal gets complicated.

Melissa was able to reserve two of the four campsites we needed, but read a ton of information that said we could basically walk up on the day of our treks for the other two because those were free campsites and you couldn't reserve them online, or were strongly encouraging doing it in person. Where this all starts to go sideways is when the Park cracks down on the number of people at each campsite because of overuse issues. One helpful individual at Erratic Rock,  a hostel and camping supply rental store, told us that two sites have already been closed down because they were so overcrowded that the area was deteriorating and the bathrooms literally overflowed and made people sick. I'm totally on board with the Park limiting access in order to preserve this phenomenal land. BUT, what sucks about it is that their restrictions are not widely publicized, nor are they clear as to how and when the new standards are being put into place. Melissa and I felt confident about our plans until we found out just a few days before we were supposed to start the W that we might have been turned down at the park entrance. A few days before we were supposed to depart we rushed around to the offices of the different companies that manage the camp sites (again, because having one company manage it all is completely out of the question) we were able to secure another night. This meant that when we entered the Park, we still had one night unsecured. We heard several ominous predictions about being turned away if we couldn't produce reservation numbers for every night and we saw multiple signs reminding visitors that reservations are REQUIRED. 

I gave all that backstory to say that we had a glorious start to Day 2 when Melissa checked in with one of the workers at the Grey Lake Refugio and she told us we got the a-ok for a sight reservation at Paine Grande. If you picture our route as a "w" (hence the "W Circuit") on Day 1 we trekked from the bottom of that first line (Paine Grande) up to the top and then stayed at the Grey Lake campsite. On Day 2 we hiked back down the same line to meet Paine Grande again. To start off knowing that we had a place to stay at the end of our day we a huge relief. We were encouraged by several people to smile, ask politely, and keep following up. It seems like in the future this practice will be quite frowned upon, but in the first year while they make these substantial changes regarding there is a liiiittle bit of wiggle room. As one person told us, "Be nice, smile, and remember that no one wants to turn away two young girls. And remember that being cocky or acting entitled to a spot won't get you anywhere." Thankfully, it all worked out because our only other option would have been to try another campsite out of the park or even be forced to go all the way back to Puerto Natales between our first day and our third day of hiking. That would have involved again the two hour bus ride, followed by another hour or so bus ride and the boat ride.

This has all worked out great and I'm super thankful it has, but I'm also writing this in a tent at the base of a mountain where it's supppppper windy. I wrote about this in Day 1, but the Paine Grande sight has been nothing but wind. When we arrived after completing today's hike I would have called it breeze. After we got our tent and belongings settled, we ate our ceremonious cookies and pringles with a Coke and a beer. I placed five pringles on a picnic table to take a picture of Melissa and they blew off the table. That's right, I had to chance them across the grass as the tumbled in the wind because there was a gorgeous fox about 20 yards from us earlier. We didn't want him to get any ideas. Right now it's definitely windy - so much so that our tent is constantly flapping in the air and I'm dreading the moment when I can no longer hold it and I need to get up and out of my mummy sleeping bag to go to the bathroom. It's 8:39 PM and I'm impressed with myself and that I'm still managing to stay awake. I can tell that it's not for much longer. To paint the picture even more, I'm going to sleep in no less than: underwear, sweatpants, socks, a tshirt, a fleece pullover, a down vest, a scarf, a hat, and gloves. I'm all rolled up inside my mummy sleeping bag. 

 

Putting my pack this morning wasn't quite as painful as I expected. I definitely have tender hips, but not quite bruises yet. I expect them to form fully before this part of the trip is over.  Even though I insisted that we bring them, I am thankful every time we finish and apple because apples are heavy! This biggest challenge physically of today was about 15 minutes of our hike within the first hour. In those 15 minutes we climbed eight steep inclines that would have been challenging to do, even without an extra 40 pounds on our backs. BUT, we did it! I asked Melissa at the start of our day if she wanted to set our intentions of the day (yoga really got to me). I set mine to be a reminder that I am strong and that God gave me the ability to do this, I just need to remind myself that I am strong and capable. So, in the hard times I reminded myself again and again that I was blessed and that I could conquer the day. The mental might got me through! Well, that and the wind at my back instead of in my face all day like yesterday. LOL

Huayna Picchu Video

Remember how I said Melissa and I hiked Huayna Picchu, the tallest peak at Machu Picchu? Well, Melissa had her Go Pro running for a bit of the descent and has posted the video to YouTube. You can watch it here: https://youtu.be/MNw7i-wWWmc

The video isn't a narrative or anything especially polished. It's just about 11 minutes of our climb down. It gives a good sense of what that trail and climb were like. Please ignore my obvious body language of freaking out. LOL While intellectually I wasn't afraid of falling, my instinct took over and told me to be afraid. I did fine for most of the way up and for a portion of the way down, but I was definitely struggling at the end of the ascent and the beginning of the descent. 

Pictures From Day 1 on the W

I can only post a few because it's so hard to get pictures to upload on the wifi we have.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Day 1 on the W: From the Park Entrance to Refugio Grey

Melissa and I arrived back in Puerto Natales late last night, which means we're back on wifi at times. I wrote blog posts for each day we were on the trail and I'll post as I can.

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21,964 steps. 21,964 steps with a 40 pound (or a little more, I'm not quite sure) pack on. I did alright, despite being a slow hiker. That being said, I think my body is in shock. Melissa is currently in line getting our camp site reservation stuff in order, and I'm sitting on the steps on the Refugio trying not to think about how much my feet hurt. Pretty much everything from my waist down is talking to me right now. I know it'll all be fine, but right now it's screaming at me.

We started today with an early wake up take catch the bus from Puerto Natales to Torres Del Paine. Ironically, when we were in Peru and could sleep in most of the places we stayed in had enough noise around us to cause us to wake up before we wanted. But once we made it to Chile we needed our alarms to get us going. The 6 AM blast of my cell phone alarm was not exactly welcomed by me today. Something also not to be forgotten is the influence of the sun. Because Patagonia is so far south and because it's summer we have sunlight from about 5:15 AM to 11:00 PM. It's unreal. 

After the bus ride to the Park entrance we bought our park tickets, got everything officially stamped, watched a safety video and then were on our way. And by on our way I mean we took another bus for about an hour to a boat that we took across a lake for about 30 minutes. If you know me and my tendency to get motion sick you can imagine how excited I was to get to hiking. Now that I'm sitting on the far side of four hours I'm wondering what the hell I was thinking.

There's no doubt that this is an amazing experience, but I'm glad no one is here to ask me how it's going. I have faith that I'll get to the end and say how much I loved it, but right now in this very moment I can't believe I have at least one day in which I'll be hiking twice as long. 

The weather reports from previous trekkers is spot on - you can see the four seasons in one day. We we hopped off the boat at the first Refugio it was insanely windy and down right frigid. To imagine the winds consider your initial thought if I said, "What does a substantial gust of wind feel like?" Then, imagine it not to be a gust, but actually sustained winds. At a couple points I had to spread my legs wider for a stronger base and just hold tight because the wind almost blew me over, especially with the weight of the pack!  Then, within an hour and a half, Mel and I had both stripped down to our base layer. At one point in the midst of a valley the air was so calm and the sun was so hot that I wished for a tank top. I haven't looked yet, but I'm pretty sure my nose is burned quite a bit. I forgot my sunscreen today, but you can get I won't tomorrow!

Machu Picchu: Part 2

I don't have as many pictures of Machu Picchu to post right now as I'd like because I took a lot of photos on my camera instead of my phone. My iPhone takes pretty great photos, but I think I got some better shots on my camera, even though it's nothing really fancy. When I travel I like to try to take pictures to capture some memories, but I'm also very realistic that my pictures of the sites I visit will never compare to those of professional photographers. On this trip I've felt a little caught between my inclination to really work on being present and the compulsion to take photos and videos. I've posted to my Instagram and Snapchat accounts, and in some regard I've regretted the fact that I've been online at all. I'm really looking forward to not have as much internet access on the last third of our trip.

When we arrived at Machu Picchu I didn't know what to expect, despite having seen photos of the site before. I was breathless when I first saw it. To explain its massive span across the horizon is the same as trying to convey the height of a mountain. It's nearly impossible. After our long wait in line and a busride that had me fraught with nerves Melissa and I entered the site around 7:30/8:00 AM. We were so thankful because the sky was almost completely obstructed, but we got a few pictures in when the sky cleared for about 10 minutes. Here are a few pictures that are a combination between some I took and some Melissa took.

 

The Sabres came to Machu Picchu with me. 

 

Melissa brought the Pens with her too.

 

 

I'm pretty sure this was one of our early 8:00 AMish photos because we have jackets and another layer on. You can tell the later in the day photos because we lose layers along the way.

 

Llama, llama, llama, sheep. (Family joke.) 

Gah!

I've been trying to post a blog update for the past five days, but we haven't had a ton of reliable internet to do so. I've been back on good wifi for part of the day/ evening and for some reason my last post about Machu Picchu won't load. Gah! This is eerily similar to how my Wet Hot Asian Summer blog dropped off half way through my experience.... 

Melissa and I are about ready to head off into Torres Del Paine tomorrow morning. This is my first real experience backpacking and I'm pretty excited, but also a bit nervous - mostly because I'm new at this. I feel prepared, but I'm hoping I'm ready for the unexpected.  Prayers and positive thoughts are appreciated!!

It's 10:35 PM and because we're so far south the sun still hasn't actually set (AND it's even cloudy and raining right now). I've got to put my phone down, get my eye mask on, put my earplugs in, and get some sleep because we've got a big day ahead of us! Hopefully when I return I'll have successive posts lined up on after another. 

While I'm excited to be going tomorrow, im really starting to miss home. I'm thinking of all of you! 

 

No, that's not a green screen - that's me at Argentina's Glacier National Park! 

Machu Picchu: Part 1

I'm delaying writing my post on Machu Picchu because there's so much to say. I've been trying to decide if I should try to do a play by play or if it's impossible. There's so much going on around me and so much exploration that in some ways I feel as if my brain can't form sentences at the end of the day. So, I'll give it a go and see if I can provide something ya'll can follow. 

We took Peru rail from Ollantaytambo to Aguas Calientes on December 28. It took us about 1.5-2 hours in a taxi to get from Cusco to Ollantaytambo, and after chilling for lunch in Ollantaytambo we took the train to Aguas Calientes. We intentionally went a day early so that we could have the entire day at Machu Picchu. What was really interesting to me was finding out that Machu Picchu was known by a few outsiders and by locals period to 1911. In fact, locals even used some of the terraces to farm. Hiram Bingham is credited with "discovering" Machu Picchu, but in reality what he did was make the world pay attention and care about it. I was so interested in his story that I actually just bought his book that he published after Machu Picchu was excavated. The forward to that book is written by another author who appropriately says that Hiram Bingham should be credited with the "scientific discovery" of the site because without him it's likely that the world wouldn't know of Machu Picchu. Bingham was a Yale professor and negotiated support from National Geographic, who published Bingham's findings and a photo essay of the excavation of the site.

What was even more fascinating was learning that even though Machu Picchu was "discovered" in 1911, it didn't become the popular attraction that is is today until the early 2000s. It was named a modern wonder of the world in 2007. Apparently in the 1980s and 1990s it was still possible to actually camp on site! I can't even imagine how phenomenal that would have been. I had a random conversation with an airline pilot from the States who said he had been to Machu Picchu just five years ago and that the organization and formalization of accessing the site changed dramatically. A lot of credit goes to Melissa for researching and organizing our trip because she was able to purchase our train tickets and tickets to Machu Picchu from the US. The pilot told me that you used to be able to just buy everything the day you visited. As I said in a previous post, Melissa also secured our Huayna Picchu tickets in July because they are in such demand. 

So, we arrived the day before we planned to go to Machu Picchu because we knew that people try to get up to the site for sunrise. Also, our Huayna Picchu tickets were timed and we knew we had to enter that hike between 10:00 and 11:00 AM. We decided to try to catch a relatively early bus so that we could see the morning view that's typically partially covered in fog/ clouds, so our hike, and then tour more of the site after. Our hostel was crazy loud and we were very excited so it wasn't very difficult getting up early to catch a bus. We were in line for the bus at just a few minutes after 6:00 and we waited approximately 30 minutes to board a bus. If I remember correctly, at that point busses had already been running for 30 minutes or so for everyone who tries to get up there for sunrise. We had basically no desire to be part of that group.

 

On the bus ride up to Machu Picchu all I could think was, "Thank God my mother isn't here and thank God she doesn't know that is what we're doing right now!" Mom, you would have freaked. LOL The entire ride up was steep and narrow switchbacks with two-way traffic on stone roads that drop off Dow  to the valley floor. Multiple times our bus had to stop, reverse, move even closer to the edge, and then proceed. I had the pleasure of riding in a seat at the window and had to keep repeating the same sentence to myself, "People do this every day, all day..." At some of the turns of the switchbacks I legitimately thought the back end of the bus hung over the cliff edge. It was maybe the most nerve-wracking bus rides of my life! But it was so worth it. So so so worth it!