PATAGONIA

I just got back from a 5-day backpacking trip in Torres del Paine National Park in Chilean Patagonia.  I went with 3 other girls from my program, Kelly, Allie, and Becca.  Not only were we the only group of all girls backpacking the trail, but we were also the youngest ones we encountered.  When we got back to Santiago our entire program was SO surprised that we'd survived... the W-Trail (the trail we'd backpacked) had absolutely no faith that we'd be able to fend for ourselves for a week.  The fact that I could come back to Santiago alive and well to tell the tale of the first group of our program to backpack the W made me feel so accomplished.  

It was an amazing trip!  Unfortunately, though, my camera was stolen by the airport.  After what seemed like years of intense arguing, the airlines offered me US$50 as compensation.  I was so mad and frustrated, especially because they told me that it was my fault for keeping my camera in my checked bag.  I know it wasn't the best idea to keep it there, but maybe I just had blind hope that my valuables wouldn't be stolen by the airline.  To top it off, though, the jerk also stole my 3 Snickers bars I had bought for about $2 each for the trail!  

It would be hard, though, to describe everything that we'd done that week... so much intense backpacking, gross amounts of food, and amazing scenery to describe.  I will, however, post as many pictures as Blogspot will allow:

Making our way into the park:

At the start of the W:

Day 2: The torres of Torres del Paine.  We saw the sunset up there and the torres turned red:

That was also the day of our 12-hour hiking adventure:

Day 3: Hiking in Valle de Frances.  At the top we had a 360 degree view of the lake, the back of the torres, and the entire valley we'd just scaled.  I could've stayed up there forever. :

Days 4 and 5: backpacking to Grey Glacier. :

The weather was amazing and I hiked in t-shirts and shorts the whole time.  I couldn't believe when I had to come back to Santiago to go back to school and live in the congested city!

Pucón and Valdivia

This past weekend I went to Pucón and Valdivia, two cities in the Lake District of Chile.  Pucón is famous for its Villarica volcano, which tourists can climb on an intense 12-hour hike.  However, we happened to go during one of the rainiest weekends in Pucón, so no company would allow for us to hike the volcano.  We were disappointed, but we filled up our 2 days there with other activities, like zip lining and lots of hot springs.  The Lake District feels like a complete other world compared to Santiago... the scenery feels very pure and untouched, and everything is super green.

Ziplining scenery:

Waterfall tours:

Hot springs:

All in all, Pucón was super beautiful and reminded me a lot of Alaska or northern Washington.  It was disappointing that we weren't able to climb the volcano but we ended up filling our time with other activities.

After spending 2 days in Pucón, we headed over to Valdivia, which is a 3-hour bus ride to the west.  The weather cleared up in Valdivia so it was amazing!  Valdivia is surrounded by rivers in northern Chilean Patagonia.  In Valdivia, we took a Calle Calle river tour, a brewery tour, ate lots of sea food (I can check eating half-digested algae off my Chile to-do list), and went hiking along the beach in a neighboring town.

Fish market in Valdivia:

Giant sea lion at the fish market:

River tour:

Las Molinas, a small fishing town about 20 min from Valdivia:

After Valdivia, we took an overnight bus back to Santiago... just in time for my presentation on Tuesday morning!  Que bueno!