Backpacking through el Sur de Chile
Wow, so here I am- back to home sweet home Santiago after 3 weeks backpacking throughout the south of Chile! I could literally probably write a novel about all of our experiences in the past few weeks, but to sum it up, we were so so so lucky.
We had amazing weather almost the whole time while hiking and camping, and of the 43 hours, yes 43 hours that we spent on a bus or plane over the 3 weeks, we had no accidents or delays what so ever- pretty rare and impressive for South America! We started off with a long overnight bus ride to Puerto Monte where we then took more bus rides and ferry rides to Chiloe, an island off of the coast of souther chile. We met up with the host brothers of Eva, another girl from Loyola. We then rented out a cabin for a day or so and just saw the sites of the island and cooked a magnificent dinner of fish and mashed potatoes!! After we took a bumpy bus ride to el Parque Nacional in Chiloe to do some very rainy but amazing hiking. We ended up doing one hike that just lasted about 1-2 hours but it was pouring rain and windy but ended up along a beach and it really was just one of those moments where I felt so alive and so happy! The next day we actually ended up doing a hike that was…brace yourself… 48 km long. Yeah. That means over 30 miles if you didn’t know. It was suppose to be a 2 day hike, but if anything could be said about that day it would be that we were unprepared. Unprepared is the biggest understatement ever! We hiked and hiked and hiked and oh my gosh I think my legs are still kind of beat up from that day, there still are blisters too and my skin is still really tan and freckly from that 12 hour hike! But it was worth the pain and ended up being one of those days I will never ever forget! So if you were curious and wanted to know how long it would take to do a 30 mile hike up some mountains.. it’s 12 hours. We left at 10:30 in the AM and got back around 11pm!
After Chiloe we took more buses and planes and ended up spending the night in an airport and frantically renting all of our hiking gear in a little town at the base of the Andes mountains and spending the night in our hostel before leaving on another bus to the base camp of Patagonia where we began our 5 day hiking excursion! It was the hardest thing I have done so far in my life probably, but one of the most amazing things also. Hiking and camping always makes me feel so accomplished, because everything that you do, you literally have to earn yourself. If you want a bed to sleep in, you have to set up your tent, and sleeping bag, if you want food, you have to start the stove, cook the pasta or if you want coffee in the morning you have to go down to the river and get water to boil to make the coffee, if you want to have those amazing national geographic pictures well, all you have to do is look outside your tent! But really, it was so magnificent and valle la paine!! (Worth the pain)
After Our Torres del Paine and Patagonia trip we ended it in Pucon, Chile a nice touristy town that was filled with fun things to do and relax in. It rained a lot of the time we were there but that ended up being pretty nice because I got the flu for a few days! One of the coolest things we did though was called Canyoning. We all had to put on hop in an off roading jeep and drive about 45 minutes outside of town up to this canyon/ mountain type of place where we put on wet suits, life jackets, water proof shoes, gloves, helmets and harnesses for rock climbing. We had 2 really cool guides and a photographer too that followed us around! She had the coolest job ever, and all my friends were poking me in the sides saying ” Hey shirls that is going to be you!”
For a few hours we were basically white water rafting without the raft! We got to swim through rivers and jump off cliffs and climb up rocks then slide down waterfalls! It was so fun but so exhausting! The next day was when I came down with the flu, probably because I swallowed so much of that ice cold glacier water every single time I would jump off the cliffs and hit the water- because lets just say cliff jumping isn’t really my forte.
Our 3 week vacation as a whole was one of those things that was so jam packed and adventurous it just flashed before my eyes and I can’t believe it over and already March. I met some of the coolest people ever while hiking in Patagonia and saw the best stars in the night sky!! Tomorrow I have to wake up bright and early and go to Alberto Hurtado for orientation for school! I still am not quite sure what classes I will be taking, everything is so disorganized here compared to what I am used to, but that is just another aspect of the culture that I am adapting to! I do know that for sure when I come back to the states in a few months I will look back and miss the laid back and relaxed style that is so unique to Chile and South America!
Today my sister and I spent most of the day together! My host sister is 27 years old, but acts and looks so young just like most people here! We slept in today until about noon then ate breakfast together, typical fruit and porridge and yogurt and then we went to the pool and swam and laid out enjoying the 90 degree weather! Then we came back had some lunch and just relaxed inside watching TV and talking and napping all day, it was such a relaxing and much needed break after our adventures these past weeks.
I will be sure to update you soon since my first day of Fall semester starts this Monday, how crazy is that?
Besos y abrezos!
“Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed by the things you didn’t do than by the ones you did do. So throw off the bowlines, sail away from the safe harbor. Catch the trade winds in your sails. Explore. Dream. Discover.” – Mark Twain