Torres Del Paine, Chile

Our adventure begins! We take only what we need to survive and we’re off to Torres del Paine. We arrive right before dark and set up our tents before it start to pour. We had joked that as “Noah’s Ark” we might have to have wild sex orgies to repopulate the earth. Well no sex orgies yet, but torrential rain – check.

The next day we’re off to see Grey Glacier. All in all it’s a 10 hour or so hike. We see awesome views of the glacier.

From Torres del Paine, Chile

We camp that night. The next morning we lose the Italians to a leaky tent and bad weather. But we pick up an Israeli girl whose friends decided to bail. Because of the bad weather all we do is carry our bags to the next campsite and set up our tents.

The next day the weather is bad so everyone decides to take it easy. However this means that we’d miss the beautiful “French Valley”. For some (insane) reason I decide to press on ahead. I get to the base camp at the bottom of the French Valley and it’s pouring down rain. Everyone is huddling in a shelter and quietly munching away at lunch. It’s cold and no one really talks. I catch up with the German girls who were the only other two you decided to tackle the French Valley. One of them has a really bad knee and had to walk with it straight like it is some wooden pirate leg. Hardcore.

I arrive at the “Mirador” which is supposed to have the beautiful view of the French Valley. More like Mirador of Infinite Fog overlooking the Valley of Death. I have a good laugh at myself and just as I head back I run into the German girls. They made the difficult climb even with the bad knee, but I’m too cold to hang out and I head back.

From Torres del Paine, Chile

I get back to camp completely soaked, but in the end I still have a fun day

From Torres del Paine, Chile

That night we have really, really crazy winds. Every few minutes someone would run into the restaurant on the camp grounds and yell that another tent had flown off and we all run to help them secure it. One guy from Wyoming loses his tent completely only to find it the next morning in a tree:

From Torres del Paine, Chile

The only way we are able to secure our tents is with comically large rocks:

From Torres del Paine, Chile

The next day we have a very long walk ahead of us. We consider only doing part of it but in the end we hike all the way up to Campamiento Torres so that we could wake up early the next morning and see the “Torres” at sunrise.

On the way we picked up supplies at the beautiful Hostelaria. It’s a luxury hotel where rooms begin at $267 USD a night (VERY expensive for us poor backpackers). We hang out in the lobby but feel very uncomfortable being around normal people who are wearing fresh clothes and don’t smell bad. The clean bathrooms are an unexpected luxury.

Unfortunately the German girls do not hike all the way up to Campamiento Torres because of the bad knee. Once we reach camp (in the dark as usual) we run into two friends who we had met along the way and we all had dinner together. Afterwards we huddle in the snow drinking tea but soon go to sleep so we can get up at 5am to catch the sunrise.

The next morning we get up at 5am in the dark and race up the mountain. When we arrive at the top we are shocked to see the German girls there. They greet us with (a very heavily accented) “You’re Late!” Turns out they had gotten up at 3am from the lower camp and hiked the whole thing in the dark. Crazy. We cuddle up in our sleeping bags and watch the sunset come up over the Torres. Definitely an amazing experience.

From Torres del Paine, Chile

In the end we hiked about 70 km. We get back to Puerto Natales and say goodbye to the English girls who have a ferry to catch and the German girls who have to move on. It’s the sad beginning to the breakup of “Noah’s Ark” :(

From Torres del Paine, Chile

Puerto Natales, Chile

Puerto Natales is the pit stop on the way to Torres Del Paine. On the way here we meet two German girls and two Italian guys on the bus. So now we’re ten:

- two English girls
- two Israeli girls
- two American guys
- two German girls
- two Italian guys

We christen ourselves “Noah’s Ark” (we’re two of everything) and celebrate with a dinner that involved cheap Chilean wine, big burgers, and mussels that resemble small human hearts – yum!

From Torres del Paine, Chile

From Torres del Paine, Chile

Punta Arenas, Chile

There nothing in this town but penguins and shopping. Since I’d already seen penguins, it was time for shopping. We head to the duty free area called Zona Franca and get tons of winter clothes – it’s freaking freezing here. It’s weird to think that a week earlier I was sweating on the beaches of Brazil. Now we’re stocking up on gloves, hats, thermals underwear, a tent, etc. It’s also really hard to do the conversion to figure out how much anything costs here - 10,000 Chilean pesos is about $17 USD. Ok, fine it’s not that hard – nerd.

Ushuaia, Argentina

I fly from Sao Paulo, Brazil via Buenos Aires and arrive at Ushuaia, Argentina. Ushuaia is the southernmost city in the World. Most people come here to take cruises to Antarctica. I considered visiting my 7th continent but reconsidered after finding out that standby beds are $4000.

I meet two English girls and an American guy in the dorm of my hostel that are interested in doing some trekking on Torres del Paine, Chile. It's one of the most famous treks in South America. I don't think I'm hardcore enough to do it on my own so I'm happy to join them.

From Ushuaia, Argentina

From Ushuaia, Argentina

From Ushuaia, Argentina

The next day I check out some penguins, seals, and other wildlife. Check out this amazing video: One penguin tries to steal a rock away from another penguin for his nest but gets busted. Hilarious!



I also go hiking to a glacier. Afterwards I go to exchange a bus ticket to Punta Arenas, Chile which is on the way to Torres del Paine. The line is REALLY long so I ask the two girls next in line if I can squeeze in a quick question about changing my ticket. Turns out they are Israeli and trying to get to the same place. We talk to the bus lady together and find out that all the buses are full. I tell the girls that I saw a sign my hostel about a private bus to Punta Arenas so we leave and head to my hostel. At my hostel they book us all for Punta Arenas. Now there's 6 of us - two English girls, two Israeli girls, and two American guys.

The next morning we head off to Puentas Arenas...

Ilha Grande and Paraty, Brazil

Ilha Grande and Paraty are two beautiful beach towns in Brazil.

The most interesting thing in Paraty is the natural waterfall rockslide. Moss grows on the rock so you can slide down the rock. The locals do it standing up which is just crazy. It is a little dangerous. One girl broke her tooth and another girl cut up her face pretty badly and walked around Paraty with a bandage for the rest of the time. One time I crashed head-first into a friend and was feeling my neck for a few days. But completely worth it! Check it out:



For Ilha Grande, check out the pictures:

From Isla Grande, Brazil

From Isla Grande, Brazil