El Calafate, Argentina to Puerto Natales, Chile...

11/10/11
Puerto Natales is so great!  Walked everywhere and stayed at Erratic Rock 2 hostel on Miraflores for $70 USD ($35,000 CH) per night.  Attended an orientation at Erratic Rock that gave information about the Torres del Paine trek.  Very helpful.




I didn't write much today, I didn't make the time.  I was way too "busy" to worry with writing; for most of the day my face was pressed up against the bus window, mouth gaping at the views.  I was excited and giddy, like a child stuffing a hand into his Christmas stocking, as we watched the Andes dramatically reveal themselves.  We arrived in Puerto Natales after a five hour bus ride.  The border crossing was time consuming.  It turns out that Chile is a little bit more strict than it's neighboring country to the east.  Even our pre-packed, sealed, dehydrated meals we brought from home were subject to inspection.  We lucked out though, and the "just-add-water" meals of turkey with mashed potatoes and BBQ chicken with rice weren't confiscated.

When the bus finally pulled into the not-so-touristy town of Puerto Natales, Chile, it was windy and cold.  And we were tired.  It had been several days now of traveling, and we were ready to find Erratic Rock 2, the hostel where I had made reservations (in advance this time!).  As far as hostels go, this was the Ritz.  It was perfect!  There are two Erratic Rock hostels (1 and 2).  Both had english-speaking staff - a welcome surprise for those of us who hadn't perfectly mastered multiple languages.   Courtney and I both noticed how drawn we were to the simple comfort and familiarity of our native tongue.

View of the Andes from our porch at Erratic Rock 2

Erratic Rock 1 was a traditional, shared-space hostel, and Erratic Rock 2 was their attempt at a "couples" hostel.  It featured private rooms and bathrooms, storage units to stash any unwanted stuff while on the trail, hot breakfasts in the morning, and bus rides into the park every morning at 7:30 am.  I believe Erratic Rock 1 had breakfast and bus rides too.  For anyone reading this who will be traveling as a couple, I highly recommend either of these hostels, but especially E.R. 2.  Both have wi-fi (though Erratic Rock 1 was slightly better in that category) and both were very helpful.  The owners even run an orientation every day at 3:00 pm for anyone going into the park.  The orientation isn't completely necessary, but it was definitely helpful to hear the weather updates, current John Gardner Pass conditions (more about the the pass coming soon on "day 4..."), and route descriptions.

After attending the orientation, we headed out on the town to gather food, fuel, and a knife (we carried-on the whole way so we had to leave our knives at home).  There is an abundance of fuel in Puerto Natales, even the iso-butane canisters that fit most modern stoves.  We have an MSR Pocket Rocket, and had no trouble finding the screw on fuel.  No need for liquid/white gas unless that's your thing.

We shopped for food, and had a great time doing it.  We couldn't find the "one-stop-shop" grocery store that we kept hearing about, so we had to go old-school, stopping at various specialty shops until we obtained everything we needed: salami from the meat shop, cheese from the cheese shop; coffee, cereal bars, tortillas and jelly from the coffee-cereal bars-tortillas-jelly shop; and dried fruit, soup, and a few other odds and ends at stores along the main strip on Blanco Encalada St.  

Walking Miraflores Ave. back to the hostel

We headed back to our room and carefully laid out our backpacks, emptying them for the first time since we left home.  You see, the packing/un-packing ritual before a back-packing trip is very important (I can see my dad and brother knowingly nodding their heads in agreement).  You have to know exactly where everything is in your pack.  Put the heavy stuff towards the middle or bottom of the pack, and as close to your back as possible.  Make sure that rain gear is easily accessible, and food for that day is right up at the top so you don't have to completely dig out your entire pack at each meal.  And finally, wrap your sleeping bag  in a waterproof sack (we went with the highly technical black trash bags) and then stuff it into the bottom compartment of the pack.  That night we packed and un-packed, stuffed and tweaked, arranged and rearranged, all in search of the ideal layering and order of our packed items.  The smallest details become important when you are wearing that pack for a week or more.  Even seemingly irrelevant straps and buckles are key components to your overall happiness and comfort.  We took our time getting everything perfect.

We got great sleep that night.  I nodded off, anticipating the unknown of the Chilean Andes.  As I lay there, I went through everything I could think of that could possibly go wrong.  As far as I could tell, we had it all covered.  From our "Rock & Ice" magazine that doubled as a potential splint, to ace wraps and blister gel, we had it all.  I was confident, with just the right amount of nerves.  I couldn't wait!