Patagonia & Buenos Aires

The turnaround at home following my time in the Balkans was way too fast, as at this point, I had been on 4 major trips in 4 months. The week was spent between spending as much time with Madison as possible, job applications, recovering from jetlag, and the annual Halloween pumpkin carving (turned party). Yet before I knew it, I was packing up and ready to head out. 

Early November 2^nd, I caught a Lyft down to SeaTac, got through security, and was on my way to Dallas. The flight itself was the usual, with the advantage of having a more comfortable seat than usual. Hooray status! The three-hour connection in Dallas involved some overpriced Pinkberry (a throwback to my first job swirling fro-yo… and getting relegated to cutting fruit) and Chik-fil-a. Then the long 11-hour flight down to Santiago, miraculously with no one sitting next to me!

Arriving at 7AM (3AM PST), I made my way through customs & security before catching a cab to my hotel a couple miles away, more convenient for the 5AM flight the next day. After checking in (and luckily keeping my intake form from passport control; it was required for all hotels), I spent a few hours decompressing around the hotel lobby and just trying to feel like myself following 20 hours of travel.   

After chilling for a bit too long for my own liking, I Ubered into Santiago (attempting to converse with my driver a bit in Spanish) and arrived in the Plaza de Armas, the central starting hub for most South American cities.

Nothing like a 4AM jet-lagged wakeup on the 2^nd day of the trip to make you feel stoked on life. I made it back to the airport and met up with my friend Ben Jones and his college buddy Matt Biederman (who had backpacked the W trail once before) at the airport before our final three-hour flight down to Puerto Natales.

(A brief aside about LATAM and this flight… They changed our flight by one day! I was supposed to have a whole extra day on the fourth, the explore around Santiago but that went out the window. It was almost worse for Ben Jones who had to redo his arrival flights. Not cool LATAM.)

The flight was fine, with amazing views of the Andes out the plane window, and soon enough we were in Puerto Natales! We snagged a taxi to our hotel, and on the ride realized that Ben J. had lost his passport form required for check-in. Uh oh. Fortunately, we were able to drop our gear off at our hotel where they recommended to head to the local police station where Ben’s fluent Spanish got him a re-issued form and we were all set.

With the initial panic over we made our way to Erratic Rock, the top gear rental spot in town, where we planned to grab some fuel, hiking poles, and tents for our time in the park. Or at least we would do that once it opened an hour later. We passed the time next door at a wonderful little coffee shop nearby for some much-needed caffeine.

At 11, we made our way to Erratic Rock and were greeted by Will, the owner and operator. He was lost in a bunch of work and let us know to come back in an hour when he’d be in a better position to assist us.

We took the time to walk over to the waterfront and stretch our legs a bit, taking in the fresh sea air (and the occasional huge gust of wind while learning about Ben & Matt’s time in college. A solid loop and an hour later, we were back to talk to Will. He went on to tell us all about the park, letting us know about gear availability (it was scarce) and getting us confident about what we would be seeing on the trails. We also swung by the nearby Puma House to see what the gear availability looked like there. We left both without renting, with a plan to swing back the next day to make our final decisions.

It was time for some food and Matt directed us to a nearby Pizzeria that he had enjoyed on his last visit. I don’t know if it was just exhaustion and hunger talking but it was delicious. Like maybe a top 10 pizza of my life. We each devoured our own pie, paired with a good cold beer.

With our morning activities done, we headed back to the hotel, checked in, and all took a much-needed nap. It had been a chaotic few days of travel down to one of the southernmost cities in the world.  That afternoon, we managed to rouse ourselves to go visit the local grocery store and grab some necessities for the backpacking trip (my best purchase being an avocado for every day along with some hot sauce for the crew) and on the way back discovered that there was a free 5k happening in Patagonia the next day. With Matt taking the lead (and signing himself up for the longer 10k) the three of us committed to the race, adding some complexity to our planned gear rental but adding a totally unpredicted and fun part of the trip and a taste of the park a day before we expected.

We finished the day with dinner at El Bote where I had a wonderful meal of lobster and fries along with a bit of touring live music coming in during our time there. Finally, we headed off to bed, with an unexpected 7AM wake up time waiting for us the next day.

7 AM was way too early.  Yet somehow we managed to get all of our gear together, have a quick bite downstairs, and head to the nearby bus stop in time for the 7:30 AM shuttle. A two-hour drive into the national park later and we had arrived… and were also the only tourists participating in the race. We spent the first hour just getting settled before we were each shuttled to our respective starting lines for the run. Another 30-minute wait while things were organized and then – Bang – The race was off. Ben J. ran ahead, hitting under a 7 min pace for the first mile while I tried to keep a solid 8 min pace going. The first 3 miles went smoothly with me eventually passing Ben J. and keeping my pace… Then after the 5k mark hit and we were nowhere near the end I lost steam. I ran until 3.4 miles but with 60 miles of backpacking ahead I was not prepared to keep the pace going. I shut down the Strava, and walked the remainder of the distance (a full mile more).

The three of us regrouped at the end, and found some shade to beat the ever increasing sunshine and heat. We snapped a quick picture on the podium with our finishers medals before catching the long bus back into town.

Back at the hotel, we showered, got things organized and went to go pick up a two-man tent that had thankfully come into erratic rock earlier that day. (It was the only one in town). We assembled the rest of our gear between Erratic rock and puma house, brought it back to the hotel, and all laid out to pack before celebrating the day at Santolla for dinner.

This restaurant was amazing. While the food took a while to come out, everything they had was absolutely delicious and the three of us proceeded to eat our last real dinner before a week of trekking. With sunset in full force, we walked along the waterfront discussing AI in art before looking for a final snack (we wish we had ordered more at Santolla) and ended up back at El Bote for surprisingly worse fries than the night before.

Then it was time for bed and the W trail that lay ahead.

The next morning we got packed up, stored our non-essential luggage downstairs in the hotel, and had a nice breakfast at our hotel. We headed back to the market for a final run, only to find it was closed (classic travel Sundays), eventually finding a gimmicky store for a flashlight. Most restaurants were also closed but luckily we were able to find a spot at the Wild Hostel for lunch where they made us some decent tacos before they officially opened.

Then it was time!

We lugged our backpacks over to the Bus Station, got our tickets and found spots to get comfortable waiting. An hour later the bus arrived and then began the journey to get into Torres del Paine National Park.

Three hours later, we arrived.

And let me just say, it was beautiful. Glacial rivers right at the base camp, with the first sign of one of the many mountain ranges ahead of us. And more importantly there was good food and cold beer at the nearby refugio… an exciting turn of events for a trip that I thought would be sustained on backpacking food and oatmeal. 

The three of us got checked in, found a campsite to get set-up at, and sent some messages back home via the Garmin Inreach before settling down for some good old backpacking meals. We finished up the day with a cribbage game between Ben and I where he crushed me (double-skunked for those that know) before packing our stuff back up and getting ready for an early wake-up call with the intention of seeing Las Torres reflecting the sunrise.

3 AM is never a fun alarm to set, but we managed to wake up, pack up our tents, and make it out on the trails in the darkness. The first leg was 6 miles with 2,500ft of gain but fortunately we were able to drop our bags halfway at the Chileno Refugio, relieving us of some weight for the final ascent up to the Mirador of Los Torres.

As we started the final ascent the sunrise was just starting and was even accompanied by a rainbow. Unfortunately, despite a hard push up to the summit, the clouds and sunrise timing didn’t work out to see the beautiful three towers lit up at sunrise from the viewpoint, but we did catch some peeks of the sun kissed stone on the approach.

We spent a little under an hour at the base of Lago Torres, eating snacks, taking pictures, and just relishing the amazing view… all while knowing we still had 12 miles and another 2k feet of elevation gain left for us on the trails. (But who was counting…. Me. I was always counting because I was so scared that I wouldn’t make it).

The descent to Chileno was taken at a much more relaxed pace, as we took in the incredible views that were hidden in the darkness of the approach. Once we made it back to Chileno it was time for some classic oatmeal fuel. I’ll be honest that I absolutely burned myself out a little bit trying to see the sunrise in time, so I was already feeling the strain in my legs at that point… not ideal.

The next nine miles were a beautiful blur, we descended from Chileno. crossing waterfalls on wooden bridges and appreciating the insane trail we climbed up on our ascent. Then as we got towards the bottom, we began to see the bright blue of Nordenskjöld Lake.

As we transitioned to a flatter, rockier section, the trails became much wetter with us needing to cross a few streams and avoid some muddy patches entirely. We would take breaks every mile or two (eating one of my four avocados in a tortilla with some much-needed tabasco sauce). Somehow, we (I should say I here, as the other two were killing it) made it to the first refugio with 18 miles and 5000 feet of climbing under our belt. Not a bad first day.

Now it was time to relax, we dropped off the packs, headed inside, and had a much-needed pizza and beer. (I don’t know how we would’ve done this trip if we only had the food that we carried… it would’ve been possible but infinitely less enjoyable).

Feeling satiated, we proceeded to nap around the campsite before getting up and ready for our paid camp meal… which ended up being surprisingly disappointing. That being said, we did sit across from a couple from England and had a lovely conversation with them about the day’s trek. With that, it was starting to get dark out so we headed back to our tents, curled up and got ready to head out a little less early the next day.

7AM the next morning we began the trek alongside the lake, even getting a quick touch of the glacial waters. Then we made our way past Camping Frances and over to Camping Italiano, a closed campsite where we were able to drop our bags once again for the approach to Mirador Britanico.

Losing the weight of our packs was an absolute blessing as we started the ascent up the middle portion of the W trail, with our lake views slowly being replaced with incredible panoramic views of glacier covered mountains. We meandered up the Frances valley, along a river and through a meadow-like section as Ben Jones and I discussed life and appreciated the occasional sound of a glacier cracking interrupting the constant rumble of the churning river.

The trail started to get a little repetitive and exhausting but as we got further along, the views were worth it, and it culminated in the center of one of the most incredible valleys I’ve ever witnessed. Nearly everywhere you turned had unique glacial carved peaks with the perfect balance of clouds to add beautiful contrast. There was still enough snow and ice to amplify the mountains, creating a scene I would call unbelievable if I hadn’t seen it myself. I took a good amount of time at the trail’s end to take it all in and appreciate it. I didn’t want to leave.

Unfortunately, we eventually had to make our way back down to our packs, and the descent was not as enjoyable. Despite the continued amazing views, the up and down terrain and occasional river crossing were starting to remind my legs how tired they were. A long two hours later we were back at our packs and eating our amazing wraps. (I may have been teased about how I manhandled the avocado… I was hungry and it was so needed.)

The rest of the day involved five more miles across more stunning wooden bridge crossings and through this amazing grassy landscape that speckled with red flowers bushes and petrified trees, making it seem as if the saturation on the world was a bit too high. The other two took off on the last mile as I painfully finished our second day of 16-miles and 4000 feet of gain by slowly carrying myself to our third campsite of Vertice Paine Grande.

We dropped off our packs in the field, checked in, and immediately headed upstairs to order some more pizza and beer. Downstairs there were even some snacks for sale and I found a pack of donuts! I was so thrilled… up until the moment I opened them and realized they were cookies.  Please see the photo realization on the bottom right to express my emotional state in that moment.

Unfortunately, by the time we arrived most of the tents had already been set up, so we were forced to find a spot that didn’t have great wind protection, but at least it was a spot. I headed into the local showers and had warm water for my first proper cleaning in 3 days. It was delightful.

One more backpacking meal (in the wind protected indoor structure) and a beautiful sunset later and I headed into the tent for a much-needed sleep. (Thankfully while I did this Ben Jones bought bus tickets for the way home… which saved us a very miserable experience that some of the people we met on the trail had to deal with).

At this point we had done 90% of the actual W trail in two days, an ambitious effort, but one that made this last day tremendously easier. At 6AM I woke up to the wind blustering and arose in time to see the start of the sunrise.

The three of us headed into the covered area to make our breakfasts before packing up and finding Ben J. had lost his flip flops… and despite us looking all over the campground for it, it never turned up.

Our final day was the windiest and we were pushed back as we made our way up the final ascent of the W trail to Camp Gray. The views here included more stunning mountain views but also had some alpine lakes along with more rugged terrain. It was yet another awe-inspiring part of the trek that has provided so many diverse and beautiful landscapes.

As we hit the apex of the trail, Grey Glacier began to appear in the distance, stretching on for miles. And as we finished the last bit of the hike with some waterfalls and bridges, I had to believe that this was my favorite 50 mile stretch in the world.

Upon arrival we sat down in these amazing, oversized chairs and picked up some snacks and beer. Matt was so stoked that he found some hard-boiled eggs that he bought one for each of us. Starving, I immediately start cracking it open only for it not to be hard boiled at all… but a raw egg! We all lost it laughing both from exhaustion and absurdity before finding a table to settle down on and cook ourselves an actual lunch (to couple with the pringles we bought).

Then as we were still ahead of almost all the people heading up from Paine Grande, we managed to get a prime spot for our tents where we were immediately greeted by a family of deer. Quite the reward for our early departure.  

It was only noon… so we elected to extend the day by hiking further up and exploring better views of the glacier… and happened to have some of the craziest suspension bridge crossings I’ve ever seen. The three of us slowly made our way along the three mile climb and were met with one of the most spiritual overlooks I’d ever seen, and it was just the three of us. We all just sat down for nearly an hour taking in the occasional sound of the glacier breaking and appreciating the solitude of the location.

We made our way back down, doing a slight detour near the end to head to another viewpoint of Glacier Gray, this time from the water… and of course I had to go in. Starting with just dunking in my head, I emboldened and submerged nearly my entire body in the glacial waters. The other two weren’t willing to follow along but Ben J did dunk his head in.

We made our way back to camp where I had a backpacking meal for dinner after spending the remainder of the afternoon just resting and relaxing and organizing my gear. Then as always it was time for an early sleep and a subsequent early wake-up. Day 3: 13 miles and 3k feet of elevation gain.

The final day we awoke at 5:30AM, packed for the final time, and made our way back to Paine Grande. While the trail was the same as the day before, the new angles, golden hour, and lack of wind made this part of the trek infinitely more enjoyable and we flew through our 7 miles, stopping only for some photos along the way! Two hours and some change later we saw the refugio on the horizon. We had done it! Strava

We looked up when the next ferry departure was, took off our shoes, grabbed some snacks, and relaxed, knowing that the hiking was finally over. Matt even successfully boiled an egg in his jetboil that he had been craving since the day before. It was honestly just a period of pure bliss and success.

A couple hours later we boarded the ferry (having just missed one when we arrived) and began the scenic boat ride out. (I will say the route we did the W trail I would highly recommend as the boat ride had some of my favorite views of the trip and it would’ve been heartbreaking to start with them instead of end with them.)

Following the picturesque sailing, we were dropped off at a small shack and left to wait for our upcoming bus reservation a couple of hours later. Seeing as we had some time, we all elected to hike up to the nearby Salto Grande waterfall and see the accompanying views of the stunning Cuernos peaks… thankfully without the weight of our packs. It was honestly just another addition to the otherworldly Patagonia experience and a perfect culmination of our time in the park.

Returning from the little detour, we grabbed sandwiches in the shack’s small restaurant and patiently (or less so in my case) waited for the bus to arrive. After some delay the driver pulled in and we were three of the only ones that were allowed to board due to having bought ahead of time! (We did hear the others managed to make it back on another bus not too long later.)

The bus ride back involved a lot of napping, relaxing, and ignoring the world for three hours before finally arriving at the bus depot… leaving us with the worst part of the trip. Having to walk the mile back to our hotel with all our gear. Not fun.

We brought all of our rental gear back to the store, showered, relaxed, and then headed back out to Santolla, where despite having to wait for 45 minutes to be seated, we ended up having another insanely good meal. Matt even ate a whole 2 pound crab! The whole thing!

We swung by a nearby pizzeria for some desserts to close out the day before heading back to the hotel and passing out, ready for another early wakeup.

 Finally I was able to sleep in. Thank god.

I woke up, chilled in the hotel for a bit and checked out, then was picked up by my friend Mariano and his girlfriend to explore the city! I had met Mariano in Lake Bled, Slovenia six years beforehand and we had stayed in contact, always trying to find a way to reconnect.

The two of them got myself and my bags into their car and we drove into town, starting with our first stop at Guolis Tribunales which sold… Guolis (surprise surprise)! They are cookie sandwiches with various flavors in between and are scrumptious. We all ordered a few before heading down a few blocks, walking through Plaza Lavalle and arriving at Pizzeria Guerrin.

Mariano walked us through the main restaurant and took us all the way into the back through a couple doors where there was a much quieter hidden section that apparently only locals knew about. We were seated and Mariano ordered us this Argentinian style pizza that I would say was a cross between Chicago Deep Dish and Detroit Style… and it was delicious and filling. We hung out there for a while before returning to Mariano’s care and heading to the next stop on the tour: San Telmo Market and the Antique Fair going on at that time.

We somehow managed to find parking on the busy street (Mariano would pay locals hanging out on the street to watch his car… an interesting protection system) and we headed to explore the large outdoor antique space. There were a ton of vendors around selling various knick-knacks and despite some interesting items, elected not to buy anything. Then we entered the large San Telmo market and I can honestly say I’m bummed I had already eaten as that place almost made me hungry again. We finished up there before moving on to the next stop of the tour, the large stretch of parks on the north-end of the city.

We parked the car and began exploring various landmarks Mariano pointed out including the Alfredo Roque Vitolo bridge overlooking both the Museum of Fine Arts and the University of Buenos Aires Law School before wrapping around the historical Cementerio de la Recoleta and heading to the nearby gelato shop: Heladeria Buffala.

We wrapped up our walk cutting through one of the richest (and quietest) neighborhoods in Buenos Aires (Plaza Mitre) before making our way back to his car and returning to my hostel.

It was such a fun day of reconnecting with a friend mutually interested in travel and I really appreciated the more local perspective on the city.

The rest of the night was spent between chilling in the hostel room and going downstairs to meet some people staying in the hostel for drinks… but at this point I was much less down to socialize than normal and while I did have a few drinks with people (and found out I do not like Negroni’s) I called it relatively early and headed back to bed.

Finally on the last full day, I decided to do what I do best… Walk and explore as much as possible.

Buenos Aires Walking Tour

I mapped out all the points that I wanted to see and after a slightly late start at 11 AM, made my way into the city. My first stop was the Plaza de Mayo and connected Pink House – the Home of the Argentinean President. There were a few protests going on but frankly nothing different than you’d expect to see outside the white house on a given day.

I headed back west and made my way to the Ave 9 de Julio, the widest street in the world, and crossed it at the famed obelisk in the center. (This is where most of the city gathered after they won the world cup a few months later) Despite having been around the street a few times earlier during the trip, the act of crossing a 16-lane road was insane.

The trek continued walking by the Palacio Barolo, a unique name for an office building built In 1923 (although it’s pretty damn beautiful), before making my way to the Plaza and Building of Congress in Argentina.

Heading north (and right by my hotel from the first night) I made my way back across the 16-lanes to my lunch stop for the afternoon: Santos Manjares.

I’ll keep my review simple: Skirt steak, fries, and beer. It was perfect.

Then I was back on the road heading towards one of the cooler stops on the trip: El Ateneo Grand Splendid, or more simply a book store in an old theater. It was so cool seeing the tiered theater being used to separate different genres of books and I walked around each floor admiring and appreciating the architecture and backdrop.

Then it was finally time for my last stop, actually entering the Cementerio de la Recoleta that I had seen with Mariano the day before. I hopped in line, turned my head, and saw… Tony Wu? It was my old high school volleyball teammate walking in the opposite direction. We did a quick double take before saying a quick hello and making tentative plans to meet later in the day for dinner.

Then I was back in the cemetery trying to understand as much as possible about the history through reading online and overhearing tourist groups (Wish I had known about Rick Steves at that point).

With all that walking I decided to take a break before making the long walk back and headed to a bar just down the street for a beer, before making my way back to the hostel. The walk back was uneventful and direct, and I ended up resting in the room for a little bit before heading out to Juan Bautista Parrilla Gaucha to meet up with Tony and his girlfriend for dinner. We caught up and had a great sandwich there before continuing to a nearby gelato store for dessert. Sadly, it was time to say goodbye as they headed down to Patagonia and I walked back to the hostel and got ready for bed

And it was finally time for the hurrah of the trip. My last day in Buenos Aires. I woke up and slowly got all my stuff together before checking out of the hotel. I grabbed a small bite and some drinks at the bar next door to hang out in for a while but for the most part I just lounged around the hostel in a weird state of both exhaustion and denial

Fortunately, Mariano had agreed to come grab me and we headed to a final restaurant recommendation of his for an afternoon snack and a little bit more catching up before finally making the final drive to the airport.

Then it was the long journey home. I flew into Miami from Buenos Aires for 10 hours… and may have changed my itinerary a bit to take a different flight back to Seattle through Atlanta. Either way I landed at 2:39PM Seattle time and after electing not to take my planned Taipei trip… officially ended the planned travel portion of my gap year. (Other than the Whistler Ski trip, Hawaii Family Trip, Tahoe Ski Trip, and my sister’s wedding… those are just fun small trips that happened because I didn’t find a job yet.)