I've seen a lot of gorgeous mountains, but Torres Del Paine? It's something special... (self portrait @ dawn)
This first week here has been absolutely incredible. We flew into Punta Arenas with John & Yva, got our TDI VW vans, built makeshift mattress platforms out of plywood and plastic soda crates. To test the system out we hopped a ferry and road tripped south to see a new King Penguin colony on Tierra Del Fuego before heading north through Puerto Natales to the mind bending mountains, lakes and skies of Torres Del Paine (Pine-nee) National Park. We are in some very wild country here. Data is limited and I'll have few opportunities to write and upload. I'm putting a slideshow of a few favorite moments below and will try to do more of the same as access allows.
This is an incredible adventure in the early spring of these southern wilds. It's often cold and extremely windy. Sometimes it's tough to get out of the van at 5:30 for sunrise. But the hot coffee Stacey brews for me when I return is so amazing; it's those little things that I love most in life... Stacey is enjoying this trip to the hilt. We're a couple of days from the 3rd trimester and she's the worlds greatest trooper. Maybe a little slower than normal on the hikes (or a lot slower), but a total rockstar with nary a complaint despite sleeping in crazy mountains with sub-polar-freezing winds roaring outside our dusty uninsulated van.
I have nearly 200GB of panoramics and photos to edit just from this first week. We plan to move slowly northeast from Chile into Argentina to see the legendary mountains of Cerro Fitzroy, Cerro Torre and the towns and glaciers around them. Then we'll likely head back to Torres Del Paine to see baby Guanacos as they are born before heading home in 3 weeks.
Did I ever mention that I love this stuff...???
