PATAGONIA!

We were very fortunate this past holiday season to spend time in Patagonia!  We visited the southern area of Patagonia, both Chile & Argentina.   We booked a trip with Andes Adventures, an active vacation touriing company which I highly recommend, if you want to experience South America with the experts!

A week before we departed I had a conversation with my friend Julie, who did this trek with Andes Adventures in 2003.  She predicted, "You will absolultely love it!  But, be sure to bring the warmest clothes you own becasue it will most likely be cold & windy."

"Hmm", I thought, suddenly regretting my decision to give my ski jacket to Goodwill several months ago.  Julie is perceptive, and perhaps my facial expression might have tuned her in to to my thoughts.  In any case, she said "I have a wonderful warm down parka jacket you can borrrow.  Please do so, because you will need it."  Two days later I arrived at her doorstep to take her up on her kind offer.

We arrived in sunny Santiago on Tuesday Dec 20th in the early morning hours. Our next flight was late in the afternoon to Punta Arenas, which is in Southern Chile, and would be our introduction to Patagonia! (My trick to remembering the name of this town, Punta Arenas,  was "kick butt" or "punt your anus."  If you pronounced "punt-uh--your-anus", most of the locals would interpret it as Punta Arenas, so all would be good!)   "Savor the heat," was my mantra during the day in sunny Santiago, since I knew it wouldn't last for long.  Patagonia is well-known for it's windy, chilly temperatures.

We did arrive in the kick-butt town and were ready to embark on the trekking adventure!  Our first five days of hiking would be in the National Park of Torres del Paine, in Chile.  We stayed in refugios the 5 different nights, in 3 separate locations, which were very basic but perfectly adequate.  No complaints, after all, we were here for the hiking!

The weather was warm.  We hiked 4 days in Torres del Paine - covering a total of 46 miles.  It was gorgeous!  Short sleeve weather, and light weight pants all of the days.  I never did use Julie's down parka; which proves my theory: If you pack it you won't need it - but if you DON'T pack it you DO need it!

Our guide, Armando, was friendly and knowledgable.  The scenery was truly spectacular.

Our favorite refugio in Torres del Paine was our own private cabana where we stayed in Refugio Cuernos.

This was so much fun!   We enjoyed Patagonia (Chile), but also looked forward to the second half of our trip in Patagonia.  (Argentina -  to follow!)