pizza dude travels: From the End of the World

Where to start? This last month went by really quickly...spending time in Torres del Paine and Cochamo. We left Chalten right as an amazing weather window was coming to head to Chile to renew Jeromes visa. We stumbled into Puerto Natales slightly carsick and extremely disoriented but ready to climb with hopes of catching the same weather window that was hitting Chalten. Heres what I learned in the week we spent around Torres del Paine:

1. Climbing in Torres del Paine National Park requires a bunch of different permits and rescue insurance.

2. The permit office is closed on weekends regardless of how good the weather is about to be.

3. Bring a rain jacket for 5 days of trekking in the park (even if the forecast predicts perfect weather) or else you and everything you own (including your sleeping bag) will get wet and never dry.

4. From where the bus drops you off at the park entrance you can either walk another 5 miles just to reach the mountains or pay $50 to take a boat or taxi to skip this part.

5. Everything in the park costs money unless youre willing to walk a little further.

6. I really dont like walking a lot

7. Put your food where the mice cant get at it.

8. Tip the baggers at the grocery store or they will "forget" certain items in your bags and you wont realize it until the 2nd day of your trek.

9. You tend to lose a lot of weight without enough food

10. The return bus to town only comes twice a day making hitch hiking a better option.

11. The Kaweskar Hostel serves peanut butter with breakfast (the first ive seen in 3 months!!).

Besides my small lessons in travelling and trekking in Torres del Paine, I really dont remember much else and I think the pictures say it all.

I guess mice really do like cheese.

Fired up for 5 days of mayhem!

Enjoying a break in the rain.

Honestly, Ive never learned how to dive.

Another strange South American animal. They look delicious.

Endless glaciers. This reminds me of the Neverending Story.

Crazy sunsets. We are very close to Tierra del Fuego.

After leaving Puerto Natales we took a plane up to the city of Puerto Mont which lies only 7 hours from Bariloche on the Chilean side. 3 hours of motion sickening bus ride dropped us off in the tiny town of Cochamo that sits at the edge of a gorgeous fjord and rains 300 days out of the year. We stayed in Hostel Maura for a night and enjoyed by far the best homecooked meals ive had since arriving in South America. The next day was spent in a frenzy trying to get gear together before a local would give us a ride to the trailhead. There are no gas stations in Cochamo....the nearest is 70 km away. Most people hitch hike to get around or take one of the two buses that pass through each day.

We eventually arrived at the trailhead and set out on the 6-8 hour notoriously muddy hike up to Valle de Cochamo. With 2 weeks food and climbing gear, our packs were brutally heavy (we made the mistake of not getting horses...it seemed like a manly thing to do). After collapsing into the La Junta campgroud we managed a solid week and a half of climbing. More than a few times I found myself out on some well protected slab yelling to Jerome "Gahhh!!! WATCH ME!! ITS LIKE GLASS UP HERE!!" In hindsight the climbing was amazing and i want to come back. Silvana came up too. That was awesome.