Day 1 of the "W" trek
Thg "W" trek is called that as it is roughly the shape the trails make in the mountains. It seems to be universally called a 5 day trip since you spend 5 days in the national park but, are only actually hiking for 4 of them.
Wainting for the shuttle I was watching these guys. The are relatives of llamas, called guanaco.
Bunk room.
So, day one was get on a bus and go out to the Torres del Paine national park. They have an interesting bus system for this. You get a ticket but that doesn't guarentee you a spot on that bus so when the bus shows up, its a bit of a mob scene (note: this is not true for other Chilean buses, your tickes assigns you a seat like on an airplane). Anyhow... We made it on the bus and got to the park (about 2 hours on mostly dirt roads) and from there needed to find a shuttle to our Refugio (more on what that is shortly). Apparently we did not learn our lesson on the bus since it took us missing a couple shuttles before we got on one. The shuttle was a dusty bumpy ride in a passanger van with bad breaks and out packs in a little trailer full of road dust. The park was way more casual feeling than a national park in the US, but the system seems to work.
Refugio los Torres.
The refugio was great! It kept us from having to have tents and sleeping bags, camp stoves and all that. This one was bunk style, 6 to a room. The was a mens and womans bathroom with hot showers and a cafeteria area for breakfast and dinner. We also got a sack lunch each day. The food was simple but filled us up and kept us going.
We met a group of english speakers who we continued to talk to throughout the trip. People were very nice for the most part.
View waiting for the shuttle.
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