Today I wake at 5am to leave as soon as it gets light, as another poor organisation call means that I have to walk an extra hour and a half on the end of my day that most people get a shuttle for. Yay!
Admittedly the sunrise over the mountains is quite nice.
The walk was largely uphill and as I went up I met people who had gone up to the peak (the Torres) for sunrise, something I couldn't do as my refugio was too far away for me to be happy walking 5h uphill in the dark with pumas about. I got jelly as the weather had been amazing for a sunrise with no clouds, and one of the groups of people I bumped into contained all my newly met hiking friends.
I kind of ran up the steep last bit as I could see clouds coming in and threatening to obscure the Torres. I bumped into my middle aged couple buddies who had tried to get there for sunrise but missed it by 20 mins :(
Luckily I made it up before clouds ruined everything and it was breeaaauuttfiylll (can't even spell it in my enthusiasm).
The photo describes it better than words can.
I had a soppy moment walking up there as I saw yet another lovely view down a valley and felt strongly that Katia was next to me (obviously not literally). I got a bit emosh. At the Torres I made little stone piles for Katia and Emily and had a nice Remembering Moment for each of them. I think both of them would appreciate the view.
I got back to the refugio and lay on the ground listening to the last of my cheerful audio book about a doctor dying of lung cancer. A classic holiday read.
On the way back I had to walk a bit further along a horrible dusty road without a view because another solid organisation call meant I didn't time my buses properly. Luckily I accidentally hitchhiked while standing to let a private bus past and he picked me up and took me! While waiting for the actual bus I had a long conversation with a computer scientist guy from Venezuela. I got home and had a shower. I was tired. I fell asleep.Read more
Chile