Chile

So after our dinner with Victoria and Rodrigo and we and they retreated to our tents for a very special night in our 42 degree tent with the plop, plop of rain drops.

Sunday arrives. Amit’s twenty-something friend Mehdev has planned our hike for day 2. As I have Alltrails, my job is to navigate. Having downloaded the next two days, I get up, have a Refugio breakfast of creamy scrambled eggs, bread, juice and much needed cafe and examine our route.

We need to almost back to the welcome center take a short cut and then do another 11 miles to the Frances Refugio. Looks like 14 miles and 1,808 climbing feet. Love you Mehdev!

Frick and Frack should have thought this one through. It was a long hard day in the saddle. We waved good bye to Zwetka and Sebastian, who had been our Refugio saviors, at 7:05 am and would not reach our bunks until after 7;02 pm. Over 12 hours.

The day started in light rain but as the day went on it got better and better. We retraced our root (almost the the welcome center) taking a small shortcut to the route to the Frances Refugio. Then the fun started.

The route involved one climb after another in steep grades. Much of the route was scree, or loose stone, making the going slow. Amit, bless his little heart, had ignored my repeated advice to pack an 18 pound backpack and lugged up each incline a whopping 30 pound load (including a full bath towel), So much fun! Poor Samwise.

Our hearts were set on an intermediate Refugio, known as Cuernos. It gave us a goal and made the miles less daunting. I miscalculated the lack of water along the way so by the time we got there we had already run out of water. One way or another, we never picked up our boxed lunches so we were ready for a good lunch. Well deserved!

Cerrado. 4:39 minutes into our hike we arrive. Cerrado. No people there but a man sawing wood. Cerrado means closed and closed it was. At least they had a faucet. Not afraid of begging (my travel Spanish is not bad) we made a lot of sad noise until the worker agreed to give me a slice of his meatball pizza and Amit received an orange. Only 3.5 hours of hiking ahead, Frick and Frack set off.

Those last miles were very special. [Pics 8 and 9 ] show light scree and more typical scree. [Pic 10 ] shows Amit crossing a stream (one false step and he would have been swept out to the lake!). [Pic 12] Amit on a suspension bridge (only two “”max” allowed). With that 30 pound bag, the suspense was killing me. Then, to add to the fun, the trail took us through paths with water flowing down then [Pic 14]. But wait, there’s more. Three trail segments were just steam beds. We dodged from rock to rock trying to avoid mud. One time we had to hold onto a branch to swing over a stream.

Finally, at 6:16, we arrive. Sort of. The reception booth is there. It turns out no dinner reservations exist on our plan and none are available. We can enjoy the frozen pizza that can be warmed up at the “cafe.” The “instructions” to our “Domas“ show it is a few hundred yards away. [Pic 18]. We trudge down over the bridge we were told about and find only tents. Amit is done, so I park him in the cafe, ask some hikers and 200 yards down a steep muddy road (chewed up by their maintenance carts) I find our Domas and the restaurant. The restaurant guy, miraculously, is the same guy who checked us in. He checks (again - “autrovisa”). No love.

I get us our bunks, go back to the restaurant and “t’amo” Jaquine is there and voila, yes, two seats are available! Day saved!

I trudge up the muddy hill retrieve Amit and we go onto to have a great evening at our table. British/US hikers on my left and a honeymooning Israeli couple on my right. Even after Amit left we kept chatting. Stellar end to a tough day.

So I ask. Was it worth it?Read more