March 15 Day 3 of W hike - The rumbling of the Frances Glacier - see my profile for pics from this day.

March 15 Day 28 Day 3 of "W" hike
 We had a much better sleep and woke up to a blazing sunrise over a sea of tents.  Our food was safe in the dining hall, but one hiker we spoke to said that he was up when they unlocked it and saw a fox run out after spending the night in there.  We had a decent breakfast, packed u pour tent and got on our way.
 The first leg of the hike was listed as 2 1/2 hours so we budgeted an hour more.  It was overcast and a bit windy so a few more layers were required after spending most of he first two days hiking in a t-shirt.  The trail was the easiest of our journey, with gradual ups and downs through bushy terrain by small lakes, with the ever present mountains looming above us.
 We got to Camp Italiano is good time.  This was the most rustic of the camps on the W, which had reported closed a few days ago because of "poo problems".  The septic aroma was present throughout the area making us sympathize with those camping there.  Outside of the ranger's office was a huge pile of backpacks shed by hikers planning to return to the camp after heading up the side trail towards Camp Brittanica.
 The trail to Brittanica made up the centre line of the W but was very difficult and long.  We decided to head up as far as our bodies would let us and were glad of it.  After about 30 minutes you emerged from the forest and spent the rest of your time scrabbling over rocky trails beside a churning blue-grey river.  The view was stunning, as you had an unobstructed view of Glacier Frances up the mountain.  We heard was sounded like prolonged thunder which turned out to be glacial avalanches.  From this point on we'd hear the rumbling about every hour until we got out of range.
 On the way we met our Brazilian friends who had been hiking from the other direction and had a grand reunion.  A little later we met our Connecticut friends who pointed out a visible avalanche during one of the rumblings.  We were heading to Frances Lookout, which looked to be close on the map and when we started people heading down told us it was just over 30 minutes.  After hiking for 45 minutes others coming down speculated it was another hour, so we turned around once we found a nice viewing spot and had a snack.
 Chile needs cartographers!  As we said, Frances lookout looked close on a map, but wasn't.  The wooden trail markers had random information, such as on our first hike it told us we had travelled 4km in less than an hour.  Then, 90 minutes later, it told us we had travelled 4.5 km.  We learned not to trust maps, signs and markers which is frustrating, as it's comforting to know how far you've gone and how much you have left to go.

 We headed back to Italiano, picked up our bags and headed down to Camp Frances, pausing whenever we heard the rumble of the glacier.  This was the most basic place we stayed at, with assigned platforms for the tents, two picnic tables in a shelter for dinner, an open washing area but a new, state of the art washroom/shower facility.
 It had been sprinkling all day and after we set up the light rain became steady so we crowded into the tiny dining area and managed to get a spot in between a quiet but interesting Swedish guy on his first major hike and a loud, young group of Koreans.  After dinner we retired to our tent and heard the rain stop, only to return with a vengeance at 5 am.

Another amazing sunrise picture at Paine Grande.

Meg in the scrubby forest.

Frances glacier from the base of the trail.

March 14 day 2 of W hike - icebergs and exhaustion

March 14 Day 27 Day 2 of "W" hike
 You'd think that this would have been the easiest of days, since we were just retracing our previous day's hike to form the first line of our "W".  Problem one was that neither of us slept particularly well and so got a fairly late start.  We still had lots of company for breakfast but many ambitious types were long gone.  The outside of our tent was crusted with thin ice and Meg had trouble staying warm through the cold night.
 After breakfast we decided we weren't going to do the long hike to a hanging bridge to check out the view as we weren't up for adding hours and hours to our hike.  Instead, we took a closer trail which led us down to the side of a lake close to the glacier.  We had a great view, could almost touch the little icebergs and had almost perfectly still water.  It was one of the most magical places on our hike.
 Back at camp, we struck our tent, packed our bags, made our lunch and used the facilities before going.  I returned to our table first and was taking pictures of a bird in the tree when some French guys came over and told us that this bird had taken our bread.  We knew that the loaf of bread was in our backpacks but then remembered our sandwiches, which  were no longer on the table.  Fortunately, the guys had seen the bird take them and drop them under a tree.  Our lunch was recovered, intact.  Even scavenger birds aren't fans of pbj sandwiches in ziplock bags.
 Overall, the food we brought was probably insufficient.  Most breakfasts were: a piece of bread, a piece of cheese, a hard-boiled egg and instant coffee.  Lunch was our sandwich.  Dinner was a boil in the bag main with some chocolate bar or cookies and a tea.  Trail mix was the snack on the go for the whole trip.  By the third day our belts were no longer keeping our pants up, probably an effective short-term diet plan.  Try it and let us know how it works for you.
 It was a bad day for me,  The cold had left me with no appetite and meals were  choked down with little pleasure.  On top of that, the backpack felt heavy from the moment I put it on, knowing it would be a solid 5 hours before I could drop it for the day.  My strategy was to take it off during hourly breaks, which felt good but made it really hard to get it back on.  At least the weather was on our side, as it was warm and sunny, causing us to break early to take off any warm layers of clothing.
 For our journey, you could just take yesterdays description and play it backward.  The tough bit going down was relatively easy going up and we had to turn around to get the best views.  The number of people was still large, most of them going much faster than us.
 Today it took 5 1/4 hours to do the 11 km the map said would take 3 1/2 hours.  We stumbled into the palacial Paine Grande camp with little left in our tanks and set up our tent close to the washrooms.  The sun heated and dried our habitat nicely while we waited for the showers to open at 6 pm.   I saw a fox not too afraid of all the people and wandering close to the dining hall, not a good sign on the food protection front.
 I got in the first shift at the shower and after a wait for the water to get turned on, the hot water did the trick.  I was lucky, as Meg tried an hour later and had to settle for cold water.
  Again exhausted, I headed to bed right after dinner.  it got quickly dark after 8 and cloud cover meant that there was no star show tonight.  A few people had distant music or loud voices but by 10 it was quite peaceful.  We were lucky again, as this camp had a reputation for high winds with many windbreaks throughout the site, but we had barely a breath of the stuff.

This is the bird that stole our sandwiches!

Meg close to the Grey Glacier.

Meg with some stunning local scenery.

March 13 Day 1 of W hike - Glaciers and Illness

March 13 Day 26 "W" hike day 1
 I wasn't feeling great but had no fever, so we trooped to the station to get our 7 am bus.  I was fun to see all of the backpackers in town converge there as the sun rose.
 The bus took us to the park entrance and then to the catamaran dock where we had a one hour wait, so splurged on overpriced coffees.  As we lined up for the boat, we talked with our fellow hikers.  A bunch had never done overnight hiking before and one woman was going through Patagonia by hitchhiking.  There were certainly all levels of adventurousness here.  As we boarded we stopped a few times and were worried we wouldn't all get on the boat.  Someone said that its capacity was 80 (we had several busloads of hikers, probably double that figure) but we all got on and it didn't sink.
 The catamaran ride went by some scenic spots on a lake full of little islands.  It was a bit of a crunch as everyone had to cram into a line in the main cabin to pay for the ride and all of the bags were far from the exit, making leaving the boat slow.
 After 30 minutes we landed at Paine Grande camp, which had a series of large, modern buildings and near hotel-like conditions for the glampers (not us).  We took a quick pit stop and got started on our hike at about noon.  Water could be had in any stream, apparently it was all good in the park as long as you took water upstream from the trail.  Neither of us got sick, so I guess it was true.
 The weather was nice and the first few hours were a gradual elevation with views of Grey Lake.  People were constantly going past us and coming the other way, it was the busiest multi-day hike we had ever seen.  Apparently they had limited the number of overnight reservations so that the park wasn't overwhelmed but it was still teeming.  We saw one woman with a wide-brimmed hat and figured that she would be in trouble with the legendary Patagonian wind, but she had the right idea.  There was little wind during our hike and my hat would have kept lots of sun and rain off of my head.
 As we headed north along the lake we began to see bright blue glacial icebergs in the water which became more and more common.  Occasionally we'd go through small wooded areas but mostly we were hiking through open, scrubby and rocky terrain.   At the summit of the trail, we could look over the lake to the glacier proper, which was cleaving the bits into the water.  Quite a view.
 On the way down from the summit we had the worst part of the entire trail as you had to descend along a stream of wet rocks with big jumps for a fair period of time.  After that it levelled off and we were able to spot the roofs of the Grey Campsite.
 As we walked into the site, we went by the main building with hikers out in lounge chairs with glasses of wine.  The camp area had a small indoor dining area and washroom with showers and a store that sold alcohol, eggs and basic food.  It was a much more elaborate setup than we expected. 
 We were told to set up our tent anywhere so we picked a flat spot in the corner of a field close to the dining room and set up our abode.  We set up our stove in the cramped dining hall and talked to a couple from Connecticut who had been hiking the much longer "O" route.  They warned us of losing some food to mice, who had ripped hole through their tent to get in.  after dinner, we put our remaining food into two garbage bags, tied them together and threw them over a branch.
 Most people were considerate but one idiot out a speaker out and was cranking dance tunes.  It stopped before we got to sleep thankfully.  Since I wasn't feeling great, I was in bed before 9 but had trouble sleeping for more than short bits of time despite my exhaustion.  When we got up to pee in the middle of the night, Meg said that the stars were incredible but I hadn't brought my glasses and so missed out on the show.

Meg at the very beginning of our hike.

A typical view during our day.

The Grey Glacier.

March 11 and 12 - last day on thr ferry and getting ready for our hike

March 11 Day 24
 Woke up nicely, had breakfast, washed etc.  The day was cool and overcast with the deck wet from some overnight rain and occasional patches of sunlight.  The hills here were more rugged with fewer trees and lots of scrapy rock visible.  We chatted with a Brazilian couple who told us of an upgrade to our upcoming hike which would give you a tent, sleeping bag and mattress on all of your campsite, freeing you from hauling, renting and packing all of those things yourself.  That was something to look into once we got to Puerto Natales.
 Light rain came down on us throughout the day.  The scenery was misty and we saw more snow and some glaciers up in the mountains.  After lunch Christian the yoga teacher played classical guitar while we lounged in the bar.  Everyone then gathered on the top deck to watch as we went through the narrowest part of our trip and emerged into an area with little rocky islands covered with stunted trees. 
 Our arrival in Puerto Natales was controversial as the website said noon, we were told 5 pm then 8 pm and then 5:30 again.  This was a problem for friends of ours who had booked lodging at the actual park and needed a shuttle, which would be hard to find into the evening.
 We docked a little after six and everyone had to get their bags ready by 5.  We then waited until the ramp was lowered and slowly drifted off to the lounge once we realized that it wasn't happening quickly.  They served us dinner in the meantime and we finally walked off at about 8.
 The town was definitely rough around the edges, with worn homes, graffiti and an abandoned school along our way but our hostel was warm, friendly and easy to find.  We met two ferrymates at the check in desk and as we had tea later some more came in who were just passing by and saw us in the window.  We also met Jeff, a Canadian who had ridden his motorbike from Canada and had taken a different ferry from a more remote location.  We had some fun conversation and then headed to our room.  Apparently, internet was down through most of the town, so nothing to do but read, wash and go to bed.
March 12 Day 25
 Today was a day to get  ready for our trip.  Unfortunately the cold wind on the Navimag had given me a sore throat, but I wasn't about to cancel our trip unless I was completely incapacitated. 
 We walked 15 minutes to the bus station to get our bus tickets and park passes.  We then tried to make an 11 am info session at Erratic Rock but got lost and then found out there was no 11 am session.  We had a long talk with the dude who worked there anyway and got some good advice on where to get gear and grub.
 On the way out we met our Brazilian friends who will be moving to Toronto and made plans to meet with them for dinner.  Then it was a hearty hot lunch for us (also to kill time as most places close from 1 to 3 for siesta) , a visit to the supermarket and then another (the first didn't have peanut butter) and a great dried fruit store for trail mixes and camping dinners.  We also got a new hiking pole and that took us almost the whole afternoon.
 One thing about Puerto Natales is that it isn't ruled by humans as much as dogs.  Very healthy strays are on every street.  There were two in front of our hostel, barking at every car that tried to park there and then spent the night sleeping in the living room area.  We were told that the locals feed them and maybe neuter them, as we didn't see any puppies.  Some had formed small packs but none were as intimidating as the packs we saw in Istanbul.
 We decided to rent our gear at the hostel as they had the same prices as everyone else and we wouldn't have to haul the stuff all over town.  We then completely repacked our gear, keeping our hiking stuff in the big backpacks and leaving everything else in storage at the hostel.
 We had a great dinner with our friends, who were doing the same hike but from the other direction due to trouble booking sites.  They had paid to use the camp tents, sleeping bags and pads but when we looked at that it would have cost us more than an extra $100 a night, which was too much of a hit for our budget.  We compared info that we had gotten and Meg mapped out their job searches once they got to Toronto.  They also recommended a place to stay in the Atacama desert.  We polished off a bottle of wine and ate well, then left for our respective hostels as the bus the next day was at 7 am.

In Puerto Natales with one of the godlike creatures that the natives dressed up as in their ceremonies.

Landing at Puerto Natales with the Navimag in the background.

A lonely island on our last, misty day on the ferry.

March 10 - Navimag ferry Day 3

March 10 Day 23
 The crew had warned us that the big bay we were crossing was going to be the roughest part of our journey.  It was relatively calm, but hours of constant rolling take their toll and Meg chose to stay in bad rather than risk having breakfast.  I couldn't sleep so got up.  There were thick clouds over the mainland and nothing visible but sea on three sides and land in front of us, where we would eventually leave the sea and tuck back into calmer channels.  Dolphins and seals were spotted far off the side of the ship and the air was refreshingly cool after our stuffy cabin.
 The tour of the day was to see the bridge, which was a mix of original equipment from the ship's construction in the 70s and modern computerized instruments.  The captain was there looking at maps and the mate was walking back and forth, checking everything over.  We looked at the depth map and the narrow channels we were going through were often 1000 m deep, which was surprising.  We also learned that the ship uses 25,000 litres of oil and about 15,000 litres of water every day, so huge tanks made up a large part of a ship like this.
 We also passed a wrecked ship.  Apparently an enterprising captain sold off his shipload of sugar and headed for a known submerged rock.  The ruse was that these channels can be more than 1000 metres deep and once the ship was sunk, the insurance money would cover the "lost" cargo and he'd pocket what he'd already sold.  The problem was, the ship stuck to the rock and with no sign of sugar on board, he was found out.  The ship has been left to rust and house birds at this point and our passing of it was an event that got everyone out on deck.

 We read, chatted with people and enjoyed the views.  We went by a ship stranded on a submerged rock, waited for slack tide through the narrowest part of our journey and visited Puerto Eden to drop off supplies.  One of our ferrymates said that it was one of the most isolated communities on the planet, several days boat ride from the nearest settlement.  We could see a walkway through the town, a bit antenna for wifi and phones, a navy base and streetlights.  Many boats came to greet us and left with what looked like only a few sacks of supplies. 
 The ship had some anchor problems which lengthened our stay in Eden so the Tai Chi class was late and the classical guitar demonstration was delayed until the next day.  The water was calm, sometimes like glass, all day with plenty of sun and great views of rugged, glacier-scraped mountains.
 After dinner we gathered for bingo.  The crew handed out pirate hats and balloon swords to get us into the bingo mood.  Meg and I actually won the warmup game which consisted of bouncing ping pong balls off of a table and into a cup held by your teammate and got two sheep fridge magnets as our prize.  Our friend Peter showed amazing skill, winning the first two bingo patterns we had to get.  We ended with about a half dozen karaoke songs led with great enthusiasm by our host, Rodrigo. 
 Before bed we headed outside to see the perfectly black sky due to the overcast skies.  It was warm and calm and we were the only light for probably a few hundred kilometres.  Bed was next and we slept very well with the gentle rocking of the boat and hum of the engines.

The abandoned ship, but not many birds that day.

Puerto Eden, looking like many other fishing towns.

Dressed in our finest for bingo night with our friend Peter, who turned out to be the king of bingo.

March 9 -Navimag Ferry Day 2

March 9 Day 22
 We slept well and Meg was all excited that they had porridge for breakfast.  It was quite windy out but that didn't keep Christian from having a yoga class out on the deck, making sure that people stayed on their mats so that they didn't end up in the ocean.
 The showers were hot and had a changing area, food was plentiful, there were lounges with comfy chairs and benches all over the ship for people to find their own space.  We were constantly passing rugged land, often with tress bent in one direction by the famous Patagonian wind.  All day I saw maybe 5 houses, everything else is pristine, looking the same as natives and explorers saw it hundreds of years ago.  Passing ships were rare, for the most part we were own our own with the water and scenery with nothing to do but chat, read, listen to music or whatever.  It was a nice setup.
 In the morning we had some dolphins splashing beside the boat.  Our guide called out "whale sighting" no matter what the animal was.
 In the afternoon our young guide gave a presentation on fauna which mainly consisted of putting up pictures of birds and telling us what colours they were.  More interesting was a presentation on Mate by a more experienced presenter. Mate is an herb brewed like tea and mixed with almost everything imaginable.  You may have seen mate straws, which  are metal and have a bowl that is spoon-shaped and full of holes to act a s a sieve.  It was bitter and strong but almost palatable when mixed with a bot of sugar.  Many health claims are made about it and for some reason it is most popular in Syria and Jordan. 
 After dinner most people went out to watch the sun set as we neared the open sea.  We had time to watch it, the colours were wild and albatrosses kept skipping across the water to get out of our way. 
 At 9 we had an interesting presentation by a Quebecois man on the Canadian north.  We could barely follow his French but many of his photos were stunning of Inuit people, travel in the north and animal hunts.  We then screened the film Neruda about Pablo escaping government persecution.  Interesting but trying too hard to be artsy and clever.  By the time it was over the ship was really rolling so we went to bed to sleep through the rough part of the journey.

The sort of views we had as we cruised.

People getting sun and keeping themselves entertained on the ferry.

March 8 - Navimag ferry day 1

March 8 Day 21
 We managed to get out of our room by 4:45 am and our taxi was waiting properly for us.  At the airport was had to pay for our checked bags but everything else went smoothly.
 When we arrived Puerto Montt we immediately noticed that the temperature had gone from 25 degrees to 5.  The transport into town was a shared taxi and traffic was pretty gummy but we got to the Holiday Inn Express where our fellow ferry passengers were gathering.  We chatted with some of them and the vibe was good, very friendly people all up for the journey.  We signed in, dropped off our backpacks and had 3 hours or so to explore Puerto Montt before we got our shuttle to the ferry.
 I first heard about Puerto Montt from a travel article in the paper referring to it as a place where many backpackers reported being pickpocketed.  The travel guide also mentioned escalated danger there as well as stating that the cathedral was one of the few attractive buildings in the city.
 We walked around the busy commercial centre of the city and visited a gallery in the Diego Rivera arts centre.  They had one room of landscapes and portraits but had a nice cafe with excellent orange juice and red current jam.  We tried to find Meg rugged sandals but failed and settled for lunch at a cafe with okay food and nice beer.  Our waitress had decent English and was Venezuelan, having escaped here with her family and managed to get a job.
 Our shuttle took us to the ferry and we hauled our bags to our room.  There were various levels of room, we had the second lowest with no window and a shared bathroom but a door to separate us from hallway foot traffic.  We had 4 bunks so lots of space to spread out our stuff and the beds were surprisingly cosy. 
 We napped a bit after our early morning and then went up for the mandatory instruction session.  We found out that there would be activities during the day as well as the basic safety instructions around fire and evacuation.  The ferry had no alcohol of wifi and advertised itself as a digital cleanse.  The literature also recommended that you bring that long book you've always meant to read along with you.  The cafeteria was nice and the upstairs bar (mocktails and 0.5% beer) had cosy couches and picture windows.
 There were many large outside decks with benches, a foosball table and a giant chess set.  Everyone was very friendly and from talking with people we heard that the ship was only at half capacity (100 instead of 200 people) and the forecast was excellent.  We were to have a less crowded and relatively smooth crossing and the crew seemed really friendly.  We also got the information that school was in (March is their September) so high season was effectively over so places and activities were unlikely to be fully booked and deals could be had.
 We didn't get going until 6 pm but the views in port were still wonderful in the bright sunlight.  People were taking pictures, lounging, enjoying the view and reading their books in the sun.  We watched as the ropes were cast off and a tug helped to push our ferry in the right direction.  We also saw a sea lion surfacing and diving as it made its way into port.
 The view of Puerto Montt as we were leaving was quite scenic as in the distance were a dormant volcano and a snow covered peak.  Also we progressed the view became more regular with water and land in the distance and we retired inside.
 We were almost constantly talking with our fellow passengers who were very well travelled and great sources of information.  Dinner was tasty salmon with interesting but not tasty seaweed stuff.  Water, coffee and tea were there 24 hours if we wanted it.
 We had an evening talk about the route we would be taking.  Our guide was still working on his English and many of his statements weren't really clear, it felt like is first time doing this.  He did inform us of the scenic and tricky bit along our route, where to take nausea pills and where to look for whales.  After the talk there was a movie that no one knew the name of but it was almost 10 and we had sleep to catch up on.

The tugboat captain does some squeegeeing while waiting to help us.

Sunset from the ferry.