To Patagonia and back...

I'm back! Phew. In the last week, I've spent 48 hours on 6 separate planes, 10 hours in buses, and 5 days of unbelievably spectacular hiking throught he Patagonian Andes. Wow. That is one short, intense vacation. We left LA, flew to Atlanta, ran onto a flight to Santiago, Chile, and then ran again 9 hours later to a flight to Punta Arenas, which is about the last major city you can fly to above Antarctica. Landing at Punta Arenas, the plane wobbled back and forth as we had the first of a 7-day-long experience of howling, blowing winds...the Patagonia winds are famous for their intensity and unpredictability. On at least one night, we wondered if our cabin would simply be blown away, as the wind howled like a massive hair dryer and pushed through every crack in the walls. It was intense. We really lucked out on this trip - other than the wind, we actually had terrific weather - mid-40's to mid-60's, with overcast, but not rainy days for most of it. Perfect hiking weather, which we needed, given that we were doing upwards of 10-15 miles each day with a full pack on our backs. Ah, the scenery. We started our first hike at 5AM, and went up...straight up...ending in a huge morraine field (btw, if you ever see the word "morraine" when you're thinking about a hike, just turn around) where we scrambled over massive boulders up to the Torres Del Paine. Huge mountain "slices", pointing up into the clouds, made an excellent climax to our first hike. Then down, back to the hotel, for lots of unremarkable empanadas and assorted meat dishes...but, far better than that, was the company of our good friends, and so we played cards and dice, drank amazing Chilean wine, and generally chilled. For the next 4 days we hiked, up and down hills, around lakes, past thundering glaciers, up mountains and through crystal-clear streams. We talked, we snacked, we stopped for a zillion dramatic photos (which I'll upload soon). As the nights progressed, our accomodations became more sparse - we started at a 'luxury' hotel and ended up in a tiny room with 4 bunk beds. Surprisingly, I liked the rustic accomodations so much better, as we bonded with fellow trekkers over wine and food, compared notes about who snored the loudest, and so on. The last day, we ended up ice trekking on Glacier Grey, a massive (receding) sheet of ice dropping down into a cold, iceberg-soaked lake.  And then we ended up at this amazing oasis of modernity in the sleepiest little town in Patagonia - the Indigo - which was the coolest example of modern yet local architecture I've seen in a while. We sat in the 3 spa pools on top, soaking out our muscles, and had one last meal before we headed back to the busses and planes. How short, but how sweet. I missed the kids, but I also treasured the time alone with my wife and friends. Much needed.