Adventure | Patagonia | O Circuit Day 1-2
Saturday, March 4: Puerto Natales to Torres del Paine National Park to Camp Central
I’m not gonna lieeeeeeee… I was so happy I didn’t have to wake up super early to catch my original 6am bus ride to Torres Del Paine. I got to sleep in again and hit the road at 12pm. Plenty of time for coffee and to fuel up, especially with the delicious breakfast buffet at my hotel. They really did a great job for hikers! Paola from Venture Patagonia would end up arriving at 11:30am to drop me off at the bus station and send me on my way to TDP to start my trek.
The buses heading to TDP surprised me. I wasn’t ready to feel that spoiled from a bus. We had outlets to charge our phones and extremely comfortable seats for the 2 hour ride. I was thoroughly enjoying it and just daydreaming looking out the windows wondering what this 8 day trek would be like. After about an hour, the bus pulled off onto the side of the road. I thought it was a midway stretch or the bus driver stopping to give everyone an opportunity to take pictures. I didn’t think much of it. After about 20 minutes and multiple people getting off and on the bus, I started looking around and wondering wtf is going on? Am I missing a view staying inside?
View from outside the bus
I made my way up from the back of the bus to see what the fuss was all about. To my surprise, there wasn’t really much to see. I immediately erased that thought and just pondered to myself that beauty is subjective. Maybe they really liked this view?! Beats me! I went back inside and another hour passed by. Just then, I see an identical bus pull up and our driver got out to talk to them. After about 20 minutes, they finally get on the speaker and fill us in with what was going on. Only problemo? It was all in Spanish!
¡TONTERÍAS!
ANOTHER hour passes and finally a new bus shows up. Everyone grabbed their stuff and joyfully ran to transfer. HALLELUJUH! I would later learn that the bus motor broke down and that it was, indeed, not a photo op. Bus breaking down means good luck, right!?!? RIGHT!?!?! Well, thinking that thought made me feel better : ) We would arrive at Laguna Amarga an hour later and see our first great view of the mountains. From there, we would take a transfer van to Camp Central. .
Laguna Amarga, Patagonia. NOTE: Make sure that you have purchased your park pass and/or have QR code ready upon your arrive. When you get to the main entrance of Laguna Amarga, you must register with CONAF (park rangers). From there, you will take the “Las Torres Shuttle” that will transfer you to the Visitors Center. The cost for me was 3 pesos
I would meet my first two new friends in Patagonia leaving that van: Vanessa from Hamburg, Germany and Vera from Amsterdam. I remember asking Vanessa to take a pic for me when we first got there and she was like you know what that means? You have to return the favor, as she jumped in my pic with me LOL! We all ended up walking and talking while heading to Central. Vanessa and I would split from Vera to set up our camping spots and explore the area a bit before dinner. It was so fun getting my first dose of Patagonia and learning about one another along the way.
At dinner, we got assigned a table with two more new friends,Woo and Kari, from Colorado and Montana. We all immediately hit it off! Vera ended up joining us at the end and we eventually migrated to another table to continue chatting and drinking beer. What I loved was how different the 5 of us all were, but how we just clicked and had so much fun together. After, Vanessa and I would walk back to our campsites and say our goodbyes. The O Circuit would begin for me the next morning and my 4 new friends would be heading in the opposite direction taking on the W trek.
My campsite at Camp Central
Sunday, March 5: Camp Central to Seron
Vanessa, Woo, and Kari would wake up early to go to the base towers while Vera and I had a slower, easier morning. I didn’t have to rush up to Camp Seron, as it was a short day and wouldn’t take much time to get there. I ended up eating breakfast with Vera and staying there for 3 hours having soul conversations about connection, energy, and manifestation. I loved our convo and felt so grateful to know more about her! She is a beautiful soul! We said our goodbyes, exchanged our numbers and Instagrams, and wished each other well. She was off to do the W and then proceed to solo travel throughout South America for 6 months. #GOALS
Camp Central to Seron:
This was one of the easier parts of the O Circuit. It would be a little over 8 miles to Seron with an elevation gain of 1,105 ft. Most of the day was spent in the rain and walking along an old road, grassy foot hills, and a winding trail that would drop me down along the Rio Paine. Even though I like being in the rain, I felt like the weather hadn’t let up since the day I arrived in Chile. I heard that the group that set off the week prior to us had absolutely horrible weather and I was hoping it wouldn’t be the same for us. Regardless, my only goal was to continue putting one foot in front of the other and remain optimistic. I was in Patagonia after all.
I eventually got to my campsite and was set up RIGHT in front of the Refugio. Danggggggggg! This campsite was OVERCROWDED! I would later learn this was because the base towers were closed and a lot of people hiked up to Seron to camp and they hit capacity. It makes sense looking back. There was even a 20 minute wait just to use the men/women’s bathrooms!
After setting my gear out to dry, I made my way into the refugio for my first meal of the backpacking trip. I would meet a man at my dinner table who was from Brazil and we began talking about the trail and his experience. He told me that he came to Torres Del Paine twice before to hike up to the base towers and both times had no success due to weather. Poor guy! I was hoping that third time was a charm for him. I would leave dinner and head to bed around 8pm…..or so I thought LOL!
The Journey Continues
In the next blog post, I will cover Day 3 + 4: Seron to Dickson; Dickson to Los Perros. Stay tuned!
Happy Trails! xoxo, Brooke
