lunes, 23 de febrero de 2009

Retainer? Check. Rain Jacket? Fuck

So for the first week of vacation (last week), I went to southern Chile with some EAP-ers (Tessa, Cara, Cassie, and Sonya) to see what it had to offer. And man, it didn't disappoint. We stayed in Puerto Natales for the first few days, which is a cute town that kind of serves as a launching point for everyone that wants to see Patagonia. On one of those days, we hiked up Torres del Paine (about 9 hours roundtrip), and although it was definitely strenuous at times (my joints would occasionally engage in screaming matches at me, especially the last hour and a half on the way there, where we had to continuously climb up these big rocks), it was all worth it for the view at the top. It was definitely strange going from one extreme climate to the next - in Santiago, it's so hot that my face is starting to look like a Before person in a Proactiv commercial, because my constant schvitzing is making me break out like no other. In the south of Chile, it's cold, rainy, windy, and unpredictable. Which means that your rain jacket is your best friend. Unfortunately, because we had to wake up at 4:45 AM to do the Torres del Paine hike, I was still halfway between dreamworld and reality, and thus, forgot to bring my rain jacket. Twenty minutes into our 2 1/2 hour ride to the start of the hiking trail, I realized that I had left it at home. By then, it was impossible to go back because a) we were on a tight schedule and b) that would have been annoying as fuck. So the whole ride, all I'm thinking about is that I'm going to be cold and wet and freeze my ass off while hiking. Fuck. Shit shit shit. Shit fuck. Fuck shit shit shit. Is all I'm thinking to myself. And you know when you do something so flaky, all you can think about is how dumb you are? And how easily it would have been to just have your shit together? Not good for the self-esteem. Which, in related news, I bought tickets to Buenos Aires the 27th (after my parents leave Santiago) to the 1st (when all the EAP-ers have to be back into Santiago), thinking that I would have a good 4 or 5 days there. Cara soon wisely and intelligently pointed out to me that the month of February doesn't work like that. And then it all hit me: February does not have 31, does not have 30, does not even have 29 most years, days in the month. So now I have to re-schedule my tickets on LAN for another date so I don't lose some money. But I digress. 

So recap: I forgot the most important item of clothing one could take up into the mountains. Then, ten minutes after discovering that I left my rain jacket, I realized that the ziploc bag that had my toothbrush, paste, and retainer in - the bag I was holding right before the shuttle came to pick us up - was in my backpack. So, I realized that in my moment of utter and complete disorientation and stupidity at 5:30 AM in the morning, I had somehow packed the most random thing you could ever pack up for a trek up the mountains without even realizing that I was wasting space in my backpack with something I didn't even need. So the joke of the trip revolved around the fact that I brought the least useful thing ever for a hike up Torres (a retainer) and left the most important thing at home (the infamous and absent rain jacket). So when you see a picture of me tagged on Facebook holding up a retainer, you'll know it's not because I'm a strong advocate of orthodontia. I ended up surviving the hike because the driver was nice enough to lend his own rain jacket to me, which I am forever grateful for. 

Oh yeah, and I got to see penguins (allegedly about 150,000 that live on the island) the last day of the trip. It did not disappoint.

For those of you guys too lazy to read this whole blog entry (hell I can understand, I've been known to be quite verbose sometimes) my trip can be summed up in these words and phrases: cold, rain, wind, early mornings, long days, beautiful landscape (¡paisaje!), amazing views, clouds, a present retainer, an absent rain jacket, a borrowed rain jacket, wine, pasta, macaroni and cheese that I thought was bomb after our hike because I was so hungry, actually upon second thought mildly disgusting, Pisco sours, chocolate, waterproof pants that made me look like an oompa loompa with a bubble butt, realizing brown and red articles of clothing don't really match that well, penguins, sunsets, a bus ride with a horribly mediocre Vin Diesel movie, damn it feels good to be a gangsta, "subiendose las piedras como arañas," enjoying the Torres del Paine view for only 10 minutes because it got so rainy and windy all of a sudden that we had to climb down before the rocks got too slippery, cute, warm, and friendly hostels, meeting a David Beckham look-a-like, packing the equivalent of a 15-year-old teenage boy's lunch for the hike (chorizo, salami, peanut butter and honey sandwiches, jugo, trail mix, breakfast bars, crackers galore), glaciers and  their respective moments, red onesie space suits, cute stray dogs, bus rides, boat rides, a zodiak ride, and reveling in the beauty of Patagonia.

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