Patagonia here I come!

Wilderness adventure number two begins today. I'm heading into Torres del Paine National Park in Chilean Patagonia for five days and four nights. This will not be with a guided group but rather I'm taking it on solo and hoping to meet some people along the way. From all reports I've heard there are lots of other folks since it's high time so I should have no problems. There will be no camping this time - I'll be staying in refugios along the way for the four nights - I assume it will be a slight step up sleeping and shower wise from my Inca Trail camping but then again I am not going to have porters carrying my stuff!

I'll be taking the 'W' route in the park covering about 70 kilometers. Hoping that the weather holds up and the views of the Torres are great and that I see some glaciers as well. On a map it looks something like this:

The kick off point is in a town called Puerto Natales where I'll get a bus into the park and let the fun begin. From Buenos Aires I took a three hour flight and a five hour bus ride yesterday to get here - it was all surprisingly smooth going! I thought the bus would be packed from El Calafate in Argentina to Puerto Natales but there were only like 10 of us. Bizarre given it's the high season but perfectly fine by me. As it so happens a friend from Google and San Francisco was in Puerto Natales when I arrived having just finished the trek herself. Hadas and I caught up last night and this morning on her experience and traded thoughts on Santiago and Buenos Aires. Pretty great to almost be at the bottom of the world and see a friend :) 

Heading out to pick up my bus ticket now, get a few last minute items and kill some time until 2:30 when I head out. No wifi in the park so I'll give a full report with hopefully lots of pictures upon my return!