Torres Del Paine, Part I

And so, as i promissed, the story of Torres Del Paine national park.
When we arrived in Puerto Natales, we stayed in a hostel, belogs to a guy called Juan, who basically rules the world. He quickly realized the potential of israeli customers, and learned hebrew. He owns half of Puerto Natales: he has a hostel, an internet cafe, bus agency, money exchange, equipment rental and what not.
The next day, after a korean ¨shakshuka¨ (made by the recepee of Jeehong Chan, a korean guy we met on the bus), we went to a lecture about the park Juan was givving. After the lecture we bought tickets to the park, and went to buy supplies for the trek. As it seemed, Alon and Oron were going to do the W (4 days) trek, while me, Roman, Sarit, Alex and Roee were going on the longer circuit (8 days +-).
The next day, we headed for the park, which was about 2.5 hours bus ride from Puerto Natales. At the entrance to the park, you have to pay 10,000 peso (100 shekels), and of course we saw a lot of israelis trying to get in without paying. It was funny to watch how the ranger spots them one by one and sends them to the booth to pay. After paying for the entrance, we had to pay a 1000 peso more for a minibus to the starting point of the trek.
Anyway, we finally made it to the starting point, and started the accent to the Torreses, which are three granit towers which are very beautifull during sunrise.
After a horrible accent, we finally made it to the first stop - Camping Los Chileanos. From there it was an hour to Camping Los Torres, where we were going to camp and then in the morning climb to the Torreses (another hour, but without the bags). While climbing to Las Torres, I suddenly found myself all alone - Roman and Jay were very quick and were first, I was 10 minutes after them, and the rest were 15 minutes after me. It´s a fun expirience walking in the woods all alone.
After setting the tent, we waited for everyone to arrive, and went to climb the viewpoint on the Torreses. We wanted to see them by day and at sunrise tomorrow. The climb was not easy but fun. A lot of boulders to climb and jump from one another.
After spending half an hour looking at the stupid towers, we went back to the camp to eat. When night fell, we found out that the quantity of stars you can see in the area is phenomenal. I think itñ´s the first time I saw the Milky Way, with the ¨black-spot-center-of-the-galaxy¨ thing.
That evening, we decided to divide differently between the treks. Everyone decided to go to the W, while only me and Roman continued to the full circuit.
The next morning, we woke up at 0530, and headed up for the lookout. The weather was as we ordered, not a cloud in the sky, and we saw the Torreses coulored in yellow, gold, red and every other colour possible. The view was fantastic, a lot better than in the evening.
After breakfast, we headed back to the point where we (me and Roman) were heading left, for the circuit, and the others right for the W. In the middle of the way, we re-divided our food supplies, said goodbye to everyone (we thought we´d probably never see them again) and headed off.
Right in the beginning of our descent, I almost lost my camera. It was connected to the waist belt of my backpack, and when i decided to take off my jacket, i unziped the belt, and the camera fell. The problem was, that it started rolling downhill instead of just falling to the ground as i expected. As a lightning, i ran downhill after the camera trying to catch up with it. At some point, it stopped rolling, and i found it hanging on a rock above a river. Of course i made a ¨taxkir erua¨, made a ¨vaadat xakira¨ headed by two 1st leutenants and the ¨maskanot¨ were to ¨leshapzer¨ the camera to the bag with another rope, which i did.
That day, we were supposed to go until Campamento Seron, about 4 hours walk from the place we started the trek, so after we returned to the beginning point, we had lunch and headed to Seron. The rest of the trip to Seron went without too much adventures. Near the camping, we were passing through a very beautifull valley. A valley like all others, but somehow the contrast of colours between the trees, the plants and the mountains wes very beautifull.
When we arrived at Seron, we found out that it´s a camping you need to pay 3500 peso to put a tent. To give a point of reference, in Puerto Natales, it costs 2500 peso for a bed in a room with a bathroom. Bu we were already used to Chilean goverment robbing us so we payed, made our tent, and started cooking dinner.
Next day, we were planning to walk 6 hours to the next camping (Lago Dickson), and eat lunch in the middle, where it was supposed to be another camping. After walking 3 hours, then 4, then 4.5, i started worrying about that camp and our lunch. It appears, they decided to close that camp so there wasn´t anything between Seron and Dickson. At that point, i was walking of food fumes, and everyting around me looked very tasty - the grass, the trees, the frogs... Finally we made a stop and ate, only an hour walk from Dickson lake. Dickson lake lies in a Beautifull valley (with a capital B). There´s the lake, and a peninsula which is making a smaller lake connected to the larger lake, and a river flowing out from the lake. To sum up, there was a huge glacier hanging above the lake. Awesome view. The camp was located on that peninsula.
That´s all for now, next time:
Who were the Dickson Gang? Is Che Guevara alive? Will they make it up the Paso John Gardner? Wait and you´ll find out. :)

Cheers,
Vova, El Chalten, Argentina.

P.S: as usual, i´ll send pics by mail.