torres del paine - W day five

GREETINGS! this is what i look like after 5 days of not showering

on top of... sweating and being covered in dirt 24/7

at least i didn't end up like jules ...

WARNING. this is not a strange tan line. his toes are covered in dirt.

so, i made it! i completed the entire W circuit through Parque Nacional Torres del Paine with an extremely screwed up knee. 

day 5: hike from refugio/campamento grey to refugio/campamento pehoé to catch the ferry to cross the lake and exit the park

we woke up our last morning at 6 am and were out of camp by 7:20 to hike the 4 hour trek back to Lago Pehoé to take the ferry at 12:30 pm across the lake. we would then bus back to Puerto Natales to some unkown hostel (we hadn't booked anything yet) and take the most needed shower my hair has ever asked for

this part of the trail was all backtracking because we had already made it to the tip of the W at Campamento Grey. i was a bit worried considering the day before was the most exhausted i had been the entire trip due to that seemingly never ending trail, so i made sure to get out of camp ASAP in the morning so i had 5 hours to get to the ferry, just in case.

i made it in 4 hours in the fresh morning air and had time to snack on the little food i had left in my pack (that i definitely did not want anything to do with) before the ferry arrived. after eating like a squirrel for five days, give me real food please! it was pretty comical, we all were trading each others food since we were sick of our own - "i'll trade you my orange for 2 slices of bread!" deal. i don't think i'll ever be able to eat nutella again.

all the hikers in line to get on the ferry

another beautiful day!

a quick video!

i would like to point out that the weather during our 5 day trek through Torres del Paine could not have been more perfect. zero rain, minimal wind, blue skies, and lots of sun. we were extremely lucky considering the weather in la antarctica chilena is so unpredictable.

the ferry ride out of the park consisted of ...

Rapha humoring us once again - writing typical spanish phrases on her arm to pretend to be a dumb gringa. "hola" "mucho gusto" "no entiendo"

still not sick of each other after 2 weeks of traveling! unless nat and rapha are just really good at hiding their emotions haha

all the camping packs piled on the boat

the wake 

some more incredible photo ops ...

and then back to being crammed on a bus with no air conditioning for the next 3 hours

but there were air fresheners!

hibernating.

guanaco!

on the bus we talked to a student who recently graduated from Willamette University in Oregon who was traveling through Chile alone and found some sugar daddies from Michigan along the way. they ended up paying for a lot of this kid's food and probably a lot more than that. lucky guy! he recommended us to stay at "Nancy Hostel" in Puerto Natales, which we were thrilled about because it was $2 USD less per night than where we had previously stayed, breakfast still included!

after our much-needed showers, we decided to splurge on a real meal for dinner. we ate at a restaurant called "La Picada de Carlitos". a picada refers to an inexpensive place (like a restaurant or clothing store) with still good quality products

i ordered salmón a la pobre - literally "poor man's salmon", 
because it is served with cheaper food like french fries, eggs, and grilled onions

after our huge meal we decided to go out for dessert! YUM.

<3