Realisation of a Dream
Well I woke up around 1030 in the morning on Eastern end of Lake Sofia the and it was still very quiet. Because my camper van has no side windows and the fact I was using curtains, the van was very dark even though the sun was had risen. I woke up not knowing what time it was actually. I then yawned stretched and then turned on my phone to see what time it was. Holy crap it was like 1030 a.m. So I slowly unzipped my sleeping bag, slid open the rear curtain and I saw wonderful surprise. I could see snow on mountains. The lake had white It because it was still quite windy, but my campsite was beautiful..
So I got out of the van and I saw a tent behind a rock about 150 m away from me. That is who I saw last night as I pulled. Hope my high beams didn’t bother them.
So as I looked around inside the van -shit was scattered everywhere; nothing was organised well. I have a lot of experience van camping and go on long road trips so this did not look right. Rather than rush to get breakfast cooked, I completely organized the van into something that was more like a home.
I put stuff in storage areas I even put up in antarctic magnet showing two penguins on it. I bought this for the house actually for fridge at home, but considering the van on the inside was all metal it was a perfect place to put it for the duration of this trip. The gift I got for Rebecca, well one of the gifts at least, was a little stuffed animal penguin that I got at this British science station that we visited. Anyway he’s permanently seatbelted in to the front seat of the van. Well it’s sort of like Wilson from castaway. This penguin is my "Wilson".
Anyway, after getting that done I realize it was 12 noon and already lunchtime. So I’ll boiled up some water for porridge and coffee. The apple cinnamon porridge tasted really good considering I really didn’t have dinner last night. I also made a piece of bread with chocolate spread for it. That fill my belly nicely considering I had two packets of porridge.
As I was cleaning out my dishes from breakfast in the Lake water,
I saw a family Park there car on the other side of the rock from me. The father started playing with his son. They looked very happy together. I could hear them talking in there were Spanish speaking of course. So I walked over to them while playing and suddenly the mother walked over as well. I asked them in Spanish if I could take their photograph for them. They happily said yes. So counting to 3 in Spanish, uno, dos, tres, I then took one photograph of them. I told them, "Un momento", and took another photo of them were the same 123 Spanish countdown. The father shook my hand and said, “Muchas gracias mi amigo!”.
After this I packed the van up and made sure nothing was lying outside that van. And then double-checked the GoalZero solar battery that was charging off the car 12 V adapter. I made sure it was turned on so all my devices could charge. Once I left the Lake Sofia region I was driving in some very remote landscapes. Very very pretty roads and no other vehicles around. The road was all MINE! So I wanted to use my GoPro camera to make music videos while I played the music on my iPod. This will save me time will later vs adding in music using iMovie HD… ha ha I’m as being lazy and don’t feel like editing every single GoPro video that I have. Anyway I pick some good music for the scenery and will save it to show with friends. Here is a sample video of those. My music of choice is of course 80's music of some form or another;
I got to a point where I could go on a gravel road (to the left) or go right (to stay on a sealed road). So using my logic here I’ll see more from a gravel road vs. a sealed road...I did just that. Little did I know at that time I was getting myself into A rather interesting in long drive into no man’s land. However I was getting deeper into Torres del Paine National Park.
After driving for about two hours on gravel roads, my hard work was paying off. I could see some majestic mountains in the distance they resemble some that I’ve seen in National Geographic travel magazines. I was there! I am a happy guy!
So I kept driving along and a little ways and see this:
I’m totally honest when I say I cannot pronounce the names of these three mountains. I will learn Spanish well enough to get these correct… at some point. I stopped here for about 2 hours and marveled at the majesty of Torres Del Paine. The rest of the day seemed to be like I was driving around in circles because the maps I had, well seem to contradict one another. WTF?!
I have a Patagonia travel book I got from Amazon.com, a map given to be by the backpacker host, my laminated map from Amazon.com, and another one. So I still don’t know how I got into the park and how I ended up at a dead end. Now that was very frustrating.. Later in the afternoon, I was actually able to find park administration office. I would not quite call it a "visitor centre", but nonetheless it was civilisation. There was only one vehicle there, and one stop sign. Uh ok umm? So I drove up to the stop sign and stopped. Ummm well I waited around and nobody came out to meet me. A car came up behind me, stopped, and then drove around me and kept going straight. So I said myself, Fuck it, I’m going too.
I drove about 35 more minutes on a gravel road to finally make it to a place called Lago Gray, which means Grey Lake. Camping was allowed here, but it was pretty pathetic. I had to park in a parking lot. There were 10 vehicles there. I did hear a river but doesn’t sound too close. I locked the van and went for a walk. I walked for 10 minutes and saw a raging river. There was a swing bridge type thing there so I walked across it. How fun. I took a few photos and turnaround.
After getting back to the car, I went to the office to ask for assistance. As usual the person did not speak English. I try my best in Espanol, but it did not help much. I went down to the car to grab my maps. However a few people walked in before me. Luckily for me, one of them was an English speaking Western girl who was working there as a guide. I never got her first name, but she was very helpful. She gave me simple easy to follow directions to the best campsite in the park. And this is where I am now ha ha! I had to drive that same gravel road backwards to get there though. However there was a turn off that I missed that was the one that I needed to go on.
The second half of the drive to this campsite was the best. I was driving along a glacial blue lake and in the distance for those three majestic mountains. Soon enough I arrived at the campsite called, “Area de Acampar Pehoe” as the sign says. I pulled into the registration building, paid my 9000 pesos for one night which is about €10, I think?? Either way it’s worth it because this place is so beautiful. I think this is the best money spent for camping in a very very very very very long time.
So I got dinner ready because I was starving. I cooked a typical dinner for camping which is pasta, sauce, some veggies, some cheese, and for dessert I sliced A piece of chocolate cake then I had got at the large grocery store yesterday. So in short, I had a $5 meal, with a $20 million view. I took many photographs while eating.
The last one that I took was one of sunset with the orange skies to the west. Just about before I was about to settle in for the night, A couple from Finland walked by my area. I chatted with them for a wee bit as they asked about my red bivy sack that was put up outside the van. I told them I use it in all seasons for lightweight camping. I offered to take a photo of them in front of the mountains and they graciously accepted. I snapped two photographs, and they said thank you and good night to me.
I got back in the camper van it started charging my gadgets from my GoalZero battery system; things like my GoPro batteries, cellphone, GoPro remote Control, etc. At the same time, I backed up all my videos and photos to my portable hard drive and cleared off the Sim card for my GoPro. I got my GoPro selfie stick all ready for tomorrow morning when I get out of my sleeping bag.
Today was a magnificent day! It was everything I had hoped it would be in more for a day of driving around in Patagonia. I got empty roads, sunny skies, light winds, and photographic opportunities everywhere. This is only day two of my trip, So I can only imagine what the next 22 days Will bring… I’m very excited.
It's now nearing midnight as a finish this blog entry. One dilemma I have is do I stay here one more day or move on to the next great place on my road trip? Tomorrow if I do this, Will mean I have to go to the Chilean Argentinian border and do most highway driving. So even though the scenery could be good, it won’t be like this. Tomorrow morning I’ll analyse if I have time to stay here one more day. If I don’t have time, I’ll move onto the next spot which is called “El Calafate”. Everybody raves about this place so it must be really good! The big question is it better than where I am now? To be determined… go to bed… ZZZ
Daily Summary:
Today was a magnificent day. Far better than yesterday. Started out with great views, and ended with even better views. Seeing Torres Del Paine National Parque literally was a dream come true for me. It was a very emotional day for me as I was approaching this national park. I really hope the rest of my road trip goes like this. There is not much more I can say for a daily summary except to read my blog entry above. Totally amazing :-)
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| Lake Sofia on my GPS map. I am the little blue dot. |
So I got out of the van and I saw a tent behind a rock about 150 m away from me. That is who I saw last night as I pulled. Hope my high beams didn’t bother them.
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| Camping on Lake Sofia, Chile (this lake was NOT on any maps I had!) |
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| T.P., headlamp/torch, rubbish bin on curtain rod |
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| Multi-port 12v car charger / splitter for iPod and GoalZero Battery system |
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| My GoalZero Solar Battery with GoalZero 30 Watt solar panel (not visible) |
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| Mr Penguin "WILSON" (Rebecca's 33rd B-day gift from Antarctica) as my travelling buddy, Canon DSLR, and my trusty (or not so trusty!??!) map. |
As I was cleaning out my dishes from breakfast in the Lake water,
I saw a family Park there car on the other side of the rock from me. The father started playing with his son. They looked very happy together. I could hear them talking in there were Spanish speaking of course. So I walked over to them while playing and suddenly the mother walked over as well. I asked them in Spanish if I could take their photograph for them. They happily said yes. So counting to 3 in Spanish, uno, dos, tres, I then took one photograph of them. I told them, "Un momento", and took another photo of them were the same 123 Spanish countdown. The father shook my hand and said, “Muchas gracias mi amigo!”.
 |
| Everything all plugged in ready to turn it on for charging |
After this I packed the van up and made sure nothing was lying outside that van. And then double-checked the GoalZero solar battery that was charging off the car 12 V adapter. I made sure it was turned on so all my devices could charge. Once I left the Lake Sofia region I was driving in some very remote landscapes. Very very pretty roads and no other vehicles around. The road was all MINE! So I wanted to use my GoPro camera to make music videos while I played the music on my iPod. This will save me time will later vs adding in music using iMovie HD… ha ha I’m as being lazy and don’t feel like editing every single GoPro video that I have. Anyway I pick some good music for the scenery and will save it to show with friends. Here is a sample video of those. My music of choice is of course 80's music of some form or another;
I got to a point where I could go on a gravel road (to the left) or go right (to stay on a sealed road). So using my logic here I’ll see more from a gravel road vs. a sealed road...I did just that. Little did I know at that time I was getting myself into A rather interesting in long drive into no man’s land. However I was getting deeper into Torres del Paine National Park.
 |
| A gravel road within Torres Del Paine National Parque |
So I kept driving along and a little ways and see this:
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| This getting me excited. I can feel pulse increasing now! |
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| My dream becomes a reality now and a small tear of happiness rolls down my cheek... :) |
I’m totally honest when I say I cannot pronounce the names of these three mountains. I will learn Spanish well enough to get these correct… at some point. I stopped here for about 2 hours and marveled at the majesty of Torres Del Paine. The rest of the day seemed to be like I was driving around in circles because the maps I had, well seem to contradict one another. WTF?!
I have a Patagonia travel book I got from Amazon.com, a map given to be by the backpacker host, my laminated map from Amazon.com, and another one. So I still don’t know how I got into the park and how I ended up at a dead end. Now that was very frustrating.. Later in the afternoon, I was actually able to find park administration office. I would not quite call it a "visitor centre", but nonetheless it was civilisation. There was only one vehicle there, and one stop sign. Uh ok umm? So I drove up to the stop sign and stopped. Ummm well I waited around and nobody came out to meet me. A car came up behind me, stopped, and then drove around me and kept going straight. So I said myself, Fuck it, I’m going too.
I drove about 35 more minutes on a gravel road to finally make it to a place called Lago Gray, which means Grey Lake. Camping was allowed here, but it was pretty pathetic. I had to park in a parking lot. There were 10 vehicles there. I did hear a river but doesn’t sound too close. I locked the van and went for a walk. I walked for 10 minutes and saw a raging river. There was a swing bridge type thing there so I walked across it. How fun. I took a few photos and turnaround.
 |
| Swing bridge in Torres Del Paine National Parque |
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| Looking back towards the road I made a mistake on |
So I got dinner ready because I was starving. I cooked a typical dinner for camping which is pasta, sauce, some veggies, some cheese, and for dessert I sliced A piece of chocolate cake then I had got at the large grocery store yesterday. So in short, I had a $5 meal, with a $20 million view. I took many photographs while eating.
 |
| Camp dinner with a million dollar view in Torres Del Paine |
The last one that I took was one of sunset with the orange skies to the west. Just about before I was about to settle in for the night, A couple from Finland walked by my area. I chatted with them for a wee bit as they asked about my red bivy sack that was put up outside the van. I told them I use it in all seasons for lightweight camping. I offered to take a photo of them in front of the mountains and they graciously accepted. I snapped two photographs, and they said thank you and good night to me.
 |
| My bivy location for the night |
I got back in the camper van it started charging my gadgets from my GoalZero battery system; things like my GoPro batteries, cellphone, GoPro remote Control, etc. At the same time, I backed up all my videos and photos to my portable hard drive and cleared off the Sim card for my GoPro. I got my GoPro selfie stick all ready for tomorrow morning when I get out of my sleeping bag.
Today was a magnificent day! It was everything I had hoped it would be in more for a day of driving around in Patagonia. I got empty roads, sunny skies, light winds, and photographic opportunities everywhere. This is only day two of my trip, So I can only imagine what the next 22 days Will bring… I’m very excited.
 |
| Perhaps the best campsite in Southern Patagonia? |
Daily Summary:
Today was a magnificent day. Far better than yesterday. Started out with great views, and ended with even better views. Seeing Torres Del Paine National Parque literally was a dream come true for me. It was a very emotional day for me as I was approaching this national park. I really hope the rest of my road trip goes like this. There is not much more I can say for a daily summary except to read my blog entry above. Totally amazing :-)
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