a walk in the park
i think my ankles are stained brown from the dirt that accumulated on my body during the week backpacking in patagonia. i scrubbed and scrubbed in the shower this morning, but to no avail. a small price to pay for the trip of a lifetime. i could try to describe torres del paine national park. attempt to put words to the turquoise blue of the lakes and the vastness of the glaciers and the jagged peaks covered in snow and the dramatic weather that made it all the more impressive. i could do my best to recount the full gamut of emotions and experiences we had while on trail, from mouth-open astonishment at the wonder of this part of creation to the pain and exhaustion felt trudging up that one last hill after a sixteen mile day. but it would all fall short. so here are some pictures that won’t at all do the trip justice, but sure will come a whole lot closer.
our first view driving into the park
forget forest fire warnings. apparently the planet’s largest hole in the ozone layer sits right above the park. it’s like speed tanning.
day 1: two hours of hiking and three hours of laying in my sleeping bag napping in the sun.
i really love meadows
icebergs!
glacier grey
los cuernos
throughout the day there were falling avalanches of ice and snow that sounded just like thunder
day hike in the french valley
los cuernos
guanacos
success! las torres. five days and fifty miles later.
an incredible trip. i can’t imagine a better way to finish off the semester. and now i’m bustling around, trying to cram as much time in with my host family as possible and attempting to perform a suitcase packing miracle before flying home saturday.
