“Our back-of-the-envelope calculations suggested that, with a little creativity, we could possibly stretch our few remaining pesos over thirty-one days and four countries. During the next few weeks, we would define our general path: south to Río Gallegos, west to Mt. Fitz Roy, south to Torres del Paine, Chile and eventually to Punta Arenas, north up the Chilean coast to Santiago and ultimately on to Cusco, Peru and west to the ruins at Machu Picchu. At that point, we would go our separate ways.”

“As you can imagine, we are both pretty excited about this opportunity to explore three diverse South American countries. The first leg will take us down to Mt. Fitz Roy in Argentina and Torres del Paine in Chile. The journey north will take us up the Chilean coast, through Santiago and on to Perú. Hopefully, we will reach Machu Picchu by Christmas Day before making the turn for home around New Year’s.”

“We both passed out for the first hour of the flight, as we were worn out with all of the last minute details and pre-departure preparations. After midnight, the leggy brunette azafata brought us trays of pasta salad and hot dinner rolls. Andy opted for the tinto while I pounded three glasses of agua sin gas. It was lights out again after dinner until we arrived in Río Gallegos at 2:45.”

“We were told that we would need to go south to Puerto Natales, Chile, which is the gateway to the Torres del Paine National Forest. Similarly, El Calafate is the Argentine departure point to world-famous Mount Fitz Roy. Unfortunately, we would now have to backtrack to Rio Gallegos, from whence we just came, in order to make the six hour zigzag trip down to Puerto Natales. Now instead of going back to Rio Gallegos, we will probably head west to Glaciar Moreno tomorrow for a touristy day trip. After that, we will head north to Mt. Fitz Roy for a more substantial three-day trek.”

“At 10:30 we arrived at the Chilean border where we crossed via the Paso Río Don Guillermo and switched vans. Of our original gang of eight, Andy and I were the only two continuing on to Torres del Paine that afternoon. The other
passengers were all going to Puerto Natales to spend the night. We did, however, pick up one extra passenger named Carlos. Carlos was a sharply dressed businessman from Madrid who was just taking a scenic tour along with our driver, Pablo. From his RayBans and khakis to his polo shirt and pullover, it was obvious that camping was not on Carlos’ agenda.”

“Finally, around 15:00, after a three and one-half hour total trek, we made it to the base of Glaciar Gray. Once there, we sat down at the Glaciar Mirador where the view was spectacular and majestically silent. If you’ve ever found yourself face-to-face with a 2,000 year old glacier, you know the feeling. The great white-and-blue mass was truly awesome. Pieces of the giant slab would fall to the icy waters below approximately every five minutes. We relaxed, ate the rest of our trail mix and took several photos over a one hour pause for reflection. At 16:00, we decided to make the return trek back to base camp.”

“For musical enjoyment, we take turns humming the bass lines of our favorite techno anthems until the other person recognizes the song and starts humming along too. It’s sort of a warped variation of Name That Tune, because, oddly enough, we don’t know the titles of the digital tunes or the names of the artists. But that’s the beauty of electronica: those things are trivial. The only things that matter are the purity and the timing of the beats. And while we are loving the great outdoors here in Torres del Paine, we are both looking forward to eventually hitting the boliches in Santiago and balancing out the critical trail:techno ratio.”

“So with bellies full and minds swimming in Seventies retro, the eighteen passengers aboard the Love Mercedes were united in musical and transportational harmony and eventual deep sleep. At 18:30, we were dropped-off at the Tourism Center in downtown Puerto Natales. Inside the little one-room office, we were able to find out four important words about available direct bus service north to Mount Fitz Roy: It does not exist. Once again, we would have to go through El Calafate. Back in the States, there is a saying that when you die, you’ll have to change planes in Atlanta. We wondered if there was a similar joke down here about changing buses in El Calafate.”