Two cabs, two planes, and a three hour bus ride, and we are only one more hour and a half bus ride away from the park entrance.
We are staying at a very nice hostel (Sheuen) and the crowd of young guys who run the place will be feeding us breakfast in the morning. We got a room with a shared bathroom, but no one else is staying here, so it’s kind of like we are staying at a mini chalet. They have a guitar for guest use, which I find charming as hell. I think we both aged out of their mean demographic a decade or two ago.
It is colder, wetter, and windier than expected, so I’m going to have to buy some more gear. I’m hopng to limit the purchases to one pair of fleece lined shell pants. I’m already a pack, winter jacket, and fleece up. Plus, it’s $60,000 pesos for the bus and another $10k for the park entrance (already paid for all that, but still). Patagonia, much like the brand named after it, ain’t cheap.
We gave ourselves a day for acclimating, outfitting, and plotting, so after a visit to Erratic Rock tomorrow (a kind of local REI famed for it’s three-o’clock talk), and a final gear check, we’ll sleep one more night in a proper bed, and catch the bus to Torres Monday morning.
A park map. We’re hiking the W.
Here’s where the gore-tex and wicking polymers meet the road. Here’s where my backbone meets my wishbone. Let’s see what forms in their Fertile Crescent.