Chile 2011: New Mates met during the Trip

Meeting new people, for me, is the greatest part of a trip.
This trip to Chile, I met incredible people, that meeting them was one of the nicest thing in this trip.
This post is attributed to them.

Paula (Chile) was my host from Couchsurfing on my first night in Chile, at Santiago. She was a nice and informative girl, easigoing and nice to talk with. She was a PhD student on microbiology in a national university in Santiago. She had a nice couch to sleep on :) She even cooked me dinner! She welcomed me warm even after my plane was delayed for 12 hours. Thanks, Paula.


Kate (US) and Jasper (Netherland), a very nice and caring couple. They met each other during their trip to Cambodia they said. Met them at Torres del Paine since we planned exactly the same schedule for the W trek. Kate often teased me about not getting lost in the way, and often offered me food! :)

Cathryn (Australia) is a so so nice and cool lady, fun to be with and easygoing. We stayed in the same hostel Singing Lamb in Puerto Natales and we walked together on Day 1 to Refugio Grey. We shared the same room in Refugio Grey for ourselves. On Day 2, we also partly walked together to the Frances Valley. We took the same schedule of W Trek so everynight we had dinner together. She said that she would take also the Navimag ferry trip, but I didn't saw her on the ship, so I guessed she met a charming prince and changed the itinerary?! :)

Nicolai (German) is the person who will be a leader in the future, I believe! He has charm that people gather around him. And he can talk for hours without stop, never lack of subject to discuss. He is intelligent and fun to be with. We walked together on Day 5 from Refugio Chile to Laguna Amarga. He was traveling alone, in a very economic way, by camping and bought food from the groceries.

Amber and Bob (New Jersey) is a really cool couple. At first when I saw them in Refugio Grey, I thought they were hippies, and scary people seeing their Amber's tattoo and Bob's earing. But, like people say, don't judge the book from the cover. Getting to know them better after a lot of talk and spending meals together, I got to know that they are a very nice and caring people. Amber is a very intelligent and philosophic lady. She lead a hot discussion on religion on our last day at the El Living, the subject she took on her graduate study in UK. Bob didn't talk much, he is kind of simple, kind, and sexy guy. They were also in the same schedule on W with me, but they stayed outside in the camp site, even though they took hot meals from the refugio so that we had dinners together. We walked together in the last section from Hotel Las Torres to Laguna Amarga.

Secyl (France) and Martin (German) is a genious couple?! working in the same company designing airplane. While Martin was a calm and quite; Cesyl is energetic, positive and funny, or rather crazy :p We walked the same schedule on W, then we met again in Punta Arenas to take the penguin trip to Isla Magdalena. We had a nice last dinner in Punta Arenas in a nice restaurant after getting lost riding unknown public bus together.

Summary

My highlight in this traveling (25Feb-14Mar 2011) was trekking "W" route at Torres del Paine National Park, and getting on 4 days ferry trip through Patagonian fjord in Chile.
Flying from Qatar by British Air and American Airlines, after stay over at UK to see my friend, and stay over in Dallas due to plane delay, finally I entered Chile on 26 Feb 2011.
Stayed in my couchsurfing host, Paula, for 1 night, the next day I walked around Santiago city.
I flied to Punta Arenas, a city in south Patagonia, then by bus went to Puerto Natales, the city where acted as the connecting point to the famous national park Torres del Paine.
I had been planning to do "W" route trekking before I went, I planned day by day, reserved my accommodations at the refugios (mountain hostel?!).
I started the 5 days trekking at the Torres del Paine on 2 March 2011.
In 5 days, I walked and walked, walked 4 hours in the first day, then 7 hours on the second day, then 13 hours on the third day, 12 hours on the fourth day, and 7 hours on the fifth day.
(I was glad I did jogging since 2 weeks before I went... :p)
However, the view was really rewarding.
The dinner at the refugio after long hour walk was really amazing.
And meeting people during the trekking was great.

Here are the happiest moments during 5 days trek:
1. Looking at Lago Grey glaciers at the end of first day trekking, said wow many times :)
2. Dipped bare naked alone at night in outdoor hot water wooden tab at Refugio Los Cuernos, with magnificent peaks of Cuernos del Paine in the back, Lake Nordenskjold in the front, under the stars, I was happy alive :)
3. Having hot dinners in the refugios after trekking with good new mates, Cathryn Kate and Jasper, Secyl and Martin, Amber and Bob.
4. Looking at Torres del Paine, the crown of the park during the sunrise.
5. Trekking along the river in Frances Valley, between the magnificent Paine Grande snowy mountain which the glaciers cracked every 10 minutes, and the gorgeous jagged peak of Cuernos del Paine.

And the saddest things:
1. Lost in Frances Valley on the way to Camp Britanico.
2. Walking in the dark alone on the way to Torres del Paine peak at night to see the sunrise.
3. Sore feet after a long walk.

After 5 days trekking, since I had time before my 4 days ferry trip, I decided to return to Punta Arenas and see the penguins in Isla Magdalena. 5 hours trip to the island with a big ferry.

4 days ferry trip with Navimag started on 9 March 2011.
I didn't expect so much and was a bit regret before I went, but finally I was glad I did it for experience.
I upgraded my cabin to 4 persons in a cabin with window by paying with my old USD 50 travellers cheque.
I planned to write travel diary during the trip, but somehow failed... :p
The happiest moments were when we came to beautiful view of fjords with mountains and islands, the a great glaciers, and pretty rainbows. I saw few dolphins, seals swimming around, birds flying around and blue whales from far. Also socializing with people, especially my encounter with Oga, the only Asian mate on the boat. And dancing with the locals in the last night.
The saddest moment was 12 hours being shaked in the open sea (Pacific Ocean). I was seasick and vomited all my stomach contain, then I had to lay still on my bad to avoid being nausea.
They said the wave was only 3-4 meters, which was normal.
I couldn't imagine when the wave 12 meters during the storm...

Then in the third day, the captain announced the earthquake in Japan, a big one he said...
He had no further information at that time...
I was also far from internet connection for few days after the trip then found out that Miyagi the area where I lived during my 4 years school had suffered the most in this natural disaster...

New Mates met during the Trip

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