The waiting game!

We left Bariloche on Saturday morning (over a week ago) and stopped in El Bolson (2 hours away) to check out their famous hippy market. It was really neat. We spent the day there and one night. Our hostel was really nice too, it was slightly out of town which meant we had to catch a bus but it was well worth it. On one of our trips into town we actually got a ride with a man in an ancient red Peugeot. In retrospect this may not have been the safest decision but we made it safe and sound so it was an adventure instead. The car was really cool and ancient. I was in the ¨backseat¨ which wasn’t really a backseat because there was no distinction between the ¨seat¨ and the floor. Sandy, who was in the front seat, was sitting with her faces centimeters away from the windshield. The gear shift was so old, I had never seen anything like it, the guy had to pull a rod in and out to change gears. The man dropped us off near the market. The market was really neat with everything handmade and lots of hippy-ish people walking around.

The 3 days between El Bolson and Puerto Natales the name of the game was the waiting game. We did a WHOLE lot of sitting and waiting and not a whole lot more.

The 2 hour bus ride to El Bolson was barely a warm-up for what was to come. After El Bolson, the waiting game got way more intense. We waited for the bus to El Calafate. We sat on the bus for 26 hours. We waited for the bus to Puerto Natales. We sat on the bus for 5 hours. We waited at Argentinean customs. We waited at Chilean customs. We worried that they would confiscate our dried fruit. We got to Puerto Natales and planned for our hike. Groceries and gear. We waited for the bus to Torres del Paine. We sat on the bus for 2 hours. We waited at the National Parc entrance. We sat on the bus for 30 minutes. We waited for the Catamaran to take us across Lago Pehoé. We sat on the Catamaran for 30 minutes. We waited in line to buy a ticket for the Catamaran. We waited in line to get our bags. We waited in line to get off the Catamaran.

FINALLY arrived at the start of our hike, but it was worth every minute of waiting and sitting and standing in line (next blog will be all about the hike!)