Verena & Jan auf Weltreise

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We stayed only two days in Santiago de Chile and took the plane to San Pedro de Atacama in the north of Chile. San Pedro is an oasis in the driest place on earth – the Atacama Desert! While Verena was too lazy to move, Jan rented a mountain bike to explore the desert. He asked for a map but nobody had one. So he decided to drive without. After exhausting 45 minutes and passing the “Quebrada del Diablo” – the “Devils Canyon” he arrived the tunnel. The way became more and more invisible. After another hour of biking Jan decided to go back, but missed the way and got lost. He turned around again and realized how dangerous the desert can be, especially without a map . Jan orientated himself by the sun and the volcano “Licancabur” close to San Pedro and finally found his way out of the desert after a few moments of desperation. Verena welcomed him with mingled feelings, one the one hand she was happy to see her crazy boyfriend again, but on the other hand it was too late for the afternoon tour “valle de la luna” – “Moon Valley”.
Nach nur einem Tag Aufenthalt in Santiago sind wir mit dem Flieger nach San Pedro de Atacama geflogen. San Pedro ist eine kleine Oase inmitten der trockensten Region der Welt – der Atacama-Wüste. Während Verena bewegungsfaul in der Hängematte des Hostels blieb, schnappte sich Jan ein Mountainbike und wollte die Wüste erkunden. Er fragte nach einer Karte, es gab aber keine. Also machte er sich ohne Orientierungshilfe auf den Weg. Nach anstrengenden 45 Minuten hatte er die Teufelsschlucht passiert und erreichte den Tunnel. Der Weg wurde zunehmend schwerer erkennbar und nach einer weiteren Stunde beschloss Jan zurück zu fahren, verpasste jedoch den Weg und verirrte sich. Er drehte erneut um und bemerkte wie gefährlich die Wüste sein kann, insbesondere ohne Karte . Jan orientierte sich an der Sonne und dem Vulkan “Licancabur”, der in der Nähe San Pedros steht und fand letztlich aus der Wüste heraus – nach einigen Momenten der Verzweiflung. Verena empfing ihn mit gemischten Gefühlen, einerseits froh, ihren verrückten Freund wieder zu haben, andererseits war es nun zu spät für die Jeeptour zum „Tal des Mondes“.

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Santiago – where is Verena? – click here for english

Verena in Santiago! Das neue Album “Santiago – wo ist Verena?” ist nun zu sehen unter “See Us!” Dort gibt es 16 Bilder, die verschiedene Plätze in Santiago de Chile zeigen. Auf wie vielen Bildern ist Verena zu sehen? Sende die richtige Antwort per Email an schreib@einmal-um-die-welt.de oder hinterlasse sie als Kommentar unter dem Artikel und gewinne u.a. einen dieser unglaublichen Hauptpreise:
1. Preis: Eine nagelneue Mercedes-Benz E-Klasse (W212) in Weiß, mit Autogrammen berühmter BDC-Projektmitarbeiter
2. Preis: ein siebenstündiger Diavortrag von Verena und Jan mit 6.735 Bildern der Weltreise

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5 days of trekking. 35kg backpacks, 4 nights in a tent, 65km walking trails and 31 amazing pictures.
Pictures are online already –> “See Us!”

After a big day in El Calafate we drove to Puerto Natales in Chile. This little town is the entrance to the spectacular national park “Torres del Paine” (=“Blue Towers”). A very famous hiking track in the park is called the “W” and means a 5-day walk through different valleys with amazing landscapes and breathtaking views. The whole park covers 180.000 hectares and the variety of different vegetations leads to a large presence of mammals like pumas, condors, guanacos, flamingos and an enormous bird fauna.
Click here to go to Torres del Paine Nationalpark
After a long bus ride, we arrived the town at 10 p.m. Our hostel was overbooked so we had to find a new one. We ended up at another hostel with a weird owner called Omar. He looked like a child-eating ex-prisoner, but close to midnight we had no other chance. The next morning, surprising Omar baked fresh eggs for breakfast, helped us to plan the trip and was really friendly.
The first day started at 6:00 a.m. We drove to the park and caught the catamaran to cross the lake that we could start from the beginning of the “W”-circuit. This way takes 5 to 6 days, covers 80kms and is about 35 hours of walking.  Verena carried 13 kilos (8 kilos more than in NZ) and Jan had 23 kilos. The backpacks were full of food, a tent, sleeping bags, mattresses, clothes, cooking facilities and lot more stuff. After the first day we realized that the information signs for time & distances were not really realistic. We always took more time with taking pictures and enjoying the beautiful scenery. We finally came across windy lakes and a mirador (lookout) of the Glacier Grey after we stopped for lunch. It was a stunning sight to see the Glacier in the sun. The 1^st day stayed sunny all day with only a few high clouds and strong wind much better than we could have expected in Patagonia. The night in the tent was uncomfortable and full of noisy wind around us. The 2^nd day we walked the long distance of 18km – too long for not well experienced hikers. Marco got pain in his knee and Verena had aching muscles. Therefore we decided to make a shorter walk on the 3^rd day. We arrived at the camp after a 5 hour hike at 3:30 in the afternoon and had enough time to relax.
The 4^th day Marco stayed at the camp to recover his knee so Verena and Jan walked alone the next long way. A light drizzle started to fall as we trekked along the mountains followed by sun, followed by rain, by sun, by rain … Verena nearly got a nervous breakdown while changing clothes all the time. We were done when we arrived the last campground before the three high towers of Torres del Paine. The next morning we were too lazy to start at 4 a.m. to see the sunrise so we went up 5 hours later but the view was still amazing. Finally we were happy to make the long track and met Marco at the bus station. Furthermore we enjoyed the shower and fresh clothes and a big “bife de chorizo” (Steak) in the evening .

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