Log Two: El Chalten
An Injured Knee…
After the W Trek I was left with a bum right leg. Blisters had erupted along the borders of my feet during the four day hike and in a sad attempt to ease the discomfort, my right knee and achilles tendon had over compensated. Some days my knee hurt more than others, sometimes my achilles tendon was as blissfully unnoticeable as usual, however, when they acted up, coupled or not, I was barely able to walk.
It was disappointing to be in such an epic place, trails leading in every direction, and have an injury that made it hard to walk around town let alone head into the mountains.
It rained thunderously all morning, so I took it easy with oatmeal, tea and some stretching. By mid day dark clouds loomed but the rain had finally stopped. I needed to get out for a little walk, hoping movement would ease the stiffness and stress trapped in my leg.
the best peaches ever…
Before heading off on this little hike, I passed by a fruit shop to see what was good. It was a beautifully simple store; one big table in the middle of a small room, upon which wooden boxes contained various fruit and vegetables. I was looking for some fruit to keep me company this afternoon and the peaches were looking particularly good. I got three and figured if they were really good I would come back after my hike to get a few more. I took a very juicy dive into the first peach and was met by the most delicious peach flavor and texture.
Something I noticed about the peaches here: all of the flesh has departed from the pit. This is something you never see in a store bought peach, where you have to pry the unready flesh from the pit. Moments like, walking (hobbling) down a trail eating three peaches in a row, caring not about the stickiness of ones hands and chin, are some of the fondest travel memories I hold.
For the rest of my days in El Chaltén I would visit this fruit shop for a daily bag of peaches and vegetables to roast for dinner.
on the way back into town…
I came across these three guys sitting and watching something. At first I couldn’t see what it was but assuming it was an animal I stopped walking, not wanting to be the one to scare it away.
They ushered me over and as I came closer saw all the fuss was over a deer. It was a beautiful animal, don’t get me wrong, and I am sure a Patagonian deer is different than your everyday joe kinda deer, but I had been hoping for a bear.
It was sweet that they were all so enthusiastic about this deer sighting. I snapped a pic of them, all in a row watching so intently, and continued on down the trail.
The sun came out for a moment…
During my hike the sun and come out and burned off most of the low, rain bearing clouds. When I arrived back in town it felt like a different place, people were crawling out of their shelters to soak up the sun knowing the forecast for the next two days called for more wet weather.
I spent the rest of the day hanging out at the hostel. The sunshine had been fleeting and another rain storm moved in quickly, inviting me to stay in and rest, after today’s short hike a very uncomfortable twinge had returned to my right knee.
I enjoyed many cups of tea, read some of a book gifted to me by my friend Zoe back in Santiago, a collection of New Yorker short stories, and met my roommate for the next few days: a Swiss woman who had been completely soaked through during a night out in the mountains. She was recovering and together we found places to hang her drying gear around our room. She didn’t speak much English and we both spoke broken Spanish, so she told me the tail of her mountain adventure in a hybrid of German and Spanish.
