Patagonia - Day #1

 Patagonia- Day #1  —  Saturday, December 28

Coming to you live from the Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport in Atlanta, Georgia - the busiest airport in the world.  It’s 8pm - our international flight to Santiago, Chile continues to get delayed.  A previously scheduled 8:10pm departure has now been pushed back to 11:05pm.  

My buddy Greg and I are headed out for a 2-week adventure in Patagonia.   Patagonia is a region in the southern-most tip of South America - which lies in the countries of Chile and Argentina.  Patagonia is known for its glaciers, pristine lakes, and granite mountains.  It’s also known as one of the best hiking destinations in the world.  We have a 12-day itinerary setup with 2 separate excursions:   7-days on the famous W-Trek in Torres del Paine National Park and 5-days on the Fitz Roy Trek.   

Patagonia is an extremely remote destination.   Thereby - it’s not an easy place to get to.   Our journey started in St Louis - with a 1pm departure earlier today.  From Atlanta, we fly to Santiago, Chile - set to arrive at 10am local time on Sunday, December 29th.  We’ll stay in Santiago on Sunday and then fly to Puerto Natales, Chile on Monday, December 30th.  We have a guide service picking us up at the airport in Puerto Natales around 5pm on Monday afternoon - starting our 7-day Trek in Torres del Paine.  

For the duration of our trip, we’ll be in a time zone that is 2 hours ahead of the Eastern Time zone in the US.  It’s 8:37pm now in Atlanta - it’s 10:37pm in Santiago, Chile and Buenos Aires, Argentina.   

We’ll hike 45 miles on our 7-day trek in Torres del Paine and around 30 miles on the Fitz Roy Trek.  Seasons are flipped in South America - but we’re prepared for cold, rainy, and windy temperatures.  We’re told that weather is highly variable - so layering is critical.  

It’s been over a year since our hike of the Tour du Mont Blanc in Europe.  I’m pumped to get it going again.  Hoping to have some incredible scenery and meet some interesting people.  I’m going to blog daily and post when I have internet.  Let’s get it started!!