The crew spent the morning attaching a few more bits to the truck and at lunchtime we 'rolled' (Pete speak). We were heading for Torres Del Paine national park, a trekker's paradise but would be breaking the long drive up with a bush camp. A short stop at El Calafate for the crew to buy supplies and us to revisit a great little 'helados' shop (ice cream) we found the last time we were here.
Until Pete can make something to stop the windows rattling, Clarins Beauty Flash balm seems to do the trick
Vanessa (V to me) had already reserved me as tent buddy and both of us being not much over 5 foot tall, this camping lark seemed like a better deal than for these 6 footers. Pete went down one track only to be foiled by 'Mr Fence' but in the end he found a spot that seemed pretty sheltered amongst the vast and mostly flat landscape. We get allocated with a tent for the duration so there's no busting your tent and passing it off on someone else. All named after pubs, mine and V's tent is The White Horse. Robin's got The Woolpack but despite my love of Emmerdale, won't swap. Git.
So, we were just watching the tent demo.....when the Patagonian weather did its thing and it started to rain. Those on bag duty had already unloaded our bags and some people had started putting up tents (those who had used this type before) so rather than see bags get wet and tents blow away, we all scrambled to get our tents up asap. Then followed an hysterical sight as the rain got harder and the wind picked up. At one point, soaked to the skin (note to self to have waterproofs handy next time), V went off to get a bag to stick in the tent to keep it in situ while we pegged it, leaving me bent over double as I tried to stop the tent flying off. It was so bad it was funny and we later learned that that is about as bad as it gets. What an introduction to bush camping! The weather calmed down as quickly as it had come (grrrrr) and after clubbing down a lump we had pitched our tent on (a plant) with a bottle of red wine which Duncan was sauntering past with, we were glad the tent was up. Ken set his tent up about 10 feet away from where he planned to, courtesy of the wind, and as it turns out, on the bones of some dead animal. Nice!
Bathroom facilities are pretty basic on bush camp.......here's a shovel, go find a hill or bush :o). Dinner never suffers for the lack of a campsite though and we again ate well with a veg soup starter and a main course I now can't recall. We pumped up our roll mats and tucked up into our sleeping bags for the first time and it seemed pretty warm and comfortable. I think the wet cold had got to my bones though (as they say) and I got progressively colder until I could only do a shivering inhalation to breath. Awake till about 5am, freezing cold, unable to breath like a normal person, I started to question what I had undertaken and whether I would be able to hack it. Come the morning and a hot drink, V and I decided we were going to nail this camping thing. I acquired a fleece liner from one of the crew, decided the hot water bottle would be my bed fellow whilst camping in Patagonia and we rolled on out to our next stop.
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