Constant State of Awe

For the past two weeks I have had a backpack strapped to my back and I LOVED IT! Like new addiction, already planning my next trip, could live out of a backpack for the rest of my life kind of love. So please come along and enjoy all of the highlights from my trip in Northern Patagonia. You read that right, Patagonia!

My friend and I started our adventure on the shore of the mountain lake in Puerto Varas. We were exhausted from our long bus ride from Concepcion and the walk to the campsite. We decided to call it a night pretty early and with our packs in the tent and our sleeping bags zipped up tight we went to bed. In the morning though we woke up to a not so great surprise. The hiking boots of my friend were stolen in the dead of the night! Yes that's right...night one...and her hiking shoes were stolen. She was left with only her flip-flops, which don't work the best for backpacking.

We were in good spirts though because there is always more good than bad in the world. I firmly believe that. Before we knew it our camping neighbors offered to drive us into town so we could buy some new shoes! With our hiking boots strapped on we headed out to see all we could! Our first stop was El Parque Vicente Perez Rosales. I highly recommend this park. There are volcanos on all sides and a lake filled with the snow melt from the mountain tops. The lake was a beautiful shade of blue that can only be described as a blue that makes you think of snow and winter. I LOVED IT!

After our time in Puerto Varas we hopped on a ferry and headed to Chaitén where our adventure truly began on La Carretera Austral, aka the most epic road trip in all of Chile and defiantly one of the top 10 in the world. No matter which direction I turned all I could see where mountains and forest and I was in love. Now we had a lot of ground to cover and wanted to move at a faster rate than our feet could take us so we hitchhiked. That's right I have now been a hitch hiker!

*To my parents and all of my grandparents: Don't worry we stayed safe and responsible, and if you still have concerns know that I made it back safe and sound. 

Our next stop was at El Ventisquero Yelcho, which is this beautiful glacier hidden off the side of the road. It is a short hike up to the lookout for the glacier and it is a fun hike. Never, and I repeat, NEVER do this hike with a pack. You will greatly regret it. The hike is filled with tunnels of low hanging branches that will leave you on your butt if you have a pack on and then to top it off the ground is muddy and parts of the trail are flooded with only small sticks used as crossings. Great hike, but be sure to ditch your pack somewhere off to the side before you get to far in. 

Day after day we worked our way until we reached Puerto Cisnes. With each day I feel more and more in love with Patagonia, my heart is in the mountains and there I find peace. One night we were walking from Villa Santa Lucia to La Junta and it was getting late so we decided it would be best to find a place to camp off the side of the road. This was by far my favorite spot and maybe my new favorite place in the world. A river ran at the base of the mountains We set up the tent and got cooking on dinner as the sun set behind the mountains. As beautiful as the view was *see below* the best part was yet to come. BEAUTIFUL, right?!

Once the sun set though, the stars came out and I have never seen something so beautiful and amazing. I wish I could of captured a picture of the stars but it was one of those moments that deserved to be engrained into my memory because a photo could never capture it. The stars shown so bright that it appeared like they were hanging so low I could just reach out and grab one. I was left in such a state of amazement that I could not help but giggle because I was smiling so much at the shear beauty of it all. 

By the end we hitch hiked and walked our way to Puerto Cisnes. From volcanos to glaciers, mountain lakes to temperate jungle, rivers to oceans, we made it. And again let me just say I LOVED IT! I cannot even begin to accurately put into words all of the beauty I saw. Every where I turned I was in awe of the beauty. 

At the end of the trip, even more so than the amazing views I was honored and blessed by all of the amazing people we met. There is always more good than bad for our one bad experience there were 999 good ones. God is good. God is so good. For two weeks straight we were blessed with endless sunshine in a region known for rain, we got to see the beauty of the world, and the beauty of people.

I loved every moment. I'll keep you posted when my next backpacking trip comes along. There is far to much information and amazing stories for me to put it all in one blog so feel free to ask me questions if you want to know more about everywhere I went on the way to Puerto Cisnes.