"Turns Out".... PataGUCCI

“TURSNS OUT”….PataGUCCI:pre-Trip Planning

When I made the decision to come to Chile, there were a few reasons to pick this country.  I had zero clue about this country.  But I knew that not a lot of my class mates have been here, the health program is good, and that there is this natural phenomenon thing called “Patagonia”.

So I said ok. I came. I talked to a few kids in the program. Seemed like most people had interests in going to Patagonia. I was happy that I was not the only one with love for nature.

Weeks passed. Then my buddy Michal and I became good friends. Turns out that we both would die for our cameras (maybe we won’t go thaaaat far, but let’s just say that we love photography). Turns out that we both love hiking. Turns out that we both want to backpack Torres del Paine in PATAGONIA.  (DISCLAMER: This following sentence is a long one without proper punctuation….so take a deeEEEEp breathe).Turns out that while most of our other friends from the IES Abroad group is staying too travel for a couple of extra weeks after the program ends and that me and Michal are both leaving the every last day of the program and so we both are going to backpack this 71km together from this Thursday to next Tuesday. Turns out that Michal has experience backpacking and I don’t……(oh….I will be fine…..right? ).

In any other circumstance I would say ABSOLUTERLY, my body got this! (DISCLAMER: This is no such a circumstance). A few weeks back, thanks to our mad biking skills in Atacama (still worth it), I was diagnosed with Patella Femoral Dysfunction and Tendentious (induced by the Patella femoral dysfunction). Ahhhhhh. Yes, my keens suck. They have sucked and have continued to suck for the past 3.5 years. But the biking adventure just tipped it over the edge I guess. It hurt so much that I had to go see the doc. But I have been getting Physical Therapy for a few weeks now (Norman, my PT guy is AWESOME by the way). So they feel a little bit mejor (better).  

Me and Michal have been die- hard planning for this trip (and getting distracted while doing so) for over a month. Buuut, we just assumed that we could buy buss tickets from the airport to Puerto Natales and from Puerto Natales to the park entrance…..NEVER ASSUME-NUNCA (NEVER). Turns out that it’s a super long weekend and everyone is traveling. So naturally my “freak out- then work extra hard and efficient mode” turned on. Monica (what a nice human) gave us a few buss links. I went hard core for the next few days calling and calling. One company WILL NOT be having busses out that week (for whatever reason they did not want to disclose), the second had SOLD OUT (I slowly melted inside), and the third one required us to have a Chilean bank account to pay from (what?). But as usual Anita (The Santiago IES ABROAD MOTHER/GODESS that she is) came to our aid. We have all campsites  we need booked (partially thanks to Monica’s light shining news) except for one…..I paid…they just have NOT sent me the vouchers we need to camp out (Ahhhhhhh, slowly melting away on the inside). We will figure it out…I hope. Turns out I still have to buy food, duct tape, batteries, and an extra battery for my camera, among picking up our gear and trying to study for two tests and working on like three other assignments all at the same time…….

Breath. Breath child. Hopefully everything will TURN OUT K, and we will make it (and back!), and my knees will NOT give out half way through……...

Turns out I may not have the $ to carry me through rest of this semester…. Cause…. Turns out that backpacking is not cheap….(but I like cheap). Mane