Monday, January 20, 2014

Trekking Patagonia

Patagonia looks like nature the week after God created it. Land swelling like it had been lifted upward by some great surge, snowy mountains like fortresses, rivers that run as far as the eye can see, vast open skies that make you want to lie on your back and just absorb it all. Breathtaking nature that reduces us to a state of wordlessness. It fills you up inside and there are no words to contain what you see, no pictures to capture the sense of awe that stops you in your tracks and makes your whole body say WOW! 

Awakening to the view of Paine Massif mountain range along the shore of Lake Sarmiento in a dune-shaped hotel and spa was a perfect way to start the year. Clad entirely in bleached lenga wood to blend unobtrusively with the spectacular landscape, the eco-friendly lodging hugs the earth's contours.

You come to Patagonia to walk. It is one long endless walk surrounded by snow-capped mountains, glacial lakes and skies so full of fluffy clouds you hardly see the blue between. You fill your water bottle from streams, hike for hours to stand in the shadow of majestic mountains, hear the thunder of avalanches up in the peaks and struggle to walk in whipping winds that blow snow sideways.