November 15th
Eight a.m. came around, and I was waiting outside the meeting spot to find the message girl from Hostelworld, packed and ready for a day at Torres del Paine. She introduced herself as Regitze, a solo traveler from Denmark. Originally, she’d planned to come with a friend, but travel hiccups left her on her own with the rental car, so now it was just the two of us plus a Belgian guy from her hostel headed to the park for the day. Apparently, he’d gone out to grab some food, so we hopped in the car to pick him up.
When he walked out of the café, both of us did a double take and said, “Seriously? You again?!” It was Maarten–the same Belgian friend I’d hiked with in El Chaltén the week before! We cracked up at the coincidence. What were the odds? Of all the Belgian guys Regitze could have been referring to, it turned out to be the only one I’d already met. Too funny.
The three of us piled into the car and spent the drive oohing and aahing as we entered the park. Even though it was windy, cold, and drizzly, we tackled a short, unassuming hike—and it led us to one of the most jaw-dropping views I’ve ever seen. We all agreed: some of the most incredible spots are the ones you don’t see coming.
By 1 p.m. we were finished with our hike and ready to warm up, so we stopped at the singular little cafe in this corner of the park. It was crammed with soggy hikers who had come on the bus and now had hours to kill before their ride back to Puerto Natales. Among them were a couple of Americans I’d met at my hostel. They spotted us, beelined over, and started chatting. Before we knew it, they’d invited themselves into our car for the ride back. None of us had the heart to say no, but let’s just say the comfortable and laid-back ride we’d been enjoying quickly turned into a much louder, more energetic one.
By the time we got back to town we were all drained. After a shower and some downtime, I grabbed tacos with Regitze and Maarten in the evening. We spent the meal cracking up over the day’s unexpected twists and turns, including our overly chatty tagalongs. At least it made for a memorable adventure.
