December 14 - The Adventure Begins

I woke up on my feet with a phone in my hand, saying "Hola?Hola?" How quickly I convert to the native tongue.

It was 5:45 a.m.—our wake up call. I was in such a deep sleep that I had incorporated the ringing phone into my dream. In my half-dreaming stupor I believed I was having a conversation with my Aunt Betty who was taunting me by not revealing her name and urging me to "guess who." As I shifted into consciousness I realized I was holding a phone and listening to an alarm-style "beep, beep, beep."

We made it to the airport for our early flight without event. Security in the Chilean airports is a joke. As long as you're not carrying an ax or an uzi in plain view, you're pretty much okay to board any plane.

The flight from Santiago took across some of the most beautiful mountains I've ever seen. The Andes looked so much like the mountains from the flying monkey drawing I recently completed. I was mesmerized. Their beauty was expansive and completely enthralling. They were a rich gray with deep dark brown undertones. Turquoise rivers wound through the snow-capped peaks. Signs of human life and civilization were nowhere to be seen.

We had an hour to ourselves before our Active South America tour guides showed up. We ate at the only restaurant in the tiny little Punta Arenas airport. It was probably the best food we had on the entire trip. Creamy soups and humongous sandwiches the size of my head.

The remainder of our group had stayed in Punta Arenas overnight and met us at the airport with our guides. We divided into two groups and began our drive to Puerto Natales. We quickly learned a little about our travel companions as we drove through pasture after pasture of sheep. I was so excited to see all the sheep. I've been drawing sheep for a few months now. It started innocently enough as an exploration of my fear of herds and just grew from there. Seeing the sheep in their element was a nice surprise.

We soon arrived at "the end of the world"—Puerto Natales. The town has obviously benefited greatly from its proximity to the national parks. Tourism is a huge industry in Chile. Many of our guides have studied in universities to gain degrees in tourism. Were it not for tourism, I can only imagine that Puerto Natales would be a forgotten shanty town.

We spent a quiet Sunday afternoon walking around the city, taking photos, browsing the souvenir shops and talking to the stray dogs down at the pier. The buildings in the town were all painted in a gorgeous color palette that seemed unique to the region. Turquoise. Yellow-green. Mossy Lime. These colors repeated themselves throughout many of the towns of Chile. Despite the run-down nature of the town, it has a certain appeal to it. It is very genuine and welcoming. And I'd love to go back for a couple of nights if I'm ever planning another trip to Torres del Paine National Park.