Halo Jorg

Last Friday at 3 pm Erratic Rock held it´s daily Torres Del Paine talk, where you learn about the various hikes, from one-day to 10-day treks. I decided to go in hopes of finding a trekking partner.

Since I only had a week in Puerto Natales, and 5 days in the park, I figured the whole circuit of 130 km was out of the question...this takes about 10 days. So I was set on the W, which takes 4 or 5 days.

When the talk ended, I sauntered up to the map of the park, where loners were asked to gather to find partners. A short, frumpy guy from california walked up to me asking if I wanted to do the W...he looked like he´d have a rough go of the W and talk a lot - the latter which was far worse. Standing behind him was a tan, curly-haired german guy, Jorg, wearing a State Radio sweatshirt. He said very few words other than that he thought we could do the circuit in less than 6 days. And so I found my partner.

Things happened very quickly after that, since we´d have to board the 730 am bus into the park the very next day - Saturday. So I ran to get laundry and cash and we met back up at base camp - what erratic rock calls their gear store.

We made a shopping list, packed, and headed to our separate hostals for a good night´s sleep - the last one we´d have in 5 days.

Then I made the mistake of going to this pizza joint in town, around 10 pm.