By some magic, we made it to Paine Grande yesterday. Having spent the last of our pesos on dinner at Chileno, I was already panicking for how we’d get to pay the catamaran’s hefty $30 per person price. Cash only.
At Chileno, they told us that the Welcome Center at Torres Central had a bank or ATM. With that in mind, we trekked quick and early in hopes of magically finding a way.
It was – after all – a pretty incredible day.
We crash landed – tired – in the bar at Torres Central. There, we very quickly learned that a bank didn’t exist and we weren’t allowed to run cards for extra on purchases.
So. Very. Stuck.
While I attempted to not panic in full, Aaron attempted to not go hangry. We quickly had a plan.
He stayed in the lodge and ordered our food and drinks. I walked – bag-free – to the Welcome Center to ask questions.
It was a sleek silver building made of windows staring straight into the park. I asked a barista for ideas. Short of paying for other people’s stuff and getting paid back in pesos – it seemed we were screwed.
A woman returned to work the registration desk at a serendipitous moment that will forever change the outcome of engagement day.
The barista told her my problem. She winked at me and I followed her to a register.
She counted the cash available. I told her “I need two bus tickets too – if that helps.”
“It does,” she replied with a thick accent.
She explained that she’d charge me $48,000 for my tickets and be able to give me $42,000 in return.
“I try to help when I can. We see hikers stuck without cash too often.”
“That’s absolutely amazing.” I must have told her “gracias” at least 1,000 times.
I returned to Aaron a thousand pounds lighter. We ate our lunch, relaxed and caught our shuttle. At administración, they made us change buses.
Shiiit.
I only had pesos for the catamaran. No one had mentioned a second bus.
Side note. We’re currently sitting in the lodge at Paine Grande – sipping Castillo de Diablo with salami and crackers. We just helped a room of people shoo a bird back out a window. The world is generally good.
When we boarded the bus without paying, I thought we were home free. Snagging our bags upon exit, the driver started shouting in Spanish.
“No habla español,” I said.
He rolled his eyes and repeated himself.
Payier. Something like that.
“Pay?” I said. “How much?”
“Cinco. Cinco.” He pointed at each of us. I pulled two $5 bills out of my wallet – plus 5 $1s. Damn conversion.
He seemed satisfied enough to let us walk away. With my pesos still safely tucked away, we were going to make it.
We walked up to Paine Grande in the cold, wind and rain. Check in was in a miserably small room with a billion other wet and cold people. Somehow, we were steps ahead of the rush and managed a quick in and out.
Within 5 minutes – still in the rain – our tent was up. Fucking teamwork is no joke. We climbed in, shuffled gear and ran to the showers.
I miserably shivered through the locker room-style push-button women’s showers. Half dry – trying to save some of the towel for Aaron – I got dressed. Then, fast-walked through the rain and back to the tent.
Clean. Ish.
We hustled to the dinner hut and cooked one of our meals. We stood to eat among the 1,000 crazy people.
Fed.
We snuggled into our tiny tent at the corner of camp.
Sheltered.
For the first time since we left, I slept hard through the entire night. Right by my fiancé.
Day 5, by all comparisons, has been the most vacation-like day of the set.
We woke up at 6 am, said “good morning,” checked the time and rolled back over. Despite the tent in full day flow – we snoozed to the patter of rain sprinkling.
We finally rolled out of the tent around 8:30 am. Breakfast in the lodge was nearly over but we squeezed in just in time for toast, eggs, cereal, tea and coffee.
After, we watched a Netflix movie, then walked a 2-hour hike to Pehóe lookout south of camp. We did a little photo shoot, laughed and hung out. It was fun.
Back around 2 – we made lunch. Then, raided the mini market for “stickies and chewies.” We snacked in the lodge with 2 half-bottles of wine. And here we still are.
Epic rest day.
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