It was a one and a half hour trek uphill to get to camp. It was raining but still warm - too warm to put our hoods up so we both had wet hair. It was a slog and we didn't stop to admire the view it was just head down and keep going. Martin had the handicap of carrying the one backpack we took.
We were too early to check in but both keen to have a hot drink. Even though it was £3.60 each I paid up at Reception and got a ticket to take to the woman guarding the mug cupboard. Two black mugs containing liquid were given to me. Which is tea and which coffee I asked? There's the instant coffee in that pot - you put it in. Oh ok. And the tea? Did you get a teabag when you paid? No. You need to get one to put in your hot water. Oh ok. And where is the milk? You didn't ask for milk when you paid. I didn't know I had to. Your ticket doesn't say milk. *Gritting my teeth* Ok but your sign here says it's one price whether you have milk or not. We don't have milk. Pardon? We don't have any milk. Grrr.
Well that wasn't a good start. Then it got worse. Check in starts at 1pm and we were told by the Receptionist that campers checked in outside and she was only checking in people staying in the hostel. There was no one outside. I queued up again inside. The couple in front of me were campers and she checked them in but when it came to my turn she refused to check us in and said the person who checks campers in will be 20 minutes - he was a no show. After 40 minutes she actually started checking campers in so I had to join the queue again. What a palava.
We got to our tent and were pleasantly surprised by the thickness of the mattresses and the quality of the sleeping bags.
After settling in we still had hours until dinner so decided to climb for another 1.5 hours to the base of the Torres. On the way up we met a couple of Irish lads walking down who we had chatted to on the shuttle bus. They had come in just for the day so that's 6 hours of hard trekking and four buses out at 7.30 and back in town at 22.00. And unfortunately this was the view.
It cleared up a bit later and we felt sorry for the boys.
Supplies for the accommodation in the Park comes by boat from Puerto Montt, then lorry to the base of the trailhead then up by horse.
We had to pay for full board - not even campers can cook their own food so all our meals were served in the dining area. All of my meal vouchers had my allergies noted on them and the kitchen had been informed. The others had chicken soup and I was given hot grated beetroot type soup - same as the vegetarian at our table. For mains I was presented with a huge horrid vegeburger. The vegetables to go with our dinner were all in one serving dish containing peas. I told the staff I wasn't vegetarian and they did swop the meal but couldn't offer an alternative vegetable.
We retired to bed early after a good hot shower. We slept relatively well - we were warm and comfortable. (I have to confess I had thermals on and thick socks oh and a fleece jumper oh and a bandanna.) We were disturbed by people at 4am who were trekking up to see the sunrise. Neither of us fancied that having walked the path already - it would be awful in the dark.
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