Kitesoul Magazine #27 Iternational Edition

keeps me heading into the unknown time and time again.
At the CONAF office at the park gate, a small miracle happens.
I manage to complete all formalities without anybody
asking me where I will be staying. And I’m in! The
next days undoubtedly turn into some of to the most
memorable in my travel life. I go for long hikes, like the
9hr trek to the Torres, watch herds of wild horses roaming
the steppe and find myself in the middle of a flock
of guanacos, a local wild kind of camel and ancestor of
the lama. There are even 60 pumas still living in Torres
del Paine! Uncountable times I just stand there, speechless,
unable to move, in utter admiration and awe of the
majestic beauty, incapable of turning my attention away
from marveling at Mother Nature, feeling in every part of
my body the stoke of experiencing this. Patagonia is infamous
for its weather and the extreme wind conditions
in the park are a legend amongst hikers. Wind gusts up
to 110mph regularly rip through the park, fierce enough
to lift a hiker with a backpack. During one of my hikes,
the wind turns in perfect Patagonian fashion from calm
one moment to hurricane-like the next. I’m lucky there’s
a lake upwind of my track and I’m able spot the gusts on
the water coming from afar, in time to brace myself for
the impact with all four on the ground, in order to not get
airborne. A fellow hiker isn’t that serious about it and pays
the price, with a gust hitting him so hard that he falls,
landing really unluckily with his wrist on a stone slab.
CHILE