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One afternoon during my visit to the Torres Del Paine area I headed out along a remote stretch of Lago Nordenskjold to explore and search for unique vantage points. I parked my car in a small pull off from the dirt road, and under passing clouds and no winds, I set out. About 3 miles down the shore of the lake, following the cliffs along the way, at the farthest visible point of the lake, I could see some signs of water spouts and mist being kicked up from the surface of the lake. The winds. They were coming. In a short amount of time, the lack of a single breeze, turned into me hunched down close to the ground, trying to maintain my balance in what I can only guess were 80-90 mph winds. These were the strongest winds I had encountered during my time in the park… or ever really. In the same moment, I noticed something really spectacular happening with the light as beams of sunlight broke through the cloud shelf, channeled through the space between Cuerno Principal and Estes, and lighting up the saturated squalls as they raced over the lakes surface. I tucked in behind a small ridge I was near, pulled out my camera, and crawled up and over on my stomach, as if I was in war, advancing over my cover to take aim and fire at my enemy. I could only manage to lay on my stomach and brace my camera against my face with my elbows on the ground to hold it steady enough to fire off a few shots before the passing winds would spit a wall of spray into me and my lens. I managed to capture the moment, and while I don’t think this composition is the best that could have been constructed in the area, considering the conditions and the fleeting opportunity, I’m pleased with what I came back with. Something to remind me of what ELSE that happened on this day.
After retreating back and finding shelter from the wind behind a rock, I began to wonder if the wind would die down anytime soon. I would not be able to walk the 3 miles back to my car in winds like this. Eventually they did however, and I began my trek back. I was coming up the final hill to where my car was parked, which soon came into view. I was still a distance from it, but I noticed something odd. The rear passenger window was down. Huh… I don’t remember leaving the window down. Wait, I DIDN’T LEAVE IT DOWN. I went into full panic mode thinking the worst had happened. Theft. And I had a LOT of gear sitting in the car. Gear I needed for the rest of my trip. I ran the rest of the way to my car, and upon reaching it, sure enough, the inside of the car was FILLED with tiny blue green shards of shattered glass. Surveying the scene in panic, trying to figure out what was taken, something occurred to me. Everything was in the exact same place I left it. But if someone broke into my car, why didn’t they take…
Turning 180 degrees I faced the direction the wind had been ripping through the area not long ago, and there before me, on the ground was a sea of small rocks covering the pull out area from the road, like gravel. The winds were so brutally strong, that they managed to pick up rocks, flinging them at my car. One of them shattering my window! I was in a bit of disbelief that it was possible, but it was the only explanation. Shock, wonder, amazement, frustration and then disappointment all rushed over me as I put the pieces together. I still had a week on my trip, and I was a good 5 hours from where I rented the car from. And if you follow me on facebook, you may know about my abhorrent record of bad luck with rental cars. Another tale to tell!
I drove back the campground, and through hand gestures and broken english, managed to get a piece of cardboard, a trashbag, and packing tape to cover up the window until I got back. Crazy day, and just another crazy story from an eventful and exciting trip to Patagonia.
Excuse my title. Just a little fun with a play on words. If you are familiar, you’ll know that Paine isn’t pronounced in a way that really works for this, but I thought it was kinda funny. Wind. Window. Window of opportunity. Pain. Pane. Paine. Yeah. 🙂
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