May 12, 20224 min read

Journal #35: Head in the Chilean Clouds

This journal was written on April 21, 2022, somewhere above Chile.

I'm writing this from our Sky Airline flight from Santiago to Puerto Natales (aka Patagonia).

I've been looking forward to this trip ever since we decided to go to Chile and realized we could make a weekend trip down to the beautiful national parks of Patagonia (something I had previously thought impossible to do over a weekend).

Of course, I am stoked to see Patagonia's mountains and lakes and rivers, but there was another thing I was almost equally excited about. Our Airbnb. This Airbnb was one of the coolest ones I've ever booked. The photos depicted a tiny, black, semi-modern cabin perched along the shore of a vast lake overlooking the mountains in the distance.

I had pictured us putting logs in the little metal furnace at night and sipping our morning Joe while gazing out over the water at the towering peaks.

But of course, the universe had other plans for us.

Two days ago (yes, two days before our flight), the host reached out to me.

When you get a message from Airbnb, you get notifications via email and SMS. However, these notifications only show a preview of the message. So, all I read from the push message was:

"Hi Taylor, I am so so sorry but..."

Oh no, I thought as my heart rate started to pick up, please no. Don't tell me something went wrong with my beautiful, gorgeous, perfect Airbnb.

I opened the message.

The host explained that someone had broken into the cabin this week while a guest was there, damaged the property, and stole some of the guest's things. Therefore, she had to cancel.

Oh, shit.

Not only were my fantasies of burning fire on that little metal furnace and enjoying a cup of morning coffee on the porch with Brett squashed, but this could've happened to us!

I understood the situation but was still so freaking bummed.

Welp! B and I looked at each other and threw our hands up. The only thing to do now is to find another place. It's time to pivot.

Luckily I got a full refund, and since we had splurged on the cabin, we had a decent amount of options. We found an arguably sicker place for less than the cost of the first one, and it's a DOME!

All right, the last-minute Airbnb curveball is figured out. Now let me tell you about our day plans for exploring the natural wonders of Patagonia.

An hour north of Puerto Natales lies Torres del Paine National Park.

The most famous scene in the park is found at the Mirador Torres del Paine, where one can view the iconic 'three towers' standing behind a gorgeous, teal alpine lake.

The hike itself is 12 miles, and from my research, people complete it in around 6-8 hours. So, of course, this is how we plan to spend one of our two full days in the park.

On the other day, we plan to drive around the park and stop at certain attractions such as the Lago Grey Glacier and the giant sloth cave (yeah, some archeologists found the skin remains of the ancient giant sloth in this huge cave that is now part of the park).

But this one small thing might throw a wrench in our plans; the weather.

Now, I know I wrote about this on my way out to San Blas to enjoy that you're going to a cool place and that the weather is never in your control.

But it's freaking Patagonia we're talking about, people! I don't want to be socked in by clouds or miserably hiking 12 miles in the cold rain.

Every week, I've checked the weather, and my anxiety has bumped up a notch. And each time, it still says rain.

But luckily, I have Brett. Lovely, sweet, optimistic, Brett. He keeps reassuring me that he's game to execute all of the plans, rain or shine.

I was also reading my daily meditation book on the plane just now, and, of course, a message spoke directly to me.

The title reads, "April 9: Enjoy the Adventure."

She talks about an unexpected snowstorm coming in on her Sedona leg of the trip and is reminded by a friend to change her perspective and pretend that she's a little kid again, excited to play in the fresh snow.

"Change your perspective and enjoy the adventure. Let the child in you come out to play."

Ah, just the reminder I needed.

Even if it starts snowing and we can't do anything but get drunk in our little dome, we will still have a blast and still make unforgettable memories.

Anyway, I was signing off for the weekend. I will update you on how everything unfolded next week.

Ok, also one more thing. I'm picking this back up as I'm still on the flight.

We just flew over what I think were the jagged Torres del Paine peaks stretching up into the atmosphere and a HUGE glacier. It's a gorgeously clear day today, and we just got to see the two main attractions from our window seat.