Submitted by Pat

I didn't sleep well - had to get up at 2am to pee - which meant putting on my shoes, grabbing my head lamp, quietly unzipping the tent so as not to wake my tent-mate, finding the path to the "bano" (a hole dug in the ground with an elevated plastic three-legged toilet seat over it), and then finding my tent when I returned. Managed to sleep until 7am but was still the first person up. It was a beautiful morning, cool until the sun rose from behind the snow covered peaks in the east. I washed and got some coffee. Coffee consisted of a bag of coffee grounds poured into a large kettle full of boiling water and then waiting for the grounds to settle to pour. Sounds good, huh?

Nancy and Don didn't sleep well and Don had a headache on top of it. I also found out I had gotten my period. Now, I'm 53 years old and should be finished with this foolishness, but nooooo, not me. My body thinks it still wants to have babies. And there I was in the wilds of Patagonia, miles and miles away from civilization without a tampon and surrounded by women who had nothing to help me with. So, I just did like the native women did back in the old days and it worked just fine.

Breakfast consisted of scrambled eggs - not enough for seconds - fruit, and a chocolate and rice porridge. I ate all I could and Nancy ate hardly anything. We then packed camp and as the last to leave Greg and I left well after 10am. This time we paddled more slowly and he gave me some pointers on my stroke. He also told me to slow down my paddling cadence, that he couldn't keep that up for long. Phew - what a relief to slow down. I don't know why I felt like I had to paddle like my life depended on it -- just to impress the guide? He asked me about my history and enjoyed my telling him about living in Peru, Argentina, Costa Rica and the Dominican Republic, being a CIA brat, and he shared his nomadic life as a professional guide working all over the world.

By the time we landed at the Lago Fiero camp I was so ready to get out of that boat. I was so stiff. I staked out a perfect tent spot since I was one of the first to land. Then we changed into hiking clothes and waited for everyone to get ready. So much waiting - I guess that's the nature of groups... Roberto described the hike as 2 hours out and 2 hours back, on a real trail, a "super highway", with the hike ending on the shore of Lago Fiero where we would all meet for lunch with the icebergs. I was starving by the time we finally started out at around 12:45pm, leaving Karen and the brothers behind. They were ready for a little down time.

I was hiking right behind Roberto whose pace was extraordinarily fast, and I hated being there, so when Don said they were going to lag behind and go their own pace, I gratefully joined them. The path, if you can call it that, went along the cliffs next to the Fiero River on a semi-actual trail. Once we started boulder hopping Roberto started leaving yellow caution tape flags so we could find the trail. It was pretty rough going - loose rocks, uneven ground, jungle, prickers, thorns, and then we finally came out on a rise that showed a huge flat plain between us and a high steep ridge behind which was Lago Fiero. The plain was open, with small trees and shrubs and space between for walking. We caught up to Roberto, Frank and Kate and halfway across the plain Roberto ran out of tape. How is that possible? Roberto laughed, gave us sketchy directions and sent us on our way without a trail or a guide. Was that smart? I don't think so.

Kate and Frank went their own way and we went ours. Another not so smart thing. We found a trail and made it up to the ridge where we met up with Frank and Kate again. Don still had his headache, we had no idea where lunch was, we were starving, and we had no idea where we were so I suggested we head back. Tired, hungry and pissed, we said good-bye to Kate and Frank and started back. On our way Don heard voices that turned out to be Greg (a guide), Don and Ozella who were lost and bushwhacking. Oh Holy Shit - we talked them down to the trail and begged for food and water. If I was a guide and my clients were begging for food and water on a hike where I had gotten lost and had taken two clients on a strenuous bushwhack, I would be a bit concerned. Can you spell p-r-o-b-l-e-m? Instead he let us head back unescorted and continued on with Don and Ozella.

We finally found our way back to the yellow flags. Stopped at a stream in the jungle and got some clear cold fresh water - yes, we drank our water straight from the lakes, no filtering. Bitching about not getting any lunch carried us along for a while. Met another group of hikers from Holland. Never saw any of our group. Got back to camp and no one was there - no food either. Grrr. Nancy was done. You can see in the picture to the left some horseflies buzzing around our heads - they plagued us constantly. We rested for a bit, then set up our tents while we waited for everyone to return.

Dinner that night consisted of a lamb asado - a traditional dish consisting of a whole skinned lamb grilled on a fire and cut right off the bone. By the time we ate, it was close to 10pm and the lamb was so fatty I could barely eat. I ate potatoes and salad instead. That night the wind came up and our tents rattled and rolled all night, making sleep something that didn't really happen for anyone.