Atacama and Patagonia, part 4: Our trip in lists.

Lago Nordenskjöld.

Things that taste even better on the trail than in real life.

• Beer.
• Coke (ice cold Coca-Cola normal - straight-up real-ass sugar, not diet, not Zero, none of that funny business).
• Oreos.
• Chicken soup with rice.
• Ritz crackers with turkey.
• Queso-flavored Kryzpos (Chilean Pringles).
• Cheesy Bugles.

Things that looked like they would taste good on the trail, but unconfirmed.

• Pasta with hot ketchup.  (Probably disgusting in real life, but looked seriously ah-mah-zing when huddled in the chilly evening at Campamento Torres after four days of heavy trekking in the woods.)

Food items we wished we had.

• Salt.
• Tabasco.
• A teeny, tiny bottle of Sriracha.

Books I read during and in preparation for this trip.

• Lonely Planet: Chile & Easter Island
• Lonely Planet: Trekking in the Patagonian Andes
• Wild, by Cheryl Strayed
• Americanah, by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie
• Being Mortal, by Atul Gawande
• Siddhartha, by Herman Hesse
• Tiny Beautiful Things, by Cheryl Strayed (just the chapter "The Obliterated Place," also published online at The Rumpus here)
• Serial (not a book, but served the same function)

Instances of logistical fuckery and loosey-gooseyness in Argentina (a.k.a., reasons why I probably don't have the constitution to live in Argentina).

• In El Chaltén, "The bus is coming any minute now" means "The bus is broken down and will be an hour late."
• People will accept American dollars, but at the rate of anything from 8.5 pesos to 12 pesos - you just have to ask and hope.
• The shuttle bus from the plane to the airport terminal will drop you off 40 feet short of the actual entrance, for no apparent reason.
• If your boarding pass says you are on flight 4431, but the monitor says it is flight 4430, don't worry.  Close enough.
• If the monitor says your stuff is coming at baggage carousel 6, it's actually at baggage carousel 5.
• Airport sandwiches are nearly good - only one day expired!
• "The computer won't print your connecting boarding pass for some reason; you can just print it when you get to Santiago" means "I accidentally cancelled your reservation, don't feel like fixing it, and by the time you find out in Chile, it won't be my problem anymore."

Our packs, protected by our fluffy Llama in the Sky.

Related posts:
First birthday.
At the end of the world.
Atacama and Patagonia, part 1: The Atacama Desert.
Atacama and Patagonia, part 2: Torres del Paine.
Atacama and Patagonia, part 3: Argentina.