The Nuts that Broke the Clydesdale´s Back

Amy and Dave... before the trek

I always thought the phrase ´the straw that broke the camel´s back´was kind of silly.  Could a camel really tell the difference if you added just one more piece of straw?  As it turns out, Amy and I discovered/proved that there´s a whole of truth in that phrase.

the noble Aracuania

Our first trek of our Patagonian adventure was a 3-day hike in Huerquehue National Park (pronounced ´where-kay-way´). Beautiful high altitude lakes, gorgeous peaks, aracuania forests (the tree that gives this region of Chile its name), some natural hot springs, and a whole lot of climbing up, and up, and up.

As we set off, Amy was a bit uncomfortable with the weight of her pack, while mine was okay... we did have (rather foolishly) everything we brought to Patagonia with us on the trek.  So, after a while, we shifted some weight to my pack.  Not too much -- probably about 5 pounds, including our bag of trail mix -- a simple peanut/raisin mix.  Well, that did the trick for Amy... but now my pack was uncomfortably heavy... so, after a while, we shifted some weight back to Amy´s pack.  Again, my pack felt good again, and Amy´s was unbearable.

Apparently, we´d accidentally discovered the maximum weight that we can jointly and comfortably carry... by carrying about 5 pounds more than that on our first trek.  It didn´t help that we jumped in with both feet -- a 7.5 hour hike with substantial elevation to gain on our very first day of hiking with all that weight.

Amy took to calling these 5 pounds that we kept passing back and forth our ´depression weight´, because that bag of trail mix brought depression to whoever was carrying it.  I took to calling them ´the nuts that broke the clydesdale´s back´... or, for you passover afficianados out there... ´the nuts of affliction´.

Needless to say, we were very relieved when our next hostel/hotel offered to store any of our extra luggage when we set off on our 10-day trek next week in Torres del Paine.  Abrazos . . .