I woke with a start at 7am and ran outside in my pajamas to see how Los Cuernos looked in the dawn light. The sun was yet to rise over the foothills opposite so I had time to wash up and get my camera.
Breakfast was really good, cereal with milk, scrambled eggs and homemade bread. (The box lunch included homemade granola bars!) We were off by 8:30am, walking alongside the glacial green Lago Nordenskjöld, with beautiful views of Los Cuernos. The weather was looking to be another gorgeous day.
About three hours in we forked left for the shortcut to Refugio Chileno. The map showed a visual cue with the fork being just before a lagoon, but not to worry as there was a sign clearly marking "Shortcut to Chileno". We didn't see the lagoon for another 10 minutes so it's a good thing there was a sign.
The next hour was the hardest on the trek so far. We were under the hot sun, with no wind. It was stinking hot. About 30 minutes in we took shade under a lone tree, to eat our oranges, reapply sunscreen and cool down. When we got going again, we realized everyone else on the path had the same idea, as every few minutes we passed another tree with someone under it.
We were also running low on water. Horses use the same path, and we weren't sure of water quality (the streams flowed through more grasslands than on Day 1 and 2). Later we found out most other people ran out of water on this same stretch. It was unusual to have such a warm day!
Finally we crested the ridge, into the Windy Pass. It was windy as its name suggests, which helped to keep us cool. Plus we could see Refugio Chileno in the distance, which gave us a boost.
Refugio Chileno is yet another refugio in a perfect location. From the common room there are views of Las Torres. They rent towels ($3) (so far only Paine Grande included towels, and we hadn't packed any to save on weight) so I jumped in the shower. It wasn't hot but I didn't care.
The sun was still strong at 3pm so we sat inside for a beer while everyone else was sitting outside. Some other trekkers decided to climb to the lookout that afternoon because of the lack of clouds. The sun's in a better position for pictures in the morning so we decided to wait until tomorrow as planned.
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