Juan and the Israelis

Hey everyone



I am currently in Puerto Natales, Chile, on a quick stop before a 5-day hike in the famous Torres del Paine. Hiking the Torres can be done in several ways, and we´re opting for the 5-day hike as a nice middle ground to the 6-8 day version, the 4-day version, and the 1-day version. So today, like every other good Israeli preparing for the hike, my friends and I went to go pay Juan a visit.

Who exactly is Juan, and why do all of the Israelis flock to him on a daily basis? Juan has set up quite the job for himself. He has become the provider of all information and supplies regarding the Torres hike (or Hatorusim, as the Israelis call it), and also has a restaurant and hostel almost solely for the Israeli hikers. He has learned Hebrew pretty fluently, and gives a free lecture every day at 4:00 PM, filled with Hebrew slang punctuated by his funny Spanish accent. He tells us what the weather is going to be, what food and clothing to bring, and what each hike option looks like. In short, Juan is the Torres guru. And everyone knows it.

Now, on to the next question- is there really enough of an Israeli constituency down here for Juan to make his entire living off of us (maybe he does other things on the side, but taking care of us is a full-time job, I´d say)? The answer is absolutely yes. Since arriving in Buenos Aires on February 7th (where we stayed in a hostel of ONLY Israelis), we have run into hundreds of other Israelis on what I´ve started calling ¨The Path.¨ There are some we see every day because we´re in the same hostels and on the same buses and do the same hikes, and there are some who we have seen only a few times, but who we will see again soon because they too are on The Path. Some people have become travel buddies for more than a few days, and some are good at helping to pass the time on busrides or ferry rides. So Juan has his work cut out for him (imagine giving the same lecture every day for years to different groups of Israeli twenty-somethings...), and we have new friends (and if not friends, then certainly acquaintences, or people who get the ceremonial nod of recognition), and so far, everyone is happy.

Just as a bit of background, Israelis usually work for about a year and save up money to go travel somewhere in the world, when they finish the army. The most popular locations are India, Thailand, and South America, and the average trip length is about six months. As far as I know, Juan´s gig is run by word of mouth, because the Israelis who travel do an excellent job of passing information on from friend to friend. I did indeed hear about it from my cousin´s friend, who made her an entire handbook of South America, which I photocopied and have been using as a reference for each stop on The Path. My friends with whom I´m traveling all have similar recommendations, if not in packet-form, then on scraps of paper and facebook messages.

Next post will be after the hike, but in the meantime I have to go help cook our last dinner before transitioning to a diet of bread and peanuts for the next week...