One my concentration areas in the urban planning school at the University of Michigan will be in public transportation. I´m not quite sure why I find this subject so interesting. Is it the little kid in me still fascinatied by these neato busses and trains? Is it my compulsion with doing things efficiently, carrying the maximum amount of people across town in the least amount of time for the lowest price? Whatever it is, I can see it clearly reflected in my recent obsession with the Guia T. The Guia T is a guide to the over 300 busses that crisscross the metropolis of Buenos Aires. It comes in a pocket form (what I have) and a larger full size guide. It consists of a grid map that devides the city into tiny sectors. In these sectors there is a list of all the different numbered busses that pass through that quadrant. You look up the place you want to go, find the busses that pass through there, then cross reference that with the quadrant where you are starting. The trick is to find the same number for your starting box and your destination box. If you find that magic number, you have found the bus that will take you pretty close to your desired destination for usually about 30 cents.
They also provide illustrations of each numbered bus, so you can try to learn what color trim that 151 or 37 bus has. I find myself treating the Guia T like a game, picking a destination on the opposite side of the city and tracking down which bus can get me there most efficiently. Énough of my geekiness for now!
Tuesday, April 24, 2007
Sunday, April 22, 2007
Circuit complete
Well, I´ve completed my several thousand mile circuit of southern Argentina and Chile and I find myself back in Buenos Aires. A 14 hour bus ride rolled me comfortably through the pampas from Mendoza to BA. I´m staying with the same aspiring opera singer that I stayed with during the first week of my trip. This time I´ve actually met his parents (who he lives with) as they were on vacation during the first week of February when I was last here.
I don´t have any grand plans for my last few days here. There is a very large international book fair this week so I might check that out and I might try to find a few nice things to bring home for souveniers but other than that it will just be relaxing and growing more anxious each day to see my friends and family back home.
I don´t have any grand plans for my last few days here. There is a very large international book fair this week so I might check that out and I might try to find a few nice things to bring home for souveniers but other than that it will just be relaxing and growing more anxious each day to see my friends and family back home.
Friday, April 20, 2007
Wine and water
This is my final day in Mendoza, so I figured I had to make it out to a tour of at least one winery, being that this is the wine capital of Argentina. The winery I visited was founded in 1885 and had a nice little museum tracing the history of wine making from the 16th century to the present. A free guided tour and tasting was also included. My new favorite wine is Malbec
There is a silky smooth quality to it that I just can´t get enough of. I´m hoping I can find some once I return home.
Menodza has been a nice place to spend the past 4 days. The town itself is actually located in thehuge desert that is the Andean rain shadow. Because of this, every street has water diverted from the Andes that is diverted into ditches running parallel to the sidwalks, creating a constant but subtle reminder that if it were not for such an elaborate man-made irrigation system this town would not be a very pleseant place to be. Large cyprus trees line most of the street, creating a loverly tunel of greenish yellow leaves to protect you from the sun. The architecture is not particularly notable but these noble trees make it so you don´t even notice.
I haven´t done a lot during my time here, mainly relaxing among the half dozen or so plazas, frequenting the internet cafe, eating yummy ice cream. I feel like while traveling it is easy to fall into the ¨I always have to be doing something¨ trap. Sometimes the most rewarding thing to do for a few days is exactly what I have done here, just relax and soak up wherever you are. I love walking in figure eights throughout the city with no particular direction, simply seeing where my feet take me.
There is a silky smooth quality to it that I just can´t get enough of. I´m hoping I can find some once I return home.
Menodza has been a nice place to spend the past 4 days. The town itself is actually located in thehuge desert that is the Andean rain shadow. Because of this, every street has water diverted from the Andes that is diverted into ditches running parallel to the sidwalks, creating a constant but subtle reminder that if it were not for such an elaborate man-made irrigation system this town would not be a very pleseant place to be. Large cyprus trees line most of the street, creating a loverly tunel of greenish yellow leaves to protect you from the sun. The architecture is not particularly notable but these noble trees make it so you don´t even notice.
I haven´t done a lot during my time here, mainly relaxing among the half dozen or so plazas, frequenting the internet cafe, eating yummy ice cream. I feel like while traveling it is easy to fall into the ¨I always have to be doing something¨ trap. Sometimes the most rewarding thing to do for a few days is exactly what I have done here, just relax and soak up wherever you are. I love walking in figure eights throughout the city with no particular direction, simply seeing where my feet take me.
Thursday, April 19, 2007
Playing on an island
Though it ended in a 0-0 draw, the game last night was a ton of fun. The stadium, built in the late 70s for the 1978 world cup held in Argentina, was an interesting place. It sat about 40,000 and was a typical bowl shape. There was a tiny contingent of Chilean fans who had made the hop across the Andes to cheer on their boys. The authorities were not messing around and had riot police (complete with plastic shields and batons) completeing closing off on all the sides the small section the Chileans had occupied. Occasionally the Chilean supporters would attempt to do a group chant or song and the rabid Argentenians would start whistling and making whatever noise they could to drown them out. The Argentines were in great voice and they continued to sing, chant, whistle, jump up and down, wave flags and even occasionally get into fisticuffs among themselves. The game was almost immaterial as I took in all these sights around me.
One other unique feature of this stadium was that the playing surface itself was literally on an island. A dry moat, maybe 10 feet in depth and 10 feet across, circled the entire field. I had never seen this at a sporting venue before and though it was obviously an excellent way to keep the fans off the field, there was just something about it that seemed a little disconcerting.
Tomorrow will by my final day in Mendoza, I will then take another overnight bus, this time back to Buenos Aires. Arriving in BA, I will have about 5-6 days to enjoy the city before I have to hop on a plane back home.
One other unique feature of this stadium was that the playing surface itself was literally on an island. A dry moat, maybe 10 feet in depth and 10 feet across, circled the entire field. I had never seen this at a sporting venue before and though it was obviously an excellent way to keep the fans off the field, there was just something about it that seemed a little disconcerting.
Tomorrow will by my final day in Mendoza, I will then take another overnight bus, this time back to Buenos Aires. Arriving in BA, I will have about 5-6 days to enjoy the city before I have to hop on a plane back home.
Wednesday, April 18, 2007
International friendly
Walking around Mendoza yesterday I noticed a chalkboard sign at a bar advertising a soccer match between Argentina and Chile that would be broadcast on their giant screens at 20:00. I thought to myself, hmmm that might be fun to go to a place like that and watch the game with some locals. Well, it turns out this international friendly match is actually taking place in Mendoza tonight! I probably would have never even known if it were not for a couple guys staying in the same room at my hostel who I overheard talking about it. They said the people running the hostel were selling tickets. I thought this sounded like something I had to do and I quickly asked the owners about it. They made a few phone calls and reserved an additional ticket for me. I think they are making a really fat profit on the ticket, they charged me about $25 and I´m sure if I asked around locally I could have found it for about $5. However this is my first soccer match in latin america and I will feel a little more comfortable being seated in a section with my fellow hostel mates, instead of duking it out with firework tossing, crazed Mendozians. I think sitting with the locals would be an experience and I hope to do it sometime but I think it would be a bit much for my first time.
Tuesday, April 17, 2007
A Thai heartthrob
While my dad and I were having dinner our first night in Bariloche, a funny thing happened. We were the only people in the restaurant to start (our 8:30 arrival time was a good hour before even the first Argentines would ever trickle in). While we were noshing on some bread a trio came in and were seated at the table directly beside us. It was clear they were speaking neither Spanish or English and I was almost sure I had heard some Thai. I focused my ears on them, trying my best to hear their soft tones and after another minute I was positive, there were 3 Thai people sitting next to me in a random restaurant in Bariloche, Argentina!
To put this into perspective, I have met one person from Asia during this trip, Alex from Taiwan. I could see running into some Japanese, Koreans, or maybe even an adventurous Singaporean, but 3 Thai people forget about it! Interestingly, as I listened intently to them, picking up a lot of what they were saying I could feel my heart racing. It was that feeling where you put your hand on your heart and it feels like it is about to bust through to the other side.
My dad and I quietly speculated on why there may be 3 Thai people in Bariloche. Surely they wouldn´t be tourists, I really think the small number of Thai people who do travel internationally don´t often find themselves in South America. We then thought maybe they ran a restaurant in Buenos Aires or that they were diplomats. Turned out the later was the correct guess. We chatted with them for a few moments and they all work at the Thai embassy in Buenos Aires (one of 5 Thai embassies in latin America along with Mexico City, Brasilia, Lima, and Santiago). They were visiting the lakes district and patagonia for a week or so. I told them I would be studying Thailand in graduate school and asked if I could stop by and say hello when I was back in Buenos Aires. One of they guys said sure and gave me his business card, saying: ¨You can have a tour of the Thai embassy¨!
To put this into perspective, I have met one person from Asia during this trip, Alex from Taiwan. I could see running into some Japanese, Koreans, or maybe even an adventurous Singaporean, but 3 Thai people forget about it! Interestingly, as I listened intently to them, picking up a lot of what they were saying I could feel my heart racing. It was that feeling where you put your hand on your heart and it feels like it is about to bust through to the other side.
My dad and I quietly speculated on why there may be 3 Thai people in Bariloche. Surely they wouldn´t be tourists, I really think the small number of Thai people who do travel internationally don´t often find themselves in South America. We then thought maybe they ran a restaurant in Buenos Aires or that they were diplomats. Turned out the later was the correct guess. We chatted with them for a few moments and they all work at the Thai embassy in Buenos Aires (one of 5 Thai embassies in latin America along with Mexico City, Brasilia, Lima, and Santiago). They were visiting the lakes district and patagonia for a week or so. I told them I would be studying Thailand in graduate school and asked if I could stop by and say hello when I was back in Buenos Aires. One of they guys said sure and gave me his business card, saying: ¨You can have a tour of the Thai embassy¨!
Monday, April 16, 2007
Travel day
Sunday was my final day traveling with my dad. Thankfully we had a beautiful day weather wise, which was not the case for the majority of his visit. We decided to rent some bikes and do a 10km roundtrip cycle to a nearby lakeside beach outside San Martin de los Andes. Within minutes of pedaling out of town by chain decided to rupture and I was left with a lame bike. I was really bummed because I knew the ride was going to be nice and I thought it would be a great way to spend our last day together. We returned to our hotel and after confiring with the owner decided that we would take a boat ride do a different beach, supposedly even more beautiful than the one we were planning on visiting.
Turns out we had a really nice time. The boat took 30 minutes to arrive at the beach and we made a short walk and lunched with views of the white-capped lake and the surrounding mountains. We spend the rest of the afternoon walking, reading, and napping in the serene sun. He caught a 6am back to Chile this morning, as he is due to fly out of Santiago tomorrow and I caught a 6 hour bus north to the city of Neuquen. I am only hanging around here for a few hours before catching an overnight 12 hour ride up to Mendoza, the wine capital of Argentina. I plan to spend several days here, as lonely planet claims it is one of the nicest cities in all of Argentina. My bus ticket for the overnight journey up there is in coche cama class, the Argentine bus equivalent of business class. For about $7 you get a set that reclines almost 180 degrees, I´ll be sure to tell you if it was worth the extra expense.
Turns out we had a really nice time. The boat took 30 minutes to arrive at the beach and we made a short walk and lunched with views of the white-capped lake and the surrounding mountains. We spend the rest of the afternoon walking, reading, and napping in the serene sun. He caught a 6am back to Chile this morning, as he is due to fly out of Santiago tomorrow and I caught a 6 hour bus north to the city of Neuquen. I am only hanging around here for a few hours before catching an overnight 12 hour ride up to Mendoza, the wine capital of Argentina. I plan to spend several days here, as lonely planet claims it is one of the nicest cities in all of Argentina. My bus ticket for the overnight journey up there is in coche cama class, the Argentine bus equivalent of business class. For about $7 you get a set that reclines almost 180 degrees, I´ll be sure to tell you if it was worth the extra expense.
Saturday, April 14, 2007
San Martin de los Andes
Greetings from San Martin de los Andes, a small town of 20,000 nestled in the mountains of the northern Argentine lakes district. The town has a very coloradoish/ski town type feel. All the signs and street numbers are made of carved wood and the town has an expensive look and feel to it. Tomorrow is my last full day with my dad and we plan to rent some mountain bikes and cycle around the surrounding lakes and viewpoints. The weather is actually supposed to be clear so I think it should make for a nice day.
Most of today was spent bussing it up here from Bariloche, through a stretch of dirt road dotted with small lakes tucked into snow clad hills. Strangely we had a huge bus all to ourselves so we could stetch out and take in all the views at our leisure. Monday I plan to head much further north after parting ways with my dad, likely all the way to the wine country of Mendoza, a 18 hour bus ride from here!
Most of today was spent bussing it up here from Bariloche, through a stretch of dirt road dotted with small lakes tucked into snow clad hills. Strangely we had a huge bus all to ourselves so we could stetch out and take in all the views at our leisure. Monday I plan to head much further north after parting ways with my dad, likely all the way to the wine country of Mendoza, a 18 hour bus ride from here!
Friday, April 13, 2007
hippys and microbrews
Greetings again from Bariloche. Yesterday was spent touring the countryside south of here, with the town of El Bolson being our featured stop. About two hours or 120 km south of Bariloche, El Bolson is considered to be the hippy capital of Patagonia. Walking around town it is impossible not to notice the dreds, ponytails, and the occasional wiff of weed. This is quite different from Bariloche, where the chocalate shops and other tourist trappings have reached an almost kitch like quality. El Bolson is also known for its microbrewerys. At a local street fair I asked a woman working one of the beer stands how many microbrews originiated in town and she responded by saying ¨too many to count!¨ Amazingly over 75% of Argentine hops are grown on the farms surrounding town.
We spent the night at a refuge/cabin perched at 4600 feet overlooking the town. It involved a steep 10km drive over a rough road and than an additional steep 45 minutes by foot. It was very relaxing up there, reading New Yorkers and Sports Illustrateds, occasionaly looking out to town and the mountain ridge opposite us. We returned north this morning, hoping to do a few walkes to some local glaciers but once the rain started it only increased in strength and thus most of the day was a wash. Tomorrow, we will likely head north to the town of San Martin de los Andes.
We spent the night at a refuge/cabin perched at 4600 feet overlooking the town. It involved a steep 10km drive over a rough road and than an additional steep 45 minutes by foot. It was very relaxing up there, reading New Yorkers and Sports Illustrateds, occasionaly looking out to town and the mountain ridge opposite us. We returned north this morning, hoping to do a few walkes to some local glaciers but once the rain started it only increased in strength and thus most of the day was a wash. Tomorrow, we will likely head north to the town of San Martin de los Andes.
Wednesday, April 11, 2007
Adventure nearing an end....dreaming about another
I left Chile this morning, crossing the snowy andes and arriving in Bariloche http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bariloche , the dominant city of the Argentina lakes district. It feels great to be back in Argentina. I think I may have spent a tad too much time in Chile (the country was starting to wear on me a bit) and it feels great to be back to a place where the spanish is much easier to understand and everything is just a little bit less expensive. We plan to spend about 4 days exploring the Argentine lakes district and then it will be time for my dad to head home and I will have about 10 more days after that before I too will be returning to Michigan.
I am starting to get to that point where you are anxious to get home but also aware that another great adventure is almost over and you are already nostalgic for all the great things you have seen and done the past 2.5 months. I have spent a lot of time lately thinking about my future as well. It is exciting to know that I have an adventure of a different sort (graduate school) on the very near horizon. I will be living in Madison, Wisconsin for two months this summer studying Thai language and then in September I will be starting my dual masters program in Urban Planning and Southeast Asian Studies at the University of Michigan.
Tomorrow we hope to make it up to some local mountains that offer great views of glaciers and the surrounding lakes. We will see if the weather cooperates with us. Enough for now, time to find a good steak to celebrate being back in the land of the gauchos.
I am starting to get to that point where you are anxious to get home but also aware that another great adventure is almost over and you are already nostalgic for all the great things you have seen and done the past 2.5 months. I have spent a lot of time lately thinking about my future as well. It is exciting to know that I have an adventure of a different sort (graduate school) on the very near horizon. I will be living in Madison, Wisconsin for two months this summer studying Thai language and then in September I will be starting my dual masters program in Urban Planning and Southeast Asian Studies at the University of Michigan.
Tomorrow we hope to make it up to some local mountains that offer great views of glaciers and the surrounding lakes. We will see if the weather cooperates with us. Enough for now, time to find a good steak to celebrate being back in the land of the gauchos.
Monday, April 9, 2007
Lakes district rain
Blogging this evening from Pucon, the tourist capital of the northern Chilean lakes district. Today was a wash, literally. After two days of beautifully clear skies we had to slog though a wet Monday, severely limiting any outdoor activities. Unfortunately the area around Pucon is based on exactly this type of activity (hiking, mountain biking, rafting, zip-lining, etc.) so having a day like this forces you to just sit around and catch up on your reading. Here´s hoping the weather will allow us to do something productive tomorrow.
Yesterday we had a great day exploring the Pacific coast town of Valdivia http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Valdivia%2C_Chile
The botanical gardens at the local university were spectacular, full of an amazing variety of tree species from around the world. We also walked through a great little fish market and even managed to visit a local microbrewery founded by 19th century German immigrants to the area. Due to unforeseen paperwork problems related to taking our Chilean rental car into Argentina we have had to shuffle our plans and we will have to return the car withing the next two days and then take a 6-7 hour bus ride over to the Argentine side of the lakes district. I feel like I have been in Chile for quite some time now and I am eagerly awaiting my return to the land of steaks and mate http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mate_%28beverage%29
Yesterday we had a great day exploring the Pacific coast town of Valdivia http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Valdivia%2C_Chile
The botanical gardens at the local university were spectacular, full of an amazing variety of tree species from around the world. We also walked through a great little fish market and even managed to visit a local microbrewery founded by 19th century German immigrants to the area. Due to unforeseen paperwork problems related to taking our Chilean rental car into Argentina we have had to shuffle our plans and we will have to return the car withing the next two days and then take a 6-7 hour bus ride over to the Argentine side of the lakes district. I feel like I have been in Chile for quite some time now and I am eagerly awaiting my return to the land of steaks and mate http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mate_%28beverage%29
Saturday, April 7, 2007
Around the lake
Today was spent circumnavigating Lago Llanquihue, something that took my dad and I about eight hours to complete at a leisurely pace. Luckily we had great weather and because of this we were treated to constantly changing views of Volcan Osorno: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Volcan_Osorno
We drove up to just below the permanent snow line where there is a small ski resort with several chairlifts. From here we were treated to a great view overlooking the enormous lake. We moved on from here to a neighboring lake, spectacularly located in the shardow of the Volcan. We were interested in a boat ride, but decided to pass due to the very steep prices. We continued around the lake, taking a 2-3 hour break to munch on a Salmon enpanada and take a short hike to a 40 meter waterfall that envolved a short wade to reach the final thunderous pool. My dad said it reminded him of a similarly impressive falls he had once visited in the Dominican Republic. The next hours were spend zooming through gravel roads set among strikingly green fields. I stopped to take a photo of a white horse grazing among these fields with the snowy cone of Osorno looming in the background. Our final stop was in a small town called Fruittiliar, which has a heavy German influence. Most of the architecture looked like it belonged more in Bavaria than Chile and there were cafes offering all different types of German pastries.
We drove up to just below the permanent snow line where there is a small ski resort with several chairlifts. From here we were treated to a great view overlooking the enormous lake. We moved on from here to a neighboring lake, spectacularly located in the shardow of the Volcan. We were interested in a boat ride, but decided to pass due to the very steep prices. We continued around the lake, taking a 2-3 hour break to munch on a Salmon enpanada and take a short hike to a 40 meter waterfall that envolved a short wade to reach the final thunderous pool. My dad said it reminded him of a similarly impressive falls he had once visited in the Dominican Republic. The next hours were spend zooming through gravel roads set among strikingly green fields. I stopped to take a photo of a white horse grazing among these fields with the snowy cone of Osorno looming in the background. Our final stop was in a small town called Fruittiliar, which has a heavy German influence. Most of the architecture looked like it belonged more in Bavaria than Chile and there were cafes offering all different types of German pastries.
Friday, April 6, 2007
Puerto Varas
Just a quick update: I met up with my dad this morning at the Puerto Montt Airport where we rented a car and headed up to Puerto Varas http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Puerto_Varas where we are spending the night. This town is supposed to be quite scenic, located on the 2nd largest lake in Chile and 3rd largest in South America but we weren´t able to see much today due to an extended rain shower. Hopefully we will wake tomorrow to clear skies.
Wednesday, April 4, 2007
Lazing in Castro, daydreaming of rental cars
Today was a lazy day in Castro, sleeping in, plodding around the city, and enjoying fast internet speeds. There really isn´t that much to see or do here but it is a nice enough town, not too large but still big enough for the sidewalks to be busy with pedestrians and old ladies selling empanadas. I will hop on a bus tomorrow morning and leave Chiloe, arriving in the large city of Puerto Montt http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Puerto_Montt I will spend Thursday night there and then go to the local airport and pick up my Dad Friday morning, something I have been looking forward to for the past few weeks. There is even talk of a rental car, I can´t even imagine how it will feel to have such freedom.
Tuesday, April 3, 2007
Trekking where Darwin once trod
I returned to Castro, the defacto capital of Chiloe, this evening. The previous two nights were spent in Parque Nacional de Chiloe. This park is located on a rugged and very scarcely populated section of Pacific coast, about a 1.5 hour bus ride west from Castro. I shared my time there with Alex, a 28 year old from Taiwan. I hadn´t thought of it until I met him, but he was the first (and will probably be the only) traveller I have met from Asia during this trip. I got a huge reaction from him when I showed off my very limited Mandarin vocabulary. He turned out to be a really nice guy and I enjoyed the 25 miles of costal trekking that much more because of his company.
The trek itself was a mix of broad beaches, dunes, and costal rainforest. We camped along a crecent shaped beach that received a constant flow of 6-8 foot breaking waves. The resulting roar had a rather pleasent quality to it and when mixed with a nice sunset and full moon, it make for a memorable camp spot.
In an interesting side note, Chiloe is one of the places Darwin describes as part of the second journey of the HMS Beagle http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Second_voyage_of_HMS_Beagle Actually, almost all of the Patagonian locales I have visited during this trip were also visited by Darwin during this trip, and I hope to read his journal of these travels when I return home. In one exhibit at the park visitor center there is an excerpt from his journal where he states something akin to ¨I doubt there are many other places on earth that recieve more rain than the Pacific coast of Chiloe.¨ Before arriving in Chiloe I had read and heard the same thing, you will get rained on and most likely it will be for every day of your visit there. Well, beginning with the great sunset ferry arrival into Quellon, the weather has held steady and there has been no rain at all. On the contrary, most of my 3-4 days here has been under warm and clear skies. If only Mr. Darwin could have seen these green hills and coasts with the warming sun at his back!
The trek itself was a mix of broad beaches, dunes, and costal rainforest. We camped along a crecent shaped beach that received a constant flow of 6-8 foot breaking waves. The resulting roar had a rather pleasent quality to it and when mixed with a nice sunset and full moon, it make for a memorable camp spot.
In an interesting side note, Chiloe is one of the places Darwin describes as part of the second journey of the HMS Beagle http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Second_voyage_of_HMS_Beagle Actually, almost all of the Patagonian locales I have visited during this trip were also visited by Darwin during this trip, and I hope to read his journal of these travels when I return home. In one exhibit at the park visitor center there is an excerpt from his journal where he states something akin to ¨I doubt there are many other places on earth that recieve more rain than the Pacific coast of Chiloe.¨ Before arriving in Chiloe I had read and heard the same thing, you will get rained on and most likely it will be for every day of your visit there. Well, beginning with the great sunset ferry arrival into Quellon, the weather has held steady and there has been no rain at all. On the contrary, most of my 3-4 days here has been under warm and clear skies. If only Mr. Darwin could have seen these green hills and coasts with the warming sun at his back!
Friday, March 30, 2007
Accumulated musings
There is some national law in Chile requiring receipts to be given to the customer for each and every transaction, no matter how small. You try to buy a tiny apple empanada and if you quickly shuffle away the vendor will squak and wave the tiny piece of paper frantically, showing you what you had tried to leave behind.
One of the major lowlights of this trip has been the food. It just is not that good. They don`t do spicy food here, so what are you left with is a lot of bland and not very well done italian food. Pasta, pizza, etc....eating and making my own good food is one of the things I will enjoy most about returning home.
I am amazed what I have done to my shoes in 2 months of traveling and trekking. They were brand new, never worn the day I left and now they have large holes developing in the bunion area, they stink worse than any pair I have ever owned, and they don`t remotely resemble their original silver color.
My facial hair is currently longer right now than it has been at any point in my life. That being said, there is still not that much there. 25 years old and I can`t even get the hair above the lip to connect with the chin. That`s ok though, this is one of those things that traveling allows you to experiment with....I will be clean shaven upon returning home.
The reading materials are starting to get a little thin. One can only read so many bad novels...the book exchanges I have encountered have been particularly bad...for some reason they were much better in SEAsia.
Not only per capita but also just in total numbers, there are far more Israelis traveling here than any other nationality. They are quite literally everywhere you go! They tell me that after the 3 mandatory years in the army, the thing to do is travel and South America is the most popular destination for some reason. This is odd considering that none of them can speak a lick of spanish.
One of the major lowlights of this trip has been the food. It just is not that good. They don`t do spicy food here, so what are you left with is a lot of bland and not very well done italian food. Pasta, pizza, etc....eating and making my own good food is one of the things I will enjoy most about returning home.
I am amazed what I have done to my shoes in 2 months of traveling and trekking. They were brand new, never worn the day I left and now they have large holes developing in the bunion area, they stink worse than any pair I have ever owned, and they don`t remotely resemble their original silver color.
My facial hair is currently longer right now than it has been at any point in my life. That being said, there is still not that much there. 25 years old and I can`t even get the hair above the lip to connect with the chin. That`s ok though, this is one of those things that traveling allows you to experiment with....I will be clean shaven upon returning home.
The reading materials are starting to get a little thin. One can only read so many bad novels...the book exchanges I have encountered have been particularly bad...for some reason they were much better in SEAsia.
Not only per capita but also just in total numbers, there are far more Israelis traveling here than any other nationality. They are quite literally everywhere you go! They tell me that after the 3 mandatory years in the army, the thing to do is travel and South America is the most popular destination for some reason. This is odd considering that none of them can speak a lick of spanish.
Parque Pumalin
I spent the past two days exploring Parque Pumalin, located only a few miles north of Chaiten. This park was founded by an American named Doug Thompkins, the founder of the North Face and Esprit clothing mega companies. He decided to cash in his savings and start buying up large tracts of land in this area, spurred on by his belief in deep ecology http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Deep_ecology Once the Chilean nationalists discovered what he was doing they began to freak out and claim that Thompkins was a threat to Chile, trying to divide the country, etc. Turns out Thompkins knew what he was doing and the public has for the most part accepted his plan, once they realized that preserving some of their natural resources might actually be a good idea in the big scheme of things. The park gets a lot of pub about being the first private national park in the world, though it is gradually coming under more of the Chilean park services control.
The few trails I walked were quite short, none more than a couple hours but they were quite nice. Being so close to the ocean, the climate is quite different here from further south, creating a temperate rain forest. I walked past some impressive water falls, some over 100 feet in height, and camped at a small lake surrounded on all sides by 500 foot walls completely covered by what my trekking guide describes as luxuriant rain forest. While waiting a few hours for a ride back to Chaiten I witnessed a tiny hummingbird wipping from flower to flower, literally only a few feet above my head.
Today is a nothing day in Chaiten, doing laundry for the first time in forever and just reading and lazing about. I am waiting for the ferry that leaves tomorrow for they town of Quellion, on the island of Chiloe http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chilo%C3%A9_Island , the 2nd largest island of Chile. I plan on exploring this huge rainforest type island for 4 to 5 days and then I will make my way up to Puerto Montt where I will rendevous with my dad for a couple weeks.
The few trails I walked were quite short, none more than a couple hours but they were quite nice. Being so close to the ocean, the climate is quite different here from further south, creating a temperate rain forest. I walked past some impressive water falls, some over 100 feet in height, and camped at a small lake surrounded on all sides by 500 foot walls completely covered by what my trekking guide describes as luxuriant rain forest. While waiting a few hours for a ride back to Chaiten I witnessed a tiny hummingbird wipping from flower to flower, literally only a few feet above my head.
Today is a nothing day in Chaiten, doing laundry for the first time in forever and just reading and lazing about. I am waiting for the ferry that leaves tomorrow for they town of Quellion, on the island of Chiloe http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chilo%C3%A9_Island , the 2nd largest island of Chile. I plan on exploring this huge rainforest type island for 4 to 5 days and then I will make my way up to Puerto Montt where I will rendevous with my dad for a couple weeks.
Wednesday, March 28, 2007
hitching, drinking, and dancing
I´ve reached the end of the Carretera Austral, arriving in Chaiten last night to an amazing sunset. Let me give a quick recap of some of my escapades during the past week.
I´ll begin back in Cochrane, where during my last night at the fruit tree filled campground, a well equiped Land Rover pulled in and parked itself only about 30 feet from my tent. The European plates were the first clue that this truck was a long ways from home. The driver was named Guy, a 65 year old retired Physics professor from Lyon, France. His English was passable but he preferred speaking in Spanish, which he had picked up while living for ten years in Spain. I approached him the next morning about a possible ride north and he said sure as long as I could find a spot to stuff my pack in his ¨Flor de Cactus¨ as he had named his vehicle. We spent the next seven hours making our way north, along a particularly scenic stretch of the gravel highway. We stopped frequently for photos, something I would surely have not been able to do had I been on a bus. His vehicle was really tricked out, full of computers, coolers, and just about everything else you would expect a retired physics professor to have ourfitted his Land Rover with. We chatted in Spanish and he made me crack up when his GPS would lose its signal and he would quip: ¨hah!, the US Gov´t does not know where we are!¨ We spent the night in a tiny village 60 miles south of Coyhaique and the next morning we parted ways upon arrival in the big city. You can see some photos of his vehicle (which he also called ¨mi barco de tierra¨) on his photo heavy blog: http://www.espacioblog.com/flor-de-cactus
Upon leaving Coyhaique I was jolted back to reality: hitching is usually not so easy and painless! The day started well enough, two rides each requiring no more than 30 minutes of waiting brought me to Villa Manihuales, 50 miles north by 11 AM. This is where my good karma ran out. I waited for 45 minutes alone before being joined by two Israeli guys also looking for a ride north. Making a long and boring story short, after six and a half hours of waiting I had had enough and the three of us shared a room in the only hospedaje in town, run by a particularly cantankerous old woman. By now we were all feeling pretty fed up with this village and we were fearful there would be no restaurant avaliable as well. This is when the town decided to redeem iteself. We happened upon a hole in the wall, locals only type place, that was more a bar than a restaurant. The music was bumping and smoke clouded the small room. We asked for food and were fed the only thing avaliable, a very Chilean plate of steak topped with two fried eggs and a side of mixed salad. Dinner was followed by several liters of beer which than transformed themselves into dancing with the three local ladies in attendance. Wow could they move those hips!!! It turned out to be a truly amazing cultural experience, an evening I will not soon forget. And oh yes, the next morning we caught the first bus north.
I´ll begin back in Cochrane, where during my last night at the fruit tree filled campground, a well equiped Land Rover pulled in and parked itself only about 30 feet from my tent. The European plates were the first clue that this truck was a long ways from home. The driver was named Guy, a 65 year old retired Physics professor from Lyon, France. His English was passable but he preferred speaking in Spanish, which he had picked up while living for ten years in Spain. I approached him the next morning about a possible ride north and he said sure as long as I could find a spot to stuff my pack in his ¨Flor de Cactus¨ as he had named his vehicle. We spent the next seven hours making our way north, along a particularly scenic stretch of the gravel highway. We stopped frequently for photos, something I would surely have not been able to do had I been on a bus. His vehicle was really tricked out, full of computers, coolers, and just about everything else you would expect a retired physics professor to have ourfitted his Land Rover with. We chatted in Spanish and he made me crack up when his GPS would lose its signal and he would quip: ¨hah!, the US Gov´t does not know where we are!¨ We spent the night in a tiny village 60 miles south of Coyhaique and the next morning we parted ways upon arrival in the big city. You can see some photos of his vehicle (which he also called ¨mi barco de tierra¨) on his photo heavy blog: http://www.espacioblog.com/flor-de-cactus
Upon leaving Coyhaique I was jolted back to reality: hitching is usually not so easy and painless! The day started well enough, two rides each requiring no more than 30 minutes of waiting brought me to Villa Manihuales, 50 miles north by 11 AM. This is where my good karma ran out. I waited for 45 minutes alone before being joined by two Israeli guys also looking for a ride north. Making a long and boring story short, after six and a half hours of waiting I had had enough and the three of us shared a room in the only hospedaje in town, run by a particularly cantankerous old woman. By now we were all feeling pretty fed up with this village and we were fearful there would be no restaurant avaliable as well. This is when the town decided to redeem iteself. We happened upon a hole in the wall, locals only type place, that was more a bar than a restaurant. The music was bumping and smoke clouded the small room. We asked for food and were fed the only thing avaliable, a very Chilean plate of steak topped with two fried eggs and a side of mixed salad. Dinner was followed by several liters of beer which than transformed themselves into dancing with the three local ladies in attendance. Wow could they move those hips!!! It turned out to be a truly amazing cultural experience, an evening I will not soon forget. And oh yes, the next morning we caught the first bus north.
Saturday, March 24, 2007
City break
I´ve ended up camping a lot more frequently this trip than I had planned on. This is mainly due to the number of overnight treks I have been doing but is also due in part to the wide-spread avaliability of camp sites in towns along the way. Not only is this a good way to save money but it often turns out to be more comfortable and offer more privacy than a cramped hostel dorm room. This being said, camping night after night while traveling can get to be a bit tiring after some time. Showers are only avaliable sporadically, I think I´ve been averaging about one per week thus far, not too mention the endless self-catered portions of pasta and outmeal that wear down the palatte. There is also the cold temps, wet mornings, and other small things that can begin to wear on you. All of this combined with my back to back to back to back series of long hikes during the past month has my body asking me for a break. I was planning on starting another 3 night hike today but decided to skip it.
Instead, I am spending the night in Coyhaique http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/coyhaique , resting my head in the most plush hotel room of the trip thus far. For $11.50 I´m getting my own room and cable TV! I found myself just lying there this afternoon flipping between bad american movies and local soccer matches. It was very enjoyable. It is also nice to be in a larger town of approx. 50,000. As much as I love the outdoors and the truly spectacular treks I have been doing the past weeks, there is still something to be said about visiting and enjoying the cities along the way as well (I am planning on going to graduate school to study cities after all!) I think if one spent all of their time simply flying through the cities and only looking for outdoor pursuits, you would miss the chance to learn a lot about a country and its people.
Instead, I am spending the night in Coyhaique http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/coyhaique , resting my head in the most plush hotel room of the trip thus far. For $11.50 I´m getting my own room and cable TV! I found myself just lying there this afternoon flipping between bad american movies and local soccer matches. It was very enjoyable. It is also nice to be in a larger town of approx. 50,000. As much as I love the outdoors and the truly spectacular treks I have been doing the past weeks, there is still something to be said about visiting and enjoying the cities along the way as well (I am planning on going to graduate school to study cities after all!) I think if one spent all of their time simply flying through the cities and only looking for outdoor pursuits, you would miss the chance to learn a lot about a country and its people.
Thursday, March 22, 2007
The FLAS!!!
I´m not too fond of the american government. Particularly nowadays, with Iraq a disaster and a multitude of other issues that it is truly painful to see your tax dollars support. Once in a while though, you are rewarded by the devil. Upon returning to Cochrane this afternoon I learned by e-mail that I have received a FLAS fellowship at the University of Michigan for the academic year 2007-2008. The FLAS (Foreign Language and Area Studies) http://www.ed.gov/programs/iegpsflasf/index.html fellowship provides full tuition for 1 year plus a $15,000 living stipend. It is basically a federally funded fellowship to reward those students studying lesser taught languages (in my case Thai). There will certainly be a celebration tonight in Cochrane, I believe a salmon dinner and a bottle of fine Chilean wine are calling my name!
Monte San Lorenzo
I´ve completed yet another trek, this time a 30-35 miler of 3 nights. Vincent and I hopped on a twice weekly minibus and headed to a tiny farm house located about 25 miles southeast of Cochrane. This farm was located on a small spur off of the Caraterra Austral, meaning it was way out in the country side, far removed from everything. On the drive in you passed through lovely mountain valleys drained by the winding rio tranquillo. Most of the rivers and lakes in Patagonia are a stunning turqoise color (resulting from their glacial origins), and this river was no exception. The color of the water here often reminds me of the dyed water you see at miniature golf courses back home. Never did I think I would visit a land where most of the water is naturally this color.
The trek started right at the farm house, slowly traversing a broad valley untill you were well above the river and surrounding swampy cattle fields. Unfortunately, we didn´t follow this traverse from the start, making a wrong turn very near the beginning and staying closer to the river than out guidebook called for. As a result we had to cross 300-400 meters of sludge and other nastiness before we were able to climp steeply up to the proper track. My shoes are in quite a state of disrepair and general griminess after my past 7 weeks of trekking and this detour only worsened their condition. Once we got ourselves straightened out it was a relatively straight-forward 3 hours to a lovely farmhouse located in a valley looking out towards mountains with numerous hanging glaciers and their corresponding water falls. We camped in the shadow of the farmhouse, looking out at the aforementioned glaciers.
The next day we continued on to a different vally for about 6 miles, reaching a base camp for mountaineers hoping to summit the 3700 meter Chilean/Argentine border stratelling Monte San Lorenzo, Patagonia´s 3rd highest peak. This camp featured an immaculate shelter or refugio as they are called here. It was build five years ago in honor of a Swiss climber who died in 2000 attemping to climb San Lorenzo. Unlike most refugios I have come accross during my previous treks this one was well maintained and not smoke coated. A fireplace heated stove was probably the best feature. Vincent and I fed it continuously throughout the evening, providing more than enough heat to cook out pasta and keep a kettle at a constant simmer.
From the camp we completed a 2 hour return side trip up the base of a large glacier sliding down from Monte San Lorenzo. We also managed to scramble (somehwat dangerously) down to a strange natural glacier pool, maybe 300x200 feet in size, that was filled with hundreds of ice chunks that had calved into the water during the previous weeks and months.
On our final full day we returned to our glacier valley farmhouse and walked for two rather steeply uphill hours to the base of the numerous hanging glaciers. When you had climbed high enough you were rewarded with an amazing panorama of a bleak lake where all the glacier few falls had emptied into. We would have stayed longer, just taking it all in, but the winds up there were fierce, forcing us to eat our snacks behind a large boulder. That night at the farm house we purchased fresh eggs and two generous cuts of lamb. I fried up my lamb and it was quite a treat, not to mention a steal at 500 pesos (1 dollar) for a half pound of fresh farm raised free range lamb!!!
We walked the 10 miles back to the original farm this morning and caught our minivan back to Cochrance and my apple and pear tree filled campground. Amazingly we saw no other hikers the entire 4 days! The heavy tourist season is slowlying down now that we are getting towards the autumn months of April and May but still, it is hard to believe that someplace as truly beautiful as that is still so untouched and really unknown. I consider myself lucky.
The trek started right at the farm house, slowly traversing a broad valley untill you were well above the river and surrounding swampy cattle fields. Unfortunately, we didn´t follow this traverse from the start, making a wrong turn very near the beginning and staying closer to the river than out guidebook called for. As a result we had to cross 300-400 meters of sludge and other nastiness before we were able to climp steeply up to the proper track. My shoes are in quite a state of disrepair and general griminess after my past 7 weeks of trekking and this detour only worsened their condition. Once we got ourselves straightened out it was a relatively straight-forward 3 hours to a lovely farmhouse located in a valley looking out towards mountains with numerous hanging glaciers and their corresponding water falls. We camped in the shadow of the farmhouse, looking out at the aforementioned glaciers.
The next day we continued on to a different vally for about 6 miles, reaching a base camp for mountaineers hoping to summit the 3700 meter Chilean/Argentine border stratelling Monte San Lorenzo, Patagonia´s 3rd highest peak. This camp featured an immaculate shelter or refugio as they are called here. It was build five years ago in honor of a Swiss climber who died in 2000 attemping to climb San Lorenzo. Unlike most refugios I have come accross during my previous treks this one was well maintained and not smoke coated. A fireplace heated stove was probably the best feature. Vincent and I fed it continuously throughout the evening, providing more than enough heat to cook out pasta and keep a kettle at a constant simmer.
From the camp we completed a 2 hour return side trip up the base of a large glacier sliding down from Monte San Lorenzo. We also managed to scramble (somehwat dangerously) down to a strange natural glacier pool, maybe 300x200 feet in size, that was filled with hundreds of ice chunks that had calved into the water during the previous weeks and months.
On our final full day we returned to our glacier valley farmhouse and walked for two rather steeply uphill hours to the base of the numerous hanging glaciers. When you had climbed high enough you were rewarded with an amazing panorama of a bleak lake where all the glacier few falls had emptied into. We would have stayed longer, just taking it all in, but the winds up there were fierce, forcing us to eat our snacks behind a large boulder. That night at the farm house we purchased fresh eggs and two generous cuts of lamb. I fried up my lamb and it was quite a treat, not to mention a steal at 500 pesos (1 dollar) for a half pound of fresh farm raised free range lamb!!!
We walked the 10 miles back to the original farm this morning and caught our minivan back to Cochrance and my apple and pear tree filled campground. Amazingly we saw no other hikers the entire 4 days! The heavy tourist season is slowlying down now that we are getting towards the autumn months of April and May but still, it is hard to believe that someplace as truly beautiful as that is still so untouched and really unknown. I consider myself lucky.
Sunday, March 18, 2007
A St. Patrick´s day to remember
Warning: This post is quite long. You may need to read in segments.
Well, I´ve returned to Chile once again. This entry comes to you from Cochrane, Chile, a modest town of 3,000 on the southern Careterra Austral. Perhaps the best feature of this town is a reasonably priced internet shop!! It feels great to no longer be trapped in the frustrating universe of $4 internet. Just to shock myself, I like to convert that into Baht and think of paying 160/hr for the internet, oh the horror! My past week was obviously internet free and really quite enjoyable. One of the lessons you repeatedly learn while traveling is the importance of flexibility. So you have to wait an additional week for the ferry?? You do your best with what you can and that is exactly what I did.
My week began with a tale of two pick-ups. I had to hitch from El Chalten to the southern edge of Lago Del Desierto, where the road literally ends. My first pick-up was old, maybe a 1975 Chevy. The windshield had been overtaken my dozens of spider-web like cracks. The visor on the passenger side was stuck in a permanent down position and the one wiper was operated by a local man in his 60s, whose family owned one of the local estancias (large farms) in the area. We chatted about the weather and the isolation of the place. He was friendly and it was nice to talk to a true local. About a quarter of the way to the lake he dropped me off and I walked in light rain for the next 45 minutes. My next pick-up was about as different from the first as you could get. A 04´ or 05´ Toyota Tundra, fully loaded with leather seats and a 6 CD changer. The plates said Washington. Turns out this guy, an obvious Seatellite if there ever was one, had driven down with a friend from Seattle to Ushuaia in only about 3 months and was now making his way back north again!!! He took me the rest of the way, while we chatted about our respective trips. Only by hitching can you meet two such opposites!!!
The lake where the road ends, Lago Del Desierto, was under under dispture between the two nations untill just 10-15 years ago and there is still a small army/border patrol base here. I camped on the south end for one night, the only person within probably 20 miles. It still astonishes me sometimes what short distances you have to travel to escape from everyone. The next day I hiked for 4 hours from the southern to northern end of the lake and set up my tarp tent. The view from this camp/border patrol base was astonishing, across the length of this 7 mile turqoise lake to the mountain of Los Glaciares national park 35km beyond. Again, my apolagies for not providing the corresponding photo at this point. The following day I hiked for 5 hours to a remote shelter a few hundered meters from the border (not a legal crossing point). From here you could look and even step into Chile (somewhat illegally) to view a glaciar on the edge of the massive southern patagonian ice field: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Southern_Patagonian_Ice_Field (this page has a map on it which provides a good view of my route from El Chalten to Villa O´Higgins)
The following day and night were spent returning to and camping again at the northern edge of Lago Del Desierto. On Friday I walked with Vincent, my Irish friend, across the legal border point and into Chile. About a 14 mile walk in total. From here on the edge of the stunning green of Lago O´Higgins, Patagonias 4th largest lake, we camped at a private farm run by this amazing old couple, both of whom appeared to be at least 80 years of age. We bought fresh steaks cut from her own cows at the price of 1 dollar per pound!!! I also got to watch her making a fresh batch of beef enpenandas. Saturday morning broke and finally my day of embarcation had arrived. At 5:40 pm our boat pulled out into the rather large swells of the wind blown lake and we rocked and rolled for 3 hours before arriving at a dark Villa O´Higgins. We were taken to a local hostel and quickly informed of the true limitations of a town of 500 which untill 1999 could only be reached by boat or plane. There are no restaurants and no bars ( a rather big dissapointment for Vincent considering we had arrived in Villa O´Higgins on St. Patrick´s day, after crossing a lake that required no dye to be made green!!! The hostel owner told us the only way to get food was from one of many tiny food shops. He of course recommended the shop of his girlfriend and there we purchased beer, frozen chicken, cheese, rice, frozen veggies and returned to the hostel to prepare our St. Pattys day feast. I should also mention that this town had no bank and no doctor, both of whom make only monthly visits. This morning I was ready to go, ready to get to a real town (Cochrane) that would provide me with some real food and internet. We jumped on a mini-van run by the same hostel owner(he made a killing on us) and flew up the extreme southern strech of the Carretera Austral to Cochrane. The road was all gravel and quite bumpy but provided constantly changing vistas of glaciar capped mountains which produced more waterfalls in one 200km strech than I am sure I will ever see again. This trip took about 6 hours including a 45 minute ferry ride over a wind and rain swept fjord. We finally rolled into sunny Cochrane and Vincent and I found a camping spot in the back yard of a hostel, surrounded by amazingly delicious apple and pear trees which I quickly proceeded to gorge myelf on.
Well, I´ve returned to Chile once again. This entry comes to you from Cochrane, Chile, a modest town of 3,000 on the southern Careterra Austral. Perhaps the best feature of this town is a reasonably priced internet shop!! It feels great to no longer be trapped in the frustrating universe of $4 internet. Just to shock myself, I like to convert that into Baht and think of paying 160/hr for the internet, oh the horror! My past week was obviously internet free and really quite enjoyable. One of the lessons you repeatedly learn while traveling is the importance of flexibility. So you have to wait an additional week for the ferry?? You do your best with what you can and that is exactly what I did.
My week began with a tale of two pick-ups. I had to hitch from El Chalten to the southern edge of Lago Del Desierto, where the road literally ends. My first pick-up was old, maybe a 1975 Chevy. The windshield had been overtaken my dozens of spider-web like cracks. The visor on the passenger side was stuck in a permanent down position and the one wiper was operated by a local man in his 60s, whose family owned one of the local estancias (large farms) in the area. We chatted about the weather and the isolation of the place. He was friendly and it was nice to talk to a true local. About a quarter of the way to the lake he dropped me off and I walked in light rain for the next 45 minutes. My next pick-up was about as different from the first as you could get. A 04´ or 05´ Toyota Tundra, fully loaded with leather seats and a 6 CD changer. The plates said Washington. Turns out this guy, an obvious Seatellite if there ever was one, had driven down with a friend from Seattle to Ushuaia in only about 3 months and was now making his way back north again!!! He took me the rest of the way, while we chatted about our respective trips. Only by hitching can you meet two such opposites!!!
The lake where the road ends, Lago Del Desierto, was under under dispture between the two nations untill just 10-15 years ago and there is still a small army/border patrol base here. I camped on the south end for one night, the only person within probably 20 miles. It still astonishes me sometimes what short distances you have to travel to escape from everyone. The next day I hiked for 4 hours from the southern to northern end of the lake and set up my tarp tent. The view from this camp/border patrol base was astonishing, across the length of this 7 mile turqoise lake to the mountain of Los Glaciares national park 35km beyond. Again, my apolagies for not providing the corresponding photo at this point. The following day I hiked for 5 hours to a remote shelter a few hundered meters from the border (not a legal crossing point). From here you could look and even step into Chile (somewhat illegally) to view a glaciar on the edge of the massive southern patagonian ice field: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Southern_Patagonian_Ice_Field (this page has a map on it which provides a good view of my route from El Chalten to Villa O´Higgins)
The following day and night were spent returning to and camping again at the northern edge of Lago Del Desierto. On Friday I walked with Vincent, my Irish friend, across the legal border point and into Chile. About a 14 mile walk in total. From here on the edge of the stunning green of Lago O´Higgins, Patagonias 4th largest lake, we camped at a private farm run by this amazing old couple, both of whom appeared to be at least 80 years of age. We bought fresh steaks cut from her own cows at the price of 1 dollar per pound!!! I also got to watch her making a fresh batch of beef enpenandas. Saturday morning broke and finally my day of embarcation had arrived. At 5:40 pm our boat pulled out into the rather large swells of the wind blown lake and we rocked and rolled for 3 hours before arriving at a dark Villa O´Higgins. We were taken to a local hostel and quickly informed of the true limitations of a town of 500 which untill 1999 could only be reached by boat or plane. There are no restaurants and no bars ( a rather big dissapointment for Vincent considering we had arrived in Villa O´Higgins on St. Patrick´s day, after crossing a lake that required no dye to be made green!!! The hostel owner told us the only way to get food was from one of many tiny food shops. He of course recommended the shop of his girlfriend and there we purchased beer, frozen chicken, cheese, rice, frozen veggies and returned to the hostel to prepare our St. Pattys day feast. I should also mention that this town had no bank and no doctor, both of whom make only monthly visits. This morning I was ready to go, ready to get to a real town (Cochrane) that would provide me with some real food and internet. We jumped on a mini-van run by the same hostel owner(he made a killing on us) and flew up the extreme southern strech of the Carretera Austral to Cochrane. The road was all gravel and quite bumpy but provided constantly changing vistas of glaciar capped mountains which produced more waterfalls in one 200km strech than I am sure I will ever see again. This trip took about 6 hours including a 45 minute ferry ride over a wind and rain swept fjord. We finally rolled into sunny Cochrane and Vincent and I found a camping spot in the back yard of a hostel, surrounded by amazingly delicious apple and pear trees which I quickly proceeded to gorge myelf on.
Monday, March 12, 2007
Killing the days
Ahhhh the unpredictability of travel. As per my last posting, I was hoping to hike across the border and catch the twice weekly ferry to the Chilean town of Villa O´Higgins on Wednesday. Turns out that as of this week, the ferry changes to only once weekly, on Saturdays, thus requiring me to kill a whole week until Sat before I can catch the ferry!! I was pissed off for about 10 minutes because it was this week of all weeks that the Wed service had ended and had I done the proper research ahead of time I would have known this and made sure I connected with last Saturdays ferry. Oh well, know I will just be killing the days until Saturday, doing a few hikes that I wouldn´t have done otherwise. Who knows, maybe something good will come out of it. I´m doing a lot of reading and crossword puzzles, anything to keep my busy. I even met up with my Irish buddy Vincent from my Ushuaia hike. My iPod is in need of a charge and I have no access to an outlet so there will be no tunes for me untill I reach Chile next week. I´ll check in again next Sunday when I (hopefully) have successfully completed my border crossing at long last.
Saturday, March 10, 2007
Expensive internet and beautiful hikes
I´m going to have to keep this short because the internet here in this tiny town is crazy, $4 an hour when it is no more than $1 anywhere else in the country. I just returned from 5 days hiking in Los Glaciares national park. It was fantastic. I finally had some great weather and it makes such a difference. I wish I could compare Torres Del Paine and Los Glaciares evenly buyt Glaciares was such a better experience mainly because you could see the glourious scenery!!! There were of course glaciars galore, usually perched on rock faces towering over turqoise lakes. A few of the places were literally the most beautiful spots I think I may have ever been to in my life. I wish I could go on, but my minutes and tickets are quickly slipping away.
The next part of my trip will involve crossing back into Chile by way of a border crossing that is only accessible by foot or horse. Here´s is a link to somebodys experience on it with lots of photos: http://www.travelblog.org/South-America/Argentina/El-Chalten/blog-54440.html I will be doing it totally on foot plus the one requisite ferry. This border area was one of the last areas in dispute between the Argentine and Chilean governments and it was only open to crossings as of ten or so years ago. My guidebook claims only 200 people crossed here in 2004 but it is growing in popularity as the word gets out. Becuase of the logistical difficulties presented by this crossing it could be another 4-5 days before I can blog again. The chilean town where I will be crossing to, Villa O´Higgins is located at the southern terminus of the Carterra Austral: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carretera_Austral
One more thing, I found out upon my return from my hike that I have been accepted to the MA Urban Planning program at the University of Michigan!! Maybe that Kalamazoo College education was good for something after all!
The next part of my trip will involve crossing back into Chile by way of a border crossing that is only accessible by foot or horse. Here´s is a link to somebodys experience on it with lots of photos: http://www.travelblog.org/South-America/Argentina/El-Chalten/blog-54440.html I will be doing it totally on foot plus the one requisite ferry. This border area was one of the last areas in dispute between the Argentine and Chilean governments and it was only open to crossings as of ten or so years ago. My guidebook claims only 200 people crossed here in 2004 but it is growing in popularity as the word gets out. Becuase of the logistical difficulties presented by this crossing it could be another 4-5 days before I can blog again. The chilean town where I will be crossing to, Villa O´Higgins is located at the southern terminus of the Carterra Austral: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carretera_Austral
One more thing, I found out upon my return from my hike that I have been accepted to the MA Urban Planning program at the University of Michigan!! Maybe that Kalamazoo College education was good for something after all!
Sunday, March 4, 2007
Glaciers, tourists, and more trekking
I´m back in Argentina now, staying for a couple nights in El Calafate, a five hour bus ride to the Northeast of Puerto Natales. El Calafate is one of those towns that is so ultra turisty, you almost immediately want to move on from the minute you arrive. Everything is overpriced, about double what I have found in most other Patagonian cities so far. The main reason for the ultra-touristy feel is the Glacier Perito Moreno http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Perito_Moreno_glacier , located 50 miles west in the southern sector of Los Glaciares National Park. I visited the glacier this morning and it is very very very impressive. Jagged ice walls rise for 55 meters straight out of the water. Because the ice is forced forward at quite an advanced rate (the park info claims 2 meters per day!) there are constantly chuks both baseball and small house size plunging into the water. These drops produce stupendously loud splashes, making the visit just as much an auditory experience as a visual one. I tried to take photos but of course, like so many other places I have already visited on this trip, the whole scene was just to vast for my 35mm lens to take it all in.
My next adventure will be hiking for 4-5 days in the extreme nothern sector of the same Los Glaciares National Park http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Los_Glaciares_National_Park The hikes here will be shorter than in Torres Del Paine, but the mountains are bigger and supposedly even more impressive. Here´s hoping for a few clear days to properly take it all in.
My next adventure will be hiking for 4-5 days in the extreme nothern sector of the same Los Glaciares National Park http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Los_Glaciares_National_Park The hikes here will be shorter than in Torres Del Paine, but the mountains are bigger and supposedly even more impressive. Here´s hoping for a few clear days to properly take it all in.
Nytimes again?
*yawwwwnnnn* I guess the nytimes can´t think of anywhere more originial to write about in their travel section? http://travel.nytimes.com/2007/03/04/travel/04patagonia.html?ref=travel Maybe they will have a feature on independent travelers from Michigan next week. Read this article for another report about the Paine circuit. I think my experience of crossing John Gardner Pass in knee high snow drifts is much cooler than Mr. Wong´s experience in the mud. :o) Check out the photos as well, it will give you a small glimpse of some of the great scenery.
Saturday, March 3, 2007
Acceptance
In my very first entry for this blog I mentioned I would be hearing back from grad schools sometime in March. Well, when I returned from Torres del Paine I checked my e-mail and there was a message from my dad. He had forwarded me his correspondance with someone from the University of Michigan. I can happily inform you that I have been accepted to my first grad program, the Masters program in Southeast Asian Studies at the University of Michigan. I went out and had a crazy $12 salmon dinner last night to celebrate!
The Circuit
My Lonely Planet trekking guide calls the Paine Circuit, the long hike I just completed, ¨truly one of the world´s classic treks.¨ Unfortunately, I can´t give you a complete assesment as to whether this claim is justified. The clouds just would not go away. But first, let me start at the beginning....I arrived at the park on a brilliantly sunny day. The sky was a deep blue, only obscurred by the jagged peaks forming as abruptly beautiful skyline. Instead of starting directly on the circuit, I was seduced into heading straight for the Torres (the uniquely formed sheer rock towers for which the park is named after). The trail that links the campground and viewing area at the base of the tours was short but quite steep. My legs were quickly unhappy with me as I was lugging 9 days of supplies on my back. The trail eventually leveled out and the fire in my calves lessened to a simmer. Soon I was setting up my tent and scrambling up to the viewpoint. By then clouds had begun to roll in from the west, behind the towers, but the views were still stunning. My aplogies for not providing the appropriate photos at this point.
The following day I returned down the valley and began the circuit proper. I will spare you all the details but in short, I had a nice hike. It took me about 6 days to complete the 75 or so miles. Most of the trail was moderate ups and down, nothing too severe. The most interesting part of the hike was the John Gardner Pass, the only point on the circuit where you were required to cross a high mountain pass. The pass had been closed the day before due to heavy snow and near white-out conditions. There was talk of the pass being closed for an additional day and some impatitent groups were reversing course, heading back to the start of the circuit. The next morning a group of 16 of us (Chileans, Germans, Americans, and others) began the ascent. We resembled an Everest climbing party as we trudged single file through increasingly deep snow drifts and fierce winds. At places the snow drifts reached my knees and I was thankful for the foot holes in the damp powder that those ahead of me had produced.
Once at the top there was no snow remaining, the gale force winds had made sure of this. The wind was so strong that if you extended your arms out to your sides you were guaranteed to be blown over. Though it was hard to enjoy it, the pass provided grandstand views of Glacier Grey, a massive glacier that stretched for 20 km into the distance until the view was obscured by the heavy clouds on the horizon. The remaining days were uneventful, filled with cloudy days and rainy nights. The momentary gaps in the clouds were thrilling as you were treated to great vistas of the lakes and mountains that you knew were all around you. The last morning I awke to clear skys and caught a great sunrise amongst the mountains before packing up and surging over the final 12 miles to my awaiting bus. It felt great to return to civilization and take a hot shower, removing the weeks worth of accumulated grime.
The following day I returned down the valley and began the circuit proper. I will spare you all the details but in short, I had a nice hike. It took me about 6 days to complete the 75 or so miles. Most of the trail was moderate ups and down, nothing too severe. The most interesting part of the hike was the John Gardner Pass, the only point on the circuit where you were required to cross a high mountain pass. The pass had been closed the day before due to heavy snow and near white-out conditions. There was talk of the pass being closed for an additional day and some impatitent groups were reversing course, heading back to the start of the circuit. The next morning a group of 16 of us (Chileans, Germans, Americans, and others) began the ascent. We resembled an Everest climbing party as we trudged single file through increasingly deep snow drifts and fierce winds. At places the snow drifts reached my knees and I was thankful for the foot holes in the damp powder that those ahead of me had produced.
Once at the top there was no snow remaining, the gale force winds had made sure of this. The wind was so strong that if you extended your arms out to your sides you were guaranteed to be blown over. Though it was hard to enjoy it, the pass provided grandstand views of Glacier Grey, a massive glacier that stretched for 20 km into the distance until the view was obscured by the heavy clouds on the horizon. The remaining days were uneventful, filled with cloudy days and rainy nights. The momentary gaps in the clouds were thrilling as you were treated to great vistas of the lakes and mountains that you knew were all around you. The last morning I awke to clear skys and caught a great sunrise amongst the mountains before packing up and surging over the final 12 miles to my awaiting bus. It felt great to return to civilization and take a hot shower, removing the weeks worth of accumulated grime.
Friday, February 23, 2007
Torres Del Paine
I am currently in Puerto Natales, Chile, a small town beautifully situated along the southeastern flank of the Chilean fjords. Besides its great setting, the town doesn´t offer much besides supermarkets and camping stores where tourists stock up on supplies before heading up to Torres Del Paine National Park, a 2.5 hour bus ride to the north. This park is well known for its fantastic hiking or (trekking if you like) possibilities. I will be doing a 8 day circuit of the park, about 70 miles total. This sounds like a lot but the elevation change is supposed to be minimal as the route takes you around most of the big mountains, not through them. Still, the first few days might be tough because I will have 8 days of food on my back. Like on the previous trek, I will be out of touch because of this. Though in a rather shocking sidenote, someone did tell me that there is a small portion of the hike frequented by those doing 1-2 day hikes that does offer internet access at a cabin!!! The hike should have quite a different feel overall because it is much more visited than the area outside Ushuaia where I did my first hike. Because of this, open fires are not allowed, you actually have to pay for most of the campsites, and you have to camp at designated spots, not wherever you please. Though these restrictions might limit how much of a true wilderness feel the Ushuaia hike had, these restirctions are in place for a reason. The park is supposed to be quite a beauty and the authorities are doing their best to protect it.
One other thing, as you´ve noticed I like putting wikipedia links for a lot of the places I´m visiting and things I´m seeing. Obviously I´m not doing this for everything but if you do actually have the time and interest to learn more about some of these places I´m visiting it is truly amazing the depth of listings that wiki provides. Granted most of them are rather brief and could be improved but a little bit is better than nothing. I´ll report back sometime first week of March.
One other thing, as you´ve noticed I like putting wikipedia links for a lot of the places I´m visiting and things I´m seeing. Obviously I´m not doing this for everything but if you do actually have the time and interest to learn more about some of these places I´m visiting it is truly amazing the depth of listings that wiki provides. Granted most of them are rather brief and could be improved but a little bit is better than nothing. I´ll report back sometime first week of March.
Thursday, February 22, 2007
Penguinos
I feel like I saw quite a lot yesterday. My overpriced Penguin tour headed out to the boat at 7:30 am. It was a 25 km drive north of punta arenas and the mini van was filled with 5 Israelis, 2 other Americans, 1 Brit, 2 Swiss, 1 Chilean, and myself. Strangely, no women came along for the ride. The boat was a bit strange. Approximately 25 feet in length, it was the biggest zodiac/hard bottom inflatable I´d ever been in. We pounded our way out to Isla Magdalena, a large island smack dab in the middle of the Straight of Magellan. The penguins were there to greet us on the shore. You could hear their loud brays 100 yards before we had even tied up to the dock. We were emphatically told that we were to take no more than 1 hour walking along the designated path, up to a lighthouse at the highpoint of the island and back. To my amazement, the Penguins showed little fear of us as we slowly gawked up the trail, snapping photos at an astounding rate.
This type of penguin is known as the Magellanic Penguin; http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Magellanic_penguin which makes sense considering I was seeing them on an island in the Straight of Magellan. The hour quickly passed and we were hoarded back onto the Zodiac. Our next and final stop was Isla Marta, home to a huge colony of sea lions. This island has special protected status, thus not allowing us to disembark. Actually, I think this protection status was providing protection for us as much as for them because there were so many of these things flopping around on the beach that I´m pretty sure anyone would be pulvarised and then flattened in no time if they tried to make a landing. Like the penguins, they let off loud calls, even louder than those of of the penguins. It sounded a bit like an elephant call if you can imagine what that sounds like. After 20 minutes of sitting 100-200 yards off shore we were told it was time to head back to home base. By now we were quite far out, and the winds had picked up considerably from a few hours earlier. The trip from Magdalena to Marta was already quite rough and everyone knew the ride back would only be longer. I started down below in the covered area, hoping to stay dry. I realized this was a mistake as our route back had us going directly into and over the 6-8 foot swells. Every 20 seconds the boat would take off from the apex of the previous wave and levitate for a few milliseconds before pounding with tremendous force into the next trough. After a few minutes of this a couple of the Israelis looked like they were due to empty their stomachs at any moment so I hastily scrambled into the open air rear cockpit. It was much nicer back there, although the wind blasted your unprotected upper torso, the pounding was much less severe in the back and your legs were able to absorb most of the blows. The best part though of getting into the open air was spotting a couple of Commerson´s Dophins: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Commerson%27s_Dolphin They are only found in this tiny geographical region of extreme southern Patagonia and they are quite beautiful with their unusual white and black markings. They almost look like miniature orchas.
This type of penguin is known as the Magellanic Penguin; http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Magellanic_penguin which makes sense considering I was seeing them on an island in the Straight of Magellan. The hour quickly passed and we were hoarded back onto the Zodiac. Our next and final stop was Isla Marta, home to a huge colony of sea lions. This island has special protected status, thus not allowing us to disembark. Actually, I think this protection status was providing protection for us as much as for them because there were so many of these things flopping around on the beach that I´m pretty sure anyone would be pulvarised and then flattened in no time if they tried to make a landing. Like the penguins, they let off loud calls, even louder than those of of the penguins. It sounded a bit like an elephant call if you can imagine what that sounds like. After 20 minutes of sitting 100-200 yards off shore we were told it was time to head back to home base. By now we were quite far out, and the winds had picked up considerably from a few hours earlier. The trip from Magdalena to Marta was already quite rough and everyone knew the ride back would only be longer. I started down below in the covered area, hoping to stay dry. I realized this was a mistake as our route back had us going directly into and over the 6-8 foot swells. Every 20 seconds the boat would take off from the apex of the previous wave and levitate for a few milliseconds before pounding with tremendous force into the next trough. After a few minutes of this a couple of the Israelis looked like they were due to empty their stomachs at any moment so I hastily scrambled into the open air rear cockpit. It was much nicer back there, although the wind blasted your unprotected upper torso, the pounding was much less severe in the back and your legs were able to absorb most of the blows. The best part though of getting into the open air was spotting a couple of Commerson´s Dophins: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Commerson%27s_Dolphin They are only found in this tiny geographical region of extreme southern Patagonia and they are quite beautiful with their unusual white and black markings. They almost look like miniature orchas.
Wednesday, February 21, 2007
Strong winds and currency confusion
I blew into Chile yesterday, quite literally. I scambled to the bus station a little before the scheduled departure to Punta Arenas. They had told me the day before the bus was sold out but I was hoping for come cancellations or no shows. Luckily, I think that was exactly what happened as I was quickly sold a ticket. The journey took 8 hours, mainly through the desolate unihabited grasslands of Chilean Tierra del Fuego. Part of the journey was a 30 minute ferry ride across one of the narrowest portions of the Straight of Magellan. The winds at the Argentina/Chile border were fierce, a constant 50-60 miles per hour. Poor old ladies were getting knocked down.
Punta Arenas is a very pleasant city. The central plaze has nice mature trees and the center of the plaza contains a large statue of Magellan himself. Legend says if you touch his toe you will return to Punta Arenas again someday. It is by far the largest city in Patagonia, with about 120, 000 citizens. I booked a Penguin sightseeing boat trip this mornning. It departs at 7am Thursday and it is done a smallish zodiac type boat, maybe 20 feet in length. The colony I am going to see supposedly hosts 120,000 penguins this time of year so it should be quite a sight. One side note about this trip, I booked quite an expensive tour, a lot more than I wanted to spend party because I got confused converting the Chilean Peso to dollars. Chile is one of those countries with rediculously high currency values, approx 500 to the dollar. (Not as bad as Vietnam but still, couldn´t they just change it to 5 and be done with it?) Anyways, I thought I was paying about $30 but it ended up being $60!!! Yikes! Maybe it is good though, the other tour operator going to this colony only charges about $35 but they use a huge boat with lots of people and hopefully my extra cash will by me a closer and more unique experience.
Punta Arenas is a very pleasant city. The central plaze has nice mature trees and the center of the plaza contains a large statue of Magellan himself. Legend says if you touch his toe you will return to Punta Arenas again someday. It is by far the largest city in Patagonia, with about 120, 000 citizens. I booked a Penguin sightseeing boat trip this mornning. It departs at 7am Thursday and it is done a smallish zodiac type boat, maybe 20 feet in length. The colony I am going to see supposedly hosts 120,000 penguins this time of year so it should be quite a sight. One side note about this trip, I booked quite an expensive tour, a lot more than I wanted to spend party because I got confused converting the Chilean Peso to dollars. Chile is one of those countries with rediculously high currency values, approx 500 to the dollar. (Not as bad as Vietnam but still, couldn´t they just change it to 5 and be done with it?) Anyways, I thought I was paying about $30 but it ended up being $60!!! Yikes! Maybe it is good though, the other tour operator going to this colony only charges about $35 but they use a huge boat with lots of people and hopefully my extra cash will by me a closer and more unique experience.
Monday, February 19, 2007
Viajar a dedo
Either not enough of you wished me luck or the Fuegian drivers were not feeling generous today, but I had no success at my attempt at viajar a dedo or ¨traveling by finger¨. I waited for an hour about 10 km north of Rio Grande town and nobody stopped for me. I would say about 25 vehicles passed in an hour and not one even slowed down. I tried to make myself look as non-threatening as possible but it did not work. Oh well, I will try to buy a bus ticket for tomorrow and I really really hope there is a seat open. Getting stranded here for a week waiting for the next bus seat out of town could get old really quickly. I don´t particularly have anything against this town it´s just that there is nothing to do and I´m ready to get to Chile and visit some penguin colonies.
Sunday, February 18, 2007
Sleepy Sunday
With the possible exception of Buenos Aires, Argentina shuts down on Sundays. Not only is almost everything closed, but you see very few people walking around and even sginficantly less traffic. This makes it difficult to get much done, such as doing laundry, buying bus tickets, etc. Being in a small town like Rio Grande on a Sunday only exacerbates things. The only things open appear to be the supermarket, a small internet place, and the local cinema. I´m considering seeing of the offerings there tonight, though both look equally uninspiring. It´s either ¨A Night at the Museum¨ or ¨The holiday¨. I have learned through the years that part of the fun of seening movies oversees is you almost inevitably end up watching movies you would never bother seeing at home. Going into the theater with this attitude can make even the worst of flicks somewhat managable, if not downright enjoyable. If all the buses are sold out to Punta Arenas, Chile tomorrow, I will attempt my first extended hitchhike of the trip. Wish me luck!
Saturday, February 17, 2007
Rest Day
Today is a rainy day in Ushuaia. It is also my rest day. It is a day to sleep for extended hours in my tent, watching the rain bead down the exterior walls of my tent. I will purchase a bus ticket this afternoon and leave tomorrow morning for Rio Grande, the next town of any size noth of Ushuaia. I plan on spending just a quick night there before continuning on to Punta Arenas, my first stop in Chile. Part of the journey will require a short ferry ride over the Straight of Magellan, a body of water I have long heard about it history books. That is all for now. Will write more when I get a chance or am feeling particularly inspired.
Friday, February 16, 2007
A round at Augusta National
Imagine you are 27 years old and have never played a round of golf in your life. This is not that unusual, plenty of people have never golfed before. Now imagine yourself traveling in a foreign city, say Augusta, Georgia. You happen upon a couple of other travellers (who themselves are fairly experienced golfers). These guys are planning on playing a round at Augusta National, home of the annual Masters golf tournament. (Please omit the fact that this would actually be impossible, being that Augusta National is an exclusive members only course). Stay with me now...August National is reputed to be one of the most scenic courses in the world, a place people will see on television and just shake their heads as the camera sweeps over the manicured greens and lush spring flowers. You join the others and play a round here. It is difficult, you don´t have the right equipment, your putter and driver was bought at a discount shop for five bucks, and you are spraying the ball left and right. Still, you love it. You find yourself stopping every few mintues and just shaking your head at the simple beauty of the place. You know that all courses can´t possibly be so beautiful but you can´t sure, you don´t have anything to compare it to, right?
Sorry to make you read all that but I couldn´t help but using an analogy such as that to describe the experience I feel one my hiking partners must have gone through during my recent 4 night trek through the Fuegian Andes in extreme southern Argentina. At the campground in Ushuaia I met a 24 year old American, Paul, and we agreed to hike a 30 mile section of the Fuegian mountains to the northeast of Ushuaia. The next morning we ran into Vincent, a 27 year old Irish man who was also travelling alone and looking for a hiking partner. The three of us quickly decided to team up and off we went. On the way there we had to stop in town and buy supplies. For Paul and I it was mainly just food, but Vincent had very little of the necessary equipment as he had never done an overnight hike before. He bought a tent, he already had a very cheap sleeping bag, and we were able to share the rest of our equipment with him. The hike itself was stunning. The scenery was constantly changing, from boggy crimson red valleys where your feet sank to your ankles, to high mountain passes with jagged rocks and some lingering summer snow. I attempted to capture it all with my camera, but I am afraid it is one of those places that a camera will never be able to do fully capture. Every night we camped in a different idyllic spot, first along a snaking river in the valley, next in a high alpine meadow surrounded by an ampitheater of mountains. It is always difficult to compare hikes to others but this had to be right up there with the best I have ever done. We lucked out with the weather as well. All the nights except one were clear, offering a briliant display of constellations. We made camp fires every night and I slept like a log after each days long up and down stretches.
Most of the hike was done without the aid of a trail, and our route finding and map reading skills were tested. Having two others people to bounce possible routes off of made things a lot easier, as there would have been stretches where if I had been alone, I would have been a bit uncomfortable in not knowing if my chosen route was the correct one. Coming back to the golf analogy, I could not believe that Vincent was having this type of true and beautiful wilderness experience for his very first overnighter. If only he knew the countless dreary hikes and campsties the average hiker is required to slog though. Just like the average golfer is required to toil at their poorly maintained local municipal course, most hikers do the best with what they have, even if it is a short hike through a flat and featureless forest. If only we could all be so lucky to save the very best for the first time.
Sorry to make you read all that but I couldn´t help but using an analogy such as that to describe the experience I feel one my hiking partners must have gone through during my recent 4 night trek through the Fuegian Andes in extreme southern Argentina. At the campground in Ushuaia I met a 24 year old American, Paul, and we agreed to hike a 30 mile section of the Fuegian mountains to the northeast of Ushuaia. The next morning we ran into Vincent, a 27 year old Irish man who was also travelling alone and looking for a hiking partner. The three of us quickly decided to team up and off we went. On the way there we had to stop in town and buy supplies. For Paul and I it was mainly just food, but Vincent had very little of the necessary equipment as he had never done an overnight hike before. He bought a tent, he already had a very cheap sleeping bag, and we were able to share the rest of our equipment with him. The hike itself was stunning. The scenery was constantly changing, from boggy crimson red valleys where your feet sank to your ankles, to high mountain passes with jagged rocks and some lingering summer snow. I attempted to capture it all with my camera, but I am afraid it is one of those places that a camera will never be able to do fully capture. Every night we camped in a different idyllic spot, first along a snaking river in the valley, next in a high alpine meadow surrounded by an ampitheater of mountains. It is always difficult to compare hikes to others but this had to be right up there with the best I have ever done. We lucked out with the weather as well. All the nights except one were clear, offering a briliant display of constellations. We made camp fires every night and I slept like a log after each days long up and down stretches.
Most of the hike was done without the aid of a trail, and our route finding and map reading skills were tested. Having two others people to bounce possible routes off of made things a lot easier, as there would have been stretches where if I had been alone, I would have been a bit uncomfortable in not knowing if my chosen route was the correct one. Coming back to the golf analogy, I could not believe that Vincent was having this type of true and beautiful wilderness experience for his very first overnighter. If only he knew the countless dreary hikes and campsties the average hiker is required to slog though. Just like the average golfer is required to toil at their poorly maintained local municipal course, most hikers do the best with what they have, even if it is a short hike through a flat and featureless forest. If only we could all be so lucky to save the very best for the first time.
Sunday, February 11, 2007
Peat walking
Today I hiked up to a glaciar that overlooks Ushuaia, called Glaciar Martial. It took about 2.5 hours to hike from my tent up to the snowy base of the glaciar. From the top, the views down to the town and the Beagle Channel were great. The large ships in the harbor looked like tiny specs from so far up. Being that it was a Sunday, lots of other tourists were out walking as well. The temps were in the upper 50s and there were patchy clouds. I was able to put my fancy new gore-tex trail runners to good use as some ¨peat-walking¨ was required along the route. Peat, at least of the Patagonian variety, is a strange sponge-like ground cover. You expect to sink down to your ankles when you ask it to support your full weight but amazingly you only sink a couple inches at most. Any water that did seep onto the top of the shoe was expertly deterred by my trusty new salomons. That´s it for now, the blog will be dormant for the next 4 days or so as I attempt my first overnight backpacking trip of my journey. I will be hiking with Paul, a 24 year old guy from Maryland who I met tonight at the campground.
Saturday, February 10, 2007
On being alone in a *enter superlative adjective here* part of the world
I´m quickly realizing that it would be wise from now on to curtail my usage of superlative adjectives when describing my location. If I don´t begin limiting my use of words like ¨gorgeous¨ ¨amazing¨ and ¨spectacular,¨ by the time I am in the Chilean lakes district in April my attempts at describing the azure waters and orange foliage there will fall on deaf ears. You readers will be thinking: ¨Does he really expect me to believe that this place is just as amazing as that Ushuaia place he was descibing a few months ago?¨
This all being said, I believe that Ushuaia is truly a unique place. The combination of its special geographical location and awesome landforms make it a location I already know I am going to be sad to leave. The only thing that could make a place like this better is having someone to share it with. I think the hardest part about my trip being of the solo variety is not having someone to just talk to about where I am at that moment. When you have a travel partner you can actually say ¨hey, look over there, isn´t that beautiful!¨ This may not seem like much but being able to share these thoughts with someone while travelling in one of the most beautiful parts of the world is important. Perhaps this is why I am doing a much better job so far of keeping up this blog than I did while travelling with Lindsay in SEAsia last year. During that trip I had an outlet for my thoughts beside me at all times. Nowdays, this blog is about as good as it gets!
This all being said, I believe that Ushuaia is truly a unique place. The combination of its special geographical location and awesome landforms make it a location I already know I am going to be sad to leave. The only thing that could make a place like this better is having someone to share it with. I think the hardest part about my trip being of the solo variety is not having someone to just talk to about where I am at that moment. When you have a travel partner you can actually say ¨hey, look over there, isn´t that beautiful!¨ This may not seem like much but being able to share these thoughts with someone while travelling in one of the most beautiful parts of the world is important. Perhaps this is why I am doing a much better job so far of keeping up this blog than I did while travelling with Lindsay in SEAsia last year. During that trip I had an outlet for my thoughts beside me at all times. Nowdays, this blog is about as good as it gets!
Friday, February 9, 2007
Ushuaia
Well I´ve finally realized the title of my blog, I am indeed alone in Patagonia. More specifically, I am in Ushuaia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ushuaia , the much hyped ¨southern-most town in the world¨ though there are a few military outposts and tiny Chilean villages a little further south. It has been a bit of a strange experience arriving here. Partly because I have felt a little sick the last 24 hours and partly because I only got about 3 hours of restless sleep before my 4am wakeup this morning, I have slept for most of my first hours here. The scenery is gorgeous, snow-capped mountain peaks in every direction, the island dotted Beagle channel in the distance, and the distinct feeling that you are a long ways from the rest of the world. I headed straight to the campground where I will be spending at least the first few nights. You can check it out here: http://www.lapistadelandino.com.ar/INGLES/ENG_index.htm I have an outrageous view outside the front door of my tent, a sweeping vista of the Beagle channel and mountain beyond. I´ve taken a photo of my tent and I´m hoping when I get home I can get it placed on this page: http://www.tarptent.com/gallery.html I hope to take a boat tour on the Beagle channel in the next few days where you can see penguins and other wildlife. I may also try to stay at an ¨estancia¨ a local homestead that settlers founded when they moved into the area in the early 20th century.
Thursday, February 8, 2007
Dog walkers, PDAs, half covered bellies, and other BA quirks
Before I leave BA, I wanted to post a compilation of quirks, oddities, and other unclassifiable things that I have been witness to during my nine days here:
-Perhaps it is just a summer fashion statement, but nearly every pregnant woman I have seen on the streets or bus wears the same type of tight fitting tank top that covers exactly the top half of their bulging belly. The bottom half is open to the elements, letting the little one get a head start on the sounds and smells of the city.
-The subway here is great, on one line most of this seating is almost couch-like, with velvet upholstery. Also, the windows are left open, something you would never see in the lawsuit crazy USA.
-Seemingly all the locks in the city are opened with really old style keys. They are the type that are a couple inches long and look like they were used 300 years ago.
-Because of the heavy Italian influence here, they take their ice cream seriously. There are helado artesanal shops on every other corner. You can choose from eight different kinds of chocolate alone!!
-The nightlife here gets going at a rediculous hour. Many clubs do not open until 2am, this would probably explain why the bus I took home earlier this week at 1am was so crowded I could barely find a rail to grab onto. Supposedly even the Brazilians (notorious partiers themselves) think that the Argentine nightlife is crazy.
-Public displays of affection are commonplace. Yesterday on a packed bus, I gawked literally 2 feet away as a standing couple, each with one hand grip on a rail, proceeded to slobber on each other for about 30 seconds. It is so accepted here not even one person (besides myself) appeared to be bemused by the show. Compared to someplace like Thailand where holding hands in public is about as risque as it gets, this is quite scandalous.
-Finally, there are the dog walkers. I think this is my favorite BA quirk. In some neighborhoods (mainly the more upscale ones) you will see dog walkers walking anywhere from 10-20 dogs together at the same time!!! Amazingly, most of the time these are rather large dogs. I wish I had a picture to show what this actually looks like.
-Perhaps it is just a summer fashion statement, but nearly every pregnant woman I have seen on the streets or bus wears the same type of tight fitting tank top that covers exactly the top half of their bulging belly. The bottom half is open to the elements, letting the little one get a head start on the sounds and smells of the city.
-The subway here is great, on one line most of this seating is almost couch-like, with velvet upholstery. Also, the windows are left open, something you would never see in the lawsuit crazy USA.
-Seemingly all the locks in the city are opened with really old style keys. They are the type that are a couple inches long and look like they were used 300 years ago.
-Because of the heavy Italian influence here, they take their ice cream seriously. There are helado artesanal shops on every other corner. You can choose from eight different kinds of chocolate alone!!
-The nightlife here gets going at a rediculous hour. Many clubs do not open until 2am, this would probably explain why the bus I took home earlier this week at 1am was so crowded I could barely find a rail to grab onto. Supposedly even the Brazilians (notorious partiers themselves) think that the Argentine nightlife is crazy.
-Public displays of affection are commonplace. Yesterday on a packed bus, I gawked literally 2 feet away as a standing couple, each with one hand grip on a rail, proceeded to slobber on each other for about 30 seconds. It is so accepted here not even one person (besides myself) appeared to be bemused by the show. Compared to someplace like Thailand where holding hands in public is about as risque as it gets, this is quite scandalous.
-Finally, there are the dog walkers. I think this is my favorite BA quirk. In some neighborhoods (mainly the more upscale ones) you will see dog walkers walking anywhere from 10-20 dogs together at the same time!!! Amazingly, most of the time these are rather large dogs. I wish I had a picture to show what this actually looks like.
Wednesday, February 7, 2007
The Green City
It may have taken me a week to fully realize it, but I have come to this conclusion: Buenos Aires is an astonishingly beautiful city. It pains me to admit it, but it is far more beautiful than Chiang Mai, a place I have grown to love. This beauty is not of the geographical type. There are no great landforms surrounding the city, none of the awe inspiring mountains of Vancouver or volcanos of Antigua, Guatemela. It is the different features within the city itself that truly make it special. There are endless green spaces, one can never walk for more than 10 minutes without finding a place to take comfort under a generous canopy. These parks often contain historical statues or works of sculpture. You can even walk on most of the grassy lawns unlike in China! The architecture is classic, very European in some respects but with a certain flavor of its own. The traffic is not bad at all and for a pedestrian, navagating the city is easy. I will not go on, but if you do ever get a chance, spend a week or two here, it is a special place.
Tigre
Before I left Buenos Aires, I wanted to attempt at least one day trip out of the city. The lonely planet suggested Colonial, a you guessed it, colonial town situated across the Rio de la Plata in Uruguay. I was close to going for it, mainly because it would be fun to get a new stamp in my passport, which is quickly running out of blank spaces for new stamps! Unfortunately it involved a six hour round trip ferry ride and it cost about $40 so instead I headed to Tigre: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tigre%2C_Buenos_Aires
I think I made the right move, this Delta (which I had never even heard of until this week) is huge and goes on in a maze of stems and rivers seemingly in every direction. It is the drainage point for the entire northern Argentine watershed, and the silt filled water has a distinct mocha color to it. I only took a boat ride about half hour into it but you can take trips for 3-4 hours if you really want to get into the backcountry. Rumor has it that in the past pirates would take their fresh loot and hide out in the Delta, making it impossible to be found. The boat dropped me off and I hiked for about an hour on narrow paths that paralled the different rivers and streams. Beautiful little cottage-like homes were spread along the shores and most everyone had some sort of pier or boat lanch jutting out from their property as boats were obviously the only means of transportation. The weather was delightfully cooler though still quite humid and I had a large Quilmes beer http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Quilmes_%28beer%29 after finishing my walk. I ran into a traveller from Portland, Oregon and we chatted for a few hours at a small restaurant before I headed back to the dock for my return boat. Strangely, on the return boat I ran into Gunner, the Swede I enjoyed the vacio with on my first night in BA.
I think I made the right move, this Delta (which I had never even heard of until this week) is huge and goes on in a maze of stems and rivers seemingly in every direction. It is the drainage point for the entire northern Argentine watershed, and the silt filled water has a distinct mocha color to it. I only took a boat ride about half hour into it but you can take trips for 3-4 hours if you really want to get into the backcountry. Rumor has it that in the past pirates would take their fresh loot and hide out in the Delta, making it impossible to be found. The boat dropped me off and I hiked for about an hour on narrow paths that paralled the different rivers and streams. Beautiful little cottage-like homes were spread along the shores and most everyone had some sort of pier or boat lanch jutting out from their property as boats were obviously the only means of transportation. The weather was delightfully cooler though still quite humid and I had a large Quilmes beer http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Quilmes_%28beer%29 after finishing my walk. I ran into a traveller from Portland, Oregon and we chatted for a few hours at a small restaurant before I headed back to the dock for my return boat. Strangely, on the return boat I ran into Gunner, the Swede I enjoyed the vacio with on my first night in BA.
Monday, February 5, 2007
The yesssssssssss man
I wasn´t dying to watch the Superbowl last night, but I had nothing better to do so I headed out in search of a bar carrying the game. I headed towards an upscale barrio and sure enough there was a row of several bars and restaurants showing the game on huge projection screens. I picked one out, ordered a beer (it was actually a local microbrewery!) and settled in for the long four hours. Most of the people close to me were also American, though there was a local couple behind me. The first half of the first quarter passed without anything notable happening. The beer was pretty good and the game was entertaining, if not a bit sloppy! It was nearing the end of the 1st quarter when three guys, probably in their late 30s or early 40s showed up. Thankfully they were seated a good twenty feet behind me but still, when they opened their mouths I wished they had been a good 100 feet away. Of the three, only one was truly obnoxious. Obviously a huge colts fan, whenever they did anything remotely good (ie, a positive play of 3 or more yards) he bellowed out a loud and repeated ¨yesssssssssss¨ ¨yessssssss¨ ¨yessssssss¨. It´s hard to adequately describe how annoying a sound this was. And like I said, he did it on every even remotely positive Colts play. Countering the yesssssesss were the occasional ¨noooooossss¨ when Chicago had a big play. Then of course, he had to mix in the most played out football cliches between the yesssssses. Things like, ¨they just have to keep moving the chains,¨ ¨it´s all about field position,¨ ¨this is the colts year of destiny¨ blah blah blah!! It got so bad that by the second half some of the other Americans were overtly mocking this guy. Yelping out ¨yessssesss¨ of their own. One younger guy even started mocking him by singing the ¨America, fuck yeah!¨ song from the South Park movie. I had to admit, the yesssss man did seem like someone the South Park guys would have a good time paradying.
Saturday, February 3, 2007
Look what I found
When traveling, I usually glance a few times during my trip at the nytimes travel page, thinking it would be cool, although very unlikely, if there was a story that week about the exact place I was visiting at the moment. Well you guessed it, look what I found on the Times travel page today: http://travel.nytimes.com/2007/02/04/travel/04culture.html?ref=travel The article itself is pretty lame, they are stuck on this one enighborhood, Palermo, when there seems to be so much more to the city! Palermo was quite nice, though I enjoyed the many parks of that barrio, not the fancy shops and clubs. Still, it was exciting in a funny way to find an article that won´t even be published until tomorrows (Sunday) times, that was so closely related to where I currently sit.
Walking around
Yesterday and today were spent almost completely on my own. Rolo, my host, has been quite busy. I found out yesterday that he works for Avis, the rental car company. Tonight I should finally get to go out with him as he claims there is some type of city-wide dinner tonight for all of the HC members. It sounds like it could be a good way to get to know some new people.
I´ve logged a ton of miles these past days mainly just walking around. A few subway, or ¨subte¨ rides have been mixed in, but largely I have been doing an excellent job of breaking in the new shoes I bought for this trip. I´ve seen a lot of different neighborhoods and a lot of different looking people. People watching and finding shady spots to rest and read another chapter of my book have largely dictated where I go next. Today for example I went to a nature reserve that sits on the Rio de la Plata. The lonely planet claims this park has 200 species of birds within its boundries but I was only take in a few and it was just to bloody hot in the midday sun. Interestingly, as I stepped in the reserve office looking for a map, the man who handed me one could tell I wasn´t from around these parts and asked me where I was from. I told him the US and further replied Michigan when he asked what part. His face lit up and he excitedly told me, in perfect english, how he had attended grade school in Birmingham!! Weird, huh?
On the subject of people noticing that I am a foreigner, I´m guessing that they can tell but they have been doing an excellent job of not starting and pointing like you get so often in places like Thailand and China. It´s quite nice not being so strange looking, and I think I might be able to fool a few people as my skin is quite similar in color to many of the locals. Unfortunately, any doubts they have are quickly erased when I open my mouth!
I´ve logged a ton of miles these past days mainly just walking around. A few subway, or ¨subte¨ rides have been mixed in, but largely I have been doing an excellent job of breaking in the new shoes I bought for this trip. I´ve seen a lot of different neighborhoods and a lot of different looking people. People watching and finding shady spots to rest and read another chapter of my book have largely dictated where I go next. Today for example I went to a nature reserve that sits on the Rio de la Plata. The lonely planet claims this park has 200 species of birds within its boundries but I was only take in a few and it was just to bloody hot in the midday sun. Interestingly, as I stepped in the reserve office looking for a map, the man who handed me one could tell I wasn´t from around these parts and asked me where I was from. I told him the US and further replied Michigan when he asked what part. His face lit up and he excitedly told me, in perfect english, how he had attended grade school in Birmingham!! Weird, huh?
On the subject of people noticing that I am a foreigner, I´m guessing that they can tell but they have been doing an excellent job of not starting and pointing like you get so often in places like Thailand and China. It´s quite nice not being so strange looking, and I think I might be able to fool a few people as my skin is quite similar in color to many of the locals. Unfortunately, any doubts they have are quickly erased when I open my mouth!
Friday, February 2, 2007
The gay opera singer..... or the old Seinfeld trick
I am currently staying with a member of hospitality club (HC). HC, a group that anyone worldwide can join for free at hospitalityclub.org , attempts to give travellers the opportunity to meet and possibly stay with locals while on the road. Conversely, you can host people at your home as well, though for some reason I get very few international travelers coming through Westland, MI. Before leaving home I contacted several of the over 1000 HC members from Buenos Aires and get several resonses. One of these responses led to me meeting Rolo, a 23 year old, who currently lives with his parents in the barrio of San Cristobal, a lower middle class neighborhood in southwest BA. He offered me a room and I accepted. The room itself is quite small, maybe 10 by 6, with a window that looks out to the central open air part of the dwelling. We chatted for a few minutes and he explained he is quite busy this week with rehersals. This is where the opera comes in, he walks around the house spurting out random bits of whatever opera he is currently working on. I find it quite amusing and actually kind of nice to listen to. His parents are on vacation for the week and thus, it was only his aunt and younger brother who were home with him. At lunch I joined the three of them for you guessed it, more large pieces of meet. Unforunately I faired much worse with this one than the previously mentioned vacio. This home-prepared cut was medium rare, far from my preferred well done and verging on burned style that I usually have the few times that I do eat red meat at home. Of course there was also lots of fat mixed in with the meat at seemingly random places. These two fources of fat and rareness combined into something I found nearly impossible to chew and ingest. It was just plain gross. I resorted to cutting tiny pieces off just so I could successfully chew and swallow. I hate to admit it, but I even found myself pulling the old Seinfeld trick, stashing a few pieces of partiularly nasty meat into my napkin when nobody was looking, giving the appearance that I was actually making some progress!!!! I always knew watching all those Seinfeld episodes would be good for something. The rest of the day I didn´t see Rolo that much. He had rehersals and other things to attend to. He told me he wouldn´t be able to do anything that evening either, because he already had plans with his boyfriend. Interestingly, Buenos Aires is one of the very few locales in Latin America that has legalized gay civil unions.
Large pieces of meat
Wow, it already feels like I have been here a while. I´ve been doing a ton of walking around the city so far, just trying to get a feel for things, etc. For this post, let me go back to my first night on the town. I shared my hostel room with two Brits, probably around age 30. They were spending two weeks in BA attending spanish classes before beginning a bike trip that they hope will stretch all the way to Lima, Peru! I was a bit worried for them as they didn´t appear to be the most athletic duo I´ve ever seen but they could have been amazing cyclists for all I know, they told me their longest trip prior to this had been 1 week. They are budjeting 5 months for this one. The three of us plus another bloke from the hostel, a swede named Gunner, all went out together for dinner in San Telmo. We ended up at a local parillada, or argentine steakhouse, an ubiquitous sight throughout the city. A man was attending a giant grill inside the glass window, stacking and shuffling meats of various colors and thickness. Not surprisingly, the menu consisted mainly of fourty different cuts of steaks, veal, a little chicken and who knows what other meat products. I went for the vacio, or flank steak, with a mixed salad. Interestingly, the steaks come as is, with no accompaniements. You are served a plate with meat on it. Anything else must be ordered seperately. The other guys all went with other pieces of steak as well, it just seemed not right to order something else in a place like that. I mean I could have went for the chicken but, cmon, I would have been the laughingstock of the table. Though the vacio was the cheapest cut of meat out of the four that were ordered, it was by far the largest. This size may have been misleading though, as over half of the cut contained a thick layer of fat. I started to work on it immediately and it was hard work! The cut was not particularly tender and my knife, though searated, was just barely up to the task. It tasted ok, not amazing, but I was happy to be enjoying such an authentic Argentine dinner during my first night in the country. I should mention that the average Argentine consumes over 100 pounds of beef per year. I made my through half of the vacio before finally giving up, deciding that trying to seperate the meet from the fat was too much work! Afterwards, we had beers on a plaza in the middle of San Telmo, enjoying the perfect evening temps and full moon. It was about 12:30 am by then, which wouldn´t be surprising if I had mentioned earlier that dinner time in Argentina is from roughly 9-11. Come any earlier and you will have the entire restaurant to yourself.
Wednesday, January 31, 2007
9 hours is nothing
Greetings from hot and humid Buenos Aires. I arrived this morning at around 7am local time, which is 2 hours ahead of Eastern time back home. Though it was a night flight I wasn't able to get much sleep at all. At least the gate agent hooked me up with a sweet exit row where I could unfold my long legs. Amazingly, after fliying to Asia so many times now, a nine hour flight feels like nothing!!! I was astonished how quickly it went by.
Upon arrival I changed a big wad of cach, purchased my ticket to Ushuaia for Feb 9, and then hopped on the local #86 bus to downtown Buenos Aires. I could have taken a Taxi for about $15to$20 or a minibus for $9, but I thought I should start out the trip right and use the 40 cent local bus. Though it did take me about two hours to travel the 35 miles into town on this thing, did I mention it was only 40 cents!!!!
I got off at the Plaza del Mayo, the most famous historical spot in BA, where the independence movement and other important politial events have taken place over the past 200 years. I tried finding a park with some nice shady spots because the sun was intense, not Bangkok intense, but still pretty hot. All the parks though seemed to weirdly be under construction so I instead headed to San Telmo, a historical disctrict with a variety of hostels to choose from. I decided to stay here> http://www.sandanzas.com.ar/ingles/buenos_aires_hostel.html It seems like every hostel in the town has their own web site so I thought I should include mine. Tomorrow I may try to stay with someone from Hospitality Club or CouchSurfing but I''ll have to explain what those are in a different post. Time for a nap!
Upon arrival I changed a big wad of cach, purchased my ticket to Ushuaia for Feb 9, and then hopped on the local #86 bus to downtown Buenos Aires. I could have taken a Taxi for about $15to$20 or a minibus for $9, but I thought I should start out the trip right and use the 40 cent local bus. Though it did take me about two hours to travel the 35 miles into town on this thing, did I mention it was only 40 cents!!!!
I got off at the Plaza del Mayo, the most famous historical spot in BA, where the independence movement and other important politial events have taken place over the past 200 years. I tried finding a park with some nice shady spots because the sun was intense, not Bangkok intense, but still pretty hot. All the parks though seemed to weirdly be under construction so I instead headed to San Telmo, a historical disctrict with a variety of hostels to choose from. I decided to stay here> http://www.sandanzas.com.ar/ingles/buenos_aires_hostel.html It seems like every hostel in the town has their own web site so I thought I should include mine. Tomorrow I may try to stay with someone from Hospitality Club or CouchSurfing but I''ll have to explain what those are in a different post. Time for a nap!
Tuesday, January 30, 2007
On my own
Well, I'm on my own now. After spending the night in Chicago with Kristin and Bob (my sister and brother-in-law) they have left for work and I leave for the airport in about four hours. Saying goodbye to them was my last link to anything that is known for the next three months. From now on it will be new in every way: New cities, new foods, but most importantly, new people. Meeting strangers, both travelers and locals, will be what largely sustains me on this solo journey through Argentina and Chile. It's a bit of a scary concept, and something I've never done before, relying on the kindness of others for such an extended time. I can be unnecessarily shy at times, but I'm going to try my best to be outgoing, open to meeting as many new people as possible. If I don't make this effort I will only be shortchanging myself.
A rough outline of this trip: Spend my first week in Buenos Aires, then fly south to Ushuaia, the "southernmost town in the world". From there slowly make my way back north for the next three months, most of the time straddling the Argentina/Chile border. I plan on doing a fair amount of camping and hiking and taking lots of amazing photos. If I am able to I will post photos along the way with my posts. Oh yeah, and somewhere in late March I will have to make a decision on grad school from the road, as my mom opens my admission letters and relays the good/bad news to me. I'll keep you updated on that drama. I hope you enjoy following along.
A rough outline of this trip: Spend my first week in Buenos Aires, then fly south to Ushuaia, the "southernmost town in the world". From there slowly make my way back north for the next three months, most of the time straddling the Argentina/Chile border. I plan on doing a fair amount of camping and hiking and taking lots of amazing photos. If I am able to I will post photos along the way with my posts. Oh yeah, and somewhere in late March I will have to make a decision on grad school from the road, as my mom opens my admission letters and relays the good/bad news to me. I'll keep you updated on that drama. I hope you enjoy following along.
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