finally here!

I'm in Coyhaique now. It feels _SO_ good to be here after spending six weeks traveling south to get here, and who knows how many years of my life dreaming about going to Patagonia.

After all the time I spent telling people, "I'm traveling south to Coyhaique," or, "I have three weeks left to get to Coyhaique," it began to take on mythical significance. Arriving felt like finding a little piece of the holy grail.

I ended up taking a plane down from Puerto Montt to here. It was a little weird to get in a plane after covering something like 4500km on the ground, but the flight was one of the most beautiful flights I've ever taken. Really spectacular views of the mountains here, with lots of snow, lakes, and glaciers. The mountains here seem closest to the rockies, if I had to pick a chain in the US that they're similar to, which is really nice for me. It feels a little bit like being home in the mountains that I really love.

I met a few people from the NOLS course yesterday, and we spent the day wandering around. We tried to thumb a ride to the NOLS compound, but ended up going about 6km too far, and then decided to explore the road we ended up on. We hitched another ride down the road a ways, and then walked through gorgeous country for a while. After a small bridge, we found a nice little place with a sign saying that they sold cheese. We went in, and they did indeed have cheese for sale. We couldn't see them make it, as they were still out collecting milk, but they gave us samples of the cheese, which was very good, and we bought a couple kilos. We then thumbed a ride back to the NOLS compound and then back to Coyhaique.

The NOLS course begins soon, so I don't know if there will be another update before I leave for the course. If not, I should be back here around the 17th of February, with a new appreciation for hot showers, and a lot of great memories.

Posted by vanwie at January 12, 2004 02:33 PM