Finally caught up on pictures. They're all online in the usual place. Enjoy.
The NOLS pictures do a good job of telling one side of the NOLS story, but they don't do the whole thing. I'll be trying to get caught up on old stories now that I'm done with the pictures. But, for now, I've been behind a computer for too long.
I've been in Buenos Aires for a little over a week now, and I've definitely gotten used to the different hassles and the conveniences of the city life. It's a pretty drastic change from life in Patagonia, and I'm finding that to be quite refreshing. It's been nice being parked in the same spot for a while, not having put any energy into finding a place to stay or worrying about finding my way around a new city.
That said, I'm getting ready to start doing exactly that once again.
I've spent a number of days here just wandering around the city, visiting the different book stores, parks, and cafes, and doing a lot of people watching. The city has a nice feel to it -- it's quite manageable, despite its large size. There are an amazing number of parks throughout the city, with lots of green grass and healthy-looking trees. And, of course, there's always a lot going on.
Yesterday was an interesting day to be in Buenos Aires, as it marked the 28th anniversary of the military coup that started the "dirty war" in Argentina. (For a brief summary, google offered me this article, which should get the gist across. The number of missing people, listed in that article as 11,000, is hotly contested and believed to be between 15,000 and 30,000.)
This year there was a major celebration as the government made some major steps toward recognizing the past problems. The ESMA, a good sized campus in Buenos Aires and a major torture center during the dirty war was given by the fedral government to the city of Buenos Aires so that a museum of remembrance could be created there. For the first time in 27 years the buildings were open to the public.
I went over there in the afternoon. Unfortunately, I arrived too late to hear the president's remarks or to see the short concert that followed. However, I found it fascinating to wander through the campus, looking at the people and the buildings. The area itself is like almost any school -- lots of non-descript buildings, surrounded by green grass, wide sidewalks, and numerous trees. Were it not for the knowledge of the terrible history of the place, I would have found it a pleasant place to relax and enjoy some shade on a warm day in the city.
The people wandering through the buildings and around the grounds offered an interesting mix of emotions and reactions. Outside, along the lawn, families and small groups of people sat together talking, perhaps sipping maté, seeming generally quiet but contented. Nearer to one of the larger buildings a group of teenagers walked along carrying several large banners calling for peace. A small march had started to form behind them, with a mixture of people young and old, parents and children.
Inside of of the buildings a drum circle had formed, people danced excitedly, and confetti fell from the upper floors. There was a tremendous energy here -- the load beat of the drums reverberating off the walls of the large, empty room.
Other buildings were quieter, somber, as people walked through and reflected on what had taken place here during their lifetimes, perhaps thinking of a missing friend or family member.
Being in South America has made the political conflicts and struggles of the world much more real to me. Events like the dirty war in Argentina can be found in the history of most every nation in South America without having to look very far into the past. They have been major events in the lives of people here, people that I've met and talked to, people my age and younger.
I asked a group of Chileans, about my age that I met in southern Chile, about Pinochet and his impact on the life down there. One of a pair of cousins that were there answered me, pointing to his cousin, "My father went to jail during Pinochet's regime, and her father was in the army and put him there. We don't really talk about it much."
It's a new perspective, and one I'm glad to have gained.
Still in Buenos Aires; still having a great time. More about the city, and what I've been up to here, later.
I spent a while yesterday getting my pictures from the past orgainized and ready. Everything up to the NOLS trip is now online. I also fixed the problems that were causing the page to look broken for people using IE.
The new pictures are here and include: Villarica, PN Huerqueue, Valdivia, PN Alerce Andino, and a few pictures around Coyhaique from before the NOLS course. I've continued to just put pretty much everything online, so the pages are "visually verbose".
Enjoy.
After spending a couple days in Tierra del Fuego national park, I'm back in Ushuaia. I'm alone again, having dropped of McKenzie at the airport a few hours earlier.
I took the van back to town and, still dirty from the park, starting looking into information about flights from here to Buenos Aires. The next flight left in a few hours. Without any hesitation I bought a ticket, and in a few minutes, off I'll go. It's not that I'm uncomfortable in Ushuaia -- it's just time to go now. I'm looking forward to being in a big city; it should be an interesting change of pace.
I am somewhat sad, though, to be leaving Patagonia and the outdoor lifestyle. Over the past two months, I've spent about a week's worth of nights in beds and the rest in a tent or just on the ground. It's been a time of avoiding crowds
and enjoying beautiful sights. Living outside is nice, especially in an area as amazing as this one. But, fall is coming. The weather is changing, and I'm ready for a change as well.
Next time I write it will be from much farther north.
I think that I inadvertently developed some interesting habits during the time I spent down here before the NOLS course, among them a tendency to always head South. At least, the inevitable result has come -- I'm all out of South.
I'm writing this from Ushuaia, Argentina. We've been here for a couple days now, and I'm starting to know my way around town. Ushuaia is a smallish city situated at the southern tip of Argentina, on the big island of tierra del fuego. The city is in a pretty location, ringed by steep, rocky mountains on one side, and water on the other. The town itself is otherwise relatively unremarkable -- just another city. Tomorrow we should be heading over to the national park, which is supposed to be beautiful.
The trip down here was an adventure. The bus running from Puerto Natales was both expensive and inconvenient (bad schedule) so we decided to set out hitching. It was a different experience waiting for a ride outside of Puerto Natales than it was waiting on the Caretera Austral -- there was a fair amount of traffic, but none of it would stop. After a couple hours of waiting, we flagged down a bus to take us to the fork where we would leave the main road. Two hours later and a few dollars poorer we were dropped off at a gas station in the middle of windy pampas.
The road stretched out in front of us and behind us for miles, running over flat land and brown grass. Otherwise, we were surrounded by a vast, empty land similar to many places in the American west. A dirt road, looking like it didn't get that much use, took off to the west. We looked at each other questioningly -- is that REALLY our road? We watched a truck turn a little farther up, and realized that there was a paved road just behind the next rise. We walked over and found a place on the shoulder of the road, near a small lake. The wind made white caps on the water as we waited for someone to pick us up.
After a relatively short while a truck stopped. The driver was an interesting guy -- born in bolivia to Pakistani parents, he left an unfriendly home at the age of 12. He found his way to Chile, where he built a life for himself. He took us another 100km to the next fork, leaving us about 15-20k north of the straits of magellen.
We found a pick up that was headed down to the ferry, and he took us to the boat. he was driving a company truck, and an alarm sounded whenever it exceeded 100km/hr, but the alarm didn't seem to discourage him so much -- me just spoke over the beeping sound. He left us at the ferry, headed back up the road a short distance. We crossed the ferry on foot half an hour later, hoping that one of the 20 or so cars or trucks on the boat would take us further. Thumbs extended, we watched the boat empty of cars and trucks, and finally leave for the other side. Another three or four boat loads of cars proceed in a similar fashion -- people would smile or wave, but no one would stop. Dark began to fall, and we decided to set up a tent at the ferry crossing.
The south side of the primera angostura, or first narrows, where our ferry crossed, is a weird place. We got off the boat, and started walking up the road. Two different signs welcomed us to Tierra del Fuego, the first reading, "bienvenidos a la gran isla de tierra del fuego," and the second, "peligro! campo de minas / danger! minefield". The same attitude seemed to infect the people working at the small restaurant / truck stop that was the only building on that side of the crossing. The inside was poorly lit, and smelled of stale cigarette smoke. A TV was running, showing a fuzzy version of some telenovela. We ordered tea and coffee and bought a package of cookies while we waited for the next boat, and consumed them in an uncomfortable silence. This wasn't the kind of place for idle conversation.
The night was crystal clear, with a full moon and not too much wind. Beautiful, and cold. We camped on a driveway between two old, rusting truck carcasses, not far from the fence that marked the start of the minefield.
The next morning we woke up and packed before the first ferry brought its load of cars across the water. Waiting on the curb, spirits higher with the new day, we watched another boat load of cars drive past without stopping. Half an hour later, another boat pulled in, and again all the cars drive past. As we're walking back toward our backpacks, though, a truck stopped further on, on the shoulder, waves to us. Happy, we cover the distance to the truck and climb in.
Our driver is Fernandez Jones, and he's headed all the way to Ushuaia with a trailer full of Coca-Cola. What luck! He's a fun guy, and quite a character. After a little bit of driving, we pull to the side of the road while he makes eggs for breakfast. Hungry, and out of quick food, McKenzie and I wait. The driver then takes out a load of bread, cheese, and mortedela (which we would later learn is horse meat) and tells us that we need to eat breakfast too. And eat we did -- one of the best tasting breakfasts I've had in a while.
The trip to Ushuaia will take around 13 hours in the truck, mostly on dusty, dirt roads over pampa. We pass the hours discussing how to swear in Spanish, in Argentina. We tell jokes -- its difficult to find jokes that translate at all, and more difficult to translate them. After he would get the joke, he would explain how it should be told in Spanish. Interesting and fun lesson. Near evening, we arrive at Rio Grande and stop for food. We share a dinner of sweet things from the supermarket (I like Argentine supermarkets!), and continue on toward the mountains that form the southern part of the island. Soon we begin to climb up a beautiful pass, and watch the sun set over flat lakes that reflect the mountains. Beautiful. A short while later, we arrive in Ushuaia and say our goodbyes. The next day our driver will exchange his load of soda for a load of plastic that will become more soda bottles, and start the drive back to his home.
I'm back in Puerto Natales again, at the same net cafe that failed me last time, but this time I'm prepared. I know when closing time is...
I just back from spending 6 days in Torres del Paine national park with a friend from the NOLS course. We hiked a modified version of the W, for those of you that know the park, starting at the administracion, visiting glacier grey, and then heading back to laguna amarga.
Torres del Paine is a beautiful, beautiful park, and it's definitely starting to be fall down here. Not only were we offered pretty colors by the rocks and the glaciers, but also by the leaves in an array of greens, reds, oranges, and yellows. The first couple days in the park offered a little bit of the fabled patagonian weather, with a lot of rain and wind. The weather was annoying at times, but never too bad. We were able to see everything we wanted to, which is the important part.
The pictures of the torres and the cuernos do them justice, but they ignore the rest of the park. The glaciers and the mountains near the other stuff -- especially in the valle france -- were equally, or more, impressive. And, as always, a photo can never capture an experience. That said, I sure took a lot of photos. I don't think I'll be able to get them online until I get to Buenos Aires or somewhere farther north -- net here is really slow.
Being in the park was quite a shock, at first. We walked the first day through pampas for 17km. Flat grasslands, like you would find in the western US (say, maybe eastern oregon, for example) and rain. We didn't see anyone else (save for 3 people), as most people had opted to take a boat further into the park, or were going in a different direction. When we arrived at the camp, though, there was a hostel with beds, a store selling food, a sheltered kitchen area with 4 stove burners, and tents all around. And, of course, people. Tons of people. Most speaking english, but with a smattering of hebrew, french, german, spanish, and other things. After the NOLS experience, it was difficult to comprehend this situation. As the days went on, of course, I adjusted quickly.
So, next on the list is Ushuia, in Argentina, for a few days, then heading back up north..
Back from Torres del Paine. Will write more about that in a bit, but I wanted to let y'all know that something weird happened to the blog with the last entry -- it never made it on to the site, but the email about it went out. So, if you're wondering why the date is wrong, or what happened... there you go.
More soon.
...for nothing left to lose. are the words running through my mind as I watch the beautiful scenery of the Caretera Austral roll by behind me. I'm sitting in the back of a pick up truck bouncing down the dirt road, the wind in my hair and the sun on my face, and I feel free and happy. Janis, honey, I think there are other ways to look at it.
I haven't posted a real update here in over a month, so I have a lot of ground to cover. A lot more than I can hope to cover tonight. The past week has been incredible, and the month before it ... just amazing. I don't really have the right words to capture any of it.
I'm writing now from Puerto Natales, Chile after traveling through a very small portion of Argentina. It's amazing to me what a huge difference political borders make -- although it was just half a day's walk from Chile to Argentina, I felt like I was in a different world. The people speak differently, the restaurant serve different food, different money, different culture, and so on... I like it there, though.
My trip down to here was just amazing. I was feeling pretty down with all of the NOLS folks leaving, and I really wasn't looking forward to being on my own. But, as soon as I hit the road, that feeling faded quickly.
I took the bus down to Cochrane, stayed the night there, and then started hitching a ride further south on the Carretera. After about 20 minutes of waiting my first ride picked me up, and drove me a couple hundred kilometers south, to just past Puerto Yungay. The ride was amazing -- sunny and beautiful. Glaciers and forest all around. Very little traffic -- when there wasa car or a bike everyone waved.
South of Puerto Yungay my ride started heading down the not-yet-finished road to Ventisquero Montt, where he was working on transforming it into simple the road to Ventisquero Montt. He dropped me off at the fork, and I started walking toward Villa O'Higgins. There was about 100k left to go, but it was nice to walk anyway -- just such a nice place. No more cars passed that night, and I ended up camping not too far from the road side. My first night out under the stars after NOLS was a great night -- it was clear that I was a lot more comfortable camping than I had been before the trip. In fact, I was probably more comfortable that night than I would have been in a bed. I had a really nice camp site, and the stars were bright with no moon.
The next morning I missed the first truck, and waited another 4 hours for a ride. Around 1 a group of Chilean students picked me up...
...the internet cafe I was writing this from just closed. I managed to find another place to finish it, but I need to write this quickly and be done, so...
Sorry sorry sorry to my friends and family that I have been neglecting by not writing, but you'll have to tollerate more of it from me. I've met a friend from the NOLS course, and we're heading to the torres del paine national park tomorrow for 5-6 daysm, then from there down to tierra del fuego. I'll try to check in some time after the treck through the park.
Sorry I've been so bad about staying in touch. Internet is hard to find in this part of the country, and of late time has been hard to find for me.
That said, I'm doing really well right now. Loving it down here. Quite happy.
Talk to you all soon.
Much love,
..david