Travel - Peregringo

Uruguay, 1987

Playing the role of Uruguayan gaucho ~ Drinking yerba maté, the ubiquitous Southern Cone tea-like treat — Playing the role of Uruguayan gaucho ~ Drinking *yerba mate*, Uruguay’s ubiquitous tea-like treat

I was exceedingly lucky be selected by my high school as an exchange student to Minas, Uruguay during my junior year. Words cannot describe the excitement, the challenge, the thrill, and the difficulty I experienced leaving one world and arriving in another. I returned from Uruguay with new vision, the world in an instant larger, compelling, irresistible. I was ready for more, lots more.

This experience was the defining moment of my teenage years, rooting my wanderlust, and opening my eyes and heart to the Great Out There. Uruguay is forever a part of my soul, my love for my family there and the exhilarating yet poignant memories I hold close to my heart.

My warm & wonderful adoptive Uruguayan family (clockwise from top left): Mamá Lilián, sis Alejandra, bro Jorge, sis Analía — My warm & wonderful adoptive Uruguayan family (clockwise from top left):
Mamá Lilián, sis Alejandra, bro Jorge, sis Analía

In the classroom at the Instituto Eduardo Fabini in Minas

With my Norwegian AFS friend Anne at the Plaza Libertad in Minas

"The return of kidnapped children depends also on you... your signature decides" ~ Sign supporting a referendum to bring the military leaders to trial following a repressive dictatorship that ended in 1985 — *The return of kidnapped children depends also on you… YOUR SIGNATURE DECIDES*
Sign supporting a referendum to bring the military leaders to trial following a repressive dictatorship that ended in 1985

A more formal moment with my family before a fiesta de quinceañera birthday bash — A more formal moment with my family before a *fiesta de quinceañera* birthday bash

This is how I remember my family — all love and warmth!

New England, mid-1980′s

My mother moved to the Boston area after my first year of high school and I happily spent my summers and holidays in New England. Mom was great about taking full advantage of the region’s culture and history, it was wonderful introduction to living elsewhere.

Walden Pond, my teenage spiritual center.

Despite sharing a larger national identity, there are distinct differences between the Midwest and New England. I discovered new friends, new ways of talking and interacting, found new things to learn and new landscapes to explore.

Cape Cod National Seashore, 1980's — Cape Cod National Seashore, 1980’s

A workday reverie…

Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed by the things you didn’t do than by the ones you did.

So throw off the bowlines. Sail away from the safe harbor. Catch the trade winds in your sails.

Explore. Dream. Discover.

~ Mark Twain

Licuado en la Isla de Ometepe, Lago de Nicaragua

Cono Sur Trip 2002 – Argentina, Uruguay, Chile

This was a month-long trip I took in November and December 2002 with a primary focus on Patagonia and the Andes regions. I still remember how constantly I was on the move, so much to see over a HUGE geography. The conventional maps (oriented with the northern hemisphere at the center) don’t adequately scale South America, but new reversed map constructs such as the Upside-Down map better represent land mass proportions. Imagine taking a bus over half the continental USA in a mere four weeks, sightseeing to boot.

These entries were originally emails to friends and family, here they are presented with photos. Enjoy!

Chapter 1 – Southbound & Buenos Aires Party
Chapter 2 – Family Reunion & (Even Further) Southbound‏
Chapter 3 – Wind, Glaciers and Song‏
Chapter 4 – Tired Feet & Patagonia Express‏
Chapter 5 – Wales and Whales‏
Chapter 6 – Healthy Mendoza‏
Chapter 7 – Chillin’ and Illin’ in Santiago‏

Chillin’ and Illin’ in Santiago‏

“The mountains are calling and I must go.” – John Muir

17 Dec 2002

Greetings again! I’ve been in Santiago, Chile for the past few days and have enjoyed myself greatly. I wasn’t sure what to expect of the city, but many other travelers I met had fine impressions, and boy were they right! Santiago, like Buenos Aires, is a very modern, first-world city with abundant parks, paseos (pedestrian walkways), beautiful plazas, interesting architecture, and the people refreshingly friendly for a large, and in many ways, congested city.

I arrived the afternoon of my birthday, having spent the first half of the day on a bus crossing the Andes from Argentina — a thrilling ride, down a dizzying series of serious switchbacks to the temperate valley, rife with vineyards, olive groves, etc. I had spent the night before in a small Argentine town near the border, Puente del Inca, so I could hike beneath the massive Cerro Aconcagua (America’s highest peak).

Healthy Mendoza‏

12 Dec 2002

I’m in Mendoza, beautiful Mendoza! What a welcome relief from the tourist-trodden Lake District. This is a spotlessly clean city; shopkeepers seem to sweep constantly (although this unfortunately makes for some dusty air when passing by). And it has beautiful plazas, with grand elephant palms, regal statues, splashy fountains, and plenty of benches perched conveniently beneath shady trees and alongside blooming flower beds. The acequias (irrigation canals) that line nearly every street add a distinctive flavor to the city (but also pose somewhat of a danger if one were to misstep), as well as nourish to the trees that provide much-needed shade during the blistering midday siesta hours.

The canals are leftover from the indigenous Huarpes who ingeniously turned a virtual desert into a thriving agricultural zone (which the Spaniards were quick to capitalize on) by effectively channeling the runoff from the Andes to the West. Despite many earthquakes over the centuries, it still has some decent colonial buildings. Agreeably familiar, it feels very much like southern Spain.

Wales and Whales‏

08 Dec 2002

OK I’ve been a bit under the weather the past couple of days, nothing serious, I guess my frenetic pace has finally overwhelmed my body! Too many tours, too many overnight bus trips ⁠— although these are quite comfortable, and I always get a kick out of the “bus attendants” who distribute sandwiches, coffee, blankets & such, and always pop in some bizarre B video from the US. These flicks are always so weird, usually with big stars but are terrible productions (I expect they never enjoyed general release).

Yet a month of travel is so little time, I find I am skipping over whole interesting sections of Argentina’s vast geography (I’m saving those for another trip). But yesterday was a restful day, in the pleasant El Bolsón, a smallish valley town flanked by two craggy ranges in the Lake District.

Tired Feet & Patagonia Express‏

Torres del Paine National Park, Patagonia

02 Dec 2002

Hey all! I survived the 4-day trek through Chile’s fantastic “Torres del Paine” National Park. It was a spectacular hike, chock full of amazing granite towers (6000+ feet), glaciers, condors, snowy mountains, sparkling lakes, wind, guanacos (relatives to the llama), camping, fireside meals in the refuges, GREAT companionship, beautiful weather — and that’s only the start!

The entire hike was marvelous, and I’ll tell give you the details as soon as I can. Now I must meet some new friends (Brits) for dinner then off to bed. I have a 6 AM bus tomorrow back to Argentina, then off to see the whales! I’ll write more soon…

Wind, Glaciers and Song‏

28 Nov 2002

Greetings again… I finally arrived in Puerto Natales, Chile after a long 8-hour bus ride through the southern Patagonian landscape. It’s beautiful weather down here, 50’s and 60’s with lots of WIND WIND WIND. It’s constantly blowing wildly from the west, it never ceases. You can tell your direction at all times while inside a bus by simply watching the shrubs blowing. The trees, none more than 20 feet tall, grow in an easterly direction. The landscape, at least on the Argentine side, is dry and barren. There’s nothing down here, no people, no buildings, a few scattered towns with seemingly deserted estancias (very large farms). There are birds (rhea, kestrels, flamingos, condor), sheep & cows, and (reportedly) puma. Despite its emptiness, it’s beautiful.

I’ve been listening to the radio a lot. Mostly tango, southern folklore tunes, bad 80’s music in English. A curious event is the thrice-daily broadcast of farmer messages. Since most of the estancias have no phones and are miles and miles apart (for example, on the 8-hr bus ride I saw perhaps a dozen large farms), the only way to communicate is via the radio. They are really interesting, broadcasting births, deaths, party dates, auction information, even just simple greetings. Highly personal at times, always entertaining, I love listening to them. Here are some examples I jotted down:

Family Reunion & (Even Further) Southbound‏

The saga continues after hangover recovery, on to Uruguay for a great family reunion, then en route to Patagonia…

Gran reunión with my 1986 AFS host family. A beautiful family, full of love and spirit. And growing every year!

27 Nov 2002

Here’s the latest of my travel adventures. Wow so much has happened, let’s see where I last left off… oh Buenos Aires, was it? Seems like an eternity ago…

Anyway, after I finally recovered from the Big Gay Night Out hangover, I was ready to rally again by 6 PM, so I reunited with the Argentine juggler since she invited me to this REALLY COOL community theater event in a working-class neighborhood just south of downtown. She said the theater is a converted warehouse (just my type) that was intended to be an arts school, buy that never happened. Anyway the rough-n-tough locals decided to turn it into a community theater and for twelve years have produced barrio-written and performed original works. It receives no governmental funding but has managed to produce very innovative theater and have established a reputation for excellence among porteños…. That night’s performance was called “El fulgor argentino” and was sort of a musical/performance art thingey that dealt with the history of the neighborhood from the 1920’s until now, involving amazing costumes, cool music, probably 100+ local performers (no professionals), incredible puppets, sound efects, etc etc. Wow, I TOTALLY loved it as you can well imagine. Even before the show there were a couple street vendors selling everything from gourmet pizzas, roast lamb on a spit (even I admit it *looked* tasty), more than a dozen homemade pastries, beer, wine, etc. Very different from the Italian sausage crapola normally sold on the streets. I treated my friendly host to both the show and pre-event wine/dessert — the total cost: $9. Unbelievable.