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…
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:
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.
In from of the Casa Rosada (Presidential Palace) where the Madres de Plaza de Mayo courageously defied the regime in support of their “disappeared” children during the Dirty War
21 Nov 2002
Still having the time of my life here in BA with Bob and Jason — the people are awesome! It’s so European — just like being in Italy and Spain at the same time. Everything is so classy, the restaurants and AWESOME seafood and of course vino. Been spending lots of time with the boys shopping like crazy… Bob’s friend Jason is very nice he’s taking full advantage of the bargains to decorate his new Dartmouth St. condo. It’s actually kinda fun… spent the afternoon in awesome antique shops LOTS of great stuff for ridiculously cheap prices.
I found some really cool antique ceramic tiles with boats and stuff that are really neat but I’m still looking for just the right stuff. I did buy an awesome piece of wall art at a shop specializing in Native American Argentine crafts. It’s really beautiful and unique, most of all it’s not at all “colorful” and so Paul will love it and it will go perfectly in the house. The boys love it too and might buy similar ones. Also there’s some REALLY COOL furniture stores with GREAT pieces chairs, tables, bookshelves, bars that would go wonderfully in the house. They are kinda a Western style, but with some Mexican characteristics, beautiful hand-wrought iron handles. They actually are kind of mission style. And the prices are like a fraction of what they’d cost in the states. Paul would burst down here. Lots of amazing things to buy.
