But onto new things... Mendoza round two is coming up Monday night and I still need to recap Patagonia! The internet connection in the rented apartment can be a bit slow and gets interrupted a lot, causing me to lose connection with Flickr every single time I try to upload pictures. I think I'm on my 10th try now. But I'll persevere... only so I can then bore you with my 400+ pictures and videos of the South (and that's after editing a lot of pictures out).
Maybe I've resisted writing about Patagonia until now because it was simply so amazing and I don't think I can find the words to explain the immense vastness and beauty of it... if you have some free time, pick up a copy of Bruce Chatwin's "In Patagonia," the Patagonian backpacker's Bible. Started reading it on the bus to Chile and really enjoyed it. Full of interesting anecdotes of Chatwin's journey down south in the 70s, when it was much less developed and more of a wild frontier...
So I think the best way to go about summarizing the two weeks is via pictures, currently being uploaded now. Stay tuned and I'll update with captions and explanations. I do apologize if the glaciars and mountains and animals cause you to lose interest. Wait, actually no, I don't. If you don't like them, don't look at them! Two weeks, two countries, five towns, four glaciars, five hikes, one 12-hour bus ride, 8 fellow travelers and 1 fearlessly energetic tourguide.... you're going to have pictures.
Highlights, if I haven't mentioned already (and I may have), were hiking Torres del Paine (hardest hike of the trip with the best summit/ view point), ice climbing Viedma Glaciar (for the pure exclusivity and rareness of it) and horseback riding the valley in Puerto Natales (for the sheer peacefulness of being surrounded by horses, cows and 5 other people in the hours leading up to a gorgeous sunset, with lichen covering trees as far as you can see and a surprise snack break of empanadas, cookies and chocolate).
Note: really love lichen. The fact that it only grows where there's almost 0% pollution... after BsAs, the air was heaven.
Second note: full moons in Patagonia last 48 hours. You see them during the day and they are HUGE at night. I'll try to point them out in the captions.
As for my fellow group of travelers, a quick breakdown:
Christine- my 42 year old Swiss roommate. We got along swimmingly, thanks to her almost-great English skills and aptness to act years younger than her age. When we didn't understand each other due to the language barrier, we'd just giggle like kids. We had a lot of the same interests (hauling two bottles of wine into the camp site to ensure we'd have something to do after dinner; leaving the group on the last day of the trip to do their $150 rip-off excursion while we went off on our own and had our own hiking adventure). Loves U2 (has seen them 5 times and counting), has a new Spanish-Swiss boyfriend, Bruno, and works in import/export for a Swiss chocolate company. Taught me "teep-tawp" I guess like tip-top, means really cool! in Swiss German.
Laura and Colin- couple from the UK, both 29, almost 30. She from Scotland, He from England, both residing in Scotland. Been dating for 10 years, living together in Glasgow. She an anaesthesist, He an astro-physicist getting his doctorate. Both completely nice, charmingly nerdy, down to earth, not cheesy couple, but unfortunately not big drinkers or into going out. I say unfortunately since they were the closest in age to me besides Alvaro, the tour guide. We got to know each other best on the four hour flight back to BsAs, laughing about our first impressions and certain events and people throughout the trip.
Leslie and Jim- couple in their 50s from London. Only married for a year or so, four kids between the 2 of them. She owns some sort of consulting business, he's in finance, and had worked in NYC during 9/11. She was snooty, liked to talk a lot of talk, including bragging about all the places she's been (including bringing out her passport and showing off each full page visa to Egypt, Nepal, Tanzania, etc.), to how great of a horseback rider her daughter was... whereas he was the jolly type, got a long with everyone, and was at his wife's beck and call. We all felt for poor Jim. And then we heard him snore... and that ended our sympathy. She was also the last person during all the hikes, if she even went on them, and we were always waiting for them, on the buses, on the trails, for dinner. And then she tripped on the wooden catwalk...walking to the Penguin Colony... and went to the hospital, ending her trip at Punta Arenas and foregoing Ushauaia.
Laura- the only other American on the trip. In her 40s ( I think), a physical therapist from Chicago who has hiked a lot (including Kiliminjarro), was pretty athletic, but had no interest in talking to me. I tried. Even the other Laura pointed it out: "is it something to do with both being American?" "Like we're the same magnet? No, I think she just doesn't like me," I shrugged.
Jill- Laura's roommate by default. An amazing woman from Australia whose age we couldn't figure out til the end, when we got it out of Alvaro. This woman was an Olympic trained athlete (in squash?), a geneticist who works for the University of Melbourne and took 2 months to work for the Oz govt in Antarctica last year. Super into everything natural, a true Darwinist, and got me into discovering lichen, examining rocks, and playing scientist. In excellent shape, but with cropped gray hair and a face that shows the Australian's sun damage. Hence the green plastic nose guard you'll see in the pictures. She was one of the first to ice climb to the top of the wall, kept pace with us on most hikes, and was down for almost every adventure. She's 62.
Stephan- pronounced SHTEphan. 36, taxman, from Germany, and very German. The loner of the group, as there were no other single men to room with him. Definitely beat to the rhythm of his own drum and kept to himself. Loved music and often whistled while hiking. Was sad to learn Americans (South and North) don't sing hiking songs.
As a whole, not a lot of life stories were shared within the group... with the exception of Alvaro, who loved to talk about his conquests (physical, intellectual, amorous).
Alvaro- 30, from Santiago, Chile, now lives in Puerto Natales. Been a tour guide for 5 years, and does everything. Rock climber, horseback rider, kayaker, hiker, guitar player, rugby player, photographer, wood whittler, trained chef and sommelier, marathoner... you name it, he can do it. Always looking for his next big thing... possibly guiding in Canada or the rest of South America. Intensely passionate about his job, and was very sensitive to making sure everyone was happy. The one day I fell into a bad mood (had just awoken from a nap on the bus, on the way back from 2 nights of camping. Was a bit groggy and was being told our sleeping bags had a daily fee... not a nightly fee. Logically, sleeping bags should have nightly fees! Who pays for one day of a sleeping bag?) Anyway, I digress. I gave a bit of an attitude, Alvaro quickly picked up on my bad mood and tried to snap me out it. My stubbornness prevailed and it couldn't be shaken. But he tried, and that's what counts. Luckily, he was also always up for a beer, so one night when the rest of the group was ready for bed by 10 after spending all day on a bus, I had a ton of energy, and we grabbed a drink. Good conversationalist, if a bit of an exaggerator and self-promoter... but still a great person to have met and probably one of the better tour guides we could have gotten.
Andy- me. On Day 3 of the trip, I had been helping translate for one of our ice climbing guides on the Viedma Glaciar, who I guess hadn't caught my name correctly. He began calling me Andy (Lindsey is actually a very difficult name for Spanish speakers to say, for some reason), and I responded, not really thinking anything of it. Only later, when Laura (of Laura and Colin, not the cold Chicago-an), was recapping the day to Alvaro, did I realize how weird it was I answered to it. From then on, I was Andy to Alvaro as well.
The dogs of Patagonia must be acknowledged as well. Everywhere we went, stray dogs met us, whether it was on street corners in tiny Puerto Natales, at the top of the Martial Glaciar hike in Ushuaia, laying under a monument dedicated to Magellan in Punta Arenas, or after a run outside the hotel in El Calafate. But these strays all seemed healthy, robust and unlike those mangy things you see in the States. From what I could decipher from my Pedigree Dog Show watching days, they were a lot of sheepdog mixes with really sweet dispositions and surprisingly healthy coats. I've created a separate album just for the dogs...
Ok, I think that about sums it up, but wait for the pictures and captions. They will hopefully do the region justice.
okay, about halfway done uploading photos... more to come tomorrow or later this week.
ReplyDelete