Detox from the internet lifestyle

Where to start?!


Let me start by saying that I love being away from a computer for a week at a time. Yeah, it makes keeping in touch (and applying for possible summer jobs) exceedingly difficult, but it´s so nice not to have to worry about a phone, e-mail, etc. And it also makes for a very sustainable time period between e-mails--it´s so much easier to have meaningful e-mail conversations when both parties have a week or two of events to write about. So send me e-mails! And more importantly, leave comments! I´d love to know who´s reading this thing.


Last weekend, the whole crew went down to Cochrane for their annual festival/rodeo. It was a smallish affair featuring such events as: shearing sheep, killing sheep, eating sheep, and my personal favorite, riding sheep. Apparently, I now learn, riding sheep is how one gets into bull riding. I´m surprised Scotland doesn´t have more professional bull riders...

There was also quite a bit of wine, which helped to improve my spanish remarkably. Unfortunately, it also limits my ability to talk at length about Saturday evening´s events. Bummer.

We spent both Saturday and Sunday in Cochrane, and then drove back Sunday in the rain. Rain was, unfortunately, a recurring theme this week. We packed up Monday morning in the rain, drove out to our new site in the rain, and set up most of camp in the rain. Got a brief window of nice weather in the afternoon/evening to set up our tents, then a little more rain.

It poured all day Tuesday. Really gross. Oh yeah, and it rained Wednesday afternoon, too.

But besides for the meteorological downsides, our camp last week was the best yet. Both Mack and I had joked that our previous camps felt a little bit too much like New Hampshire. Not this one. The puesto was situated on the banks of the Chacabuco River in Valle Guanaco. All around were some big ass mountains, many of which were covered in snow each morning. Finally, I was in Patagonia.

There was a spectacular sunset on Tuesday evening that turned the whole valley an incredibly warm and vibrant yellow. It was as if, after so much rain, every rock and plant was glowing with appreciation.

One of the best parts about this camp, besides the scenery, was the food. On a few of the evenings, several of us went to a nearby stream (that parallels the Chacabuco) to fish for rainbow trout. On Wednesday, Mack and I caught four (Mack 3, Justin 1) that were fit to eat. They were beautiful fish, and it was really hard to smack their little fishy heads on the side of the bridge. Yes, I am officially a Murderer.

But boy, were they good.

Other notables: On Monday evening, Mack, Jon, and I crossed the Chacabuco and hiked up an overgrown red rock canyon that reminded me so much of the Southwest. Beautiful, but tough going. We were all glad we went on Monday, because the Chacabuco just about doubled in size after all the rain. It was amazing to see just how quickly it grew.

During the days, we worked to destroy a big field full of thistles. Tough, thorny work. But seriously, what´s better than standing in a field of flowers, looking up at a fragile dusting of snow on rocky peaks?

Best of all, yesterday, Mack, Jon, and I hiked up Tomangito. It was a six hour hike from the estancia up to the peak, and it was hot. It was a great hike though, and the views from the top were absolutely spectacular. Nothing like a 360 degree view from above the treeline. I´ll try to upload the video panorama I made next time I´m at the estancia.

The coolest part about being on the top of the peak, though, was that we were about 40 feet from a full-grown Andean Condor, flying. I think he could tell that we were tired, and most likely was hoping that we would keel over and die. He checked us out for about 5-10 minutes before flying off in search of less lively prey. Just awesome (in the true sense of the word).

So, in summary, Life Is Good. I´m so happy to be here, and feel so lucky that I can be having this experience. I do miss you all, though, and hope that things are well wherever you may find yourself.

Until next time!