Springtime in Chile

I really had no desire whatsoever to leave El Chalten. I had already pictured my cute little life in the quaint little town. Imagined my own little tin house with a yard full of dandy lions, thought about what the day to day existence would be like, and it all seemed pretty lovely to me. But I had friends on their way who were flying a very far distance to come visit me, and I was still a long long long way south from where the were arriving. So I packed my mochila yet again (the amount of things I can manage to fit into this backpack never ceases to amaze me), said goodbye to new friends, made a promise to those mountains that I would return again one day and hopped on the bus. 12 hours up the bumpy, dusty Ruta 40 brought me here...

sunset in Los Antiguos, Lago Buenos Aires, Argentina

"We come from the land of the Ice and Snow"

This place has something special, and it is felt immediately.

To all my Steamboat people; you know that wonderful feeling we all get coming over Rabbit Ears Pass when you haven't been home in a while and you catch that first glimpse down into the Valley? Well, I experienced a sensation very similar to this upon first arriving to El Chalten.  The little town of about 700 year round residents is nestled at the base of the most spectacular mountains I have ever witnessed. Driving in from El Calafate, you pass through the dry rolling, shrub covered hills of the estepa, leveling off into the flat valley floor following the snaking rivers that flow here with only a fraction of the force they carry when they are born from the glaciers. Green mountains begin to stack up on either side, layered with lines of sediment and rock, telling the story of this landscape when it was covered in ice and ocean. And then, in the distance, behind a veil of wispy swirling clouds, appear the towers. Butterflies fluttered in my heart and an limitless smile spread across my face. This could be the place..........

Perrito Moreno Glacier- El Calafate, Argentina

A glacier is not a sedentary thing; it is in fact alive in a constant battle of gravity being waged behind its icy blue walls. It creaks and groans like the wooden floor boards of a century old farm house. You hear 'snap, crackle, pop' and the eyes race frantically across the walls looking for the big chunk breaking free. It seems a little wrong to be waiting and wishing for such immense destruction but the first hunk you see fall brings about an excitement similar to that of the Jango tower falling, but multiplied by 1,000! The ice hisses and rumbles under the push and shove of it's own weight. The sound of gunshots firing from deep crevasses, cannons exploding in the distance and you know you've just missed a good one. 

Torres del Paine

the National Geographic boat! coming in to port, Puerto Natales, Chile

Land of Fire

I finally made it. It took several years but I have arrived, to el fin del mundo. Ushuaia, Tierra del Fuego was our southerly destination goal for the first South American burro romp, but we didn't quite make it, we actually didn't even get close. So to say now that I have made it this far, all on my own, feels like quite the accomplishment in itself. 

El Canto de la Ballena

Ballena Franco Austral, Southern Right Whale

It is a sound born deep in the belly of the ocean. A low, slow moan emanating from the great depths, from the sacred home of these enormous creatures. It's melody is sad yet soothing, penetrating the soul and shaping the dreams of those lucky enough to be sleeping on the shores of their seas. Their song is like a meditation, the melodies almost hypnotizing; a giant singing bowl del mar. The mighty om of the ocean vibrates the core, breaching the surface of the waves, floating on the wind, dancing with the sands, swirling my mind as I drift peacefully to sleep...Ballena lullaby. 

Closing Catedral

                                                                              Searing sunshine, wet snow, blue skies and bonfires by the lake...Springtime in Patagonia is in full bloom. The smell of asado lingers around every corner and it is officially acceptable to drink a cold cerveza anytime after 12 noon. But don't put away your warm clothes just yet because the shadows are like walking into a freezer, the clouds roll in, the wind rips across the lake and it just might snow again.  

Refugio Frey

My very first back-country wilderness snowboard adventure. Three days of unforgettable hiking, riding, friendship, snow caves, sunshine, stars y una luna casi llena. Many thanks to the chicos of FreshTracks ski & snowboard school for inviting me to join in on their end of the season party. By far some of the most memorable moments of the year... learning to ride with a 20 kilo backpack, fighting 5 hours up the mountain while sinking up to my hips in snow, soaking wet everything, first sight of the Refugio, 360' views, untouched spring powder lines, snow glare sun burns, igloo smoke sessions, moon glow, endless fits of laughter, "bolsaaaa"!!!

no words can describe the savageness of this experience, Refugio Fray is meant to be lived not told so I'll let the photos do the storytelling. BEST.TIME.EVER.

the mochila beast

days like these

Days like yesterday are what life in Bariloche is all about. Blue bird skies, sunshine, cold shadows, springtime powder, dreamlike clouds, out of bounds kickers and snow capped friendship. Memories to last a lifetime........

Hope you enjoy the view :)  

Lago Gutierrez to the right, Nahuel Huapi to the left

Dias Domingueros

"Chica chica, cual es tu mundo?"

It's raining here at the casa but up top I imagine giant snowflakes flying through the air. "Hoy es un buen dia Patagonico" como dice Mauro. Delicious smells wafting from the kitchen, chef Mauro stewing magic in a pot. Cerveza y faso para los chicos. Live music in the living room, amigo Panchi playing the guitar, impromptu jam sessions with Anita on this lovely grey September afternoon. Todo genial...............y de repente, 'WOOOOOOOAAA" grite Panchi. This guy is brilliant. Rythm at it's very roots, born from an old soul. One of his lines says "Que seria de mi de haber nacido casi cuatro decadas atras?" That's exactly what I thought after the first couple strokes of the guitar. He's a soul of 60's rock 'n blues. "Somos los nietos de rock que va a morir de cancer." Absolute genio.

Ski Bummin

"The best day of your life is the one on which you decide your life is your own. No apologies or excuses. No one to lean on, rely on, or blame. the gift is yours- it is an amazing journey- and you alone are responsible for the quality of it. This is the day your life really begins."

-Bob Moawad

land of the lakes

Left Buenos Aires at 7pm on a 23 hour bus ride south to San Martin de los Andes. A rather curious fellow (one of six people on the bus, including myself) drank aproximately 35 cups of coffee during the journey, starting at 2am until we arrived at 4pm. He paced back and fourth from his seat to the coffee machince, which we were sitting next to, and filled himself a small cup of black coffee approximately every 20 minutes- sometimes he would leave his cup half full, go back to his seat, then return to finish it within 5-8 minutes. He would sit and sip the black coffee, then return to his assigned seat, and the process would start over again. It was one of the strangest things I've ever seen and felt the need to share this random encounter with you... 

the city that never sleeps...

       

Evita Pero

            

Av. 9 de Julio- 18 lanes wide

Sunset on Sarmiento

         

              First night out with my wonderful hostesses

Al principio

The feelings I experienced leading up to this trip were much different than the uncontrolled excitement that consumed me before my first adventure on the South American road. In those last weeks there were ripples of nervousness and doubt and sadness, but underneath that superficial layer was an ocean of calm. I shed tears with friends upon each farewell hug and again in the airport as I said goodbye to my dad. It was scary to take the first step, to remove myself from my comfort zone, ripping the security blanket from over my head. 

But I did it. 

Mosquito Bites and Alligator Fights

Tip of the Wiracocha

The wonders of Bolivia are truly mind-bending.  Space and time combine into a singular and interwoven realm, where synchronicites arise regularly beyond the imaginations and minds of people who live in countries run by machines and computers.   Even Einstein would have appreciated the knowledge hidden among these cultures and perhaps he could have opened even more doors into the world of quantum mechanics had he spoken to the shamans of the quechua culture.  Here the people may be monetarily poor compared to us, but on the contrary they are fantastically rich in textiles, dance, music, legends, lore, and agriculture; they have held onto the groundings of the precious Pacha Mama, the world we have forgotten, the world we no longer know or understand. 

Inquiry Into The Subconscious

"Much of our culture continues to reject psychedelics, which can act as psychic amplifiers, while dismissing psychic phenomena as either nonexistent or meaningless. This rejection may be based on deep-rooted psychic processes, protected by subconscious motivations. Our cultural conditioning tends to support a willful ignorance, based on the impulse to preserve the materialist worldview, and the system of values it supports, from any danger. The possibility of establishing a radically new understanding of the nature of the psyche, supporting age-old beliefs, threatens the underpinnings of a culture obsessed with acquiring wealth, goods, and status.  If we were to discover that other aspects of reality deserved our serious consideration, we would have to reexamine the thrust of our current civilization; entire lives and enormous expulsions of energy could seem misdirected or even wasted.  As I deepened my own explorations, as layers of conventional beliefs fell away, I found I was finally approaching the questions that had eluded me during the course of my life -- questions I had not even believed I had the right to ask.  Even if it required isolation from the mainstream, I preferred to sacrifice my beliefs and preconceptions, along with the comforts and status they afforded, rather than cling to a set of inherited values that I increasingly suspected to be false." Daniel Pinchbeck, 2012 The Return of Quetzalcoatl.

A Bay-spot Touch

And the sunlit fingers of dusk
They settle into a pot of gold
The droopy eyelids of summer clam-shut against the cold
And the night sharks come out to play
Taunting those rosy digits that plucked and swayed
To the ivory and tinsel of a cold, white clay

Our season of time waits for no wake
pulse be that channel a soft vein makes
Tow in the tugboat lost ashore
His memory is sparse, his keel is sore

Picture Post

Imagine

The grandeur and slow velocity of reflection imprint a life-time certainty of enduring evolution.  Here in these impervious, immaculate mountains reside the humble specters of time.  He paints a picture God can only reveal and his quiet ancestors calmly watch each stroke.  The canvass is stiff but he owns this moment each to hand and brush yet he holds no wager against the vacillating beauty reflecting sky, earth, and wind. His breath is cold and his cold breath surrounds him.  Ice and death encircle the shadows escaping only when pushed aside by sunlight and sunlight radiates in ghastly air around him. And the ripples of silty water rush forward against the mineral gray lake to meet with happiness and warmth.  Long ago these fragments of Earth were but larger parts of one another and they like us remind humankind of collectivity, solitary, and dissolution. 

-Yohan

As The World Turns

Yohan returns to South America, haww yeah!  And how the tides they swell and shift and the opportunities they ebb and flow. My sweet and most wonderful girlfriend has decided to join me and we couldn´t be the happier.  Three weeks ago we flew into Santiago, Chile, and have since been traveling southbound.  In Santiago we went to the local zoo and saw all the cheerful animals in lock down, other than that we spent some time reading in the local parks and catching a few beers in the dodgy bars around town.