Leaving South America

A long overdue synopsis and photo journal of our final weeks in South America

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With many drawn out goodbyes and some tearful hugs we made a healthy departure from Bariloche, and I left feeling that I had completed a chapter. My time there taught me so many things about myself and brought so many special people into my life. I am filled with nothing but gratitude and love for this small Patagonian town that I was lucky enough to call 'home'. 

old fishing neighborhoods, Puerto Montt, Chile

Michael and I packed up our little cabaña and loaded up the mochilas one last time for our last two weeks in South America. We crossed the Chilean border (after waiting for 5 hours to get our passports stamped because the Chilean state employees were on strike) and arrived to Puerto Montt late one afternoon. We were approached by a little old grandma at the bus station who asked us if we were looking for lodging. We couldn't turn down her tiny,wrinkled face so we accepted and followed her daughter back to their house, while she stayed on to solicit more tourists for her'hostel'.

The things I will carry

Te llevaré en mi corazon 

feet on the ground. presence

Bebe el té lentamente, con reverencia, como si fuera el eje sobre el que gira la tierra, lentamente, de manera uniforme, sin correr hacia el futuro. Vive el momento actual. Sólo este momento es la vida. 

Drink the tea slowly, with reverence, as if it were the axis on which the earth spins; slowly, in a uniform manner, without running towards the future. Live the moment now. Only this moment is life. 

-Sebastian Martinez

Home on the Nahuel Huapi

The boys are gone and Mauro is in route to Colorado for the winter so I am left alone with Pelusita to take care of the casa for the month of December. I immediately unpack my mochila, hang clothes in the closet, clean, rearrange the furniture, light an incense, pick some flowers, open a bottle of wine and voila! it feels like mine... 

Despertá (Proyecto Todos Juntos)

With the inspiration and vision of Jan Studler along with the collaboration of many many Barilochense artists, musicians, visionaries and heart felt hippies, this project was created from start to finish in one month. The short film premiered on December 21st, 2012. The power of collective consciousness shines through again. Wake up world!

Colorado meets Patagonia

Team Gringo arrived on a warm Chilean afternoon at the end of November. After six days racing up the Carretera Austral to meet these guys, I couldn't have imagined how nostalgic it would be to embrace an old friend is a land so far from home. Jamie Curcio is a long time friend, fellow snow shredder, mountain climber, life lover, adventure seeker and world traveler. I remember a conversation had years ago when he told Steph and I that he would love to come join us on our South American journey. When his own travels took him to different continents, the rendezvous was pushed aside. When I was back in Colorado last February planning my next escape to the southern hemisphere he promised that he would make it to Patagonia to visit. People love to talk. So many people spend so much time talking about all the things they would like to do, all the places they would like to see. Most people find themselves at the end of their lives saying 'I wish I had done half of the things I said I was going to do'. Few people actually act on these far fetched desires they chatter about. But some people do...

home for a few days

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...