Journal Entries from Patagonia #3

11/30, El Chalten
Once again, I receive simple and important reminders about life, living life, and what is important about life….

How your day is going, how you are feeling, and how life is seemingly treating you…. all of this can change in an instant. It can change as a result of the simplest and/or smallest of things. A phone call from a friend, a warm and unexpected chocolate chip cookie, someone you don’t know being kind to you for no outward reason, anything can change your day, your mood, and your mindset. Things can also change simply by switching your own mental outlook, your own perspective. Even a slight shift in your perspective can create a substantial change in your present experiences.

Most people I know, most travelers, in fact most people from my Western culture would say something like, “Sorry to hear that,” or “That sounds awful,” in response to listening to a factual recalling of my day today….

I left my hostel just after 8:00 AM this morning, hoping to hitch a ride from El Chalten to, or at least towards, Los Antiquos, Argentina, a border town to Chile approximately 700 km north from El Chalten. As a first attempt, I waited on the one road on the outskirts of town. I waited for about 3.5 hours with no success; there were no cars. There was consistently blowing wind of 40+ miles per hour (with gusts that whirled up small tornados), but there were no cars. Around noon I decided to change tactics. I would travel by bus about one hour away from El Chalten and wait on a spot on the main north-south highway; hopefully there would be more cars (or at least one) heading my way from that spot. So, at 1:00 PM, I headed out of town on a bus. I then sat for another 3 hours at my new spot on highway Ruta 40, again with no success. Finally, I hitched a ride back to El Chalten. Arriving back in town, I returned to the hostel I had left early that morning. OK, so hearing that outline of my day, how would you respond?

Indeed, there were moments during today when I questioned how things were transpiring. However, now, at the very end of the day, I feel nothing but gratefulness for my day, my life, my experiences (including those from today), and my vast and varied opportunities, both from the past and for the future. People who would want to apologize for my experiences today would undoubtedly view my day as a waste or believe that I gained nothing from my day. I disagree, vehemently. Why does something need to happen or get done to make a day worthwhile?Why can’t life just be enjoyed for being life, a day be enjoyed just by being a part of that day?

A relevant tangent… in an introduction to Thoreau’s Walden, the author writes that many friends and contemporary acquaintances of Thoreau considered him “underemployed” and deplored what they believcd was a “life of irresolution.” Thoreau, a graduate with excellent marks from Harvard and clearly a bright, creative mind, chose to live simply and work relatively seldomly. For a number of years, Thoreau worked in an official capacity for approximately 6 weeks of the year. For the other 46 weeks of the year, Thoreau did… well, other things. Some days he wrote; some days he built or fixed something; some days he went for a walk; some days he probably did not do much of anything. Was Thoreau wasting his time? Was Thoreau gaining nothing from his life? I wonder how most people would answer those questions. I, very confidently, believe that that Thoreau was living a full, meaningful, and fulfilled existence. My hope is that many others would agree with me.

And so, why should my day today be considered wasted? Let’s look more closely at my day…. Today I read an entire book and began another one. Today I met and spoke with people from at least six different countries. Today I was never pressured by any person, any assignment, any responsibility, or any schedule. Today I spent most of my day outside. Today I ate an incredibly delicious dinner. Today I had all of my needs met completely. Today I thought deeply about life, friends, and the future. Today I practiced speaking Spanish. Today I got to live another day in Patagonia. Huh, today was a pretty great day! No, I did not travel to a different place. No, I did not check off anything from any travel guide list or itinerary. No, my day did not include lots of moving or doing of things quickly. Why are so many people in a such a rush anyway?

12/3, Cerro Castillo

Happily confined to my tent, I have spent the afternoon reading, writing, and napping. I walked from 9:00 this morning until about 1:30 this afternoon. Gaining about 2,500 feet, the path was steep and tiring at times. I am now camped in the cradle of the Cordillera Castillo; I am surrounded by classically jagged, raw, and glacier-filled Patagonian peaks. While hiking, I very much enjoyed the cool, gray weather, but since arriving at camp, that cool grayness quickly became cold, windy drizzle. I think the day’s weather has been absolutely perfect. I had perfect uphill hiking weather this morning, and then I was blessed with perfect lazy, relaxing, hanging out in your tent weather all afternoon. I do hope for clearing skies tomorrow as I would love to explore the higher reaches of these peaks, but for now I am content listening to the gusting winds and falling rain from the comfortable confines of my tent (as I write, I am sitting on my thermarest chair, a sleeping bag is draped around me, a thermos of hot water for Mate is to one side of me, and an extra large chocolate bar with almonds and caramel is to the other side of me; I am as comfortable as I could be anywhere).

I have been thinking about the similarities I may have with Thoreau. Some of his thoughts directly connect and resonate with some of the guiding tents of my life. Aligning myself with Thoreau provides me both with a soothing sense of comfort and an unnerving sense of doubt or remorse. Optimistically, it is reassuring to think of myself alike to someone who is revered by many and often thought of as one of America’s greatest literary inspirations. However, feelings of doubt and despair also creep in to my mind with such comparisons as I begin to ask myself, if indeed I am like Thoreau, what am I doing right now to leave any sort of long-lasting legacy as he did?

And then, I begin to think of things from a somewhat Buddhist perspective and I begin to ask myself, why is it important to leave a long-lasting legacy? On our long journey through many lifetimes, how much does this one lifetime and the specific pursuits of this lifetime matter?

And then I sort of feel a bit depressed and I want think about or write about something else.

12/4, Cerro Castillo

A glorious day in the alpine. In two days, I will leave Patagonia and return to the US. I am happy that today happened before I left this place. Last night, extremely high winds blew through the evening. At times, I was sure that my GoLite megamid would fail. I also convinced myself (during different sleepless segments of the evening) that today’s weather would probably be serevely less than ideal for a mountaineering adventure. And yet, I awoke to just that – ideal weather. Unzipping my tent and crawling out to begin my day, I was greeted with bright blue skies with no clouds in sight, and crisp, cool air, but hardly any wind. A roll with cheese and some hot cocoa powered me up, and then I set off… up. The next handful of hours proved to be about as good as mountain fun can be.

I found my own way.

I boulder hopped.

I walked along pristine, glacier-fed streams.

I ascended steep inclines of rock.

I traversed snow fields.

I kicked steps up snow gulleys.

I climbed on technical rock.

I was immersed in beauty, surrounded by towering jagged peaks.

And, finally, I treated myself to a glacading ride that dropped me (quickly) over 2000 feet in elevation.

I had carried my ice axe for over two weeks. I have carried it through towns and along multiple boat rides. I had carried it on backpacking trips and buses. But so far, I had not actually used it. Clearly, I had carried this axe around Patagonia over these past two weeks for this day only, for my ride down Cerro Castillo. Carrying it the rest of the time was well worth the fun it provided for me today!

A few pics.... Clouds. New friends in El Chalten. Castillo (The Castle Mountain) at sunset. High saddle point on Castillo. My last sunset. Part of my descent (and my first "ski" run of the year).

Journal Entries from Patagonia #2

11/27, FitzRoy

In some ways, I have been journeying these past 10 days to come to this mountain, Mount FitzRoy. Now, I sit before it and its sub-peaks. I sit in the waning light and the coolness of the evening, but FitzRoy's west side still basks in the strong, summer sunlight. On that other other side of the mountain is the great southern icefields, and Chile. If I return to this area, that other other side of the mountain is where I will travel to.....

It was my second day backpacking in the FitzRoy area. Both days have consisted of a 3-5 hour backpack, and then an impromtu, super fun personal day adventure. (Today also included an early afternoon nap in my megamid - door open, feet warmed by the sun.... ahhh.)

My adventure yesterday definitely earns "trip highlights" status. After hiking into my first camp, I wandered up canyon. Then, the adventure began. I improvised a harness with a piece of climbing webbing and couple of carabiners.... I clipped myself on to a previously setup Tyrolean traverse, and pulled myself across the mighty FitzRiy Rio.... and then I hiked to Glacier Grande. I returned to near my camp as the sun was setting to cook dinner and drink a beer on the shores of Laguna Torre.

My adventure today was an off-trail, downclimb of a steep skree/snow/waterfall slope to hang out next to a pristine glacial lake.

11/28, Piedra del Fraile
At some point, Patagonia weather will win. Today, the weather beat me down some. I'd had (relatively) incredibly fortunate weather over the past two days, but today... the wind and the rain came, and they came hard. My extra side adventure today came not after my backpacking hike, but during it. It was a fight against the elements (and also an accidental off-trail slog up and down an old glacier morain). At times while walking today I was actually knocked over by the wind.

But now I sit in the comfortable confines of the refuge at Piedra del Fraile. I warm my feet (and soul) by sitting next to the wood stove and drinking Mate.

A few pics.... Drinking from cold, glacial water. Mount FitzRoy. Tyrolean Traverse. View from my nap site. Lake with Cerro Torre in the background.

Jounral Entries from Patagonia #1

11/19, Laguna Tranquilo
I write from the doorway of my tent, overlooking Laguna Tranquilo in Patagonia, Chile. I glance up from my journal, and I see the almost full moon dance out from the now graying clouds of the sunset. The day's light now fades, but la luna promises to keep my campsite bright. It is my first night camping in Patagonia, my first night sleeping in this oh-so natural of environments, my first night breathing in the cold night air originating from the glaciers and the lakes and the trees and the waterfalls of this forever and uniquely wild place. I will fall asleep tonight to the sounds of wildness around me. I will fall asleep tonight when the light no longer lets me write. I will wake up tomorrow when the sun's first rays hit my tent. And so it will be for my next weeks, living with the coming and going of the summer sun of the southern sky.

11/24, Villa O'Higgins
I sit my the fire to write and warm my feet. A grey wind howls outside. It's 8:45 in the morning. In the lives of most people I know, by 8:45 AM many things have already happened. By 8:45, typically, people have:

• been awoken by an alarm,
• started thinking about their day and the things that needed to get done,
• completed various tasks around their house,
• decided on what clothes to wear and what to pack into a briefcase or bag for the day,
• thought even more about their day,
• checked their email (and probably their Facebook),
• watched television,
• commuted somewhere,
• checked email for a second time and answered some of those emails,
• begun work their work day with meetings or daily tasks,
• and probably a handful or other things.

My morning has looked a bit different from that.... I woke up naturally and smiling on the couch in Roxanna and Andres' small house in Villa O'Higgins. (Roxanna and Andres are new friends I met yesterday). I put on the only pair of jeans and the only cotton shirt that I am carrying with me. I started a fire in the stove, and put on water for morning Mate. I read a bit of my book. As I write now I am still not sure when I'll step outside or what I'll be doing a few hours from now.

Yesterday.... I woke up in a family-run hostel in Tortel, a town built on stilts in the middle of fjord-land Patagonia. I woke up in an incredibly comfortable bed snuggled underneath multiple layers of thick wools blankets. My bed took much almost the entire room where I was staying. Outside it was dumping with rain and a steady wind blew - it had been blowing throughout the evening. I walked along boardwalks in the rain to where the road meets the sea. There I met a Suisse couple who were also heading to Villa O'Higgins; I hitched a ride. The drive to Villa O'Higgins was one of the most beautiful drives I have ever taken. I saw hundreds of waterfalls. I saw rivers that were immensely wide and other that were narrow torrents of white water. I saw snow-capped peaks that shone brightly against an emerging blue sky. I saw huge glacial lakes and wide sprawling valleys. The road, Chile's southern "highway" was gravel and dirt, letting us happily move slowly along it. At some point, we took a ferry. At some point, I arrived in Villa O'Higgins, a town I had never been to. Here, I had multiple conversations in Spanish. I shared Mate with a new friend. I met the school's headmaster and I met the school's English teacher. I had coffee and fresh, homemade bread at a local couple's home. I taught four hours of English to local, adult learners. I felt part of a community. I feel asleep in a small house snuggled underneath multiple layers of thick wool blankets.











Downtown Tortel ............................. My Villa O'Higgins Family ............. Main Street Tortel

The Nomad is Back!

I think my last post to Nomadism was over a year ago. Although keeping a blog to share thoughts and questions and experiences that came up as result of my nomadic travels seemed like a great idea, in actuality it proved to be difficult. I think the difficulty stemmed from two things - (1) The actual nature of my nomadic lifestyle; and (2) My innate resistance and (ok, I'll say it) fear of being a "blogger."

These same two limitations still exist, but I am going to try to give it another shot. I still believe that I have positive words and ideas to share with others. I want my travels and my journeys to not only inspire me, but perhaps create some sort of positive change within a handful of others.

And, so the Nomad is back. Please look for new posts to be showing up here (probably still on a limited basis) and please let others know that they may be able to find some amusement (and every now and then some words of wisdom) right here at http://nomadwithpaul.blogspot.com/!

The journey continues....