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