Hello from Africa

Greetings all blog readers!

For anyone wondering, yes indeed we are well behind on the blog. I´m sure we´ll stay somewhat behind as well, but we will keep posting as we can. Most of the missing stories are partly to mostly written...

But really, most of the reason we are behind is because our days are quite full doing all the stuff we are writing about! Posts in process are... Puerto Natales, the Ferry, Bariloche, San Francisco, El Calafate, El Chalten, Ushuaia, Antarctica (POSTED BELOW!), Buenos Aires, Iguazu Falls, Paris, and Nairobi.

We are doing great and having a fabulous time. It's amazing how much we are seeing every day. Today we are in Kampala, Uganda and tomorrow we leave for four weeks on a rhinoceros reserve. We'll be non-technical for the next bit, not great Internet speeds in rural Uganda, but we hope to post whenever we can. You can check out where we'll be on the web at http://www.rhinofund.org/ and www.theeye.co.ug/ziwa_ranch_rhinos_article.php.

Happy Holidays to everyone and Happy New Year!
Danielle and Larry

In the meantime, read the Antarctica post below and check out the penguins! Hope this video works!

This actually happened, and the video is in real time. We were just at the right place at the right time as raft (big group of penguins swimming) after raft of penguins arrived at their nesting and breeding location here for the season. It was absolutely the coolest nature thing either of us has ever seen. As one of our Antarctic guides said.....a cosmic mind blower!

The White Continent

Our boat trip to Antarctica was actually the very first thing that we booked for our big trip. We were looking in a travel catalog about different tours and trips and started reading about Patagonia. Then we saw that there was a trip that combined hiking in Patagonia and taking a boat trip down to the Antarctic Peninsula. That just sounded so cool to us that we had to investigate. Turns out that trip no longer ran because the season before the boat sank. It literally ran into an iceberg and sank- all passengers on board got off safely in the lifeboats and there were testimonials from some of the people on the trip when the boat sank stating that the trip was still good. Very intriguing.

So, Antarctica became the first official destination of our trip. It was something we were very much looking forward to. When asked where we were looking forward to visiting the most, after replying that we were, of course, looking forward to all of it (we had picked all the places after all), we would generally say Antarctica. The intrigue is that it is so different from anything we had ever seen. It seemed so far away, so pure, and of course, there were penguins.

We boarded the boat after one last delicious meal of king crab and wine in Ushuaia. We cheered when we left the dock (Love Boat style) and had a little shot of Baileys to celebrate the beginning of our journey. It was to take the entire first two days to cross the Drake Passage to arrive at the Antarctic Peninsula where we would explore around for five days before heading back.

The Drake Passage is one of the most notorious waterways to cross (stories of 100 foot rogue waves and all). The water could be from rough, to very rough, known as the Drake Shake, and we just hoped that the Drake would be kind to us during our journey. Everyone was advised to use motion sickness medication during the crossing, so most folks on board had a little patch behind their ear (the latest and greatest in motion sickness medication). It turned out that the Drake was kind to us, so even when it got rough, the staff kept telling us how calm the water was and told stories of how bad it could be. In fact, they had three full dining room sets of back up dishes stored in crates on the boat in case a big wave came during a meal. I have to admit I would have really liked to see an entire dining room of food and dishes go crashing to the floor in one fell swoop, but I was grateful for the calmer waters.

A little background about our boat and our staff is in order. We were on the Akedemic Sergey Valvilov which is a Russian research vessel. They still do some research on the boat periodically, but now it is primarily for tourist trips. There are 110 passengers and tour staff maximum, and a Russian crew of 41 people. Our room on the boat was bigger than expected, but still a small cabin. Unexpectedly we had a private bathroom (we thought we were going to have a shared space). The bathroom was the size of a small coat closet. There was a sink and a toilet and a shower head. The entire bathroom was the shower stall and we needed to remember to put away the toilet paper before taking a shower. On the boat, in addition to the rooms were a lecture room, a dining room, a bar, and a bridge. It was really all quite civilized.

We spent the days crossing the Drake eating big meals when beckoned to the dining room by the overhead announcements: "good afternoon everybody, it is now 12:30 and time for lunch in the dining room. See you shortly." That surprisingly took up a good part of the day. In between meals there were lectures that we attended on birds, animals, history of the continent, etc. There was also lots of time spent getting to know our fellow passengers and sleeping. It was very exciting. Outside, all we saw was water.

The Quark staff was fantastic. They were Australian, English, French Canadian, Chilean, and Spanish, though the Aussi's dominated. The first thing we were told by our expedition leader was that this was NOT A CRUISE, it was an expedition and our agenda would vary based on conditions on the continent. As a whole the group was extremely knowledgeable, animated, and very excited to be heading down south. This was the first trip of the season and they couldn't wait to get back to the peninsula.

When we booked the trip, we knew that we were going to be very early season in Antarctica. We had heard repeatedly that we were going in the wrong season, not going far enough or long enough. We were told there would be fewer animals, fewer if any whales, and fewer numbers of penguins. It was a little discouraging at the beginning, but as it turns out, it also meant an excited and fresh staff, and lots of ice.

Turns out, I love ice. We hit our first patches of ice late morning on the second day. It was amazing. I don't think I ever really comprehended that parts of an ocean can freeze. I understand fresh water freezing, but never really contemplated salt water out in the middle of nowhere freezing. Since moving water generally doesn't freeze, this was a whole new experience. And there are so many different kinds of ice: glacial ice, sea ice, old sea ice, pancake ice, frazzle ice, brash ice, fast ice, rotten ice, and growler ice. Ice is fascinating to watch and we spent literally hours on the bridge (where the captain and crew drive the boat) staring at the ice and learning about all the different kinds. It was pure beauty. We loved the ice.





Our adventure really began on the third day. We were now solidly within the boundaries of the continent and our excursions to land were to start today. We were all itching to get off the boat and get onto the white continent. It turned out that we were so early in the season that we were in fact the first boat in the Antarctic since the summer ended seven months ago. Because of that, there was no data for our captain to gather about ice conditions and it really was an expedition
Our first "scheduled" landing to Peterman Island was unfortunately cancelled as there was too much ice and the boat couldn't safely get close enough to the island and our zodiac boats (to take us from the ship to the land) would not be able to get through the ice. It was a bummer, but it was so beautiful watching the ice scenery that it was hard to be disappointed by anything. As Woody, our fearless Aussi Expedition leader kept telling us, everything planned was only a theory until we actually get there, and even then, the conditions can change moment to moment.

After lunch, we got the go ahead for our first official landing at a Russian research base, the Vernasy Station. They were very excited to have visitors as we were the first that they had since the end of last season. When Woody contacted them by radio they wanted to know if we had beer and cigarettes that they could have. They were also very excited to hear that there were women on board. Clearly it had been a long winter. Anyway, they were excited to give us a tour, have us try their Russian Vodka, and then have us shop at the “most Southern souvenir shop in the world.”

We were finally ready to get "expedition ready." This meant putting on layer after layer of clothes, gloves, hats, jackets, rubber boots, and life jackets to try to stay warm for a 2-3 hour trip. We looked like the little kid in A Christmas Story- we were so bundled up we could hardly move. We headed out to the gangway (that's ship talk for the flight of stairs down from the big ship to get onto the rubber zodiacs to head to our destination). It was cold, clear, crisp, white, and fantastic.

Antarctic beauty is really one that can't be described in words to any satisfaction. It is breathtaking, awe inspiring, mesmerizing, engaging, and something new every moment. We took about 1000 pictures during this trip and hopefully that will give a taste, but to be surrounded by it and to have all senses alert at once is to be in Antarctica. We were officially in love with the white continent.





On this particular landing, we got our first closer views of the gentoo penguins. They are very cute and very fun to watch. We had a celebratory shot of Russian vodka, bought a magnet at the store, had our passports stamped, and then got back on the zodiacs. Before heading back to the ship, we were able to do a short "zodiac cruise" which was just boating around looking. We saw some seals on the ice, some penguins, and more ice. But now the ice was at arm’s length and even more spectacular. It was a great first venture out. The mood on the ship was jubilant that evening as we had arrived and had our first taste of what the next few days were to be like.




The next four days followed pretty much the same routine, but it was anything but routine. We saw lots of ice, icebergs, glaciers, penguins, and more penguins, seals, and gorgeous white views. Each excursion was a highlight in it of itself. In between the excursions we spent the majority of our time on the bridge just watching. There were about eight of us who were always on the bridge, and one of the folks aptly named us the ice geeks (of which we are proud members).


During our land excursions, the highlight was the penguins. We loved watching the penguins. They were at the stage of their cycle in which they were coming back to their breeding grounds (penguins go back to the same place every year- from birth until death) and establishing territory and mating. Yes, we saw penguin sex. Yes, we have some pictures of penguin sex, but this is a G rated blog, so those will have to wait. We spent one excursion watching one group of about 30ish penguins with one of the boat staff who explained a lot of the penguin rituals. They mate for life and even have special greetings just for their mates. They fiercely protect their nesting area and spend a lot time looking for rocks for which to build the nest. And, on occasion, steal rocks from the neighboring nest. The juvenile penguins act like most teenagers and run around causing each other and their parents’ grief. They go to the water to bathe and feed. It is fascinating to watch, and since they are so cute as they wattle around it is just plain fun to watch.






We also saw some chinstrap penguins....




Prior to this trip, we only really thought of penguins as sparkly white and black, but in fact, they are very dirty birds until they get into the water. Covered in dirt, feces, etc, they are not the tuxedo wearing birds we imagined. We started a dirty penguin contest and looked at all of our stops for the dirtiest penguin.


There were a bunch of contenders.




During our zodiac excursions, the highlight was definitely the ice. From the boat we got great views of landscapes and vast expanses of ice, but in the zodiacs at water level we were able to get a close up view of ice above the water, and more impressively, under the water. The water was so clear, that you could see icebergs in their entirety, both above and below water. With that kind of visibility, we were thinking how good the diving would be. People do go diving in Antarctica, but alas, the water is a little cold for our tastes and skill level. Being near the water, we were able to see the contours of the ice, see the different ways in which the ice freezes and thaws.




We had a lot of great moments on our excursion, here are a few of our favorites: On a zodiac cruise, shortly after learning about the way that leopard seals hunt and eat penguins, we were watching a raft (what a group of penguins swimming is called) of penguins and saw a leopard seal poke his head out and just watch the penguins swim by. He must not have been hungry that day, but to see one watching the other was very exciting. It even seemed as though after the penguin realized he wasn’t the next meal, he kind of played with the seal going closer and closer to it.





On one excursion, we hiked along Deception Island, rumored to be the first place that the mainland peninsula was sighted from, as we walked along the bank, we got within less than five feet of a Weddle seal before we realized he was there, we were busy watching a chinstrap penguin who looked quite lost and surprised to be on this island with all these humans. The seals tend to sleep a lot, and this one was almost completely buried in snow. Someone else spotted him at let us know he was there. That was a surprise- for both the seal and for us.


There was another landing in which a giant leopard seal was being tormented by a tiny snowy white sheaf bill bird. The bird would run around behind the seal and nip it on the tail fin. The sheaf bill eats penguin and seal feces, so it was trying to get the seal to move in order to get some lunch underneath. It worked, this tiny bird made the eight foot (or more) seal squirm around until he finally moved. It reminded me of humans and mosquitoes- how something so small can be such an annoyance.




OK, time for a little side story, in addition to the regular Antarctic tourists on our boat, there were a group of skiers. About 10 days before our boat trip, there was supposed to be a trip specifically for skiers with the same tour group on a different boat. There were 100 skiers ranging from excellent recreational skiers to ski racers to the world's elite extreme skiers (think X games). Apparently, if you follow extreme skiing, this was the who's who of the sport. Anyway, they boarded their boat, but then there was some mechanical problem and after trying to fix it for a few days, they cancelled the trip (we are very thankful that wasn't us). So a few of the diehard skiers, mostly those who were professional skiers with corporate sponsors, joined our trip. We met one fellow Coloradan, Chris Davenport, who skied all of the mountains in Colorado over 14,000ft in one year. Check it out at www.skithe14ers.com. He also posted a blog on Antarctica if you want to check it out at chrisdavenport.loopd.com (he's got a couple of really good pictures). At some of the landing sites, while we would be looking at penguins and glaciers, they climbed up ridges and skied down. At one of the landing sites, all at the same time, we could watch penguins, seals, glaciers caving, and skiers coming down the hill. It was quite entertaining to watch the penguins watching the skiers. I wonder what the penguins must have thought.

The highlight of our trip, without question, was seeing our own "march of the penguins." We were at a landing site, watching the gentoo penguins, and we noticed that there seemed to be a whole bunch of penguins walking toward us all of a sudden. One of the staff members let us know that rafts of penguins (a big group of penguins swimming) were landing down by the water. We tried to hurry down there while maintaining our 15 foot radius from the penguins which was the required distance for us to stay away from the animals, though no one let the penguins know this and they frequently would come much closer to us. It was impossible to maintain proper distance as there were penguins walking everywhere. When we got down to the water, we learned that they suspected that this was the first arrival of these penguins to the breeding site for the season. It was amazing. We estimated that we saw 5000 penguins land in a matter of one and a half hours. They would swim around in large groups and test the landing site (checking for seals), and then they would go for it and penguin after penguin came flying out of the water like little torpedoes. They then either proceeded straight to their breeding area following other penguins (little penguin highways) or they would stop and take a break to cool off after a hard swim before venturing up the hill. The videos we have (hopefully they work on the blog) are in actual time, though the penguins look like they are in high speed. It was hands down the most amazing wildlife experience we've ever had. We were just in the right place at the right time. We even forgot (for a little while) about our freezing cold feet. As Jacques, our French Canadian staff member said, it was a "cosmic mind-blower."




One of the things we were intrigued about our particular trip was the option to camp one night on the continent. That sounded like fun to us and a great way to see the area from another perspective. There were three possible nights for camping, and on the last possible night, the night of the Antarctic BBQ (seriously, an outdoor BBQ with grills, picnic tables, etc, on the deck of the boat- it was very cold and therefore our shortest dinner of the week), after being fully briefed on camping, the weather turned and camping was called off. It was a bummer, but that day had been quite cold and we were a little relieved to stay warm the rest of the night. As if on cue, right after the announcement that there would be no camping (well more than half the passengers had signed up), two humpback whales, a mother and a baby, were spotted playing and feeding in the ice near the boat. The captain graciously turned the boat around so that we could watch the whales. It was a good show and we watched them for about half an hour.

After our five full days of landings and zodiac cruises, it was time to head back North. We had completely fallen in love with Antarctica and were a little sad to head north, but we were looking forward to a little warmer weather. The Drake Passage again treated us well and we had very little "Drake Shake." It was a pretty quiet two days crossing the Drake, once we had gotten too far north for any more ice, we spent less time on the bridge. We went to a few lectures, but also spent time just hanging out; we even took a couple of naps.

As we finished crossing the Drake, we had the opportunity to round Cape Horn on our way back into Ushuaia. Cape Horn is Chilean and generally you have to stay 12km away from any land in order to stay in international waters- anything closer is considered part of an individual country. But, we were lucky in two ways. One, there was a Chilean passenger on board. Two, we had a staff member who spoke fluent Spanish who thought she might be able to convince the Chilean authorities to let us come closer because we had a Chilean on board who wanted to see her home country. It worked. We were granted permission to go to a 3km distance from shore. This was closer than any of our staff had been before. It was interesting to see such an infamous place.

We had a final celebratory "captain's dinner" for our last night on the boat. We really liked our captain. He was extremely patient and accommodating of us and tried very hard to make it a great trip. He navigated impressively through patches of ice that looked there was no clear path through. He kept the bridge open during the entire trip and allowed all of us on the bridge at once (we thought that was exceptional). He was very Russian, very serious, very quiet, but very sweet, and we really developed quite a fondness for him.



We woke up very early the morning of disembarkation. We hadn't finished packing and needed to be ready by 6:00am. As a result, we got to witness the most brilliant sunrise we've ever seen. We saw a little of it out our port hole window and ran up to get on deck to see it better. It was spectacular. After breakfast and our goodbye's we left the boat. We would love to go back again and now our desire to see the Arctic is very strong. We want to see ice at the other end of the earth. Maybe on a future trip. For now, we were off to Buenos Aires.

Hiking in Patagonia!

Our next stop was one we had really been looking foward to... Torres del Paine National Park in Southern Chili. When you see pictures of glaciers and huge dramatic mountains of Patagonia, they are more than likely taken in Torres del Paine. It is a hiking meca. Because we were going to be in the area at the very beginning of the season and weather was going to be questionable, we opted to book a trip to hike the W (the prime hiking circuit) whuch included sleeping in refugios (like bunk houses) and lodges as opposed to camping. We figured even if the weather was bad all day long, we would be fine for the next day if we slept in a warm dry place. By doing the trip like this, it also meant that we would have a guide with us during our trek coordinating our logistics from one place to another.

We arrived in Punta Arenas to gray skies. It was cold, wet, and snowing. We were very glad we had booked the lodge to lodge W trek. We got our bags and were met by Jorge who introduced himself as our guide for the next week. His English was ok, not great, so it took us a few minutes to start to figure each other out. We got into the car and headed out to Puerto Natales and our first scheduled stop to the penguin colony along the way. We were very excited about the penguins. Jorge was not a good driver. We'll just leave it at that. So, after about 45 minutes of white knuckles, we arrived at the very closed gate of the penguin colony. Jorge talked to the guy at the gate and told us that he guessed they must be closed on Sundays. Big Bummer.

We carried on, back to the main road which would take two to three hours to get to Puerto Natales. Larry asked about a lunch stop as it was already early afternoon, and Jorge said something about yea sure, there was a place in a bit. About an hour later, we stopped (just to grab a drink, not the lunch stop) and when I got out, I saw that one of the tires was completely flat. This was not a good start to our Patagonian experience. Fortunately we had a full size spare, and we were back on our way. Jorge was still a terrible driver, but our knuckles had a little more circulation after the tire was changed. We did finally stop for a quick lunch a couple of hours later, and Jorge told us he had been working in the national park for about 15 years. He also told us he really likes the horse trips and just did a few hiking treks to mix it up. He was extremely pessimistic about the weather for the next week. He tried to talk about our upcoming trip, but he hadn't yet read the details, so he told us he would brief us later. We arrived at in Puerto Natales very tired, and very unsettled about what our trip was going to be like. We reassured ourselves that it was hiking, and we didn't really need a guide to be great just to hike, we just needed someone to get us to the trailhead and manage the logistics- and we could help with that.

The bright spot for the day was the Weskar Lodge, where we stayed. We were warmly greeted and everything was there was great, including a fireplace and couch in a common sitting area. We both felt better after a nap and felt more optomistic when we met with Jorge again to go over our itinerary. Just in case, as we were not sure of Jorge's detail management, I brought down my copy of our itniterary as well for reference. We chatted with Jorge for a while, and he seemed like a nice enough guy, just not an overly prepared or enthusiastic guide. We made it through the itinerary, which we did need ours as backup, and felt a little better about the trip. We were just excited to go hiking and it seemed as though Jorge was going to be able to get us to the trailhead. After Jorge left, we had a surprisingly good dinner at the Weskar. The food was quite delicious really and it was a nice way to end a very long day.

The next morning we woke up to a perfect blue sky. We looked out our window and could see both the fiord in front of us and snow capped peaks out to the west. We got our gear together and we were ready to go hiking! Jorge and Alec met us right on time and off we went. Alec owns the company and spent about 20 years in the US, so he was able to give us a much better run down of our itinerary. Alec also explained that the penguin place was closed because there was a land dispute going on and although he was told it was going to be open, it actually wasn't opening for another week. We were bummed about the penguins, but it was hard to be sad about anything on such a beautiful day. It was two hours until the trailhead for today's hike. It was beautiful. The mountains kept getting bigger and brighter, and we saw all kind of trees and animals along the way- and FLAMINGOS. There are flamingos in Patagonia. Although this is a widely known fact, it was news to us and very surprising to see these big pink birds hanging out in a little lake by the side of the road.

Today's hike was not part of the official W trek, but a bonus additional day hike along Laguna Verde. It was pretty muddy at the beginning, and Jorge said that he has only every done this trail on horseback before, so he wasn't quite sure how far it was. The trail dried up some, and it was absolutely beautiful, the views just kept getting better and better. We were really able to see the whole range of mountains that make up Torres del Paine. Jorge seemed in good spirits, and we all enjoyed our hike. We kept stopping to take pictures at places with great views, and Jorge kept telling us that we were not yet at the viewpoint. We weren't sure if that meant we shouldn't be taking pictures or stopping, or just to let us know that there was going to be a better spot at some point. We wound up stopping at another beautiful spot (not the view point, but it is where the picture below was taken) for lunch. Jorge scored big points at this stop as he pulled out the following items from his bag: grilled chicken and rice, fresh bread, real forks, red wine, chocolate, and potato chips. We started thinking this guided hiking thing wasn't so bad.

A little while later we did reach the official viewpoint, which was absolutely spectacular.

It was made even more spectacular as we sat there drinking a little red wine and eating chocolate. Alec met us at the end of the trail and drove us to our hotel for the night. We were a little unsure as Alec drove off the dirt road across the lawn to what we assumed was our hotel. From the outside it looked totally under construction. Alec explained that they had hoped to finish their expansion before the season began (officially October 15), but due to the heavy winter, they were behind. The inside of the hotel was beautiful. It was by far the nicest place we had been on our trip, and we made that assessment after walking into the lobby- big chairs, fireplace, and unbelievable view of the mountains. We asked about Internet usage, more out of curiosity that desire to use it, and they said they had laptops with wireless connections that they could check out to us. Wild.

Our room was on the top floor in the corner, one of the only two rooms that had a little balcony. It was a beautiful evening and the view from our room was the best view either of us has ever had (the picture below is from our hotel room, seriously!). We had a great view of the mountains, the river, horses, and clear blue sky. This was luxury living. We watched the sunset, drank a glass of wine, and had a good dinner at the hotel restaurant. Since this was early season in Patagonia, and we only saw two other couples the entire time we were in the hotel, we guessed there must have been only two or three other rooms occupied on this night. The hotel was situated somewhat remotely along the river Serrano, so it wasn't like the rooms were full and people were having dinner somewhere else.


The next morning, we were well rested, well fed, and excited to go hiking. Just to set the mood even more, they were rocking out to 80's classic pop rock in the breakfast area. Since we were the only people there, we did a little lip syncing and fully enjoyed some Michael Jackson, Olivia Newton John, Queen, and other one hit wonders from the early 80's. It was great.

Our first stretch along the W circuit started from Lago Grey, a lake with iceburgs on one end and a glacier at the other. We were to take the morning ferry to the other end of the lake and hike from there. Unfortunately, it being early season, there was no morning ferry, so we walked around the end of the lake until 2:00pm until the only ferry of the day left. It was the first iceburgs either of us have ever seen, so we fully enjoyed staring at them from every possible angle. They really do range in color from clear to white to deep blue depending on the density and age of the iceburg. It was pretty amazing.

The ferry took us down the lake and near to Grey Glacier. Our first glacier! It was huge and very impressive. We took a quick side trip to get a closer view of the glacier, but we didn't have quite enough time to really take in the glacier. We figured there were more glaciers in our future, but not unlimited daylight, so we really needed to get moving. We had an eight-ish mile hike to the refugio and it was already 3:30pm. It was beautiful, but we were pretty focused on moving in order to get to our refugio (bunk house) before dark. Even so, it was so beautiful, that we had to stop here and there for a quick picture. We arrived at hiker central just as it was getting dark, and with 10 minutes left to get dinner. The refugio was kind of like a college dorm set up, but with more beds per room. It was pretty empty, a consistent theme with our trip being "pre-season", so we had the luxury of a room to ourselves and not with the standard 6 or eight to a room. The next day we were to hike up the French Valley, which Jorge in his very brief briefing told us would be kind of long (about 14 miles) and kind of steep (we didn't know what this meant), so we went to bed early after a hot dinner and a hot shower. We were really loving the "hot" lodge thing as it was quite cold outside at night.

The next day was our favorite day of the trek. We just kept saying to each other that we were really hiking in Patagonia so that we would not think it was a holleywood backdrop on a dirt trail. It was one wonderful view after the other. The weather was perfect, and there was alomst no one else on the trail (which in high season, we were told repeatedly, is like a highway of hikers). We crossed a hanging brdge and headed up the ravine to get a closer view of the French Glacier. It was steep. We learned that in Jorge's Patagonia speak, flat trail means a good up or down incline, and steep means scrambing up or down rocks. We got to the viewpoint of the French Glacier and it was 360 degree views of beauty. One direction was a lake and mountains, one direction was a snow capped mountain range in the distance, one direction was a great view of the torres towers and their granite tops, and directly in front of us was a huge, spectacular glacier. From time to time we would hear a sound like thunder, and then watch the glacier for snow and ice falling (calving). It was amazing. It was a long hike, and we only reached the midpoint around 3pm, so we had to keep moving along. We could have easily spent another few hours just sitting and watching the glacier.




We hiked the rest of the way to the next refugio, and arrived, again, just before dark. This refugio had much more of a hiker feel, smaller, wood cabin like, nice people (as far as we could tell since no one spoke English), and overall good cozy atmosphere. Tired and happy with our day, we had a festive meal- including a bottle of wine that came with dinner. It had the word "Diablo" (devil) in the title, so it must be good.

By this point, we were mostly entertained by Jorge. We had determined that he only really understood parts of what we said, and when he had no idea, he responded with "yeah, that's right." This became kind of a game for us. He would from time to time tell us about how the Argentinians were bad and the Chileans were good (in more detail, most of which we understood). He had big blisters on his feet as it was his first hike of the season, but still managed to carry our lunches everyday, and hadn't gotten us lost on the trail. We kept saying to each other, he's a nice guy and very friendly, he just is not the best guide ever (note the look on his face in the picture below). We came to be believe that every other guide we came across on the trail was a long lost friend of his as everyone knew him and greeted him very enthusiastically. We felt more like we were hiking with a guy who had hiked the trail before and had offered to take us along rather than a professional guide who was taking care of us. Since we could really take care of ourselves, this arrangement worked out fine. And, he thought it was very funny that everytime we started going substantially up or down hill on the trail, we would call it Patagonian flat. We had hit a nice groove and more than that, we were hiking in Patagonia! It was great weather! All was good.

Our next day was our "short hike / rest day." This turned out to be about 8 miles of Patagonian flat which took pretty much all day. It was another beautiful day hiking in Patagonia, so we were happy. This section of the trail was really to get us in position for the next day, the grand finale hike up to the Torres towers. When we got to the end of the trail, Alec was to meet us and drive us to where we were staying for the next two nights. There was another refugio right where Alec met us, so we were a little confused why we weren't just staying there, but off we went. Alec explained that we were staying at an estancia (ranch) with a really good view of the Torres towers. It is a place they use a lot for their horseback riding trips. Unfortunately the river was running high and the bridge we needed to cross to get there was closed, so it took about two hours the long way around to get there. Partway there, Alec jumped out to catch a ride back to Puerto Natales, and Jorge was back behind the wheel. At least all the tires had air in them. We drove about an hour on and around a dirt road across a couple of sheep ranches to arrive at our destination. It was fully entertaining to watch the sheep and lambs run away from the car as we passed (they must remember Jorge's driving from last season!).

The estancia was very cool. As with everyplace else, we were the only ones staying here. They have a little ranch house with maybe 10 rooms and a dining room in a separate building just across the way. It felt very much like a ranch with saddles and horse paraphanelia all around, and plenty of sheep skins everywhere- rugs, seat covers, etc. We arrived and were immediately treated to coffee and the equivilent of Chilean donuts, freshly made and still warm. The cook greeted Jorge as if he was her long lost son. It was quite nice. And, as promised, the ranch had an exceptional view of the towers hovering in the distance.

The place was great. We only had one minor issue... Larry walked out of the room to join me in the living room with full windows to watch the sunset without the room key, and the door locked behind him. Larry went to find the woman who greeted us at the door to tell her, but his lack of Spanish and her lack on English made it a little difficult. After a game of charades, and finally realizing that Larry did not want a bottle opener, they understood that we were locked out of our room. Unfortunately, they didn't have another copy of the key (who has automatically locking doors and no extra keys?). So, after much discussion, an older gentleman, who we figured had to be the senior ranch hand, climbed through the window we had left open and opened the door from the inside. He then proceeded to lecture Larry about not leaving the key in the room. It was one of those moments where it absolutely didn't matter what language he was speaking. With all the finger wagging, gesturing, faces, and tone of voice, it was made clear in no uncertain terms that Larry was not to leave the key again.

In the morning, we headed back an hour across the ranch and another hour down the road to exactly where we had finished the day before. We were ready. We had our brief briefing of the day the night before- about four hours up, kind of steep, last hour is really steep, and three hours down. Jorge's judgement of time was never that great, so we added some extra time and asked him to leave earlier in the morning than he planned. It was our last day hiking in Torres and we were in good spirits. We had mentally prepared for ridiculously hard hiking and were pleased it was only pretty tough. We arrived at the two hour mark in about two hours.

I should digress about times on the trail for a moment. In the US, when you are hiking on a well marked trail, you will often see signs that give distance to the next point. If a map or a guide book gives any time estimate, you can be sure it is always very conservative and you can probably hike it faster. In Torres del Paine, there were no distances, everything was signed by time it should take to the next destination only. To make matters worse, the times seemed always to be listed as shorter than what it took us to hike there by about 25%. Even when we were hiking (at what we thought) was a reasonable speed, we were slower than the time estimate on the signs. If we hiked as fast as we could without stopping, we could almost meet the time predictions. It's really a demoralizing way of signing trails if you asked me. Of course, if we were hiking faster than predicted it would be fine. So, it was a huge accomplishment and cause for celebration that we hiked to the two hour mark in two hours and didn't feel like we were going to pass out.

There was another refugio at the two hour mark, and we stopped in for supplies. Potato chips. We didn't have any left and I was craving them. So we bought a very overpriced (4000 Chilean pesos- you'll have to do the math if you really want to know how much we spent) can of chips and started toward the next point on our trail, an hour away. This next point was where, according to Jorge, it got really steep for an hour up to the viewpoint. We arrived to find ourselves at the bottom of a very steep skree field (looks like a big rock slide with small and large rocks). We climbed up and found ourselves face to face with the big towers- very impressive. The weather was nice and we had daylight on our side, so we stopped and enjoyed the view for almost two hours before heading down.

At the bottom of the skree field we stopped for a much needed break. It is actually harder- both mentally and physically, it seems, to go down a steep slope than up. Time for the chips. We all enjoyed some, worth every peso! I put the can away, after taking just a couple of more out- two last chips for the road. I had put the chips down, and as I turned to put the can away, a very small innocent looking yellow bird swooped in and stole my chips. Big pringle sized chips! Very small bird! The nerve of some birds. Then, deciding he didn't really like them, the bird dropped them a few feet down the trail. Add chip stealing birds to the list of animals we had seen.

Speaking of animals, we saw some that were not so surprising- juanica's (wild llamas), sheep, cows, wild horses, and more sheep. Then we saw quite a few that were surprising- the previously mentioned flamingos, the rios- it's a Patagonian ostrich that runs around wild, huge hares- rabbits with foot long ears, a huge blue looking eagle (sittling on a tree it was almost three feet tall), and giant woodpeckers. We figured it was sort of like the Amazon, in the opposite extreme, and animals needed to be bigger and tougher in order to survive. Fortunately, we didn't see any spiders. Or any insects really- it was still too cold.


The rest of the hike down was beautiful and a little sad as we were finishing our trek. We, of course, weren't really that sad as we had a full list of great places to see in the days, weeks, and months to come. We constantly remind ourselves how lucky we are to be doing this trip. Hiking in Patagonia is really a dream come true- and it was much better in reality than in a dream. The W circuit is known as one of the top hikes in the world. We agree.

We opted to spend just a little more time in Torres del Paine National Park by booking a half day kayaking trip for the next morning at Lago Grey. To get there from the estancia, we got to drive through a part of the park we hadn't yet seen. It was another beautiful day, we were happy with our succesful W trek, and we were glad to be sitting and not hiking on our tired legs- and that almost was enough to distract us from Jorge's driving. We stopped at a waterfall, saw more flamingos, and more rios on our way to Lago Grey.

Lago Grey was were we started our hike by waiting for the ferry, and staring for hours at the iceburgs. We wanted to get closer to the burgs and they offered the option to kayak around them. It was pure and complete fun. We paddled around the iceburgs, crashed into an iceburg (on purpose, just so we could say we crashed into an iceburg), touched the iceburgs, tasted the iceburgs (it had to be done), and spent a couple of hours playing around in the water while our trusty kayak guide tried in vain to keep us going in the general direction he wanted us to go. It was amazing.

On the way back to Puerto Natales, Jorge offered to stop off at the Cave de Milodon. We had no idea what this was, but got from Jorge that it was a really big cave and this milodon big deal around Puerto Natales, and that was enough to peak Larry's interest. Apparently, the miloden found at this cave is a huge deal in Puerto Natales because the skeleton was in such good shape. It´s kind of like the town mascot. Milodon´s were giant sloths (think cross between anteater and grizzly bear) that were twice the size of humans about 10,000 years ago (now very exctinct) and lived in caves. It was without a doubt the biggest cave we've ever seen. It was like a big ampitheater sized hole inside a rock. In fact, they play movies on the cave wall during the summer.

We parted ways with Jorge after one more quiet white knuckled ride back to Puerto Natales. The biggest story of our trip to Torres del Paine was the weather. In this very windy, cold, and cloudy area we had six days of partly sunny, warm, and calm days. We were told over and over that even in high season when the weather is supposed to be great, a stretch of good weather like this is very very rare. We lucked out and we knew it.

The Island of the Rapa Nui People aka Easter Island

Easter Island is one of those places that captures the imagination. It is a tiny island- only 14 square miles. It is one of the French Polynesian Islands and it is really in the middle of nowhere. It is a four hour plane ride directly west from Santiago, Chile. It is a refueling stop for planes going to Tahiti. It is also an alternate landing site for the NASA space shuttles. Easter Island is part of Chile, though the Rapa Nui Island people don't identify themselves as Chilean. It is also one of the most poorly named places we've encountered. It is named Easter Island because some explorer landed there on Easter Day. It wasn't discovered at that time as people had been living there for hundreds of years but yet it was considered "discovered" at that time. The people on the island refer to it as Rapa Nui Island. They speak Rapa Nui language, and identify strongly as the Rapa Nui people.

Easter Island / Rapa Nui Island, is also, of course, the island with the big statues. The statues and the story of the island are what have fascinated people with this island for a long time. The story includes exploration, kings, family rivalry, cannibalism, exploitation, and lots of mythology. Part of the fascination is that no one knows for sure what happened or why. People are taught the history through storytelling generation to generation. Depending on who tells you the story, you are bound to hear slight variations and personal beliefs sprinkled in. I would bet no two stories are exactly the same.

Anyway, we were fascinated by this little island out in the middle of nowhere. We were able to get there and back using our around the world ticket, so off we went. We were met at the airport when we arrived in the evening, given flower lei´s (like they do in Hawaii) and transported to our hotel. We arrived just at sunset, so we couldn't see much. The next day we were going on an all day tour and went to bed eager to check out this crazy place. Our tour guide was fantastic. She was born on the Island, her parents and grandparents were also born on the island, so she had full local credentials to tell us the story of the island from her perspective. It was really important to her to tell us about the people of the island and the history and to understand that it was more than a place that built weird statues.

I certainly can't do the story of the history of the island justice, and I hope to get a book and read more about the history (at some point in time), but here's a brief version as I understand it. True to the oral tradition, I'm sure what folllows is not exactly how I heard it, but pretty close.... So, there was a king on an island, and he had a dream about an island far away that was the "navel of the world." The king consulted his advisors to also dream about this island and find out where it was. There were a couple of failed attempts to find it over the next ten generations of kings. The king, ten generations since the original dream, decided to try again to find the island. He sent out his seven sons, and using the stars, they found the island. They knew they had found the right island as dream talked about an island with volcanoes on the corners and a couple of little islands just off shore, which is exactly the geographic features of this island. So, the sons went back, told the King of their findings, and the king moved with is whole family to the island. When they arrived, the King split the island in half- the west side for the king and the east side for his sister and her family. As generations passed, the two sides of the island became populated and identified themselves as either from the East or from the West. Anyway, being so isolated, they developed their own language- both written and oral, and their own traditions based mostly on mythology. One of the traditions was when an important member of a family had passed, they build a stone statue of the person to protect the rest of the family. Families lived in little clusters around the island, and these statues were placed facing the home of the family (away from the water usually). These are not small statues. The biggest one is about 90 feet tall, and they are solid rock.

One of the most discussed mystery of the island was how they moved these Moai statues from the rock quarry where they were carved to the platform that they were intended to stay. In some cases, this was seven or more kilometers away. The two leading theories are as follows. One, they stood the statues up and used tree trunks as wood poles to "walk" the statue to the proper place. Imagine standing with your feet together and rotating on the balls of your feet and then your heels to move. It's slow, but it could work. The other theory is that they were moved lying down and rolled over a bunch of tree trunks, moving the trunks one and a time until they got to the intended place. Our guide believed that they probably used both of those methods depending on the size of the statue, though I think she likes to let herself belief that the statues walked there on their own- the leading myth on the topic. Anyway, they would carve the statue and transport it. They would not carve the eyes until it was in place as the eyes held the mana (spirit) and they didn't want any risk of damaging the mana during transport. Once at the proper place, the eyes would be carved and they would place shell and obsidian rock to create the eyes.

There are a few other key pieces to this story. First, at it's height, it was rumored that there were over 25,000 people living on this island (the numbers range in some stories up to 100,000). The story goes that there were so many people on the island that they used up all of the resources. One theory is that they used all of the trees to move statues and for fire, that by the time they needed to leave the island, they couldn't build any boats because there was no more wood. During this time, there was also a lot of fighting between the east and the west which lead to all of the Moai on the island being knocked down, fighting, rumors of cannibalism, etc. There is also a rumor that there was significant disease and people died from that. Another rumor is that some people did have boats and did leave the island. At the end of this time, there were 112 people left on the island with no trees, no resources, and over 600 Moai statues either knocked down or never finished. The Moai statues that are standing today have been restored. Every single Moai was knocked down, and most broken.

It is a fascinating place. This king had a dream, ten generations later, they went to the island. They developed their own language, traditions, and culture. They grew in population and then imploded with only a few people left to carry on passing down the stories and the spoken language. The written language of hieroglyphs has been lost as no one knows how to interpret it and there are only seven examples left in existence all over the world (and not one of those, by the way, is on the island). And what is left on this island is these huge fallen statues. Some of them have been restored, and put upright, but only one has had eyes put back in and only as an example of what it must have looked like.

Anyway, we were really enchanted by this cute little tropical island. Our day long tour was great. We visited some of the key sites and were told lots of stories about the island. On highlight was a platform that had 15 restored Moai in a row- including the biggest one on the island. The statues are all male (each one with hands pointing at their genitals), but they are all different (as they were modeled after real people). They all have this unmistakable Easter Island face, but they each have unique facial features and expressions that make them more personal. It is also really beautiful since you are always right next to the water and all you can see out is clear blue ocean as far as the eye can see.

There are four extinct volcanoes on the island and one was the primary rock quarry for the bodies of the statues. The hair on top (and no, they are not hats, they are called top nuts, which was a fancy hair-do at the time, sure to make a comeback one day soon) was carved and transported from another quarry with darker red colored rock. Anyway, the rock quarry is really amazing. There are several hundred Moai there. Many were stopped in process, some appeared to be finished but not transported, and some had fallen and broken along the way. As with most questions about the island, no one knows for sure why there are so many Moai here, but they are all along the side of the volcano.

Besides a great guide, fantastic weather, beautiful surroundings, and the Moai, we also were fortunate to be on this tour with a great group of people. There were two other couples about our age on extended trips. One couple from Australia planned to travel for between 18-24 months, and the other couple from Canada have been travelling almost every six months for about six months for four years. It was fun to meet other folks doing very similar trips. We wound up having a great dinner- delicious fresh caught tuna- with our new Canadian friends (she is originally from Uganda, and he from Tanzania). It was a great day on the island at the center of the world.

With only one more full day on the island, we decided to maximize our time by renting a little scooter. We got up early and scooted all the way to the other side of the island (20 minutes) to the platform of the 15 statues to see the sunrise there. We just (barely) made it on time for sunrise, but it was spectacular.

We did a half day tour up to the crater where the Birdman lived (another whole mythology story that I won't try to tell). The inside of this crater (extinct volcano) was it's own little eco-climate. It was lush and green with bushes and trees growing. As there are almost no trees on the island, this was a very different site and very beautiful.

In the afternoon, we scooted around the island to see more platforms and check out a couple of the caves that exist on the island. The weather was clear, but it was WINDY. I guess when you are in the middle of the ocean with nothing to block the wind, it gets windy from time to time. It was intense. We visited the statues of the seven sons (the ones who found the island) which are the only statues facing out into the ocean, theoretically facing in a straight line to the island from which they came.

We checked out one very large cave, formed by a lava tube. We were able to go back into it about 100 meters, but unfortunately our batteries died to our flashlight and we had to turn around. As the story goes, they used to house the girls in these caves to teach them all of the history and oral traditions while keeping them pure and their skin white (no access to sunlight). Our guide said they would keep the girls there for about seven years. Yikes. I had the song "Girl Land" from Free to be You and Me going through my head...

We stopped at a variety of sites along the island coast watching the water crash against the rocks, visiting more of the Moai, and just enjoying the freedom our little blue scooter provided. We got back to our room just after sunset, happy, tired, and completely windblown.

We woke up the next morning, intending to check out sunrise on the other side of the island, but instead woke up to a very steady rain- and no more wind. We were glad to get a little more sleep, but sad our sunrise venture was rained out. It continued to rain and rain. Unfortunately, we needed to drive our scooter back into town to return it and then walk back before leaving for the airport. We decided since we were going to be completely soaked anyway, we might as well go see one more site. We figured it wouldn't be crowded. It all went fine, and our rain gear even worked to kind of, sort of, almost keep us dry.

Alas, it was time to head back to the airport. This is the first place we really would have liked to stay another day. The people are friendly, the island is beautiful, the statues are enchanting, the stories are captivating, the food is really good, and the water was safe to drink. A great little island in the center of the world.