What It´s all about...

Yesterday was The Day. After 4 days of patient waiting, the clouds finally cleared. I awoke to sunshine, had my maté and medialunas, and hit the trail for what was to be the most spectacular day of hiking I have ever had. I found what I have come for.

Mt Fitz Roy is a particularly fickle mountain. Perched on the Eastern edge of the Southern Patagonian Ice Field and rising 12,000 feet into the cold, cloudy air, the mountain was called El Chaltén by the natives, which translates as (I guess) ¨smoky mountain.¨ Out of the 6 days I have spent here, it was only visible for about 10 hours. I timed it perfectly, and was treated with the most stunningly, breathlessly, speechlessly, god-blessedly beautiful vista I have ever seen. Ever. By far and away the most amazing landscape I have seen, and completely unique on this planet. I have been trying so hard to find a good descriptive word for the mountains here, and the only one I have found that even comes close is redonkulous, and that is made up.



This week has been a bit frustrating, very slow paced, full of new and old friends, and cold (mostly due to the fact I camped 5 nights). On Wednesday, I waited at the top of a trail for almost 3 hours to catch a glimpse of Cerro Torre (another infamous mountain in these parts), with no luck at all. I was bummed. But the 9 hours I spent hiking up to Fitz Roy, with its surreal, picturesque, otherwordly sights completely justified everything. It was extremely satisfying, and I am really glad I came here.

My next stop will be Los Antiguos (a small town on the southern shore of Lago Buenos Aires in the middle of Patagonia), and then back over to Chile to see some fairly remote national parks. It´s very open ended, as I like it.

Also, as of today, I have been on vacation for 1 month exactly. Hooray! I am 1/3 of the way ¨there¨, with so much more to see. I am feeling really good!

I´m also feeling a bit quotey today, and since a clear night sky is something to behold down here (the Milky Way is wild),

¨If people sat outside and looked at the stars each night, I´ll bet they´d live a lot differently.¨
-Calvin, from Calvin and Hobbes

PS I´m working on Radiohead tickets in Santiago. Life is rad.