Ingrid and I are headed to Cairo, the interior of Egypt via the Nile, Mt. Sinai, and the Red Sea for a couple weeks of Middle Eastern/African adventure. This time I'm leaving the hiking boots behind for more comfortable attire, yet the famed safari-vest may rear its ugly head. Stay tuned for periodical updates, ravishing maps and tangents, as I attempt to describe encounters with camels amidst the pyramids. Es salaem ‘alekum.

Also contained in the archives of this blog, are writings from two South American adventures to Chile and Peru (2009 and 2006, respectively).

02.28.2009
Leaving Pucon, Chile,
para Santiago


Jeff and I sadly left expedition member Crume alone to finish her mastering of the Spanish language, and we headed for Santiago by bus. We stopped in Chillan for a night, another city along the PanAmerican highway to rest up for the long night-flight home from Santiago. We got into Santiago a bit early, and took the metro to the neighborhood of Provencia, where we had been three weeks ago in the beginning of our trip. I reflected a bit on all of the ground, great adventures, conversations, sights, and amazing company that was amassed over those three weeks.






hostel Ecole



leaving Pucon


saying goodbye to Santiago


our cross-continent transport

02.27.2009
Climbing Volcan Villarrica
Villarrica National Parque
Pucon, Chile

Map of the Lakes District

Referring to the map, we got to Pucon from the Lago Puyehue area by mini-busing it back to Osorno, where we got lucky once again. A bus was just about to leave there for Pucon. This however would be where our tourist-luck card was pulled. This bus broke down outside of Valdivia and we waited around an hour for the next one to come through and take us to Valdivia, to pick up a new bus headed for Pucon. We arrived in Pucon in mid-afternoon.

Pucon was all the rage that we had heard it was. A touristy town, yet its beautiful setting directly below the Volcan Villarrica and exotic restaurants (after eating staples of meat and potatoes for a week and a half) were quite well received. We stayed in a great hostel, Ecole, that was recommended to us. It offered quaint rooms and a fabulous vegetarian resturant, with a garden-district style courtyard.

The next day we climbed Volcan Villarrica (elev. 9,340 feet) with a tour group (five guides) and nine other europeans. The volcano means "House of the Spirit". It is the westernmost of three large stratovolcanoes that trend perpendicular to the Andean chain. Villarrica is one of only four volcanoes worldwide known to have an active lava lake in its crater. Leaving at 6:45 am we drove through the national park encircling the volcano and headed up to the base of a ski resort that sits on the north face. I hate to admit it, but we took the chair lift up, which cut off about an hour of hiking. From there we climbed a couple hours up 3,000 feet to the top. The tour company had supplied us with a smaller backpack, an ice axe that we used going up and down, and crampons that we didn't end up needing. Most of the hike was on either dirt path, or soft snow, as it was late summer and the trail was well worn. It was my first hike on dried lava rock. Upon reaching the top crater, we broke for lunch and the views were never-ending. The multi-colored crater was unique.

We glissaded down the snow fields using "moon suits" that the tour company had us pack for the hike up. Heavy duty pants, jacket, and a plastic seat for sitting on. I had to say I was skeptical about how much fun my larger body would have sliding down the snowfield but it was incredible. Almost like a water slide. We used the ice axe to slow us down where needed. A series of 10 or so of these slides were well-worn in the snow fields. Expedition members Crume and Miller agreed that this was one of the funnest things we had ever done.

the pack essentials

she is definitely active

Jeff on the crater

Expedition member Williford in full-effect

Expedition member Crume used her plastic seat to fend off men

Moon suit

One of the slides down a snowfield

Back in Pucon, reflecting on the Vulcan

02.24.2009 - 02.25.2009
Leaving Patagonia for Entre Lagos, Chile
Puyehue National Parque and Aguas Calientes

The three remaining expedition members left Patagonia after spending nine days there to head back to the mainland on a blustery, sunny day. The takeoff on our jet from Puerto Natales was one to remember. Several hard banks to get above the tropical depression force winds bracing down continuously onto the steppe from the mountains and entanglement of seas, straights, and channels. I remember thinking that this magnificent land at the bottom of the continent is not for the faint of heart. The weather, always driven by an upcoming wind, was fierce. The clouds moved so fast. The peaks and glaciers remained a constant backdrop to the eye, yet they were so far away to grasp and when arriving before them, to comprehend, especially through the eyes of a camera. In the patagonian steppe, lots of agriculture and grazing lands have taken the place of smaller forests that once sheltered against the wind before settlers and explorers from europe and latin america began to need room. Looking back, I feel privileged and thankful to have trekked in it. Its beautiful wildlife including flamingos, ostriches, huanacos, and condors flourish amidst harsh conditions. I hope the region survives the flow of tourism that allowed us to see it.




Leaving Patagonia

Back in the mainland we arrived in Puerto Montt, a transportaion hub-city at the bottom of the PanAmerican Highway. Yes, the one that theoretically goes all the way to Vancouver, Canada. Geographically, it is at the bottom of the Chilean mainland, and travel further south from this point requires a boat or plane. But we were headed north into the lakes district. The trees and calm breezes were welcoming. Our next step that afternoon was to take a couple buses to Entre Lagos, a town near Parque Nacional Puyehue. The Puerto Montt bus station was chaotic and busy, to say the least. Almost all of the buses were headed north towards Santiago, yet with five different bus companies, three different classes of buses, and buses leaving in 10 or 15 minute intervals, it was an interesting experience of shouting and pointing with the assistant bus operators to try and find the exact one printed on our receipts. Mild culture shock set in after the barren miles of Patagonia. We made it to Osorno, another smaller city, by 9pm to catch our last local bus (more like a small bus with a driver and one assistant in charge of telling the Americans when it was time to get off). We got lucky and made it onto the last one headed for Entre Lagos, a 45 minute ride in the dark. Kind of adventurous since we had no reservations upon arrival. We got lucky and spent that night in the first "cabina" sign we saw in Entre Lagos and had a two room cabin complete with kitchen all to ourselves.

The next day was spent in nearby Puyehue Nacional Parque, a mass of evergreen forests surrounding Volcan Puyehue where we hiked and enjoyed the agua calientes. I compared it to the northwestern United States where ancient volcanoes rise up out of the thick forests. Some old growth was apparent. Seasonally, this was their drier summer, much like in Oregon. Expedition member Crume sure was happy. Secretly, I was too. This was a nice retreat. Well earned. We met some vacationing Chileans and one Argentinean and discussed the economic slowdown in Chile. We stayed in the cabina one more night and then headed out early the next morning for Pucon.

Puyehue Nacional Parque and Agua Calientes

02.22.2009
Perito Moreno Glacier
El Calafate, Argentina

Rested and easger to press on, the expedition team now ventured across the border into nearby Argentina. Differences in custom procedures between the two countries included only the Chileans checking for imported fruit, while the Argentinean border guards enjoyed playing ping pong in-between processing. On this day we drove across more of the Patagonian Steppe, east of Torres Del Paine, bound for El Calafate, and specifically, the Perito Moreno Glacier. Arriving at the glacier, I found it hard to describe. You could actually hear it moving, bustling, and ultimately rupturing itself away from the land as it seperates itself from Lago Argentino. The last known rupture of the glacier, as evidenced by the split in the pictures below, was in early February. The glacier is fed from the larger Patagonian Snow-Ice Fields that share a massive border between Chile and Argentina. The lakes and rock outcropping surrounding the glacier are further evidence of how large this glacier once was.

02.20.2009
Day 5 - W Trek, Refugio Chilleno to Las Torres (3 miles)
Torres Del Paine National Park, Chile

The short push down and out of the park and back on the bus bound for Puerto Natales. It was a spectacular experience, not to be passed up. Most of all I enjoyed the landscape and vegetation changes as you go from one slope-aspect of the park to another. We said goodbye to our Californian friends and enjoyed the warm sunny weather that dried us out. Back in Puerto Natales we gorged on seafood and got our sugar levels back up to appropriate levels.

02.19.2009
Day 4 - W Trek, Mirador del Torres (6 miles)
Torres Del Paine National Park, Chile

This day was spent hiking up 1000 meters to the viewpoint for the towers of Paine (2800 meters). I could not seem to get that Police song out of my head. The view was speactacular. Many Chileans claimed tht actually seeing the towers was hit-or-miss, meaning that the weather could change abruptly and you could miss seeing them entirely.

Back at Refugio Chileno