Southern Exposure

The Travels Continue

2008-05-04T15:20:00.002-06:00

The bro and I have been traveling for about 3 weeks now. Since our time in Torres del Piane, we headed up to Pucon. We stayed there for about 3 days. While there we hit up some hot springs, took a quasi horseback ride to a waterfall, and climbed the Villirrica Volcano. Unfortunatly there was not liquid hot magma at the top, only really nasty gasses spewing from the caldera. Pucon was really chill this time of year and we enjoyed our stay there for sure.

After Pucon we had a marathon travel day. We took a bus 9 hours up north and were dropped off on the side of the interstate wondering how to get to the next bus station. We followed some people onto the next exit and caught a cab to the bus station. From there it was another 3 hours to Pichilemu, a dusty surf town on the coast. We stayed there 3 days taking advantage of the nice weather. We surfed both days and did some serious beach relaxing. We also got some uber delicious freshly fried cheese and chicken empenadas. Those puppies were delicious.

Now we are in Santiago. We met up with the sis and toured around town today seeing the big sights. We are definitly enjoying our time together.

In Patagonia

2008-04-25T13:58:00.002-06:00

Well, my time in Puerto Williams is finished. My chilean friends wished me off with two nights of partying chilean style including two lambs grilled asado style over coals, plenty of drinks, king crab, and of course one last horrah at Micalvi yacht club. Since then, I met up with my bro and did some trekking in Torres del Piane National Park. We were treated to the true Patagonian gauntlet of weather including soaking rain, deep snow, tent pole bending winds, and flash floods. Despite the weather, a good time was had. For now we are headed north to Pucon to climb a volcano.

Dientes de Navarino 3: Brian 0

2008-04-08T16:51:00.007-06:00

Wellp, Patagonian weather and the Dientes de Navarino chewed us up and spat us out once again. We got started nice and early, but to cold and rain. As we made our way above tree line, snow from the previous night covered the ground and heavy winds came up. The rest of the "trail" to Laguna del Salto is above tree line and is very exposed. The wind picked up as we made our way and it started snowing some more....almost blizzard conditions. We decided to try to bypass a section of trail by traversing a scree slope but it soon became apparent that it wasn’t working. We decided to descend the scree slope down to Laguna del Salto.

As we started down the slope rocks and boulders started tumbling below us. Andres was ahead of me and I looked down to see him stumbling down the hill at a running pace. He quickly loosed his footing and tumbled into some rocks. I yelled out, "Are you OK?" He quickly answered "yeah" so I took his word for it. After a minute I noticed he wasn’t moving so I booked it down to his position. It was clear that he wasn’t very OK. He took a pretty hard fall and really rammed his shins on the rocks.

After I made sure he hadn’t broken anything or had any very serious injuries, we made our way down the rest of the scree field. When we got to the bottom, we took another look at this leg, and we were surprised to see a large, very deep cut on his shin. I patched the cut up with some butterfly bandages, gauze, and duct-tape. Luckily it wasn’t bleeding much and he was able to walk without too much trouble. The storm was still raging as we turned down the valley back to Puerto Williams with about 5 miles ahead of us. Luckily I had walked the trail a few times and knew the route given the conditions. I booked it on ahead and made it back to the hotel before Randy and Andres, and met them at the trailhead with the truck. The doctors at the hospital were impressed by my butterfly bandage work and they stitched him up. (Note to self, buy more butterfly bandages). So now we are back in the hotel enjoying the warmth, but feeling a little bummed Patagonia triumphed again.

2008-03-17T19:30:00.000-06:00

Strangers on this road we are on,
We are not two we are one...

A Very Special Excursion

2008-03-13T13:25:00.006-06:00

After a few days on the boat, I quickly leaned what it meant to be the 3rd crewman on the boat…it meant I got all the most undesirable and more dangerous jobs. While sailing north on the Drake Passage one afternoon, a strong gust of wind ripped the clew of the jib off leaving the sail flopping in the wind. Our efforts to save the sail were futile and it quickly started ripping in the strong wind. We rolled up the sail, hoping it would be stay rolled tight to the jibstay.

Later that afternoon while laying in bed listening to some music, I was startled out of boredom to the ever popular shout “Brian, where’s Brian.” I rolled out of bed and Carsten said to me, “Brian, we have a very special excursion for you at the front of the boat.” “Oh great,” I thought, “what next.” I put on my gear and wet outside on deck. The weather had calmed a little in the late afternoon, and the sun was shining on the waves. Carsten was holding some sort of seat harness and the sail was completely unrolled off the jibstay but was stuck half way up. Carsten explained that we had to get the sail down before the wind got stronger.

I put on the seat harness and tied myself in to two thick ropes that went up and back down the main mast. Silke and Carsten attached the other end of the ropes to two winches. I walked to the very front of the boat and attached myself to the jibstay. As you may have guessed, the bow of the boat takes the brunt of the waves and moves up and down considerably more than the stern, making it nearly impossible to even stand up without holding on to something. I gave a thumbs up, threw my legs and arms around the past-vertical jibstay, and they started cranking the winches, slowly pulling me up.

I eventually reached the part of the sail that was jammed, about 30 feet above the churning sea. Being up that high and attached to the jibstay, every movement of the boat was magnified. I was flung back and fourth as the boat bobbed and swayed in the waves. I tried to free the stuck sail, but it wouldn’t budge. My only option was to cut it away. I pulled out my trusty knife and made quick work of the rope that held the sail to the jibstay…mission accomplished.

The picture below shows me once again on the jibstay, but this time in the calm of port in Ushuaia.

Antarctic Wildlife

2008-03-09T08:16:00.003-06:00

OK, here is the rundown on the Antarctic wildlife. It is everywhere, and completely ignores humans. For example, it is possible to walk among thousands of penguins in the middle of their rookery and watch mommas feed babies, mommas “exercise” the babies (running around on the rocks), and general penguin life. There is a downside though. Yep you guessed it…these guys smell. I would even venture to say that one can smell them from a mile away if the wind is right. Plus when visiting the rookery, you are constantly stepping and slipping around in their guano. Cleaning the boots in the ocean is a must after the visit. Despite this, the babies are cute and the adults are just pretty ridiculous, especially when hopping around on the rocks with their wings out for balance. When in the ocean, they also swim in flocks (is a group of penguins called a flock???) and regularly jump out of the water like a spawning salmon.

Whales: also abundant throughout the Antarctic Peninsula. I am not sure what species we saw though, but we saw many, some only 15 meters from the boat. We also had a pod of dolphins ride the waves off the bow of the ship, leaping into the air as we cruised south across the Drake Passage. One of the highlights of the trip for me occurred just as we left the Peninsula and headed north. I was sitting alone looking back towards Antarctica when the dorsal fin of a killer whale silently rose and sank back into the ocean about 50 meters away. I intently scanned the ocean for the next few minutes and saw 2 or 3 more orcas break the surface of the water for air and then they left as quietly as they came.

Fur seals are also everywhere. I was impressed how well the can hop around on the rocks. We also saw crab eater seals and leopard seals.

Antarctica part 1

2008-03-05T20:29:00.002-07:00

I´m back and alive after my amazing trip to Antarctica. Hmm, where to start. There is so much to say… I think I will try to write a few of the better stories in the following days. I will premise these stories with a general account of the trip. Here goes…

I joined the Santa Maria Australis, a 60 foot ketch sailing yacht, in Puerto Williams. I was the third crew member with a German skipper and first mate. There were 5 guests aboard, 2 Germans, 2 Russians, and 1 Spanish. Luckily everyone spoke good English. Our first day was spent sailing East, down the Beagle Channel. We spent our first night Harberton Bay, the sight of one of the first missionaries, Thomas Bridges, in the area. The next day we said goodbye to the calm waters of the Channel and entered the menacing Drake Passage…

For the next 4 days, our heading was due south, behind moderate wind and waves. We lucked out and had relatively good weather. I don’t think the waves ever grew bigger than 15 feet, but I did get a little sea sick. I am proud to say that I did not throw up though. Life at open sea was a bit monotonous and boring. We drew straws for watches and I ended up having the 2:00-6:00 AM & PM shift with the Sergi, the Spanish guy. During the watch, we took turns at the helm, keeping the ship on course. The graveyard shift was pretty hard sometimes, especially as we neared the Ice (Antarctica) and had to be on iceberg and growler (small chunks of ice) watch. During these watches, one of us steered and the other stood outside the cockpit in the wind and snow, peering into the dark, foggy gloom. One couldn’t last long outside in those conditions (especially at 3:00am) so between the two of us on watch, we switched every 15 minutes. When not on watch, there wasn’t much to do…I did a lot of laying in bed, listening to music.

We finally reached Antarctica bringing with us poor weather that never really left. Nearly every day was cloudy, cold, rainy, or snowy. Despite the weather, we still had a great time.

Anyways, once we reached Antarctica, we spent one night in a spot and moved through the channels and islands the next day. At each spot it was my job to go out in the zodiac and secure 4 or 5 shore lines from the boat to large rocks. This often proved to be a challenge especially when trying to pull 75 yards of 1 inch thick line from the boat. On the bright side, I became really skilled with tying the bowline knot.

We were able to stop at many Antarctic bases of different countries and visit them. Also, we saw many ruins of old waling stations and such. We reached our furthest south point just south of Vernadski Station. From there we turned north and headed back.

Well, that’s the quick and dirty of it. Stay tuned for more details…

Good Bye Jacqueline

2008-02-09T16:05:00.000-07:00

Jacqueline is a volunteer that has worked here since I arrived. She and I tend to get along well since we are the only two non-Chileans around. (Plus we both have red hair). She is leaving on Monday, and I am leaving tomorrow so we decided to make a little supper for everyone. Jacqueline made a salad and I attempted to make cornish pasties, one of my favorites from Nancy. I cant say I ever made pasties before, but I have seen Nancy do it many times. Plus I always cut the little designs in the top...I thought that qualified me to make them.

Everything went well until I tried to roll out the dough. I dont think I had enough water and it kind of crumbled apart as I rolled it. I was getting nervous (10 people were supposed to eat them...what if they didnt come out?) when Marcia the chef came to the rescue. We did our best to save the the dough and we made all 13 pasties, although they were definitely not up to Nancy levels.

The Scoup

2008-02-09T04:57:00.000-07:00

All right, here is the deal. I have been asked to join my friend Wolf on one of his sailboats as part of the crew taking 4 passangers accross the Drake Sea to Antarctica. We will be sailing in the Santa Maria Australis, a 60 foot sailboat, for the next 3 weeks. Most of the time will be spent in the boat, but once we arrive in Antarctica, we will have to chance to get out on the ice as well as stop at various naval bases in the area.

Here is the Sea Ice & Mountain website (Wolfs company)
http://www.simltd.com/jeannete/web/File/Home_english.html
You can track the progress of the boat here (our boat is abbreviated SMA)
http://track.gmn-usa.com/cgi-bin/fleet_setup.pl?fleet=iaato&password=ushuaia

I am not sure if I will have email access on the voyage, but if I do, I will try to update my blog along the way.

!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

2008-02-06T14:04:00.000-07:00

I AM GOING TO ANTARCTICA ON SUNDAY, IN A SAILBOAT, FOR 21 DAYS

Im to lazy to write more...

2008-02-03T13:57:00.000-07:00

Here is the latest news from the southern reaches:

I have been asked to help sail a boat back to Puerto Montt in March. Although I would love to do the 6 week voyage, I don’t think the timing will work out. There is a possibility of just doing a partial journey….Ill keep you updated.
The internet has been down for a week or so.
We have actually had a steady stream of guests here keeping up fairly busy.
More riding horses and hiking in the mountains…the usual.
I took a short three day backpack into the mountains and relaxed.
Slam shifting in the minibus.
I am the local trail construction expert and have planned the building of puncheons in Omora Ethnobotanical Park.

Lately...

2008-01-19T05:40:00.000-07:00

Here is what has been going on around here…in the ever popular list form.

The president of Chile came for lunch yesterday along with a host of people, so we were busy all day serving, doing dishes, and bustling around. Stay tuned for a picture of us with the pres.
Lots of horse riding and scouting of new trails for horses. This basically amounts to a lot of bush whacking, swamp dodging, and stumbling ahead of a horse (leading it, not riding) hoping he won’t stumble and run you over.
Listening and singing along to the Avett Brothers. Check them out, they rock!
Daydreaming about learning the banjo or mandolin. (see previous).
Daydreaming about bikes back home and working in a real shop again (Paradise Creek Bikes here I come).
Looking for lost golf balls in the long grass of the 3 hole practice course out front.
Daydreaming about Moscow…ah yes, Moscow.
A bit of trekking.
Planning of future travels around Chile to Valle Cochamo and Torres del Paine.

Billy Business

2008-01-08T17:08:00.000-07:00

I think yesterday was the busiest I have ever seen Puerto Williams. Let me list all the happenings of the day…

A right wale was spotted just 50 meters from the banks along the town bringing all the towns people out to look and drive around in zodiac boats to get a look.
A cruise ship docked and all the tourists were walking around drinking pisco scours.
A private jet and yacht of an English Lord were here. The jet took off during all of this commotion.

All of these things were happening simultaneously leading to a busy but cool experience. I have never seen a whale before so that was pretty neat. I didn’t get a real good look at it, but was able to see it none the less.

Feliz Navidad

2007-12-26T13:41:00.000-07:00

Another Christmas day has come and gone. This one has been quite a bit different than the ones I am used to back home in good old RC. On Christmas Eve, I went about work as usual until four or so when we opened presents from our secret friend. I got a zippo lighter from my secret friend although the identity of the person was not revealed. At 8:00 I went to a church service at the Catholic Church. It was all in Spanish, so I didn’t understand much. There was some sort of play or something put on by the kids. We sang a few songs a few of which I recognized. I sang some versus in English and others in Spanish for good measure.

After church I came back to Lakutaia and ate Christmas Eve supper with Tommy, Angela, Gabriel, and Randy. Although we didn’t have lutefisk, we did have another food from the sea… here was the menu (pretty nice meal actually)

Starters: pisco sour (the unofficial drink of Chile I think)

Cheese and meat empanadas

First course: King Crab

Main course: spinach stuffed lamb, some sort of fried potato balls, and veggies

Dessert: chocolate mouse

*I had to take the traditional picture next to the Christmas tree. There are no coniferous trees on the island, so Randy´s parents sent clippings from trees on their property in Punta Arenas. We tied them togethe to make some sort of hanging tree...I like it.

*Christmas sunset from the Lodge.

Today, Christmas day, I rolled out of my sleeping bag and opened my present from Grandma O (thanks grandma!!). It was nice to have one present to open although I forgot to leave a stocking by the fireplace. We had passengers arriving today, so we went to the airport and picked them up. The passengers bought “the program” from us which includes 4 days of excursions (hiking, horseback riding, sailing, and an over-flight of Cape Horn). We went on the over-flight today, flying in the 15-seater Twin

Otter airplane for an hour and a half ride over Cape Horn. It was pretty sweet. It is always windy at the Horn and the pilots did some exciting maneuvers. We basically flew around the Horn (the southern most sizable island) 4 or 5 times. It was really windy and the plane was bouncing and going all over the place. We were really low too, about 500 feet off the ocean I think. It was really cool and pretty exciting. After the flight, we came back to Lakutaia and went on a 4 hour hike.

*The Horn!

That was my Christmas. Not exactly a typical one for me, but fun none the less.

I feel how Captain Jack Sparrow looks

2007-12-21T13:30:00.000-07:00

After spending 2 nights sleeping on a the Schooner Victory and sailing to and from Ushuaia Argentina, I have developed some sort of after-effect of being on the boat. Sometimes when I am doing an everyday task, such as laying in bed, walking, or brushing me teeth, I get the feeling like I am still on the boat...like everything is still swaying and bobing up and down with the waves. There is no real serious side effects, just kind of a dizzy-off balance feeling...which is dissappointing because I pride myself with having better than average balance. All this reminds me of Captain Jack Sparrow from the Pirates of the Carrabean movie and how he is always swaying back and forth as if drunk. That is how I feel sometimes...

Micalvi...never disappointing

2007-12-13T04:52:00.000-07:00

**Don Gabriel was pretty stoked about the foreign girls doing what appears to be the crab walk**

Micalvi is the yacht club just down the channel where all the private sail boats dock. There are more or less two reasons why people sail here. Either they are sailing around Cape Horn (The Horn) or are sailing to Antarctica, so there are always boats and crews coming and going in and out of Puerto Williams. This week a crew from Australia came over for supper at the lodge. It is always fun to meet these people because they are on cool adventures. I there was one lady on this crew that had done two solo trips to the South Pole and is planning one to the North Pole…pretty ridiculous.

Anyways, after supper Randy and I went with them to Micalvi (the Yacht club & bar) housed on an old German ship. The bar is pretty awesome. The floor is far from level and the ceiling low. Wood stoves keep the place warm and there are flags, pictures, t-shirts, and all sorts of things stapled to the wall, left by sailors. It is so fun just being in this place. The atmosphere is great. Last time, a bunch of Polish sailors broke into song, singing what I liked to imagine as old sea tunes. I enjoyed the first one, but as they sung the 4^th, 5^th, and 6^th, it was getting a little old. There was also this old surly skipper Randy and I call The Kraken. When I think of an “old sea dog”, I picture this guy; big belly, scruffy grey beard, and angry at the world and all the tourists in the Antarctic.

I also find the whole idea of sailing pretty fascinating. The idea of living on a boat for a couple months and sailing wherever your heart desires sounds like something I would like to try. Every time I go to Micalvi and meet some of these sailors I get an urge to barter passage and jump on board. I have made it a goal to somehow get on a ship and sail The Horn. I don’t know how realistic is its, but I want to try anyways.

Horsing Around

2007-12-01T09:05:00.001-07:00

I have been getting in a little more horseback riding lately. Last week I went out with German (Herman) to round up some horses and move them to a different pasture. I was feeling pretty confident after the previous horse ride with Chocolate. That all changed when I saw the horse I was going to ride…Buena Pinta (well dressed). Buena Pinta had not been ridden yet this year…not a good sign.

Anyways, I got her saddled up and brought her to the corral. German got on here first to make sure all was well….it wasn´t. As soon as he got on, the horse started backing up really fast and actually fell down throwing German off into the fence. At this point I´m thinging “This is the horse I have to ride!? No way” German gave Buena some Choice words of encouragement and got back on. She didn’t fall this time, but still kind of bucked around a bit. He rode her around the corral and all seemed ok for the time. He got off and looked over to me and said “OK, your turn.” As you can imagine, I was pretty unsure about this whole thing. I was on the verge of saying “no way, not this horse,” but thought better of it. I walked over, trying to look confident and slowly got on the horse. She started to the backwards-falling over stunt again, but luckily she didn’t go through with it.

The ride turned out to be fine with no more craziness. Buena Pinta and I actually got along pretty well. I like using a car analogy to describe the horses. Chocolate was is the Caprice Classic of the horse world…slow moving, not very responsive. Buena Pinta was more like a Ferrari…wanting to go faster and faster and very responsive. The slightest movement on the reigns resulted in a drastic move to the left or right.

Thanksgiving Suprise

2007-11-23T14:17:00.000-07:00

Well, I thought I was going to miss out on all the Thanksgiving favorits...I won´t say I was wrong, maybe just mistaken (Matthew knows). Randy pulled through and bought a turkey breast, corn, potatoes, and gravy. Marcia cooked it all up and we had a little Thanksgiving meal in the kitchen. I tried to explain what Thanksgiving is all about and I think I got the point across despite my limited Spanish.

If we only had a pumpkin pie, lefsa, thin bread, rice pudding, sweet soup, squash, and stuffing....mmmmmmm!

Luckily not our last supper...

2007-11-18T04:08:00.000-07:00

Last night, Marcia the chef went to the beach and collected a large quantity of muscles. Coming from such a land locked state, I was interested in what she was cooking, so I helped her clean off the muscles and put them a giant pot for cooking. She steamed them (I think) with white wine, onions, and probably something else. When they were done she called me up for the late meal of the day (about 9:00). The muscles had opened up and we put salsa verde and pevere ( a spicy red salsa) on them and sucked them down. They were very delicious. Randy joined us and we continued to gulp them down. After I had already eaten around 10 of the delicious morsels, Randy said something along these lines...

"Oh yeah, have you ever heard of the Red Tide. Every once in a while, muscles get this contamination and they are toxic to eat and can kill you in a few hours. The government checks it out and reports when it is OK to eat them. I think currently there is a ban on collection. Marcia doesn’t says that she knows were to collect them from though..."

At this point I am fairly worried and my consumption of them hits a wall. Randy then tells me, " well you already ate a bunch, might as well die with a full stomach" I joked and said I hope this isn’t our last supper...

Luckily it wasn’t, and we enjoyed the rest of our meal. Later Marcia informed us that the government said it was OK to collect muscles this month...but I don’t know if I believed her.

It blows my mind

2007-11-13T11:44:00.000-07:00

As Jasper would say...my mind was blown yesterday. It is cloudy, rainy, and snowy most of the time here, at least so far. This makes it easy to forget how incredible the mountains and the landscape here are. We were driving back from sailing and the clouds broke a little and I was able to see again how large, impressive, and numerous the mountains are around here. It blew my mind really. This place would make for some incredible and easily accessable backcountry sking.

A good experience

2007-11-13T04:31:00.000-07:00

I had a good international bonding experience today. I was at Simon y Simon, the supermarket, and the Beatles Song, My Sweet Lord came on. Most of you know that this is a great song. When George Harrison started singing the chorus “I really want to see you, I really want to be with you” I found myself singing along. I quickly noticed that Angela (my coworker) as well as one of the two Simons were also singing along. It is good to know that some things are able to transcend boundaries and language. Something we all can enjoy and relate to and enjoy is good music.

The town of Puerto Williams

2007-11-10T16:06:00.000-07:00

You might be wondering what Puerto Williams is all about. Well...not much. The town is situated on the Beagle Channel and continues up a hill to the south. Its small, about 2500 people at the most. Half of the population are Navy people and their families. They are somewhat detatched from the community and there isnt much coopreation or interaction between groups. All of the Navy people have newer looking white houses. This is in great contrast to the rest of the houses which are more like shacks with metal roofs. Everyone burns wood for heat, so there is wood piles in front of everybodies houses. There is generally a fair amount of trash around as well as stray dogs. All of the roads are dirt and their are no traffic jams except for horses or cows that dont want to move.

There are a few main areas of commerse..the centro commercial and one other street. There are 2 supermarkets (very small, although an upgrade from mini mart), one coffee shop (to my great pleasure because everyone uses a poor substitute for coffee...instant nesscafe), a cool pizza shop run by two guys that work here at the hotel, and a number of other shops. Overall, not to bad!

In Puerto Williams

2007-11-07T12:16:00.000-07:00

Sorry it has taken me so long to update. I have made it safe and sound down to Puerto Williams. The plane ride for Punta Arenas was fun…in a really small plane with about 15 seats. I landed at the small airport and was picked up by Randy. We drove to the hotel and he gave me the grand tour. The hotel is situated along an inlet of the Beagle Channel with the mountains of Isla Navarino behind it. Everywhere I look there are big snow-capped mountains…in every direction. The entire length of the Argentinean side of the channel is covered with mountains as far as I can see. Pretty cool.

The weather has been cool or cold. Coming from Guatemala, it feels kind of cold. So far, it has been both sunny and rainy every day. I think the weather changes here a lot.

The hotel is really nice. It has about 24 rooms, a full on kitchen, dining room-common room, bar, general hang out place in the basement, and a ridiculously large barn for the fifteen-some horses. For now I am staying one of the rooms until the bunk house is ready for me. I kind of hope to be in the hotel for a while, but I doubt it.

What little hope I had of learning Spanish while I was in Guatemala was quickly smashed when I heard Chilean Spanish. It is way harder to understand and often sounds like a bunch of mumbling. Wahhh Wahhh.

CHILE!

2007-11-03T20:21:00.001-06:00

Well, I made it safe and sound to Patagonia. After a few close calls at the airport, i have arrived in Punta Arenas and will be here until monday before flying off to Puerto Williams. Not much else to say for now. Stay tuned for more southern news...

List of stuff and things

2007-10-30T18:27:00.001-06:00

Ever since I arrived in Guatemala, I have been making a mental list of funny, weird, unusual, or excessive things. Here are a few of said things...

Shotgun toting guards at the entrances of stores (some places even have a guard tower)
Speed bumps in the highway
The number of people that cram into and onto buses (today I saw 5 guys hanging out the door and on the front bumper of one bus)
Loud noises (fireworks every day, horns, buses, etc.)
Pollution
Having 4 people do the job of what one person would normally do
Beer samples at the grocery store (can't pass that one up)
Banana splits...everyone gets them

Tikal

2007-10-27T07:29:00.000-06:00

Well, another week has passed. Las week we took the night bus to Tikal. It wasn't a chicken bus which was great, but it was a 9 hour ride. We arrived in a small town called Flores and were pretty wiped out. We spent the rest of that day recovering and hanging out in the town. The next day we went to check out the Myan ruins at Tikal. They were pretty amazing. The park was larger than I expected with many trials winding through the dense jungle. The pyramids are huge and rise over 60 meters. They even let you climb up some of the temples via very steep stairs. They are actually more like ladders I guess. Anyways, it was a great time. We decided to splurge and take the airplane back to Guatemala City. We figured the $100 price difference was worth saving 8 hours of bus time.

On another note, I have started posting pictures on my flickr site. The link is over on the right side of my blog ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------->
Check it out.

2007-10-20T11:21:00.000-06:00

We just got back from three days in Antigua. We took a 'chicken bus' about an hour or so to Antigua. The chicken bus rides are pretty interesting. They are basically a school bus painted all sorts of crazy colors. They cram as many people in them as possible, at one point there was probably close to 120 people in our bus. Not only is that crazy, but also the way the driver (and every other driver on the road) drives. They drive like race car drivers, flooring it, and then slamming on the breaks in order to avoid broadsiding a semi making a U turn across a couple lanes of traffic. Kind of scary, but we made it OK.

Antigua is a really cool town. The architecture is all old (colonial i guess) and the roads are cobblestoned. There is a huge volcano just south of town that dominates the landscape. Nancy and I had a great time checking out all the ruins, old churches, and cafes around town.

Rotary International LOTERIA!

2007-10-20T09:39:00.000-06:00

Well, I made it to Guatemala safely and am enjoying my time with Nancy. We are currently hanging out in the big city before we explore the rest of the country. Today we went to the Rotary Club meeting (the organization that awarded Nancy’s scholarship). It was in a fancy hotel and lunch was served. After lunch it was time for the loteria. Everyone gets really excited about this game which, is more or less bingo with pictures rather than numbers. One of the gentleman at our table one the first game and was awarded a bottle of wine which he gave to Nancy. The second game was a blackout game, so we had to fill out the entire loteria card. My Spanish is rather poor and I didn’t always hear what was called, so Nancy, the person sitting next to me, and even the waiter helped me mark my loteria card. To my surprise and everyone at my table, I got a blackout and won the grand-loteria prize. My prize included $200 quetzales (about 30 US dollars) a sweet Rotary mug and a fifth of Johnny Walker Black Label Scottish Whiskey….COUNT IT! Everyone cheered when I brought my booty back to the table. It was a pretty wild/funny experience. As for tonight…fiesta!

Last Hurrah

2007-10-11T10:44:00.001-06:00

Well, I have finished up in Lander with one last weekend of climbing with friends in Sinks Canyon. I drove back to RC, unloaded my car, and jumped in the suburban with Dad, Uncle Chuck, and Uncle Don and drove to Yellowstone for some fishing. We stayed in Gardiner MT for four days fishing Slough Creek and Soda Butte Creek. We had a great trip catching lots of fish, seeing wolves, grizzlies, and plenty of other animals. The fishing was good despite cold temperatures, snow, and wind...a blizzard I guess.
Now I'm back in RC, packing for my next 8 months in South and Central America. Matthew and I went out on the town last night for good measure.
For now, I must finish packing and all that good stuff and drive to Denver tomorrow.
PEACE!
PS: Matthew and I also climbed White House Wall yesterday = good stuff

Eye Candy

2007-10-01T18:26:00.001-06:00

Well, this is Puerto Williams, and my home for the next 8 months. I can hardly believe it!

Head South

2007-09-18T19:07:00.000-06:00

As proclaimed by the energetic song by Modest Mouse, 'HEAD SOUTH, HEAD SOUTH! (screamed loudly with scratchy/sore-throat kind of voice)....you know...or maybe not. Anyways, the rumors are true, I am heading south, about as far south as one can go without hitting Antarctica. My destination for November through May will be Puerto Williams, Chile, the farthest southern town in the world. I have taken a job working at Hotel Lakutaia as a guide/general employee. I will let you all know more about the job as I find out more. Patagonia is somewhere I have always dreamed of going and I am uber-excited about this opportunity.

Best 10 seconds of film in history?

2007-09-15T11:26:00.000-06:00

Alright, don't get too excited, this is not the big announcement I noted in the previous post, but this is almost better. What we have here is a genuine video clip of myself practicing for my future career in the Scottish Highland Games. This beauty was taken by my good friend Archie one August day before climbing. A few friends on a climbing road trip were visiting and as to be expected, the infamous bee suit eventually dawned itself for our enjoyment. Anyways, I think the video speaks for itself. Some have called it the best 10 seconds of film in history...you decide. Note the patriotic (flag) & Wyoming (Eddie: calf roping practice calf) influences.

Summer Recap

2007-09-12T17:09:00.000-06:00

<-Sign welcoming me to Lander...a welcome sight for sore eyes, and throat...

This is my first official post on my new blog. I guess this is some sort of attempt to keep you all up to date on what I'm up to considering I'm not very good at writing emails and so on. Anyways, here goes...

Just to bring you all up to date with things, I have spent the fall and summer working as a wilderness ranger in the Popo Agie Wilderness outside of Lander, WY (old news for most of you). It has been a wonderful summer climbing world class limestone, lugging 85lb backpacks all over the wilderness, and spending over 50 days in the backcountry. My job is pretty much awesome, allowing me to spend a lot of time in the woods hiking around, climbing 5.11, and living in beautiful Sinks Canyon (when I'm not in my tent that is). Highlights of the summer include hiking nearly every trail in the Popo Agie, making sourdough pancakes for visiting friends, and hanging out in the Cirque of the Towers.
Stay tuned for an exciting announcement concerning my winter (or should I say summer) plans...