They are everywhere.
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| Don´t steal them. |
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| Puppies and popcorn. |
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Monday, February 28, 2011
Sunday, February 27, 2011
Punta Arenas
Punta Arenas is a place whose best days are long gone.
For a hundred years, ships goings around Cape Horn would stop at Punta Arenas, resupply, trade, and move on. The city exploded when thousands of men booked it as fast as they could during the California Gold Rush, stopping in Punta Arenas on the way.
Then, someone discovered the surrounding hills were perfect for herding sheep. Land owning families made fortunres when demand for wool grew as Europe and the US industrialized. Immigrants from all over Europe flocked to Tierra del Fuego.
Then, as soon as it began, Punta Arena´s fortunes ended.
First the Panama Canal made the trip around the Cape unneccesary.
Then, the massive increase in wool supply resulted in a global glut, and prices crashed.
Finally, synthetic fabric largely made wool a niche product.
And now Punta Arenas is a city without much of a purpose - people fly through to go north or south, on their way elsewhere. Package tours pass through town. The military bases supply a few jobs. And there´s still the wool industry, although its a shell of what it once was.
You can see the signs of the past - beautiful colonial architecture and gaudy graves.
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| Old school colonial architecture. |
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| Used to be a busy place back in the day... |
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| He remembers when wool was a big deal. |
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| The board walk - for teenage girls and their kid brothers... |
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| ...and lonely women looking for sea shells. |
The graveyard in Punta Arenas is an attraction all of its own - guides call it one of the most beautiful in Latin America.
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| Welcome! |
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| Welcome to the Menendez family´s mausoleum - wool baron, sailor and settler. |
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| Immigrants from Eastern Europe. |
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| English immigrants. |
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| Czech (i think?) immigrants. |
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| If you can´t afford a mausoleum of your own, there´s room in the cubicles. |
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| German names, Spanish prayers. |
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| German names, German prayers. |
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| A whole section is devoted to children's graves. The silence and the passing of time give the place an especially tragic aura. |
The Pampa
A land of millions of sheep and fluffy white clouds.
It stretches from Buenos Aires to the tip of South America.
Flat, dry and windy windy windy.
It stretches from Buenos Aires to the tip of South America.
Flat, dry and windy windy windy.
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| The road from Ushuaia to Punta Arenas... miles and miles and miles of the same... |
Saturday, February 26, 2011
In one of history´s great ironies...
... a ex-Soviet spy boat, piloted by an ex-Soviet attack submarine captain, drives old Europeans and Americans around Antarctica.
True story. Our boat was built as a Polar ¨Research¨ (e.g. spy) vessel. Our Captain patrolled the Atlantic for U.S. nuclear subs.
Then, the Soviet Union fell apart.
Then, an entrepreneur figured out Antarctic tourism was booming while Russia´s military was desperate for money. Hello, Soviet crew, Soviet boat, and Western social-security money.
True story. Our boat was built as a Polar ¨Research¨ (e.g. spy) vessel. Our Captain patrolled the Atlantic for U.S. nuclear subs.
Then, the Soviet Union fell apart.
Then, an entrepreneur figured out Antarctic tourism was booming while Russia´s military was desperate for money. Hello, Soviet crew, Soviet boat, and Western social-security money.
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| El Capitan on the bridge. |
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| The Captain ¨like very much¨the charts. |
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| 50% Tchaikovsky, 50% Russian Techno for the bridge. |
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| The 2nd mate. |
If you love ice, cold and penguins...
...Antarctica is your continent.
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| Other trips on smaller sailboats. You can see the scale of the glaciers here - most had 80 - 200 feet of ice hanging into the water. |
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| Millions of penguins - we must have seen a couple of thousand in just in a week. Late February is getting close to the end of the breeding season, and these chicks will soon take to the sea. |
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| Penguins, snow and ice and the Polar Pioneer, our home for 11 days. The shack is a refuge maintained by the Argentinians in case of an emergency. |
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| Austere and beautiful. |
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| None of the wildlife seems to mind humans too much... this is a fur seal looking annoyed. |
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| Almost 2 months since leaving a civilized life in Boston. |
Tuesday, February 15, 2011
Antarctica
Boat leaves this evening. Back the 26th.
50 passengers - average age, 50. Half will be diving. The rest of us will be hanging with the Nat Geo photographer.
Not going to be much contact with the outside world down there.
Just me, the Russian crew, a bunch of nonegenarion dry suit divers and the local pinguinos.
50 passengers - average age, 50. Half will be diving. The rest of us will be hanging with the Nat Geo photographer.
Not going to be much contact with the outside world down there.
Just me, the Russian crew, a bunch of nonegenarion dry suit divers and the local pinguinos.
Food - greatest hits
These were epic meals.
Pizza - Yes, its possible in the wilderness. Make a dough baby with flour, salt, water and yeast. Let it sit for 2 hours. Then fry-bake it with your choice of tomato sauce, salami, cheese, cream cheese, oregano and red pepper.
Chilean Brown Energy Bar - When you can't make coffee every 2 hours... turn your coffee into a chocolate energy bar. Mix baking chocolate, instant coffee, raisins, butter, milk powder and sugar.
Mama´s Jambalaya - make some tomato soup, and then add rice, salami, salt, pepper, red pepper, oregano and butter.
Po´Man´s Bread Pudding - boil water and add cocoa powder, sugar, cinnamon, raisins and butter. Make cream of wheat in the resulting mixture. Let cool and eat cold as trail food.
Breakfast Bread - make a dough baby with flour, water, yeast, oatmeal, raisins, walnut, sugar and cinnamon and fry-bake on butter.
Three Cheese Couscous - heat up butter and toast couscous for 10 minutes. Add water until couscous is ready. Add block cheese, cream cheese, parmesan cheese, salt and pepper to taste. Add dried fruit like figs or dried pears for a savory version.
Pizza - Yes, its possible in the wilderness. Make a dough baby with flour, salt, water and yeast. Let it sit for 2 hours. Then fry-bake it with your choice of tomato sauce, salami, cheese, cream cheese, oregano and red pepper.
Chilean Brown Energy Bar - When you can't make coffee every 2 hours... turn your coffee into a chocolate energy bar. Mix baking chocolate, instant coffee, raisins, butter, milk powder and sugar.
Mama´s Jambalaya - make some tomato soup, and then add rice, salami, salt, pepper, red pepper, oregano and butter.
Po´Man´s Bread Pudding - boil water and add cocoa powder, sugar, cinnamon, raisins and butter. Make cream of wheat in the resulting mixture. Let cool and eat cold as trail food.
Breakfast Bread - make a dough baby with flour, water, yeast, oatmeal, raisins, walnut, sugar and cinnamon and fry-bake on butter.
Three Cheese Couscous - heat up butter and toast couscous for 10 minutes. Add water until couscous is ready. Add block cheese, cream cheese, parmesan cheese, salt and pepper to taste. Add dried fruit like figs or dried pears for a savory version.
Expedition Life: Food
Lots of ingredients in the backcountry and its choose your own adventure.
The equipment: a stove, a frying pan, and a metal bowl.
The food: varies, but mostly grains, cheese, sugar and a few different spices.
It can be delicious or horrifying.
Delicious
Bowtie pasta with sauteed salami, sundried tomatos, mushrooms and a garlic butter sauce
1 bag of pasta
3-4 cloves of garlic, finely chopped
100g salami, chopped
Red pepper
Salt
Black pepper
200g block cheese of your choice
2 tablespoons butter
2 tablespoons milk powder
Handful of sundried tomatos
Handful of dried mushrooms
Heat up frying pan. Melt butter. Add garlic and salami. Saute until garlic golden brown. Add water and milk powder until sauce a thick consistency. Take off of heat and set aside.
In seperate bowl, add water, pinch of salt and pepper, mushrooms and sundried tomatos. Leave on high heat until it boils. Add pasta and cook for 12 minutes. Strain, saving the pasta water as a hot broth to drink (if youd like). Add cheese, butter sauce, and red pepper to taste and mix until cheese is melty and delicious. Enjoy.
Less Delicious
Vegetable rice noodle soup with textured vegetable protein. (Also known as the ¨TVP special.¨)
1 bag veggie soup mix
1 bag nice noodles
200g TVP
Vegetable oil
Salt
Pepper
Garlic
Mix TVP and water until TVP soaks up water. It should be firm but not mushy.
Heat oil, add garlic. Saute TVP for 15 minutes. Remove from heat.
Boil water in seperate bowl, add veggie soup mix. Mix until thick in consistency - about 10 minutes. Add rice noodles and mix for 2 minutes, until noodles soften. Remove from heat.
Serve soup with TVP as topping. Attempt to eat the resulting sodium stew.
With enough salt to melt a glacier, the first bite is delicious. Its not until the 7th bite that you realize that your body is being overwhelmed with processed food and industrial chemistry, and the resulting shutdown and rejection of the TVP is... challenging.
As a side note, as this wonderful dish cools it will form a hard gelatinous substance that resembles salty veggie TVP gelato. Yum.
The equipment: a stove, a frying pan, and a metal bowl.
The food: varies, but mostly grains, cheese, sugar and a few different spices.
It can be delicious or horrifying.
Delicious
Bowtie pasta with sauteed salami, sundried tomatos, mushrooms and a garlic butter sauce
1 bag of pasta
3-4 cloves of garlic, finely chopped
100g salami, chopped
Red pepper
Salt
Black pepper
200g block cheese of your choice
2 tablespoons butter
2 tablespoons milk powder
Handful of sundried tomatos
Handful of dried mushrooms
Heat up frying pan. Melt butter. Add garlic and salami. Saute until garlic golden brown. Add water and milk powder until sauce a thick consistency. Take off of heat and set aside.
In seperate bowl, add water, pinch of salt and pepper, mushrooms and sundried tomatos. Leave on high heat until it boils. Add pasta and cook for 12 minutes. Strain, saving the pasta water as a hot broth to drink (if youd like). Add cheese, butter sauce, and red pepper to taste and mix until cheese is melty and delicious. Enjoy.
Less Delicious
Vegetable rice noodle soup with textured vegetable protein. (Also known as the ¨TVP special.¨)
1 bag veggie soup mix
1 bag nice noodles
200g TVP
Vegetable oil
Salt
Pepper
Garlic
Mix TVP and water until TVP soaks up water. It should be firm but not mushy.
Heat oil, add garlic. Saute TVP for 15 minutes. Remove from heat.
Boil water in seperate bowl, add veggie soup mix. Mix until thick in consistency - about 10 minutes. Add rice noodles and mix for 2 minutes, until noodles soften. Remove from heat.
Serve soup with TVP as topping. Attempt to eat the resulting sodium stew.
With enough salt to melt a glacier, the first bite is delicious. Its not until the 7th bite that you realize that your body is being overwhelmed with processed food and industrial chemistry, and the resulting shutdown and rejection of the TVP is... challenging.
As a side note, as this wonderful dish cools it will form a hard gelatinous substance that resembles salty veggie TVP gelato. Yum.
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| Making pizza. |
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| Camp food fail. Garbanzos, peanut butter... and couscous? Unclear. |
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| If all else fails there´s always Nutella. |
Sunday, February 13, 2011
6 degrees of separation
It´s true.
Ran into an American couple at a hostal yesterday - they work on movies. Good chance their circle overlaps with Leigh's. And the guy is doing a NOLS course this winter.
And what are the odds that, in a NOLS group of 13 students, there are Yalies and UPenn alumn on the course? And someone who lives in Cambridge Mass? And someone who grew up in the same town as you (well, almost, Libertyville - but close). And one of the instructors went to college in New Haven?
Ran into an American couple at a hostal yesterday - they work on movies. Good chance their circle overlaps with Leigh's. And the guy is doing a NOLS course this winter.
And what are the odds that, in a NOLS group of 13 students, there are Yalies and UPenn alumn on the course? And someone who lives in Cambridge Mass? And someone who grew up in the same town as you (well, almost, Libertyville - but close). And one of the instructors went to college in New Haven?
Puerto Montt
I had the honor of passing through the city that Lonely Planet describes as ¨a giant dive bar¨.
And when Lonely Planet calls something a dive, it catches your attention.
Because it's situated at the very end of Chile's main valley, almost every person, animal or piece of merchandise that goes to or from Chilean Patagonia goes through Puerto Montt. It's a city of mechanics, sailors and truck drivers. People with character and tough hands. Puerto Montt reflects that. It's gritty, but not down. If Rocky was Chilean, he would be from Puerto Montt.
And when Lonely Planet calls something a dive, it catches your attention.
Because it's situated at the very end of Chile's main valley, almost every person, animal or piece of merchandise that goes to or from Chilean Patagonia goes through Puerto Montt. It's a city of mechanics, sailors and truck drivers. People with character and tough hands. Puerto Montt reflects that. It's gritty, but not down. If Rocky was Chilean, he would be from Puerto Montt.
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| Situated like Vancouver... |
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| ...with all the charm of Philadelphia. |
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| Patagonian wool |
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| Fisherman. |
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| And Patagonian cheese. |
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