Jan 1-2-Trip Home-Summary Recommendation

The trip home has been long but not difficult.  The weather had moderated by our return to BsAs-high 80’s so there were no more protests or energy outages.  In fact is rained heavily with pretty spectacular lightning and thunder beginning at 5am (I am used to thunderstorms in the afternoon).  An interesting phenomenon is that in South America it is the tradition to clap when the airline lands, even if it is a smooth ride.  That is quite nice-applauding the expertise of the pilot.  Perhaps it says something about the appreciative nature of the folks here.

So how would I rate the trip?  In one sense it was disappointing.  We really did not see anything new.  We had seen glaciers in Alaska, beautiful mountains and lakes in the Alps of Switzerland and Italy and native cultures more interesting in northern South America (especially Peru).  It is also a long and expensive flight-15 hours from DC to El Calafate and around $2,000.  You can get to Adu Dhabi in that time and for that money!  Also, as noted the food was disappointing.  So I would not compare it favorably to our expeditions to other parts of the world (China, India, Cambodia/Laos/Vietnam, Australia).  However, it was a great trip in many other ways.  It was a time for Karen and me to spend extended time together and in our 45^th year of marriage there is still romance in that.  I also was relaxed and did not think much of work; it clears the mind and I am ready to get back to work. 

I wish you all a New Year filled with only good health and happiness.

Mark

Dec 30-31 El Calafate-Glaciers, Argentina

This is our last stop before going back to BsAs to catch a flight home.  We are not looking forward to BsAs as the temperature today is over 100 degrees and there are riots because of energy blackouts caused by the usage.  This heat wave has been for the entire month of Dec so tempers are running high.  We wonder how it will affect our getting into and out of the city, but that is a worry for tomorrow. 

Here in El Calafate it is a comfortable 60 degrees.  The weather does not have the enormous variations of other parts of the country.  It is maintained in the 30’s in their winter and the 50-60’s in the summer; there are really only 2 seasons.  In the upper Andes, however, it is always below freezing and the weather pattern is such that water is sucked up from the ocean and deposited as snow every day.  The result is glaciation over the last 13,000 years or so.  This is nothing compared to the age of the mountains which is around 60 million, however the climate has been fairly stable in the last period.  The snow falls and gets compacted, turning into a glacier which is now up to 2,000 ft deep.  The top layers appear white but the compacted area is a sky blue for the same reason for the color of the sky, only blue is refracted-the other colors trapped.  So, in the pictures you will see many aspects of the glaciers, ice flows and icebergs.  And, from what we can see the icebergs are in fact 80% underwater, with just the tips sticking out.

One of the most fascinating sights was the glacier river in the National Glacier Park.  The glacier rises around 600 ft above the lake it drains into.  Its size has not changed since it was first measured in 1917.  Each day it creates 2 m of new wall and 2 m fall into the lake.  So every few minutes you hear a crack like a gunshot, the fracturing of the ice.  This is followed by a groaning sound and then the toppling over of a piece of the wall, a small avalanche into the lake.  It happens so fast and unpredictably that I could not capture it on film.

Away from the mountain sides the land is semi-arid and sheep farming is practiced.  In the 80km we drove to the glacier there were only 3 farms that owned all the land.  Because of the sparse vegetation you need an enormous amount of land to feed the animals.  I pictured this area.

Finally, there is the forest that climbs up the mountain side.  There have been man-made forest fires and they have been devastating.  While there is plenty of water falling on the Andes there is little on the ground.  So when a fire starts combined with the high winds here it can eat up thousands of acres of forest.  And, because there is so little water it may take a century to regrow.  On the other hand there is so little population here that there is fortunately not the loss of life and property we see in the U. S.

We have finally figured out the cooking in Argentina.  They basically grill or fry the meat or fish with no marinade or adding salt or spices.  You are then given salt, a mixture of mustard/mayonnaise, or other sauces to apply yourself.  When you order fish, you must also order the sauce and it costs separately.  Even with this new knowledge we are not impressed with the offerings although the bakery items are quite good.  The prices, however, are very cheap.  We both had tenderloin steak, salad, French fries, and drinks for under $40.  It should be noted that Coke costs more than gin!

Dec 27^th-29 Las Torres, Chile

We are now deep in the Andes in the national park.  Our base camp is at the foot of a massive peak with has a glacier covering 2/3rds of its height (glaciers are basically permanent snow that is packed down over time with a thick layer of ice beneath.) 

The days are incredibly long at this time of the year-the sun rises at around 6am and it is still light at 11:00pm.

We are now seeing a fair amount of wildlife.  We saw condors fishing, seagulls following our boat astride and eating crackers held up by tourists, geese, pretty pigeons, rias (which are in the ostrich family), horses with their young, fields of sheep (more than we have ever seen before), cows running (who knew they could run?) and guanaco.  I have inserted pictures.  The guanaco was the most interesting-it is from the camel family and is protected (from hunters that is, not puma).  We saw lots of live animals living in family groupings with many young ones; and we saw remains of the puma raids in terms of recently killed guanaco young now being picked over by raptors.

The lakes are unbelievably beautiful and different in color based on the sediment and pH.  We saw one lake with an alkaline pH of 8.5 where no fish could live with an azure color.  Another lake was perfectly clear so you could see an object 60 feet below.  It was fed by a river that had rapids that basically cleared the sediment.

The mountains are majestic with sharp peaks often hidden by cloud cover.  They are granite below and sedimentary on top (from the volcanos).  And, then there is the glacier which we visited on a boat.  Pieces had broken off so we also saw icebergs of different sizes, so melting within a few weeks of breaking away.  Global warming is evident by the recession of the glacier but the weather is quite cold as we have moved away from the equator.  It is in the mid 40’s with winds that are up to 60 mph-I sometime have trouble standing.  You need to dress in layers.  I was comfortable in a long sleeve shirt, a sweatshirt, a woolen sweater and a winter coat. (and a poncho as it rains frequently). 

I visited caves used by the aboriginal people (it was cold and rainy so Karen worked on editing her book).  There were some cave paintings, one of which I captured.  It was not very hospitable climate but the guanaco did not mind and clearly are comfortable with people as I could walk up within a few feet of them.

Dec 25-26 Crossing to Chile

Politics contrasting Chile and Argentina.  Argentina has 41 million people and Chile 17 million.  In both cases almost half of the population lives close to the two capitals, BsAs and Santiago.  There appears to be a bit more diversity in Chile, especially up North where Bolivia and Peru border the country.  Also, there is more of a German influence in Chile and Italian in Argentina in terms of immigration.  Both have a recent past of authoritarian rule and more recent one of democracy.  Both presidents are women who are in their second term.  However, while Mrs. Kirscher’s adminstration of Argentina has been marred by scandal and poor fiscal management, Michelle Bachelet’s of Chile has been squeaky clean and she is seen as a good fiscal manager who is trying to do some redistribution of wealth.  Of interest she is a physician and went to middle school in Bethesda.  While a socialist, her government has been much more entrepreneurial, open to new relationships and less nationalistic. 

Chile seems more developed than Argentina (other than BsAs).  There are more paved roads and some highways, more substantial homes and verdant fields.  While Argentina is known for beef, Chile is known for fish.  However, where we are passing now are fields of sheep.

Yesterday and today have been mostly travel days.  Yesterday we crossed over to Chile through a necklace of large lakes.  We took a catamaran across one lake, than portaged with a bus to the next lake and repeated this 3 times.  This was the first cloudy day so lousy for pictures but brought needed rain-none for 3 months (although it could have waited an extra day for my part).  There are 9 volcanos in this region and we saw one that reminded me of Mount Fuji, with a perfect dome-it has been inactive for a hundred years.

Today we took a 2 hr plane ride and are now driving for 5 hrs through fields to reach the National Park Torres del Paine where we will spend the next 3 days hiking, horseback riding and learning some indigenous history.

Karen:

The Chileans are proud that they didn’t exterminate all their Indians as the Argentines did. Apparently their tribes fought back against the Europeans. It is nice to see a population that isn’t as totally white as we saw in Argentina. In previous years we traveled in Peru, Bolivia and Ecuador, which have more of the feel one expects in South America.

We have found the food in both countries to be bland by our standards. Many times there is no salt or pepper on the table. Today I purchased a can of Pringles to get my salt fix. Even their cheese has almost no salt. Salmon is a very important part of their economy. This afternoon we are going to a place which will serve us lamb. And as Mark mentioned, I have never seen so many sheep in any country in which we have traveled. If someone was a vegetarian they would have difficulty here. Ordering a salad will produce a plate of lettuce with no other vegetables. We had one tour guide who was new age into organic healthy eating, but not a vegetarian as you would expect. Eating beef is the main staple. We have found the beef to be quite tender but not seasoned as we expect.

The weather has changed from hot in Buenos Aries to warm in the last few places to pretty chilly and windy where we are today.

We saw a condor soaring in the skies today. The condor is the national bird of Chile.

Yesterday traveling between Argentina and Chile, you have to go through customs in Chile where they open up your suitcases and search them. You are not allowed to bring any food in Chile, even a cookie is prohibited.

Until yesterday we have had good cell phone service. Yesterday our phones wouldn’t connect. Hopefully our location today will be better.