Some Strange Things at Night

In the book The Da Vinci Code, there is a character named sadris(or something like that) who practices a form of self mutilation. By using a spiked ankle band, he regularly squeezes the object into his leg. He does this as a form of self penance. His religion encourages this behaviour promising that these actions will bring him closer to "enlightenment".

About a week ago, the Scot's and I were at a Kiosko. It was about 2:00am. While the Scot's were deciding what to buy, a man walked in. Mesmerized, I just stood, staring at him. Partially in a state of disbelief, and partially in a state of confusion, I looked, then looked, then looked. This stunned state may have gone on for hours, but a voice suddenly emanated from the strangers mouth "Es Tu Brazilian?". Are you Brazilian, the strange man asked. "No, Estado Unidos". No, I'm from the states, I replied. Instantly, I pulled myself together, realized what I was looking at, and then became even more amazed. This man had had about 5 horizontal slices on his forehead. The freshest of these cuts was still actively bleeding. In the middle of these wounds was the number 9. His hands were no better. On each there where multiple burn marks, all the size of an eraser and precisely placed as to form a wall of terror. Whoever or whatever he was, I wasn't interested in staying any longer to find out. The Scot's in the same state of disbelief, whispered "let's get out of here". And, taking the opportunity, we got out of the kiosko as fast as was possible.

And Finally... Some Pictures

My apologies for the delay in posting photos. Within the next couple of days, I'll try and post more.

The following might be offensive to some; my apologies. I personally found it rather interesting. It seemed like every other block, there was some type of graffiti. The last was taken in El Calafate, Patagonia.

Wow

I've developed a habit where when I read or hear the words "tourist destination", or, "tourist attraction", shivers of terror flow through my veins. It really isn't so much that the area has already been exploited...I mean, explored. No, the thought is something more menacing, and normally is associated with the savage imagry of a Disneyland -on a gorgeous day- when "EVERYONE" decides to go. Basically, I think of these destinations as places on earth that have lost some of their charm; invariably because of the amount of visitors and what we (yes, me included) do to the areas.

Ironically, the couple times that I've ignored conventional wisdom and have visited the sites, the experience has been altering. A perfect example was the Tikal ruins, in Guatemala. Although, all signs of "avoid this place at all cost" where running on overdrive, I still decided to visit. Satisfaction, amazement, and sheer awe, would all be inappropriate descriptives for the immensity and thrill of this area. It truly was an incredible experience.

Now, fast forward several months, and place yourself in Chile, Parque Nacional Torres Del Paine (pronounced pine), to be exact. When my fellow travellers were determined to visit the region I burst out with an inspirational world class speech about how I was from a "mountainous" region, filled with "such splendor" the "necessity" for me to "travel 7 hours" to experience some "hyped-up" environment was unnecessary. Somehow, after serving up this delicately worded piece of babble the three of us inherited the motto "all for one, and one for all", slapped down $70 for the trip, and committed ourselves to waking at 5:00am for the bus ride to Torres Del Paine.

5:00 the next morning arrived, but our bus didn't. We waited about an hour, and finally, a glimmer of white appeared in the distance. It was our bus. While on the way to Torres, the thought of "Just for some mountains(!) a boy from NM spends $70 for a trip to mountains... just wait until friends from NM hear about this." Several hours later, we were inspected by the Argentine immigration, received our stamp to exit the country, drove two more minutes, were then interrogated by the Chilean government, received out stamp for entry, drove two more minutes, exchanged money into Chilean money, and were on our way to the park.

Wow. Wow is really the only way to describe what was in my mind when I rounded a bend and saw the majestic blue waters with the Torres Del Paine mountains as a backdrop. There are few places on earth that would compare to the divers beauty of Torres. With wildlife that includes Lamas, and Ostrich; diverse lakes of varied colors; glaciers, that generate icebergs that float along the rivers... this was truly an amazing area.

A Woman Walks a Block

While strolling the streets of Buenos Aires, I saw what epitomizes Latin culture-well, I guess I wouldn`t be fare if I didn`t include...hmm...all cultures. Anyway, because I`m currently in Latin America and, I was treated to the experience within a Latin environment, I will leave it at Latin culture. So, there I was happily strolling along a street when all of a sudden men started staring at me, actually, it was more like they were salivating in my direction. Boy, was I flattered. I hadn`t had that much attention since since Mexico, when I started stripping down at a bar... OK, so the Mexico thing never happened... There I was, me, my bag, and men displaying a carnal urge, similar to a hungry dog that has been neglected by their owner. To tell you the truth, I actually started to get nervous. Though I had shaved-the first time in a week- and was sporting a pretty nice set of cloths (jeans, and a black polo shirt) there really didn't seem to be any reason for the attention... Just as I was about to put my feet to work, and leave, I spotted the reason for all the attention. A woman, decent looking(on a scale, she`d receive a 6) was trotting along, beside me. Why the mass amount of attention, well, I guess because she is a woman, and I, I`m in a Latin country. Needless to say, after the event, my personal esteem faded. So, to pick myself up, I went for a metro-sexual manicure- well, not really.

As a side note: During the same walk, while stopped at a street light, I bumped into miss `Like a Virgin`-Twelve million people in Buenos Aires, and here she was right beside me. Typical of my outgoing self, I managed to avoid her sight and walk away... in a hurry; I don`t think she ever saw me.

Fast Internet

It´so good having responsive Internet again. Not only am I able to log-into my mail account within a matter of seconds, I paying half the price of El Calafate (about 1 - 2 pesos per hour, the equivalent of .30 - .70 American cents).

Back in Buenos Aires; It´s HOT!

After a 3:00am bus ride to Rio Gallegos, and then a flight from Rio Gallegos to Buenos Aires, I´m back in warmth; and what warmth it is! I´m just glad that many of the Buenos Aires establishments either have fans or AC. Picture NY on a muggy day, that's essentially what it´s like. But, I definitely can´t complain-nor can my feet-both are exceptionally content with the weather.

Interesting Facts About the Patagonia Region

Although Internet cafes are abundant, the connections seem worse then dial-up. Signing into my e-mail account takes about 2 minutes! Fortunately, an hour of internet is 3 pesos, about $1 American.

Trees are not abundant in the areas around much of Patagonia, but are normally planted around towns, homes and buildings to protect them from the strong and cold winds.

The population density in some areas of Patagonia is less than 1 person per sq.km. , although in Chile, it may reach 10 persons per sq.km. Either way, Patagonia is one of the less densely populated regions of the world.

Patagonia holds claim to some of the most Southern city's in the world, with Ushuaia, Argentina claiming top title. Following Argentina and Chile, New Zealand is third in line for area masses with the most southern city´s- Invercargill claims title for New Zealands most southern city. Now, consider this, Invercargill is at a Latitude of 46.4 degrees south. Every place I´ve visited in the region of Patagonia has been lower then this Latitude (El Calafate at 50.3 degrees... to Rio Gallegos at 51.6) . Ushuaia, the southern most city in the world is at a latitude of 54.8.

Tierra Del Fuego, which means Land of Fire, was named by Ferdinand Magellan. Magellan, who was the first European to pass the islands in 1520, believed he was seeing fires of the Ameridians. He believed the Indians were waiting in the forests to ambush his armada.

Though I´ve enjoyed my time in Patagonia, I´m getting tired of the cold-especially since I didn´t really bring the appropriate gear with me- and am looking forward to traveling back to a more northern Latitude. Additionally, today I opted to wear my sandles. And, as I write this, the cold glacial breezes that enter the internet cafe is making my feet COLD!!!

Length Of Visible Light:17h 02m

Length of Day15h 40m

Sun Rise 5:44 AM ART
Sun Set 9:25 PM ART (but actually gets dark around 10:30 - 10:45)

Tomorrow will be 2m 40s longer

The Scott´s have departed

Mi amigos para dos semanas of travel are currently on their way to Bariloche, Argentina (where they will meet up with 2 other fellow Scott´s) and then will travel to pucan, Chile.

At 3:00am tomorrow, I will travel by bus, to Rio Gallegos (pronounced ga-shea-goes)- Taqsa is the company offering the 4 1/2 hour, 30 peso trip. I will then board a flight back to the big city of Buenos Aires. Until then, I am left with with an empty void, one that must be filled for the next 12 hours. I think I shall spend sometime writing, exploring the town of El Calafate and, enjoy the street life at one of several cafes.

Real Gauchos

Todays morning was spent riding the prairie. Three Gauchos (spanish for Cowboys) acted as our guides as we attempted a closer look at the turquoise waters of Lago Argentino (Lake Argentino). The lake, which is formed by melting glacial ice, is the largest lake in Argentina, and the third largest lake in South America. Its depths vary anywhere from 35 and 500 meters (about 90 - 1,500 feet!)

So, many of you maybe thinking ¨great, a real cowboy, whoopi!¨. Well, I´d feel the same way. A gaucho is a gaucho, of course of course, and no one´s impressed with a gaucho of course, that is of course, unless of course, the gaucho is seen riding a horse, of course. The mastery the gauchos had of their horses was amazing. These are men who you´d see in a western, the type who could ride under their horse if they so pleased. And, though there wern´t any fancy horse demonstrations, just watching them as they rode through the terrain, was truly amazing- Roy Rogers would have been proud...

It snowed last night!

Currently, I write from El Calafate, Patagonia. I arrived several days ago, on what will be forever known as the ¨Drunken Mosquito¨-- Never has a flight inspired me to articulate the sense of fear that was placed within the minds of the crafts passengers. I have many times flown, and many times experienced some level of turbulence, but never has it been to the Mosquito's level. Imagine sitting in one of those big carnival rides, the ones that shoot you straight into the air and then you immediately bounce down to the ground, and then again, shot you straight into the air. Now that the image is in your head, also image this ride violently flinging you side to side. This was similar to what we experienced--. Alright, so getting back to Patagonia, this area is rather beautiful and reminds me of the central to northern portion of New Mexico- mountainous, expansive, and spectacular views.

Am I ill prepared for the Patagonia extremities, definitely. Does it add to the overall adventure, obviously! With little more then an HBS sweater, and a windbreaker, the Scott´s and I headed off and visited one of El Calafates most famous sights, the Perito Moreno Glacier. Cold and damp would be an understatement for some, but as soon as our eyes peered upon the magnificent glacier (apparently the glacier is about the size of the whole of Buenos Aires!) we immediately warmed. Thunderous sounds and falling ice is what serenaded our otherwise silent environment. Moreno seems to sheds layers of ice every 10 - 20 minutes, and consistently replenishes itself at about the same rate (or, to be more technically correct, is replenished by the falling snow). Something I found rather interesting is that the Antarctic, Patagonia glacier region and one other glacial area (sorry, I´ve forgotten the name) contains about 90% of the worlds fresh water reserves... Think of the geopolitical situation this presents, say 30 - 40 years from now... that is, if we haven´t found a way to efficiently extract fresh water from the ocean.

Food

I still can´t get over the cost of a meal. I went to a restaurant the other night, a rather nice one at that, and had a wonderful dinner for $10. This included water, a drink, my main course, dessert, tip and being hit on by my waitress throughout the night. At one point, my waitress asked my name, then responded with saying her name was ¨...like a Virgin¨.

I bet all of you are wondering what happened to the Scott´s. Well, let´s just say it´s great being able to write about others without incriminating yourself. They had a wild night-and day-of debauchery. Some memories of the night are still coming to them, others, well, they´ll probably never remember.

The Scott´s have been found

The Scott's have been found. Though they each arrived at separate times- the latest arriving 20 minutes after I returned from a day of city exploration- they are fine, if not a little out of it. Currently, they sleep as I write this. Unfortunately, this means that I am on my own for the evening... Translating into me having an early night-by the way things are going, this is a strong possibility- or that it will force me to go and meet other people- an option I have absolutely no problem with, as long as the person speaks relatively decent english- My Spanish will only get me so far...

The most ornate bookstore I´ve ever visited

While walking calle Santa Fe, I randomly came upon one of the most ornate bookstores I´ve ever had the fortune of seeing. Originally a music or opera house, the place was converted some years ago into a bookstore. A grand cafe with a grander piano sits at the site of the old stage. Today, a man in his 50´s played, creating such melodies even a deaf person would have stayed for the performance. Over looking the stage, where the patrons once sat, are books. All of which are meticulously stacked row by row, accentuating the beauty of the building. To sit within this environment, sipping a coffee and enjoying a small pastry, was a shear treat.

I seemed to have lost my Scottish friends

Last night, after finishing dinner (around 1:00am) the three of us headed out to explore the Friday night scene in Argentina. Within a couple hours, I had had enough-there was plenty of stuff happening, I was just incredibly tired- and headed back to our hotel. At about 6:00am I heard scurrying in the room. It was Tim, who looked a little weathered from the evening . The two of us exchanged a hello, mine coming out similar to ¨Hello¨ and his a little more like ¨heeuullloo¨. Surprised that Chris wasn´t with him, I inquired of where he might be. Tim´s response was something like ¨that boy is crazy¨, and then immediately stumbled, similar to a pinball bouncing about in confined chambers, into the bathroom. When he re-appeared, I once again posed the question of ¨Where is Chris¨. This time he responded with, ¨he is outside the Hotel¨. Concerned of what or where Chris was, I told Tim I would go find him. After a bit of back and forth, Tim insisted, because in his words ¨you´d have to get dressed¨ to go out and retrieve Chris. I hesitantly agreed, said goodbye, and watched as he re-enacted the walk of a blind man unfamiliar with their surroundings.

It´s now 4:15pm and I have yet to see the two of them. They were interested in watching a rugby match this morning, so, they might be at some establishment watching the game. I hope this is the case... Otherwise, I´ll have to go out on a missing persons search :). (For those who think they may have just left, this would be impossible, as all of their stuff is still in the room, and, we´ve all purchased plane tickets to Patagonia for Wednesday.)

Dinner time in Buenos Aires

There is a certain quality about traveling that one must get accustomed to, and that is adapting to habits of the area you¨re in. When in Buenos Aires, this means following the schedule of the locals and eating dinner around 11 - 12 at night- that¨s right, 11 - 12 at night.

Since being in Buenos Aires, I haven´t managed to get to bed earlier then 2:00 )and this was on a good night.).

A basic night out can be summed up as:
7:00 - 8:00 - Have a drink and possibly some snacks.
9:00pm - Take a shower
10:00pm - Go out for a drink or two and appease your stomach with a light snack
12:00am - Grab dinner somewhere

Last night was the latest-or earliest if you´re so inclined to be ´technically correct´- that I was out for dinner. Tim )a friend of Chris who arrived yesterday), Chris, and I all decided to tempt fate and partake in a Futbol match. The game, Argentines Boca Jr´s. against Brazil. What a match. I have never experienced a time, place or situation where I was so inspired by fans. The stadium is sectioned into for distinct seating areas. On either far ends of the stadium are where the rowdy fans-or to be more PC ´Lively fans´- are caged. In the middle of either of these sections are where the more sedate, observers sit. Being inside a stadium, where you are able to safely experience both a wonderful futbol match as well as be immersed-at a distance-from all the rowdiness, was truly amazing. The final tally Argentine 4 - Brazil 1. What an amazing game, what amazing energy!

After the Futbol match, we went home, cleaned up and then headed to Palermo- a city considered to be hip and trendy... a city that I consider to be hip, trendy, lovely, and filled with incredible restaurants. We finally sat down to eat at about ... The current keyboard I write this with is atrocious. I can{t use any of the appropriate keys!... one thirty. About 2 hours later, our stomachs filled with Argentines best and spending about 20 American apiece, we were full. The qulaity of food in this city is amazing, and the strength of the dollar makes going out just a sheer pleasure.

Conventions and the annoyances they create

Several years past, I along with some other travelers where in Milan. We had arrived late in the afternoon, after a long adventurous train ride- a massive soccer match was happening in a town along the Milan bound train and we were given the gift of rowdy masses, it was an experience. Anyway, when we arrived, we planned to do what we¨d done throughout the rest of Europe, and that was either follow the advice of a hotel solicitor, or head to the nearest Hotel reservation agent. To our deep dismay, neither of these options were available- Apparently, Milan banned the hotel solicitor as being unsightly and exceptionally bothersom. With this lack of convenience, we were forced to search for a hotel. And, with my trusty Italian travel book in hand, I did just that. ¨Bon Jorno, do you have any rooms available... No(?), OK, Gratzie.¨ This same routine went on for another 5 phone calls, and as the day was turning dark, we decided to rely on those gifts from above, our feet, and begin a long and arduous treck of searching for an available place. Four hours later, we were finally successful-partially, but that¨s a story for another day- in securing a place. Why were all of the hotels booked, well, a Convention was happening!

So, you ask why I¨ve decided to revive such an event, well it¨s because a Convention is currently taking place within the city, and....and...and there aren¨t any rooms to be found. Fortunately, I met Chris. He and I have been able to stave the unfortunate reliving of the past and do have a room. Though, a lesson I¨ve learned is that Conventions are not the sort of thing a backpacker-well, at least me- should have to contend with.

Off to look into bus schedules...

Buenos Aires

Chris (the Scottish fellow who I met) and I spent yesterday obsorbing the sights of Buenos Aires. The citys layout and feel is reminiscent of classic European-late 18th-19th century architecture. As for the flow of the city, one could compare it -partly- as a New York. The pace of life, to some degree, is more mild but the amount of traffic and amount of people in such a dense area is similar. As for cost, take the price of an item in the states and devide it by 3- Basically, everything is about the 3rd of the price.

The combination of a bustling city with European flare, and prices that guarantee any traveler will have a good time, has so far created for an enjoyable stay.

I think I´ll stay in the city a couple more days, and then... most likely head south.

Interesting information about Buenos Aiers:

In 1880, when Buenos Aires officially became the capital of Argentina, the city still betrayed its origins as a modest entrepot that had only recently emerged from the shadow of Lima and other centers of colonial power. There were few paved streets or multistory buildings. The primitive port required passengers and cargo to be carted up a muddy bank to dry land.

Though, during the next 50 years, the city’s fortune took a rapid turn for the better. European investment and immigration exploded as Argentina’s fertile pampas became one of the world’s principal sources of beef and leather. The sudden prosperity launched a building boom that would come to define the city’s architectural personality. According to Pablo Guiraldes, an Argentine architect and lecturer at the University of Maryland School of Architecture who recently spoke at IDB headquarters in Washington, D.C., Buenos Aires’ landed elites set out to transform the city based on an unabashedly European ideal.
"They wanted to show that Buenos Aires was as big, as magnificent and as elegant as the most important capitals of the world"

The Unconventional Conventional

I made it. I´m in Argentina, Buenos Aires to be exact. The flight was brilliant. I met a fellow backpacker while at the BA airport. He and I are currently roaming the streets of BA together.

I´ll write more later.

From NY to Argentina

After an enjoyable meet-up with friends' weekend, I am off to Argentina. The conventional person would already know where they will be staying, what they plan to do, and numerous other things, all of which, I've neglected. Currently, instead of researching Argentina, accommodation availability, and ways in which one is transported to and from the airport, I sit. I sit in front of a computer screen, relaying the unconventional process by which I approach my next trip. Will I realize that additional research was necessary, maybe. Will I arrive in Argentina and wish I had reserved lodging ahead of time, probably. By neglecting these most basic parts of travel, will I have a more adventurous time, most definitely...

Off to NY for the weekend, and then...

As much as I've enjoyed my stay in LA- visiting with friends; assiting whith Dino Card sales; assiting with one of my sisters ACL surgeries; getting a better feel for the surrounding LA area; and most especially, visiting with family- I will be departing today for the next leg of my travels. The initial phase will find me in NY, where I will meet-up with several friends, and root for Tu as he runs the NYC Marathon.