"I design space telescopes." "I engineer lasers for eye surgery." "I am a translator for the UN." "I design wind farms." And today, the beautiful Argentine woman in my hostel said to me, "I am a high altitude archaeologist, I only work above 5000 meters, 17000 feet." Wow! I´ve met some amazing people... On the trail in El Bolson I met two young German women who had hitch-hiked all over Patagonia, "We never have to wait long for a ride." They didn't have any serious trouble, saw Patagonia Rt. 40 with locals and had some great stories. Me, I sat on [View Full Entry]

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I spent 6 days hiking around El Bolson. Each night sleeping in a different refugio. Refugios are rustic buildings and the surrounding areas that function as combination campsites-dorms-restaurant-kitchen facilities and crash pads. Basically they are little communities in the wilderness populated by a couple caretakers and a daily rotation of trekkers. They are located in areas of interest along trails in the mountains - next to a lake or near a canyon or a glacier route. Each refugio has workers who greet visitors, get them registered and setup for the night. Most sell pizza or some othe [View Full Entry]

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The days dawn blue. Day after day. I spent a week in Bariloche and did something different everyday: boat trip to the forests at Puerto Blest, road tour to a glacial lake and waterfalls, a kayak trip, a long day hike to an alpine lake, a rafting trip and a canopy tour via zip lines. The town itself is a bit touristy but there´s a lot to do in the area. In the evenings I ate chocolate and beef... I am now in El Bolson. Most internet connections here in Patagonia are very slow so the blogs will be infrequent and [View Full Entry]

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I watched families walking through the penguin colony, families of humans... and I thought, what would it be like as an Argentinean kid to grow up thinking 200,000 breeding penguins are just a regular summer vacation experience. Cool... Normal vs. extraordinary, depends on your perspective and life experiences I guess. I also kept thinking of the lone wolves I´d seen scavenging empty beaches in Alaska - this place would be a banquette. You can walk up to many of these penguins and they really don´t seem to care. There are predators here, and apparently some are serious problems but I saw [View Full Entry]

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The right whale was right under the boat. The head was just below the gunnel, the rest disappeared beneath the hull. The head nearly broke surface it was so shallow. The captain laughed at my concern as I stepped off the seat to the 'safety´ of the deck. At the start of the cruise the naturalists on board cautioned us that it was the end of the season and we might not see any whales. Once underway they did a great job of prepping us on how to behave. Don’t stomp around on the deck as the noise could scare the [View Full Entry]

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Three out of eight travelers in my spanish class have been robbed here in Buenos Aires. All in the last three weeks. One had her big backpack slashed at the bus station the day she arrived, one had his day pack taken from beside his chair in a cafe and one (as in me) had their room broken into and all electronic gear liberated. My friend who´s day pack got thiefed was distracted by one of the robbers being very loud and in his face at the cafe table. Within seconds of the thief scampering out the door my friend realized [View Full Entry]

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I blend in here, depending on what I wear. City residents occasionally ask me for directions and quickly switch to another passer-by when I respond in my stumbling Spanglish. This is really different and good. In many countries the skin color and clothes are a neon sign:´Tourist - Beg Here´ or ´Traveler- Sell Curios Here...´ I spend a lot of time in a few of Buenos Aires many Plaza´s - the little city parks. In fact, I picked out my apartment based on the availability of quality plazas. Plazas are important to me - they provide a relaxing setting in the [View Full Entry]

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Order a Ferrari, then step across the street and buy a weed wacker. This is diversity. Everything you need or want in walking distance. At home in Alaska I have to get on a small plane just to browse a bookstore or visit a bakery. In Buenos Aires it´s all here, at your toe-tips. Lets take a walk around one city block, four sides of a square - a single block on Avenue Uruguay, and a rather small one at that. The hardware store across from the Ferrari dealership has it all, we can buy a weed wacker or an ax [View Full Entry]

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If you are in the neighborhood, as in anything less than 3000 miles, try to see the Tara Donovan show at the Boston ICA. It is over in mid Dec. 2008. My qualifications as an art critic are minimal - I carved a pumpkin once that received some attention but didn't quite make it to the finals - so you may not find yourself as captivated as I was but... We went to the Institute of Contemporary Art in Boston (ICA). Nice new building right on Boston harbor. As we walked into the first gallery I started to grin, and at [View Full Entry]

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Dripping nanochromatic ads are everywhere. Boston's South Station is flooded with them, giant banners hanging from the ceiling, along the walls. Double sided, single sided, backlit... Standing in one spot in the main hall of the train station I counted 40 nanochromatic iPod banners - and 20 of those were double sided. More were visible as I moved through the station. I bet they pondered the possibility of painting the floor with them... It is something of a art form. The same colorful item with minor variations everywhere. It seems to be working. On the subway 4, 5 sometimes 6 or [View Full Entry]

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