New Photos Weblink

Newest photos from Chile and Patagonia can be found at: www.ahowdyphoto.com
Enjoy!

Images for Sale?

In an effort to consolidate my photos, and a small attempt to even sell some images, I've started a photography website.  You can find it at:

ahowdy.photoshelter.com

El mundo siempre gira... (The World Keeps Turning)

The world turns
Even as we look at it
Taunting us that whether we watch, or we don't
Time marches us unrelentingly forward
So many things we can't control.

But on occasion arise
Times
When we can choose
A few of those marching steps
But this time I find myself afraid
Because I might fall and I could fail
And this time
It will be my fault
Not something, not someone, not an invisible force driving me I can blame
But rather
My volition, my will, my responsibility, my choice.

School has taught me to analyze, to judge
Weigh, distribute, balance, and rationalize
But the small, small heart that is just now learning to beat inside me
Cries softly, flutters brightly, and nudges me
To listen to my voice
To the things I know, the things that just are
And assures me that maybe, just maybe
Sometimes I should feel first, and think second.

Oh how I wish I could tell you I know I will be in the right
Assured and poised, passing this interview of life
Pressed shirt, polished shoes, neatly groomed
Suit and tie
But inside I just don't know
Knees are shaking
Knuckles white
Heart is beating
But I'm feeling
I'm Feeling
And that might just be alright.

So I plunge myself into darkness.  Or maybe light.
Taking flight
And risking
Risking
And daring
Daring
To see what I know
And what I have to learn
In Life.


This last week I supposedly "left" Chile.  However, when I got on the bus towards the North, I didn't feel ready to leave, not quite yet.  Being torn between leaving Patagonia and desiring to return, these were the thoughts and the questions that came to mind.  Thus, a poem.  I've decided that even though I did arrive to Buenos Aires, I'm still not quite done with the end of the world.  I'm going back...but I promise...not when...but that I will...return home.

One More Time, Back to the Woods

I’m headed back up for what will probably be my last 2-3 week stint at Estancia Anita.  I can’t believe that I’m starting my 8^th month in the Chilean Patagonia – but I am.  And unfortunately, it’s also time to start thinking about home.

It’s hard to capture the last few months riding with Juan Luis (local cowboy), but of everyone I know who rides horses, I have the most respect for him.  Training his own string of rope horses, from unbroken colts to superb working partners, in the most difficult terrain, is very admirable.  Bogs, rivers, forests, bushes, rocks, cliffs, mud – you name it, and Juan Luis has to deal with it. 

During my next ~3 weeks hopefully I’ll be helping in their year cattle round up, bringing cows and calves down from the mountains, and then branding, sorting, and tagging the animals.  However, all of this is weather dependent.  If it’s not cold enough, the rivers won’t go down, and we won’t have access to the herds, or be able to cross the sale animals to leave the estancia.  My fingers are crossed that the weather will cooperate, and I’ll have enough time to round out my estancia experience with a Patagonian cattle drive. 

I also want to be more intentional about capturing daily live, both on film and in writing.  I forget that in Colorado we don’t go to the barn and simply cut off the selection of meat I’d like for dinner.  Or that not all streams and rivers are potable and carrying a water bottle here is worthless when you can drink all the water you want.  It’s also delightful to live in a place where the only communication to the outside world is by radio, cutting out the otherwise daily noise of advertisements, television, etc. 

I’m living the opportunity of a lifetime.  Herding cattle by full moonlight below glacial mountains reflecting white against a navy-blue sky.  Waking up and falling asleep by the sunlight, and nothing else.  Sharing life with local people in a land I respect and adore.  So here goes it, one more tour between national parks.

Videos from Life on a Working Estanica

Birthdays, Changing Seasons, and Changing Places

Sunset on Chacabuco and Rio Serrano in front of Estancia

Family/friends -

I just wanted to send a huge thanks for all of the warm birthday wishes!  I had a great birthday in a small cabin in an estancia tucked away in the middle of nowhere, with some friends from here and clients from the trip.  No electricity, no running water, but good people, good food, and a great birthday time :) 

I feel like it was just the other week I sent out an update...but I don't think that's the case.  So I'll try and give you all another glimpse into what in the world I've been up to down here, and how I'm passing my time.  I still struggle sometimes with the Spanish, but I’ve certainly improved since when I first arrived.

Changing Seasons

Fall is in the air…the snow is falling lower, and the lenga trees are about to start turning from a deep green to various shades of yellow and red.  With the changing of the seasons, the tourists are becoming scare.  Thus, less daily horse rides and not much to do in Rio Serrano.  With the ending of the tourist season, other seasons arrive in Patagonia.  It is time for many round ups and gathering of cattle for branding, castrating, and changing from summer to winter pastures.  Thus, as of the middle of March I finished my “work” in Rio Serrano, came down to “town” – Puerto Natales – and made plans to change speeds for a while.

  

From Serrano to Estancia Anita (Pekin)

Me with Juan Luis (left) and Pekinn

There’s an estancia tucked away between two National Parks – Torres del Paine and Bernardo O’Higgins.  The estancia is unique in Chile, in that it is the only estancia between two national parks; it is owned by Luis (Pekin) Guerrera.  With over 10,000 acres of pure wilderness, the estancia is accessible only by a series of 2 boats going downriver or upriver and then a vehicle transfer of 1.5 hours to town.  The surroundings are even more wild and more closed than the estancia itself, and I have an unbelievable opportunity to spend time with people who work daily with livestock passing rock precipices, crossing bogs and glacial rivers, and encountering wild bulls (I’m not joking).  Knowing I had this opportunity, last week I rode Clos (my horse) from Pueblito Serrano 4 hours by horseback to the estancia, whereupon Clos was directed by a boat to cross Rio Serrano.  Thankfully, my little horse crossed without a problem, and has a new home for awhile.

Lessons

Clos in Lago Guiekie

There’s a lot of things that now seem normal, that have taken awhile to lean and assimilate.  It’s not that things are ­that different, insomuch that things are similar, with a  Patagonian twist.  A sampling…

-Stoves here are generally always “on” – whether that be gas or wood.  You cook things by putting a pot or a kettle closer or farther away from the hottest part of the stove.  Never leave a kettle with only a little water – it will burn.

-When drinking maté (local drink of yerbs served in a gourde with a straw and then passed counterclockwise) you say “thank you” only when you don’t want anymore – if you say “thank you” the first time you are served, you’ll be skipped every time.

-Food in the campo is mostly meat, meat, and more meat with potatoes, rice, or bread.  When you are lucky, there are also onions, and sometimes tomatoes.  People who are coming up from “town” are generally expected to bring treats, whether that be Coca-Cola, chocolate, fruit, or wine. 

On the Horizon

Lago Guiekie with Glaciar Tyndale behind

There’s still some things that I’d like to do while I’m still in Patagonia.  I’m hoping to spend the next few weeks up at the Estancia with some friends exploring an area called “Campo del Diablo.”  It’s 1-2 days of riding up into the mountains, and from there we hope to explore some of the interior, a place that few people have ever gone.  Shortly after that, there is an endurance horse race April 23, another 1-2 days of riding from the estancia, but this time in Torres del Paine.  There’s some of us who want to race the short race, 40km, and I hope to bring Clos.  After that, the leaves will really start changing colors, and with the rivers finally down, the round ups are in full swing.  That should take me to the middle of May.  Patagonia is huge – there is still so much more to explore.  But I feel that after investing more than 5 months here, and with some good friends, I’m finally a lot closer to being where I wanted to be in Patagonia than my job when I first came.  I am connected to an incredibly beautiful, and wild place….

From Rio Serrano to Estancia Anita (Pekin)

(http://bagualesgroup.com/Torres_del_Paine_Informacion.html)

After passing nearly 3 months in the sector of Rio Serrano near Parque Nacional Torres del Paine, I left on horseback with Clos from Serrano to Estancia Anita, owned by Luis (Pekin) Guerrera.  This trip marks the changing of yet another mini-season of my time in the Chilean Patagonia.  From the map you can see Rio Serrano - we rode on the bottom side of the river (relative to the map), crossing 4 rivers, until arriving to the far side of Rio Serrano with the Estancia on the other side (the small house at the bottom of the map).  From here, we crossed in boat, and Clos was guided across by Juan Luis (son of Pekin).  Thankfully, Clos arrived safely to the other side of the river, starting a new life between the National Parks Torres del Paine and Bernardo O'Higgins.  I hope to spend at least the next month in this remote estancia, accessible only by a series of boats or by horse, learning how to work in pure mountain, rock, and forest while on horseback.

Southern Cross from Rio Serrano

I went outside last night and realized, with shock, the wind had blown all of the clouds away.  What was left was a moon-less and star-filled night.  This is an attempt to catch the Southern Cross with digital pixels.

On Always Being a Guest: Days and Nights in Rio Serrano

Should I wipe of off the table?  I ask myself.  Or sweep the floor? 

Adita, the house grandmother, continues to sandpaper the top surface of an old wood-burning stove without looking up.  There are dishes in the sink, I could wash a few dishes, I think to myself.  Settling on dishwashing, I attack the pile in the sink, scrub sheep grease off dirty plates with hot water and soap, and leave the steaming pile to air-dry.  Maybe it doesn’t matter to her if I help with any of it, but as a constant semi-guest in the house, I feel obligated to look for small ways to continually be helping out.

It is interesting living up at Rio Serrano.  Interesting is the best, though rather non-descript, word I can find to contain the complexities of life up here.  An explanation of the dynamics must be preceded with the characters in this play:

Me (Andria): visitor/part-time horse guide and English-speaking representative

Aniseto Astorga: husband of Adita, 70+ yro., illiterate, grew up in the “campo” - countryside

Adita Astorga: wife of Aniseto; went to school until age 12, has lived in Rio Serrano since

Holmen: oldest son of Aniseto and Adita and has two children: Holmen Jr. and Bastian

Gonzalo: second son; married to Victoria

Victoria (Vicky): from England, wife of Gonzalo; they met 5 years ago when she came on vacation for a horse riding trip and Gonzalo was one of the gauchos

Holmen Jr. (“Gordo”): 11 year old son of Holmen, up in Rio Serrano now for summer vacation

Nicolas: 10 year old nephew of Gonzalo/Holmen; cousin to Holmen Jr.

Bastian (“Bastie”): 4 year old son of Holmen

The Neighbors:  anyone ranging for cousins to visitors in the nearby hotels

The Passengers (“Los Pax”): people who come for horse rides or are camping

Miscellaneous House Guests (2-6 at a time): random family and friends that show up unannounced that stay for varied periods of time

Horses (~30): mix of Criollo/Thoroughbred/Percheran/Quarter Horse crosses that make up a herd of tourist horses, working horses, and a few foals and youngsters yet to be trained

Sheep (~40):  a band of nearly 40 ewes, with fewer and fewer lambs every week as the corderos are eaten for asados (barbecued lamb)

Cattle (~150): Hereford/Angus crosses for meat

Dogs (20+?): assorted collection of mutts that help on occasion to move the cattle

Cats (3):  scavenge food, fight with the dogs and the chickens

Kittens (8?): they are hard to count, always hiding under the house)

Chickens + 1 Rooster: ~13, depending on how many the dogs have killed recently

A mixture of Chilean hospitality, very informal job expectations, and landing up with a family that communicates very informally (family time often consists of sitting silently on the couch and staring out the window, or sitting on the same couch and using binoculars to spy on the neighbors, inspect the new truck from Hotel Rio Serrano, or simply see who is coming up and down the main road) had made for a rather interesting time up in Rio Serrano.  Before I start in any deeper on this, you my reader must know that I have been and really am enjoying my time in Rio Serrano with the Astorga family.  The scenery is spectacular, unlike anything you’ve ever seen.  I’ve had the opportunity to travel many places in the backcountry by horseback, places I wouldn’t have had access to otherwise.  The family has been very hospitable to me, accepting me as one of them, and appreciating having someone else here to help cover the rides so they can work more with their small transportation business and with their livestock.  However, at the same time I am in the constant position as “guest” which leaves me in a position of not quite having a position.  It’s not like I was hired to do a job with a job description, expectations, rules and norms, and also an expectation of what my employer is also obligated to do.  It’s not that I’d rather have that situation, but the fact remains that living constantly in between can also be quite complex.  The blog entries that follow in the following days will contain short stories to shed light on life up here.

Meet "Clos"

My horse needed a name.  A Chilean name, since he's a Chilean horse.  Walking through Puerto Natales I saw a sign with a sale for boxed wine, specifically the brand "Clos."  In Chile, unlike in the U.S., boxed wine is mostly overproduction, and not the cheapest stuff on the shelf.  I thought well, my horse is pretty much the color of red wine ("vino tinto") and he was sorta the bargain-basement price, but a lot better than what he was sold for.  He's my cardboard boxed wine Chilean horse.  So, his name is Clos.  (for you non-Spanish speakers it is pronounced like "Close", with a long "o" but short "s" not a "z" sound).

From Puerto Natales to Rio Serrano by Horse

So…I’m adding another type of transportation to my list of –

Bicycles

Feet

Buses

Rickshaws

Tuk-tuks

Motorbikes

Boats

And now…Horses

On Thursday of last week I rode “Clos” the horse 90km (55 miles) from Puerto Natales up to Rio Serrano where I am currently living/working.  It was quite the journey!  I left the city center at 8am, passing kids on their way to school, tourists taking my picture along the oceanfront, and all the major busses headed out to the park for the day.  The first few hours were great.  I rode along the grassy edge of the road, played tag with some cyclist that I would pass and then they would pass me, and roe  some local landmarks such as “Cueva Milodon” and “Silla del Diablo” (one a cave they found a mammoth-like skeleton in, the other a rock formation that looks like a giant chair). 

However, as the day wore on, and there became less grass to ride on and more “camino de ripio” – hard-packed gravel road – I became more and more worried about Clos’ hooves.  I had asked several people before I left town if it was OK to only have his front hooves shod.  They all said, “Oh, that’s fine.  That’s all you need.  Don’t worry about it.”  But it was not fine, and I should’ve got win my instinct to have all four hooves with shoes. 

Makeshift horseshoe

Kilometer after kilometer not only was Clos getting more tired, his back feet were also getting more sensitive.  In an effort to arrive with a horse, and not a lame animal that needed recuperation for several weeks up to a month, I had to proceed very slowly.  I walked most of the way, trotting on occasion, and stopping several times to take Clos’ saddle off to give his back a break and let him snack for 15-20 minutes.  I even pulled his bridle off several times and simply got off and walked alongside him for nearly 10km.  About 20km from the house, I ran into a broken down truck.  Desperate to save the horses’ hooves, I asked if they had any duct tape, to make an improvised horseshoe.  They indeed had duct tape, and also an old inner tube.  I cut out some horse-shaped rubber shoes, and duct taped the rubber to the horse’s hooves, in an effort to save his hooves as much as I could in the final stretch of the day.

As dusk came, and went, and became night, I arrived at Mirador Rio Serrano, about 2km from the estancia.  I was so relieved to see Rio Serrano and Rio Grey spread out before me, winding through the yellow pampa, now sprinkled with lights from the hotels, and lights coming from the end of the field where I was headed.  I finally arrived back with the Astorga family at 11pm – 15 hours after leaving Puerto Natales.  I was exhausted.  The horse was exhausted.  I pulled his saddle off and turned him out to pasture, praying I would still have the animal in the morning.  It was with great relief that I woke up with a start at 7am to see him peacefully grazing outside the window with another horse.  I fell back to sleep for several more hours, and woke up with my whole body aching from so many hours in the saddle.  Thankfully, Clos is doing great, and after several days of pure rest (i.e. fresh pasture grass and as much water as he wants to drink) he is back to his playful self. 

I’m not sure if there’s ever been a day I can say I’ve ridden a horse too long.  But last Thursday might be that day…

New Horse

Horse in town - in front of Erratic Rock

Clos snacking in the backyard

I bought a horse today.  $250,000 Chilean Pesos, or ~$500 US Dollars.  I am thrilled :)  He still needs a name.  I road him into Puerto Natales today and we took pictures in front of the hostel I always stay at: Erratic Rock (erraticrock.com).  My new friend (I'm not sure if he knows that yet!) is currently eating in the backyard of a friend of mine while tied to a fence.  Tomorrow I'll ride him ~55 miles out to Rio Serrano, where he'll spend at least the next month with me before (hopefully) heading out on more adventures.  I am also including a video from a recent trip to Balmaceda with this post.  More later!  Love, Andria

Strike and Life Update in Patagonia

Hey all!

Just wanted to give you an update on what's been happening down here.

First off, the strike ended last week!  Wahoo!  So after living off of just meat from the cows in the field, and rice (we even ran out of potatoes!) it felt luxurious to come down to town and eat things like yogurt, apples, and zucchini.  We had all been planning on coming down to town the day the strike ended, so we were living off of about 1.5 weeks worth of food for almost 3 weeks.  Quite the adventure.

As far as what the strike accomplished for the Chileans, it was generally a success. 

1)  Instead of raising gas by 17%, they will raise it by 3%, and then re-evaluate in 10 months.  Gas is really important in this region because with only 4 months of "summer" (which isn't even very warm...) and monthly wages starting at $350/mo., if gas goes up, general living costs increase exponentially, when the price of things such as food and clothing also go up in price. 
2)  The rest of Chile, and the government, understands the power of the people in this region.  There are 12 "regions" (think states) in Chile.  Region I starts at the top, until Region XII (where I am, the last region).  Region XII is also called Magallanes, and they have their own flag.  They are also the only region with a flag (think "Texan pride" here).  What has happened in the past is that this region, that is the farthest away from Santiago and the least populated, is often forgotten about and left out.  As someone here described it to me, "Chiloe is Chiloe (an island off of Chile), Magallanes is Magallanes, and Chile is everything North of Patagonia."  There has definitely been some resentment building up between the people from here against Northern Chile, but hopefully the Chilean government will be more aware of concerns down here from here on out.

Even though the strike was a huge inconvenience for tourists (the news article that I sent previously was a bit extreme, but I couldn't find anything more moderate), the people from this region are content with how things turned out.  I think I have to defer to them in regards to the success or non-success of this.

I am enjoying very much my switch in jobs from where I was when I first came down, to the people I am now working with closer to Torres del Paine National Park.  I've had to chance to see some beautiful country, and hope to see more...

In other news, yesterday I bought a horse!  A "manso" (trained) horse here runs about $500 while the same horse in the US would easily be $1500+.  Small steps towards potentially riding around Patagonia for a while starting in March before returning home.  I didn't get a chance to snap a picture of the new horse (currently needs a name), but I will get one sent out soon!  It's apparently as easy to sell, as to buy (which was not very complicated) a horse down here.

Well, I hope you all are well.  Stay warm in the North!  Days are already noticeably shorter here than a month ago.  Spring is heading your way, and we are slowly walking towards fall.

:)  Andria

Back in Patagonia

Riding on the "beach" on Christmas day

I am back in the Chilean Patagonia 7 short months after leaving the first time.  However, this time, I'm back for the season.  I don't know what it is about this place, but some part of my soul connects here.  Between the inhospitable weather, and often relentless wind, the blue-grey of hanging glaciers, nameless lakes and rivers, and the open yellow-gold of the pampa grass between glacier-capped mountains, I have found a space I love.  I will certainly travel other places, but I will always return to the Patagonia.  It's good to be back :)

Horses saddled for a ride

I came down to work with a couple near the town of Puerto Natales.  They were great people, incredibly knowledgeable of the region, but there didn't end up being enough work with horses for both of us to be happy.  Myself, because I wanted to ride more, and them, because they needed more rides to justify my salary.  After two months working near the city, I went out to spend a week or two with some friends in Rio Serrano near one of the entrances of Torres del Paine National Park.  What started as 1-2 weeks has continued to 6+ a the moment.  I am enjoying the freedom of the open spaces near the park, and incredible views all day long.  My general thoughts are to stay around this area until the end of March, and then strike out, on horseback, looking for something else.

And the World Spins Madly On

Returning home I have realized two things: Everything has changed. Nothing has changed. And I am caught, somewhere in between, trying to find solid ground in a world that is constantly spinning on.

It feels a bit strange to write this blog of “closing” because if anything, I feel I am still at the beginning. Of something…I’m not sure what…but maybe, simply, life and living? Sitting back and reflecting I have realized that this trip wasn’t “the trip of my life,” but rather a trip I took in my life, part of a continuum of experiences and opportunities, that is not the sum of who I am, but rather part of building “me” and how I see the world. Before I left, I might have assumed that this would “be it, THE trip,” but somewhere along the way I realized that traveling is, and probably will always be, part of my life. Maybe the connecting thread is that I am a traveler; what changes is only where I am or where I am going. Viewed in this light, I can say as I have finished this particular trip, I am not at the end of something here, but rather in the middle, or constantly beginning.

As I reflect on my journey, I also think of other great journeys and how to some extent the desires encompassed in “a journey” – self discovery, action, adventure, learning, challenge – are a part of all of us. Great journeys may not have built the world, but they have changed the face of the world, and therefore her people, too. Literal voyages across seas and mountains; inner voyages of personal trial. Great stories, the classics, the Odyssey, the Iliad, are built on the dual dynamic of physical journey and inner exploration. Odysseus was tethered to the mast of his ship, but what is it about what he learned during that time that we connect with? We don’t have to look farther than our own media to see the truth of our attachment to stories and personal growth. Current day authors recreate new stories, recycling the universal themes of struggle, love, conflict, and desire. Human interest stories draw us in because we find pieces of ourselves in the stories of others. We live hopeful, cognizant or not, clinging to the hope that things might change for the better and that life is going somewhere. These same desires might be what fuel my interest to keep exploring new places, learning more about myself and where I come from along the way.

While there are many stories I could tell and many planes to my learning, the following are a few reflections.

Accept and celebrate good things and good people.

Despite the news stories carrying a constant stream of “bad news bears,” when one actually gets out of the box and interacts with real people who make up the real world, what did I find? More kindness and generosity than I probably deserved. Yes, there are scams. And everywhere one finds the mix of good and bad; giving and taking; a mix of cheats and thieves and troublemakers.  An interesting realization I had along the way was that I felt quite safe traveling other parts of the world. In fact, at many points I felt safer in other countries than my own. I notice this especially in Asia. In Laos, I felt less threatened in kilometers of cycling than I did walking to or from my apartment in Los Angeles.  But all in all, it is a minority of people causing trouble. However, I often get the sense that news broadcasts, especially international coverage, creates the image that most of the people outside of our country are “the bad ones.”

What sort of evidence do I have from my trip to demonstrate my “good people in the world” theory? Well, I don’t have any hard evidence, but I can relate nine months of experience from different places and meetings with many people. In Thailand, the people smiled. In Laos, when I was cycling through, people waved and said hello. In India, inquisitive but non-threatening stares followed me wherever I went. In South America, the hospitality of the people was unbelievable. In nearly 1500km of hitchhiking, my friend Sophie (from France) and I didn’t wait more than 20 minutes. Additionally, many of the local people we met along the way opened their homes, their floors, couches and patios to let us sleep on. I shared conversation, coffee, mate (South American tea), on the generous spirit of people who opened their lives with strangers and trusted us with their things, in their space, and with their thoughts and ideas. In nearly 4 months in South America, I spent more time in peoples’ houses, or camping, than I did in hostels. This is the generosity and hospitality of people of the world; I have much to thank them.

While mentioning all the good, I should also mention how overwhelming the proportion of good:bad was. The only thing stolen from me in eight countries: an old pair of pants drying by a fire (did someone else need them more than me? I will never know). The only thing lost: a carabiner forgotten at a table in a café in the middle of Laos. Yes, maybe I got cheated a few dollars to a taxi or tuk-tuk driver, falling for the difference between “local” and “foreigner” pricing. And yes, I absolutely used discretion on where and when I went somewhere. And in all the kilometers of hitchhiking, to some people we did said, “Thanks, but no thanks.” But all in all? There are some great people in the world. It’s good to live with caution, but it also feels great to breath a little easier and have reason to trust people a little more.

Being Fully Present. The “Be Here Stick.” Slowing down might be better than speeding up.

My friend Hana and I had a running joke while we were trekking the Annapurna Circuit in Nepal. It was about being fully present in the moment as both of us found our minds wandering and inhabiting different mental spaces than where our physical bodies were – traipsing up and down big rocks we call the Himalayas. In effort to be fully present, and soak in the Annapurnas while in the Annapurnas, Hana carved “BE HERE” in big letter at the top of a walking stick.  (I should also mention that that walking stick became necessary after Hana tripped, twisting an ankle, while day-dreaming.)  We laughed about the “Be Here” stick, but at different times, each of us found ourselves asking the other to borrow our physical symbol of where we wanted to be: in Nepal, appreciating the time below the fierce, Himalayan sun. When Hana and I parted ways, she carved me a mini travel-sized “Be Here” stick as a joke. We both laughed, but the underlying desire to be in the moment and balance the past and future is a sincere desire and will remain a constant challenge in life anywhere.

In this mental balance of being present, fully present, visiting many places actually impressed upon me an opposing observation: the value of spending time in a place and not rushing through to “check it off the list.” As the months kept passing I felt myself becoming less and less interested in place-jumping – joining the Southern or Northern marches on the backpacker trail – or being on an “experience hunt,” and more interested in spending more time in one place, exploring it more fully, before moving one. More and more frequently I found myself going somewhere because it felt right, stopping to explore just because, walking down a road if it seemed interesting, reading books by local authors, learning the history of a place, and spending most of my time with the people who lived there, and not just other travelers. This meant slowing down, not rushing because of an agenda, but letting the natural flow of the journey, the ebbs and flows, direct me. I was hoping to see a lot more of South America – Machu Picchu, the Bolivian Plateau, and Northwestern Argentina – and also explore Vietnam while in Asia. However, after deciding to see more through seeing less, I ended up spending an entire month in Nepal with Hana (fantastic!) and also getting trapped by the beauty and draw of Patagonia for another extra month (oops!). It’s just…what happened. I have no regret slowing down to learn more, listen more closely, and savor each experience. On the other hand, I would have regretted a mad dash through some spectacular places in the world thereby demoting them to simply “some mountains, more glaciers, another big city,” but without the soul of people and stories made in those places with my meanderings.

The United States is part of the world; we are not the world itself.

I like to think of it like this: As a small child I would take my stuffed animal “Twister” with me when I left the house, as he was something familiar and comfortable to bring as I stepped outside my zone of familiarity. However, in observing other travelers and also myself, I have had to ask, “How often do we still clutch our “stuffed animals” - the familiarity of home expressed through specific routines, types of food, and social expectations – as a “blankie” of comfort, even as adults?” We often cling to what we know, or give categories of comparison, this is better or that is worse, linking our new experiences to previous knowledge. However, in doing so, “different” often comes to signify “bad” or “inferior.” I would argue this line thought to be incredibly unhelpful in creating bridges to people unlike ourselves, thereby creating a less peaceful world. I would instead offer up the challenge to think on a broader spectrum of what general actions promote understanding and give others value, and what actions or ways of thinking take away from this.

Being present in many different countries and cultures placed me in position to question what I gather comfort from and what is essential to defining me and what I deem right or wrong, correct or incorrect belief. I think we should each feel comfortable retaining our own ideals while simultaneously not feel threatened by difference and what we don’t know. The measure of “right or wrong” might need to be bigger than our own personal belief system, and asked within the context of what an action or a thought does for building a more sustainable world for all.

After many border crossings, literal and internal, I am starting to feel less and less attachment to being from a particular place and more to being part of something bigger: the 6 billion of us that live on this planet. While the USA, my country, is mostly a good place, and I have much to be thankful for, it is not the only, the best, or the most important place in the world. I hope you, too, find that a freeing, and not a frightening, realization.

Wrapping it All Up: An Almost Conclusion

Exploring the world. Exploring self. I did both. I explored myself by exploring the world. And in the process, was both author and character in my own story. While it is easy to look at a chunk of time – 9 months – as a “choose my own adventure” – I also see that all that we do holds this same quality. Small daily choices lead us in a certain directions. It’s best to follow our intuition and “hunch” of what we should be doing, where we should be – that’s been a greater guide to me than all of the travel books and advice I read about where to go and what to do.

Despite all of this exploration – inner and outer – I still have questions, basic questions, which were by no means solved or answered during my trip. If I were still with my high school students we would use the label “Level 3 Questions” to describe these types of open-ended questions containing universal themes. How do we live together in peace? What is justice? How do I treat those I know – and those I don’t – rightly, and with dignity? While I don’t have answers, I am not bothered to be left with the questions. In fact, continuing to question is in itself a form of success, as real learning is rooted in honest questions. Success is not in arriving to an end, not ever. Right when you think you have arrived or finished, you then realize that the end was but a ghost and you must find reasons to keep moving. The success instead is buried in finding motivation to continue the pursuit and to keep desiring to go forward; it should not be measured in the attainment or one, three, or a thousand goals, but in having the goals, forming the ideas, dreaming the dreams, and choosing to act on them. It lies in the possibility, and possibilities brought about by the dreams.

Before I began this globe-trotting I said that I wanted to “swallow the world.” I quoted Salmon Rushdie when he said, “To understand just one life, you have to swallow the whole world.” And I said that I was setting out to swallow - to taste, touch, feel, see, and ponder - the world. Did I? Yes, I suppose so. I tasted: Noodle soup in Laos, delicious South Indian cuisine, chai in Nepal, pure water straight out of Patagonian rivers. I touched: Rocks of the Annapurna base camp in Nepal, an 18,600 foot pass in the Himalayas, the hands of school children in Laos giving high-fives as I cycled through. I saw: Tibetan prayer flags flapping in the wind, the Dalai Llama in Northern India, fishermen on the Mekong river, the dichotomy in the modern cities of Buenos Aires and Chile, progress living alongside poverty, the spectacular peaks of Fitz Roy, Cerro Torre, Paine Grande, Los Torres, Mounte Balmaceda, Nanda Devi, Nanda Kot, Annapurna I, II, III, IV, Dhaulagiri, Mount Everest from the airplane window; and I pondered: Who are we, Who am I, and What is my place in the world? My thirst is not quenched…my search for truth, for justice, for understanding, this is still beginning.

In that hunger to continue learning, I feel this past trip accomplished many of my hopes embedded in the journey. My conclusion is in the non-conclusiveness of life. I am grateful for the opportunity I had; I hope I embraced it to the fullest and that what I learned changed me and continues to change me in life-giving ways. I also recognize that it can seem easy to leave a place, and try new things, new ideas. But the test of change might actually come upon returning home and confronting the seemingly small challenges of living with people and living rightly; things harder than packing up and moving on to a new place if or when things aren’t working.

Thanks to those of you who followed along with me. I can’t say how much I appreciated your care and interest and random emails. I am grateful to have many incredible people in my life. Also, a HUGE thanks to my parents for taking care of my horses, and a special thanks to my mom, my faithful “secretary,” who I gratefully release from service (smile, Mom, or a huge sigh of relief!). I couldn’t have juggled selling horses, graduate school applications, battling W2 forms and taxes, etc. without her help.

I close with a simple, yet profound saying. The liturgy ending an Anglican Church service: (Deacon) Go forth into the world in peace…

Love,
Andria

Top 21 Photos: http://picasaweb.google.com/andriadhautamaki/Top21
9 Months at a Glance: http://picasaweb.google.com/andriadhautamaki/AtAGlance9MonthsInReview

A Few Stats and Facts

I figured some of you out there might be interested in some of the facts of my trip.  Here’s a quick summary and a few common questions.

Q: Who paid for your trip?
A:  I did. I taught high school for 2 years in Los Angles and saved my money.  I bought a used car, didn’t eat out very often, didn’t buy very many things, lived in a house with 5 other people, and automatically set aside a chunk of money from my paycheck monthly to a “Travel Fund.”
Q: Did your parents finance your trip? 
A:  Nope, not at all.  However, they were very supportive of allowing me to pursue my interests and dreams, and in caring for my horses while I was gone.
Q:  Were you ever scared?
A:  No, not really.  I wasn’t paranoid about where I went, but I was cautious, and always aware.  However, I could say that I usually felt pretty safe.
Q:  Wasn’t it lonely traveling alone?  Don’t you need someone to travel with?
A:  Not at all.  There are so many people out there who are also traveling, that inevitably I met people to hang out with .  Sometimes I spent a few weeks with someone, sometimes a few days, sometimes a conversation for a few hours.  Just because you don’t have someone to travel with doesn’t mean you shouldn’t go; I actually really enjoyed the ability to and do what I wanted to, being with other people as much or as little as I felt like.
Q:  How long did it take you to plan your trip?
A:  It was an idea I'd had in the back of my head for a few years:  Take some time off, travel for an extended period of time.  However, I wasn't sure when it would happen.  When things with Los Angeles Unified School District and the State of California got messy (I lost my teaching position due to lack of state funds), I figured it would be as good as time as any to go and travel for a while. 
Q:  Was the money spent worth it? 
A: Absolutely.  I am very grateful I had the opportunity I did and the support to make it happen; there isn’t anything else I would’ve rather done with this last year.

Summary
Type of Transport   #      Total Miles    Total Kilometers
     Walking               -         340 mi.               545 km.
     Buses (2 hrs+)    48     10,855 mi.          17,470 km.
     Train                    5        930 mi.              1500 km.
     Boat                     2            -                           -
     Plane                   9       43,411 mi.         69,863 km.
     Bike                     1         560 mi.              900 km.
     Jeep                    4               -                         -
     Motorbike            1         173 mi.              280 km.
Total distance traveled: 55,340 miles (89,056km)

$ Airfare (Total):  ~$2200
Denver→Seattle→New Delhi
Kathmandu→Bangkok→Bangalore
Bangalore→New Delhi→US (Florida)
Miami→Buenos Aires
Punta Arenas→Coyhaique
Punta Arenas→Santiago
Lima→Denver (frequent flyer miles)

Average daily expenses (Includes everything: food, accommodation, ground transportation.  NOTE:  This budget is a reflection of staying in budget accommodations (clean but cheap) or with local people, eating simply, taking the most economical transportation available, walking a lot, and not doing any formal tours)
$ Average daily Asia - $15/day
    4 month total (not including one month on NOLS mountaineering): ~ $1800
$ Average daily South America - $30/day
    4 months total: ~$3500
9 months, 8 countries = ~$7,500 (would I sound like a MasterCard advertisement if I said “priceless?” ha)
That’s an average of $830/month…probably less than most of you pay monthly for rent/mortgage payment, food, gas, and insurance…


Justice Issues – Human and Environmental – I Encountered

Location  --   Issue  --  More Information
Patagonian Chile: 7 proposed Hydroelectric dams that will take water rights from the Chilean people. www.sinrepresas.com
http://www.patagoniasinrepresas.cl/final/index-en.php

India and Nepal: The Tibetan people have been unjustly exiled from their land in accordance with China’s ideas, not with respect to the Tibetan people
www.tibet.com
www.tibet.org
www.freetibet.org
www.savetibet.org

Laos: Unexploded Ordinances (UXO’s) dropped in civilian areas during the Vietnam War; Laos is, per capita, the most heavily bombed nation on earth and is still not UXO free.
http://maic.jmu.edu/JOURNAL/9.2/focus/sisavath/sisavath.htm
http://www.mineaction.org/country.asp?c=15
http://www.uxolao.org/

Cambodia: Under the leadership of rogue Khemer leader Pol Pot and in “Year Zero” (1975) 30% of Cambodia's population was lost - an estimated 2 million Cambodians died by starvation, torture or execution...a silent horror most of the world doesn't even know about.      http://www.killingfieldsmuseum.com/
http://www.ppu.org.uk/genocide/g_cambodia1.html

Argentina: Los Desaparecidos – people who “disappeared” (due to corrupt government) under the dictatorship.
The Malvinas Islands – Islands to the south east of Argentina that are currently claimed by Britain, but all Argentines claim as “theirs” (also know as the Falkland Islands outside of Argentina); many young Argentine people died in the Falkland War
http://www.yendor.com/vanished/
http://www.desaparecidos.org/arg/eng.html

Chile: Pinochet, ruling as dictator, committed many untold atrocities, including South America’s own “September 11th,” September 11, 1973, holding hostage citizens and foreigners who were considered “enemies of the state” in the National Stadium.  All told, between 1973-1990 nearly 3,000 Chileans were killed, and some 40,000 arrested, imprisoned, or tortured.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chile_under_Pinochet
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Estadio_Nacional_de_Chile

New Skills Learned
-    How to use a bathroom without toilet paper – wipe with the left hand (India, Nepal, Thailand) – this is a VERY environmentally friendly option…
-    Each noodle soup with chopsticks (Laos, Cambodia)
-    Take off shoes before entering an internet café, bus station, or house (Thailand)
-    Prepare and drink mate (Argentina and Chile)
-    Be ready for ANY type of weather (Patagonia)

Books Read or Recommended (* = I highly recommend; + = I haven’t read, but good recommendation)
     India
          -    Midnight’s Children (Salmon Rushdie)*
          -    Shantaram (Gregory David Roberts)*
          -    A Fine Balance (Rohinton Mistry)*
          -    God of Small Things (Arundhati Roy)
          -    An Inheritance of Loss (Kiran Desai)
          -    City of Joy (Dominique Lapierre)*
          -    City of Djinns: A Year in Delhi (William Dalrymple)*
          -    Nanda Devi Affair (Bill Aitken) +
     Nepal
          -    Annapurna Circuit: Himilayan Journey (Andrew Stevenson)*
     Burma/Myanmar
          -    Twilight Over Burma: My Life as a Shan Princess (Inge Sargent)*
     Laos
          -    Another Quiet American: Stories of Life in Laos (Brett Dakin)
          -    The Ravens: Pilots of the Secret War of Laos (Christopher Robbins)+
     Cambodia (all of these books I would like to read, but haven’t had time yet)
          -    Cambodia Year Zero (François Ponchaud)+
          -    First They Killed My Father: A Daughter of Cambodia Remembers (Loung Ung)+
          -    When Broken Glass Floats: Growing Up Under the Khmer Rouge (Chanrithy Him)+
          -    River of Time (Jon Swain)+
     Latin America
          -    Open Veins of Latin America (Eduardo Galeano)* (Also author of Upside Down and Mirrors)
          -    Poetry by Pablo Neruda or Ruben Dario*
          -    Daughter of Fortune by Isabel Allende* (also author of many other books)

To Lima By Bus

Saludos from San Pedro de Atacama, a tourist mecca in the Atacama Desert near the confluence of Chile, Bolivia, and Argentina.  I´m on my way out in a few hours, but have enjoyed the desert scenery and the heat (wow, haven´t felt that for a while!).

San Pedro ended up being a lot more touristy than I had expected.  Thus, I ended up on my first official tours in the whole of my travels.  Ha.  I don´t think that organized tours are my style...but I did get a chance to float in a salty lake (think the same floating phenomenom as the Dead Sea), see the Salt Flats (3rd largest in the world), and go on a horse ride in the sand.  It was...nice.  Ha.  But not much else to say.

I´m looking forward to arriving in Lima in a few days (San Pedro de Atacama --> Arica (cross international border) --> Tacna --> Lima).  If all goes as planned, I should arrive after (only) three bus rides, and by the morning of May 3rd.  Next week will also find me back in the U.S.  I´m looking forward to having my own space, and not moving for a while.  Cheers to a long, but hopefully, uncomplicated journey.

Post WFR, Final Trek North

Hello all -

This post finds me in the last week of my travels.  I am currently in San Pedro de Atacama, in Northern Chile.  I will spend a few days here, and then embark on a very very long bus trip to Lima, Peru.

My WFR course in Santiago was excellent.  Great instructors, great classmates, a great time.  I learned a lot, and felt accomplished to have done the course in Spanish.  After the WFR, I just spent the last 5 days in Santiago, seeing the city, going climbing, and hanging out with some other WFR´s.

I don´t have time to post pictures right now, but I will get a comprehensive update done when I get home.  The pictures in this post are from a rescue during the WFR - I was a patient with an open, punctured thorax and my coursemates are attending me - and also our group of 27 students.


Love from down South (but not South for that much longer!)
Andria

Logistical Update. WFR. Colorado. Costa Rica.

I am currenlty in Santiago, Chile.  I will be doing a Wilderness First Responder course (WFR) for 10 days, finishing on April 22.  After that, I will have roughly 2 weeks to reach Lima, Peru.  I will be leading a trip for Putney (goputney.com) in Costa Rica in July - a community service project for high school students, that I hope will also challenge and inspire them in ways that they hadn´t planned (we aren´t just going to be sunbathing at the beach, children!!!  hehehe...there is a lot to learn outside of the tourism circle that I want to show them... :).  After that, my plans are still uncertain.  But wow, going home, soon.  To my family, good friends, my own horses, my mountains...I am looking forward to what is to come.

En Rumbo for Natales...Again (Going back to Puerto Natales)

I have a problem.

I love open spaces. I love mountains. I love horses. I love spending time with good people.

I found all of the above, and more, in my time in Torres del Paine, and was especially captivated by the baqueanos - the local horsemen - who grew up in a culture of horses and ranches in a manner very distinct from what we have in the United States. Becuase of this...I decided that if I could, I would like to try and return to the area next season, to work as a guide or in some other capacity, with horses, near the park. The details are still yet to be figured out, but I am on my way to figuing out a way to return here for another season. :) Therefore, after spending time in Coyhaique at NOLS, I headed back towards the park.

Stop 1: ¡Sin Represas! Without Dams

After leaving NOLS, I caught a free bus 7 hrs. south on a gravel road near the town of Cochrane. I went one, because there was a free bus in the direction i was going, and also because there was a protest there against hydroelectric dams that are proposed to be built (7 in total) along the rivers of Southern Patagonia. I was interested in understanding more of the situation and also meeting the organizers. After spending a day there, I was devastated to see what some of the effects of the dams might be, both on the environment and the people of the area, but also disappointed in the people protesting. Unfortunately, there is a lot of interfighting in the different protesting organizations, and that was sad to see. Without unification, and with such divisions, the transnationals will win. (the dams will bring some immediate jobs to the region, labor, etc., but they are being built by foreigners, Spain, Canada, Switzerland, and maybe another one or two. in the end, the money will leave the country. The roads will be improved, and more infrastructure added, but nothing lasting. Only unrepairable damage to the ecosystem here, the land, and that the water will no longer belong to the people from Patagonia - the water will belong, every drop of it, to foreigners). All that to say, it was interesting to see. I don´t know what i can personally do to help on a grand scale, other than share what is happening. Check out: http://sinrepresas.com/ to learn more about the situation.

Stop 2: Hope in Small Steps - Growing Food as a Response

After leaving the protest, I got picked up with a really great couple. Rocio and Marcelo. Rocia is from Spain, Marcelo from Chile, but he lived in Amsterdam for the last 20 or so years, his mother was a political refugee from Chile during the time of Pinochet, the dictator. They have just returned to Chile, to live, and to try and live in the most life giving and least life taking way as possible. For them, permaculture is a small, but significant answer to the challenges of the world. They are building an eco-camping and eco-hostel, (http://www.destino-noturistico.com) growing their own food, cooking with a solar oven, using "hot boxes" to cook their food and save energy, building dry toilets so that not one drop of water is wasted in flushing. Being with them was reinvigorating. Enjoyable. refreshing. To be with people who were taking their own actions seriously, who were interested in something outside of their own comfort and pleasure, and who were actively engaging some of the challenges of the world in a personal way. Etching out a living in the mountains of Patagonia in the most sustainable way possible. Being with them, talking with them, gathering bark for the dry toilets, sharing food, hearing about how they built their solar shower and techniques for the solar oven, gathering peas from the garden and then cooking them for dinner, it was so refreshing. This time also made me miss being in one place long enough to grow things and appreciate the natural movement of the seasons, of dryness or wetness, cold or hot, the natural change of the earth´s weather and sun, giving some rhythm of life. I missed my small garden with flowers and vegetables in grew in Los Angeles, giving color and green to the city of cement i lived in. It made me want to be in one place long enough to experience these things again. It was a refreshing few days and I sincerely hope I might see them again sometime.

Stop 3:

AWWW! 6 buses and 2 days later, I finally arrived in Puerto Natales again (It is 2 days by bus, or 1.5 hrs. in plane from Coyhaique to Natales...and the same price...which would you choose?)  I almost got left in the pampa (grasslands) at one of the bus stops while in the bathroom...I had to take off sprinting after the bus! Luckily, I caught it. It was a long haul back to Natales, but good to go back to see, in person, about potential job opportunities with horses for the next tourist season (October - March).

http://picasaweb.google.com/andriadhautamaki/AdventuresOnTheCarreteraAustral#