leaving the park

I´m leaving the park tomorrow. Going to Coyhaique with 3 other friends here. I can´t write much now because everyone wants to use the computer. I´ll be in Coyhaique until Wednesday, then Anya and I are flying south to Punta Areanas, Chile. From there we will bus and ferry to Ushuaia, Argentina!

We just had 2 exhausting days of hiking and wildlife watching/chasing. Yesterday we ended up hiking and rock climbing for 7.5 hours. It was insane. We got to the lake and it was freezing cold. Well, not FREEZING, but I didn´t want to swim. We made a fire and Alejandra and Catalina swam. Then James, Griffin, John, Rachel, and Felipe jumped off a cliff over 20 feet up. After the lake we hiked around climbing rocks and general looking around.

Today we piled into 4 trucks and drove to the Argentina border. We saw flemingos and nandu (like a emu or ostrich). We caught a baby armadillo. Pretty much the normal routine around here.

This is James´ blog. He just graduated from college in Kansas and is here volunteering for 6 months. As of now he has been here for almost 4. http://goingsouth09.blogspot.com/

I don´t know when we´re leaving here. I guess tomorrow night or Monday, but we haven´t been told anything. We will be near the Argentina border though, working on some native seed collection.

hanging around the adminitracion

Yesterday was a lazy hang out day. The weather was amazing, for about the 2nd time on this triip. We sat in the sun, Griffen, Felipe, and I went to Cochrane!!! Our first time leaving the park since Felipe and I got here on the 4th or 5th. We bought Sprite, Fanta, potato chips, and cookies and we ate it all before we left. Felipe got chapstick and I got razors because mine broke. A successful adventure. Pretty funny stuff.

Today we´re going hiking to a lake to go swimming. It is going to be absolutely freezing water. But the sun is blazing, maybe I´ll jump in.

That movie, 180 South will come out in March. We watched it in the park that is featured in the movie with Kris Tompkins, who is in the movie. So awesome. The movie is amazing. Back in 1968 Some guys drove in a VW bus from California to Patagonia and climbed mountains, surfed, and did all around awesome stuff. A guy wanted to do the same thing, but took a boat, got lost, all sorts of things, to climb a mountain. Doug Tompkins was in the original group of guys and ended up founding North Face, and now runs Conservacion Patagonica, with his wife, Kris Tompkins. Yesterday we were hanging out, and a guy with a dog walked by. Started talking to Griffen about his dog. He later casually mentions he was the guy who filmed the original footage of the trip in 68. This trip these guys took is legendary among backpackers, climbers, surfers, etc.

When this movie is released everyone has to see it. We wanted to run out and pull out fences!!!

Tomorrow I get to go hiking with Neal, the puma guy. He goes and finds puma kills and takes data on what it was, how old, where, when, and other things. There is a big study going on in UC Davis, and Neal is the guy who collects the data.

I´ll write more after the swimming trip.

back after more camping

Well, I have returned once again. This was the 3rd camping trip. We got set up in a wind tunnel basically, and after 2 nights our big cooking tent was completely destroyed by the wind. It was an amazing sight to see it billowing in the wind, poles snapping, the tarp ripping.....

We ended up moving camp after that to a better spot. Too bad I was woken up this morning to Griffen banging on a pot running around camp yelling `WE NEED HELP!!!!´ The best part was that no one moved. I thought they had made breakfast for us, to get us out of bed. No, Anya, Jessamyne, and Griffen were holding onto the parachute of a tent, keeping it from blowing off the mountain with all of our food.

We also removed a ton of fencing out camping.

We´re watching a movie called 180 South tonight, so I have to go. We´re at the administracion for 3 days. Griffen has 2 fly fishing poles. We might go out to a river and learn how to fish, or climb a mountain or something.

another camping trip

just got back from camping again. lots of new volunteers showed up. Rachel, Christian, Griffen, James returned, and Jessmine. I think we´re at 13 people. Austin and Taylor leave tonight for California. Those are the guys that I rode in the back of the truck with. I´m sad to see them go, they are the first people to leave since I´ve been here. They are pumped to go though.

Took a ´shower´ in a stream today. That was sweet.

We´ve been drinking a lot too. Definately had a major bash at the campsite, getting drunk and listening to country music on Tuesday night. It was a ton of fun.

We spent our time on this trip removing the sheep fences. We did such a long distance it was incredible. And the scenery was so great. We were crossing mountain streams, falling down steep slopes, climbing huge rocks, and pulling fences out of bushes. We got really high up and we could see all across the landscape, the Valle Chacabuco, lakes, snowcapped mountains, rivers, all the good stuff.

I wish I could get pictures up here but it just takes so much time, and so many people want to use the computer. So, I´ll try but no promises. I did get some pictures of some animals put up on faceobok.

Everything is great. Tons of nature out here, animals everywhere, but still trying to see a puma. Not much exciting news to really share. We just sit around talking all night, and work during the day to let the guanacos roam free.

I´m going to make Griffen, another volunteer, teach me how to fly fish sometime, that will be cool.

I´m also drinking a ton of yerba mate (pronounced ma-tay) tea. We pass it around at breakfast, lunch, and dinner everyday. Carlos, I love it. I drink like at least 10 cups a day and I hate it with sugar. I´ll bring the kind we drink back so I can see if it tastes like yours, which I never liked. I was scared to drink it the first time, because I knew I didn´t like it. But I have been loving it here. It is made with love from Louigi.

There is also a lot of rituals that go along with drinking this tea. It is served in a hollowed out gourd with a special metal straw. One guy heats the water and fills the gourd with tea, fills the gourd with water and gives it to you. You always take it with your right hand, you don´t touch the straw, and never comment on it. If it is good, bad, too hot, too cold, nothing. You drink all the tea and you hand it back to the guy pouring, he refills and gives it to the next person. Also, you never say gracias when it is handed to you, or when you are finished and you hand it back. Once you say gracias, that means you are finished and you will be skipped the next time the mate is passed around the circle.

Good times. We´re leaving again, maybe today, maybe tomorrow. We don´t know yet. See ya later!!

Week one over

Me working to remove invasive plants in Valle Chacabuco, Chilean Patagonia

Hey everyone. Since the last time I wrote I went camping for 4 days while we worked to narrow a 1 lane road and revegetate the shoulder, and today we all went horseback riding for like 9 hours.


Working on the road was hard and pretty stupid. We pretty much raked and picked up rocks and threw them into a bulldozer, then re-raked everything. We thought we were going out to pull out the sheep fences, but plans changed, which is pretty common around here. Apparently the big boss, Doug Tompkins ordered it to be done from where ever he is around here.


We had a little asado (barbeque) with lamb for Saturday lunch, and a party Saturday night. Lots of cheap beer and Chilean wine.


Today we went all the way to Lago Cochrane and back. Hung out with some gauchos, and I took a lot of pictures. I´m trying to get some up here so you can see how awesome this place is. It was a pretty epic ride, I hope we get to do it again before I leave. Which I´m sure we will.


Tomorrow morning we are going out camping in the field again. This time pulling fences for real. We actually saw the fences today. So, I´ll be back in like 4 days.


Things are going great. We got another volunteer today. She is from New York, and just spent 7 years in Ireland. Our group is 11 now, and everyone is really interesting.


The coolest guy in the world is our volunteer crew leader. His name is Louigi. He is a serious gaucho, always making fun of us and swearing in English. Most of the Americans can barely forma sentance in Spanish, and he is the same in Enlgish, but he is so funny it doesn´t matter. I´m pretty sure the guy can do everything. Expert horse rider, can make anything, knows all the plants and animals, knows EVERYONE. He is super cool and a blast to work with.


So I´ve been trying to upload one picture on this blog, and it is taking forever. I might put some up on facebook to see if it is faster. I think anyone reading this is my facebook friend.

day 2

On our way out to the field today we saw 3 baby foxes. On our way back we saw an armadillo. This happens a lot out here. I don´t think you can see this many animals in any US National Park. It is insane. They are everywhere, and they just don´t care too much about us.

When we see animals close to the road on our drive out to work the guys that work with us, Louigi and Pablo, screech to a halt and everyone jumps out of the truck and out of the back and runs for it. Today the baby fox ran into a little pipe running under the road, so we took pictures into the pipe and found out there were 3 babies in there. It was really cute.

On our way back with Pablo an armadillo ran off the road, and he slams on the brakes and we all jump out and chase it into some bushes. Just as we were about to give up it made a run for it, so so did we. I think Pablo was trying to pick it up for us, he was crawling into these crazy thorn bushes after it. It was hilarious. I did see it when it was running off the road, and I saw its tail in the bushes.

Animals I´ve seen:
Guanacos (they are everywhere)
Fox
Condors
Armadillo
some wierd rabbit eared mammal
a mouse the size of a softball
ibis


there are pumas and flamingos here too. And some sort of ostrich looking thing. and a tiny endangered deer called a huemul. we´re going to go hiking to try and see one sometime in the future.

We leave for the field tomorrow. We´ll be gone camping and working for 4 or 5 days. We´ll be pulling up the fences out there. So far we have spent two days removing invasive species.

Also, I took my first shower today. The sun was shining so we all took advantage. It has been too cold for anyone to want to be wet in the wind. We have 2 toilets, 2 sinks, and 2 shower stalls outside we use.

Also today we talked with Paula, the volunteer coordinator. She gave us an orientation to the park and the program. In it, she was explaining the biggest threat to the endangered deer in the park, the huemul, was hungry packs of dogs from the nearby town.

I wanted to know if the 2 pet cats who live in the administacion cause any problems with the birds, like in Ann Arbor. So I say 'Tienes problemas con los gatos y aviones?' And everyone looked at me funny, then burst out laughing because I asked if they have any problems with the cats and airplanes.

day 2

It is the morning of day two working here. I have about 20 minutes. Yesterday we used pickaxes to dig up invasive thistles, mullein (which we control in Michigan too), and poison hemlock. It was really fun. We were in this huge valley with packs of guanacos all around us. sometimes I was scared to go after some thistles because I was so close to the guanacos I thought they might charge! (which they never do, don´t worry mom). Thursday we go out for 4 days to pull up fences. After that we get a break and we´re going to go horseback riding on one day.

Everyone is really cool. We don´t talk to really anyone but the volunteers. No one really talks to us either. The Tompkins are here, the people that started this whole thing. Maybe people are busy tending to their needs.

The weather is comfortable. Very windy, but the temperature isn´t bad. I wouldn´t mind it warmer though.

arrival

Well. I made it. I am writing to you from Valle Chacabuco. To get here I flew 24 hours, bussed for 1 hour, stayed in a crappy hostel, hiked 45 minutes, met friends coming here in Coyhaique bus staion, met German family plus Austrian guy also, spent 4 hours searching for a way out of Coyhaique with new friends because the busses sold out, rode in the back of a rented truck for 6 and a half hours on an unpaved mountain road (half of which was in the rain), stayed a night in cochrane, and then rode in the backseat of a truck with 3 other people. My tent is up, the sun is still up (at 9:47), and the other volunteers here are really awesome. When we arrived there were 2, now at the end of the day we have 9. we´re based out of the administracion at the moment, so we´ll be eating dinner in a building, and we have toilets and hot showers (sleeping in tents). Thursday is the day we plan on going out into the field, which means we´ll get driven way out in the middle of nowhere and work for like 4-5 days.

Google environmental imperialism. That was the topic of discussion at the volunteer dinner table. My friends I met in Coyhaique at the bus station are brothers from California, and at the park there are 2 people from Santiago, one person from Columbus, Ohio, and one from Wisconsin.

There is a herd of guacanos right next to our little shanty town. We wanted to see how close we could get, so we walked out to them. They had little babies too. Then we saw a dog coming towards them, so we walked towards it to see what it was doing. When we got close it laid down and stayed still. We got close enough to see it wasn´t a dog but a fox. It didn´t like being that close to us to it hopped up a trotted off in the direction of the guacanos. The guacanos then huddled around the babies and and a stand off which ended with one guacano charging the fox. Pretty cool.

I´ll write later, I´m exhausted. But I made it, 4 days of traveling I´m at the bottom of the world!!!!!!!!!