End of an adventure

It’s both easy and hard to come home after roaming around the world. After 14,000 miles and more logged on planes, buses, taxis, and vans, I’m pooped out. Patagonia was all I expected and more. Broad expanses of desert-like scrub. Ghostly cypress forests draped in moss. Penguins and sea lions, nandu and flamingos. Condors soaring above lakes the color of robin’s eggs, of leafy glades, and of fine fabrics. An unexpected and tumultous boat ride to the very face of a glacier, a tongue of one of the largest ice fields on the planet. Erosion in action, and wind that lives and breathes and scares the living daylights out of you.

I’ll be writing about my adventures over time, and for now, will share my story through the camera lens.  Meanwhile, time to prep for NaNoWriMo, which starts tomorrow!

In Patagonia

Serendipity touched my sendoff to Patagonia. Weary from four hours sleep, I settled into a soft couch in the Sheraton lobby to await the airport transfer and talked quietly to two folks waiting for their Atamasco Desert adventure. “Patagonia is one of my favorite places in the world,” Tim Cahill said, and proceeded to describe the flocks of rheas browsing, the weirdly spiraled mountains, the plains that go on forever.

And now I am here, after a good night’s rest in Puertos Natales. It is a backpacker’s town, a jumping off point to the mountains and glaciers that ring us. Yesterday I saw penguins, a seal, and a massive sea lion defending its turf. I saw rheas grazing next to cows, and ghostly cypress swamps amid the endless soft yellow and lilac plains. Flamingos stood in salt marshes. I’m a little queasy, perhaps from food or drink, but managed to handle the bouncy five hours or so in our little bus yesterday. Three hours up a gravel road for us to reach camp tonight, where I’ll be off the grid until Friday. Here are some photos from yesterday’s journey. The waterfront at Puertos Natales, gateway to Torres del Paine, is above. Below are the steppes, the plains that “go on forever.”

More scenes of Santiago

No travels today, just workshops, but here are some more of the photos yesterday.

First, the aptly named Patagonia Cafe in Santa Lucia, a foreshadowing of things to come. We didn’t dine here but walked through the district after our ill-fated attempt to visit Pomaire.

Below, the Andes are the backdrop to everything in the city, from Burger King to car dealers.

Zanzibar en Chile

For my foodie friends, a lovely eve last night spent in a trendy restaurant district along the river. Our destination Zanzibar, offering “A World of Cuisines.” The meal included a Peruvian appetizer with shrimp, lamb and ahi tuna, and a fruit mousse. The atmosphere, exotic. The evening, lovely!

Cerro Santa Lucia

Our morning tour did not go as planned but detoured to a lovely forested and steep hill in the middle of the city, where Santiago was founded in 1541. It is ringed with historical sites and botanical gardens. Here is one view from the top, and the Charles Darwin Garden, one of many along the winding pathways.

We ducked sprinklers as we wove through the many gardens on our way down, and found ourselves locked in! But a friendly city employee came over with a key and let us out of our virtual cage so we could stroll through the Santa Lucia neighborhood.

The Conference Starts

Today has been spent immersed in my first SATW conference. Like last night, I wish I’d had my camera handy when a bevy of folk dancers entered the room to entertain us during the opening ceremonies. So I ran upstairs and grabbed it in time to take photos of the crowd – more than 500 travel professionals in a single room! – and of the food. A traditional dish (I’ll find out which) was served for lunch, consisting of a corn pudding with beef beneath and a hardboiled egg and olive within, and a multilayered dessert that melted on the tongue.

Tim Cahill entertained us over lunch, and we’re off to the city tonight for late night dining at local restaurants and a chance to catch some of the nightlife.

Images from Santiago

I’m still reeling from only 2 hours sleep in 48 hours but went on a very thorough bus tour of the city with a couple of stops, one to see a classic cathedral at the heart of the old city. Students were out peacefully protesting, so the presidential palace had a lot of guards ringing it, but the flag atop it indicated “the president is in”.

A very intriguing mix of architectural styles and ages of buildings throughout the city. The image at the bottom is the Presidential Palace.