We´ve just returned from our fourth week here in the Estancia Chacabucco. The last two weeks have been somewhat frustrating work-wise. We´ve just been terribly unproductive. It´s really not our fault -- it has rained nearly every day for the past ten days (while the first three weeks I was in Chile it rained once). The rain kept us stuck at the base camp for a few days last week before we went to Cochrane for the annual festival. The festival was interesting, but since Cochrane is a town of only 3000, the scale was such that you had pretty much experienced everything (a couple times over) within an hour or two. But we were there for two days -- hahah. They had a little rodeo along with the festival, but Jon Justin and I missed the main attraction (bull riding) on Saturday night because went to go get food and the events ran 2 hours ahead of schedule. It was interesting to compare the Patagonian style to the Montana style that I´m used to. They can´t rope here (lasso) -- I mean they do it, just poorly. I realized though that the cowboys I saw at the two rodeos in Montana were all semi-professional/professional while everyone involved here has yet to quit their day jobs. So it was fun. We had lots of bbq and wine and slept in Conservacion Patagonica´s office on the concrete floor.
Our latest location was awesome. For the first time we were stationed in Patagonian instead of New Hampshire. We were camping based out of shack along the eponymous Chacabucco River in the Valle Guanacco. It was gorgeous. When it wasn´t raining.
We returned from Cochrane on Sunday and packed up our tents in the rain on Monday morning. Breaking camp in the rain was terribly uncomfortable and not very well planned out. But it was so refreshing to finally get away from the Estancia (base camp). Internet access is nice, but that´s not why I´m here. It was a decent enough day, when we finally arrived at the new camp and the tents dried out within an hour of set up.
Jon Justin and I forded the river and explored a canyon on the other side that afternoon. It was awesome. I love not having any sort of paths to follow.
Wilderness isn´t wild if you´re stuck on a well marked path.
This place will definitely lose something if (when?) it does become a park, but the Chilean national park style seems to be far more laid back than the US if for no other reason than it´s underutilized. So I think most of the off trail character will remain intact.
Alright. My photos have uploaded (after about 45 minutes) so I need to quit hogging the internet access.
I think we´ll be here for two more weeks then head south.
Oh, and haha, up to 6 months since my last hair cut and 2 months without shaving. Liz will be excited to hear that, but I think she´s the probably only one.
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