Penguins, a rock moving dog, and Christmas with Dora

Hello all,
Since Todd have already described the Patagonian winds there is not much to add to that subject. Perhaps I would just change my previous statement in which I said that “Patagonia keeps taking my breath away” to “ Patagonia’s winds take pretty much everything away.”

I know that the holiday season is already over but I just wanted to describe with a few paragraphs how we spent it and then I will talk a little bit about the penguinos :)

As you all know we were heading to Ushuaia to spend Christmas. Many fellow travelers we kept bumping into along the way, were planning to spend Christmas in Ushuaia as well. Coming to Ushuaia was very exciting to me as, I connected it with a little reunion with our randomly encountered friends. For some of them, arriving in Ushuaia was rather bitter sweet since it meant the end of their journey ( many traveled from Alaska to Ushuaia). They had tons of cool stories to tell, and I am sure millions of memories to take home with them.

As far as Christmas goes, we spent it in little bed and breakfast place. There were 18 human beings: a French couple, 3 Italians, 2 British, 3 Americans, 2 Irish, 3 Germans,1 Slovak and the women who owned the house (lets call her Dora), her three visiting sons and wives, a rock moving dog ( little video attached otherwise you would not believe it), two cats, and an assortment of unusual and different workers.





This little B & B would definitely be an interesting place to have a little cross-cultural study on uneasy feelings and first impressions. Even though we were all different ages, race, and nationalities I very soon observed that we all had one common feeling and that was that Dora made us all just a tiny bit uncomfortable.

However, the common areas of the house were gorgeous, comfortable couches with spectaculars views towards the Beagle Channel. You could pretty much hang out on these cozy couches as long as you wanted unless Dora’s client scame . In that case the door of one room would close. Dora was a psychoanalyst. So if you were somewhat interested in psychoanalysis or just were curious what people in therapy talk about you could just hang out in the hall way and listen to the whole session. What may be a privacy concern in US is just an afterthought in Ushuaia.

However, I must admit that it was very nice of Dora to provide Christmas dinner for all of us and have a place where we could exchange stories and create new friendships. Everyone was ordered by Dora to bring a present, so we all did and exchanged them. It was quite nice, I put a bottle of wine in and got a notebook. I guess it was my way to tell someone to enjoy their trip even more and it was the universes way to tell me to study more and take a few more notes.

We stayed in Ushuaia for five days and toyed with the idea of going to Antarctica. It was neither of our dreams to go there, but we kept listening to other people that it is “a must.” They had some last minute deals that were 75 % off the regular price. We kept talking to the travel agents and could not make our minds up. Then this tourist agent finally told me: “Corazon, this is a Russian boat absolutely no good for girls.” That did it for me, I guess. I immediately flashbacked to my elementary school in which pictures of Russian boats along with comrad Lenin hung pretty much on every wall. From that point on I wanted to go. However, by that time it was too late and everything was sold out. I still wonder what the Russian boat would have been like.

We spent our New Years in el Calafate. We had dinner at a little family run Sushi restaurant that was open only until 11:30.PM. As we were walking back to the hotel ( 11:40 PM ) people started to gather on the main street. Waiters, and cooks ran out of their restaurants and were carrying buckets full of home made fireworks and granites. I felt a little uneasy when they started shooting them from right under the electric power lines, but everyone seemed to be pretty ok with that. Hey, we were in Patagonia not US, I reminded myself.

The truth is that it was a tiny bit hard to be away for the holidays, no family, no carps, no good friends to laugh with. Oh well, there is so many more to come…

Ok , lets talk about penguines now. We have the Magellan penguin colony in Punto Tombo. The penguins were everywhere, in the parking lot, in the restaurant, on the road. I thought they have a pretty good life. The live in these huge community ( 500 000) yet they can have as much personal freedom as they want to. I am sure that there is a lot of gossiping around, sometimes it turns bloody too. Mostly when the males fight over the females or a pretty good looking nest.

Otherwise it is very peaceful there. When we were there the little penguins were just entering the adolescent stage. They were so cute. So this is how Magellanic penguins spend their lives:
Males come to Valdez Peninsula around September and they made sure they pick the best looking and the most appropriate place for their nest. Most of the time there is plenty to choose from but I guess there is always one who thinks that the grass is always greener on the other side. In that case there is a fight over the nest. About one month later the female penguins come and start checking out the nests. The males are hanging out by the entrance and waiting. But it is really not about the males as much as it is about the nests the women are “shopping for.” Once they like the place they settle in and lay eggs. Always two.

Once the little penguins hatch the male and female take turns going to the Atlantic to get the food. Sometimes they are gone for up to 4 days. I guess there is not much questioning among couples where one exactly goes unless they bring some food back. When the babies get old enough they all leave to spend the winter in Brazil.


Then they all return. First males- usually to the same nest, then females- always to the same partner. They do it for about thirty years. So if you are ever faced with the question what would you like to be in your next life and you like monogamous relationships, the option to pick your own house, personal freedom to hang out on your own for a few days in the Atlantic- a female penguin is always a good option. Just be careful that you don’t sign up for the Antarctica ones, those guys have it much tougher.

I miss you all. Hope 2010 is good to you!

Love,
Kristina

Patagonian Winds

Time certainly is flying by. We are now on a Chilean ferry traveling for 4 days up the Pacific side of Chile. t is a beautiful area filled with glaciers, mountains, volcano’s and fiords. Our shipmates number 120 hearty individuals from maybe 20 or so countries, 8 motorcycles and maybe 100 cows on their way to slaughter. The ship is decent, not luxury but it has an open bridge allowing you a different perspective on where you are going.

We started in Puerto Natales in Tierra del Fuego came up thru the straits of Magellan and north thru what seems to be an infinite labyrinth of canals and channels. Dolphins, whales and various flying birds follow us. Our destination is Puerto Montt. A little fishing port where the road begins again. We will try to visit Chiloe a small island accessible from Puerto Montt. They believe in a distinctive mythology based on forest gnomes, ghost ships and witchcraft all intertwined with a dab of Catholicism. It is also the king crab capital of the world.



We have been gone for nearly four months now. Driven 10,000 miles or approximately 16,000 kilometers. Visited 5 countries with more to come.

We have definitely spent the most time in Argentina which I now call Largentina. It is huge when you have to ride across it. From the southernmost city to the north is well over 5,000 k.

We put a more aggressive off road type tire to help us through the ripio or gravel roads. Other than the lack of vegetables it has been my favorite country overall. The meat is great I just can’t eat it everyday. You know what they say,” The first kilo of meat is kind of hard to digest but the next two are much easier“. Fruits are plentiful seasonally, the folks here smile and are extremely friendly. Except one night when we could have used a little more help.

The story starts with a road called Ruta 40, a road that cuts about 3,000 kilometers, north and south down Argentina’s western border with Chile. It joins many small towns some with attractions others with only sheep and cattle. It winds down through the lakes district following the Andes all the way to Tierra del Fuego and then onto Ushuaia the southernmost occupied city in the world.

It is good asphalt, bad asphalt, dirt, gravel(ripio), and everything in between. There are herds of wild guanaco’s alongside the road( a beautiful llama like animal), rhea’s ( Argentina’s version of the road runner) running as fast as us, and if you are really lucky condors and flamingos. You can ride for an hour or more without seeing another vehicle approaching you.
The scenery along Ruta 40 changes from snow capped alpine mountains, to dry Grand Canyon like vistas and lastly the forever Pampa. I say forever because you can ride on one for a day or so. Beautiful landscape!

The only problem we had were the winds.The winds constantly blow at 40k per hour(26mph) gusting to 80k(53mph), with speeds often recorded at 120k (80mph).

The day started as usual, 250 miles to do, no big deal. The winds were crossing the highway perpendicularly at between 40 and 60 k (26 to 40mph).Enough to keep your bike leaned 30 degrees, with the occasional gust blowing you into the oncoming lane. No big deal we had done this before and it really couldn’t get any worse, could it? We were about to change direction on the pampa or so the gps said and we were thirsty so we stopped for a beverage at the last gas station for the next 75 miles. Seventy five miles, its only 4:00 P.M. no problem!! A man we met at the station told us in his broken English just "to be happy" and that the winds were stronger when there was a black moon. Whatever that meant!

We started off following a custom car group that was heading our direction. Safety in numbers. We were soon left behind. The wind had temporarily changed direction and was coming at us head on. The bike could hardly muster more than 25 mph. I checked the gps and it was now 6:00 P.M. and soon the road would make a 90 degree turn.

That worried me a little not knowing what would happen with the wind when we made that turn. The turn came and miraculously as we headed up another 300 meters the wind stopped. We came out on top of our new pampa and got hit with the big Kahuna! It blew form the left, then it would switch to the right and once in awhile slap our backs. I couldn’t control the motorcycle and with the wind shifting so rapidly it would put the front end into a freaky shudder.

We stopped on the side of the road and struggled to speak to one another over the howling wind. Sunset was another hour away. Should we go on or prepare to spend the night in a ravine. The bike was sitting on its side stand with the two of us holding it up so it wouldn’t fall. The gusts were lifting the front wheel from the ground. The appeal of spending the cold night out in the open was not high on our list. After 30 minutes we decided to inch another 4 k to a cross road on the map.

When we arrived there appeared one light, a three table restaurant in the most god forsaken place. Just a cross road with one building and several trucks outside. We managed to park the bike in a semi protected area and went in. Three or four other people were inside so we ordered a couple of bowls of soup and mapped out a strategy. We would wait till closing and maybe one of two scenarios would play out. First the winds could die down, (wishful thinking) or second we would throw ourselves at the restaurant owners feet and beg him to allow us to sleep on the floor of the restaurant. The wind was howling outside, the soup was great and the terminator was on television. We felt safe, this was all going to work out. We would get up early the next morning and continue into Comodoro Rivadivia at a reasonable pace. Closing time came, the owner collected his money from us and we asked the big question. The answer was,” no way “ and his gestures suggested that he wanted us out of there. We suited back up and walked outside feeling pretty warm and fuzzy after the 12 bowls of soup we each had.

It is now 11:00 P.M. We immediately realize the wind or viento had not diminished at all. We could only try to make the last 40 k as sloooowly as possible. The idea was ominous, we started and managed to respectfully control the bike in second gear maybe even third at 20 kph. We couldn’t drive forward when a truck or bus would approach us since we would be blown right into their lane. Stopping and holding on was all we could do. As we approached the city we were relieved when we began a descent from the pampa towards the coast and the wind temporarily stopped. We can do this we both thought. Our minds turned to positive thoughts.

We arrive at the outskirts of the town and there is the same velocity of wind only this time it is moving half the Atlantic coastline with it. It was like being in a sand blaster. We inched our way towards the city center, small cats and dogs were flying across the road in front of us. The first hotel appeared, we stopped the bike nearly fell over and checked in for $200.00 a night. Way over budget but at 3:00 A.M. We just kissed the ground in the parking ramp, went upstairs, showered, fell into bed exhausted and wondered how lucky we had been that the other scenarios running through our minds hadn’t played out. The next morning we found out that the winds had been clocked at 120 kph (80 mph).

Check out this Patagonian babe trying to talk in the wind.

We are now almost to Puerto Montt in Chile and we are hoping that there are no winds in the Chilean Patagonia. After that night in the open it really can’t get any worse, can it.
All the Best,
Happy New Year