Photos

Kid playing with his dog in a rural Mapuche community outside Nueva Imperial, Chile

Grandpa Don and cousin Courtnae on the beach in Puerto Saavedra, Chile.

Courtnae cuddling with street animals again.

Earthquake damage in Villarica, Chile

Grafitti art in Villarica

Mapuche mom and daughter in Rulo, outside Nueva Imperial

Cochamo Valley trail, which has been used as a cross-Andes trading route since Inca times.

View from the campground in the Cochamo Valley after a 20km trek.

Pulley system across the river to the refugio.

Rio Chochamo.

Bum-style camping after missing the last bus out of Cochamo.

Chilean solidarity after the earthquake in Castro, Chiloe Island.

Curanto, a Chiloe specialty. It is what it looks like – a pile of shellfish, chicken, sausage and ham.

Giant sailor and his maiden in Puerto Montt, Chile.

(What’s left of) Glacier Martial, above Ushuaia, Argentina

Penguin.

Penguin staring smugly at his brethren.

Uploading pictures has proven more costly and time-consuming than expected. I´ll try my best going forward but make no promises. I´m enjoying the end of the world, but excited to get back north to where it´s summer-ish.

Things I´ve learned in Chile

- The mullet did not go out of style, it just went to Chile.

- I wish to be euthanized when I reach the age of 60.

- Trying to learn Spanish in Chile (and perhaps in Argentina as well) is like trying to learn English in Arkansas.

- Just because someone is white does not mean they speak English.  Address people in the language that is spoken in the country in which you reside unless you wish to look like an asshole.

- While hitchhiking is a legitimate and reasonably safe way of getting around, it should not be relied on as your primary form of transportation.

- Gorging yourself on empenadas and white bread for two weeks and then hiking 24 kms with a 50 pound pack is not a good idea.

- The five minutes it takes to take off your boots and socks and cross a stream is not as bad as the five minutes spent looking for a good route across and still ending up with wet feet.

- There are Chilean hipsters, punks and lots and lots of Chilean hippies.  They are just as rediculous as their American counterparts.

- When the rest of the world calls Americans stubborn and arrogant for not switching to the metric system, they´re right – but that doesn´t make it any easier for my mind to comprehend how long a 24 km hike is.

- Despite the fact that they make it possible for me to have fresh-cooked pizza dozens of miles away from the nearest paved road, horses are vile creatures that exist only to defecate and ruin perfectly good hiking trails.

- In Chile, everything costs a little more than your guidebook says and every bus trip takes a lot longer than your guidebook says.

Pictures coming at some point.