patagonia wrap up

Patagonia topped the list of what I wanted to see on this trip, and in some ways I am glad, and in some ways, knowing waht I know now, it might have been different.

The country there is unlike anything else I have ever seen. Bits of it may have reminded me of the familiar here and there, but all in all it was different and new. even though I don't speak Spanish, that was not my largest hurdle. The hardest part is that am not a rural girl. I would not be at all surprised if my extended family, say, who speak even less of the language, but who understand the language of camping and hiking, might have had an easier time with trekking, no phones, gravel roads.

One thing I will miss is the blue - Patagonia knows how to do blue. The mountain lakes are this amazing turquoise every bit as bright and light as the tropics, but bafflingly opaque. It looks fake. The sun sets so late that the sky turns from brigh summer aqua to this deep midnight with dozens of shades in between all evening long. The channels, lakes, and sounds all have about 23 different blues within them.

One thing I will not miss is the damn insect population. I don't know what in El Calafate found me so damn tasty, but I was eaten ALIVE y'all. Seriously, I have about 25 (no exaggeration) bites on each arm, more on my legs, feet, and middle. I am an itchy mess, and the dry air (meaning dry skin) of the warm & windy south was not helping. Here is hoping the humid BsAs climate will kill the bugs and let my red blotchy skin clear up.

One thing I learned is that the guidebooks are pushing it for Patagonia. For trekkers, it would probably be possible to spend endless time in each place and see something new every day. For me, not so much. You know how, when you are looking to go somewhere, and the guidebook gives you four thigns you want to do, each is about a 1/2 day output, you alot a minimum of 3 days there, right? You know that things take longer, or you will need a nap, or you want to spend another day poking into shops or at a cafe? This does not hold true for Patagonia. If you find one day's worth of stuff there, plan one day. No more. If you didn't see anything you were dying to do, but are there anyway, there is no ned for the 1-day buffer, because you are in Punta Arenas, and there is nothing to it. There is no more to the towns that the guidebooks have found, trust me.

Overall, I was much more taken with Argentine Patagonia that Chilean. I found the sights better in general, and it was a bit more touristy, but that also meant more paved roads, cafes, and services - fair trade off, for my money. I also had the benefit of creepy good weather - wind came in the late afternoons, but mostly it was sunny and perfect for the entire two weeks. On the last night in Calafate, Brian and I watched an impressive storm roll in, but even the rain lasted about an hour (Calafate gets very little precipitation).

Patagonia was very much worth it - the postcard, surreal beauty alone was priceless. I want to go to Antarctica some day, so I will be back, but that trip will be different to be sure.

Edit:
Oh! I cannot believe I almost forgot. Patagonia is hilarously trapped in a time warp, in a completely awesome way. Graffiti is for Nirvana, I saw a kid sporting, with pride, a Guns N Roses tee straight out of the Appetite for Destruction era. In the shops, they sell tons of Simpsons gear - like the shirt of Bart as the naked baby in the pool from that Nirvana album? Mean regularly wear mullets - or, even better, rat tails. The hostel I was at had a huge movie collection, on tape, that was like exactly my movie collection from when I went to college, so I watched the South Park movie and the first Scream. It was a surreal mid-90s place to be, everyone.