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In three days, I will be 30 years old. For the past 362 days, I have not been 29 – I have been “almost thirty”. It’s been with both trepidation and an accelerated sense of validation that I’ve contemplated this milestone. “There are certain things I want to accomplish in my life,” I told a […] Did I ever tell you the story of the month that I spent in Cochrane, Chile, under the tutelage of Roberto and his kayaking club, Los Escualos? The month I spent wearing a patched wetsuit and fraying dry top, with my legs wedged into a battered kayak, learning to do an Eskimo roll? The month […] So, remember six months ago when I announced out of the blue that I was changing all of my plans and going to Chile? That I was finally stepping out onto the wobbly limb of professional freelance writing? Well, the payoff has arrived: In Chile, A Conflict Between Clean Energy and Pristine Wilderness appeared on […] Yerba mate (MAH-tay): the bitter herb of southern Chile and Argentina is packed into a dried gourd, leather pouch, or tin cup, steeped in hot water, and drunk out of a metal straw. It’s the drink of the gauchos (Patagonian cowboys), shared around the fire or across the kitchen table. It’s a tradition and symbol […] My third article appeared yesterday in The Santiago Times! I spent a two weeks over Christmas in the beautiful Futaleufu region “researching”. Here I am, hard at work, getting ready to raft the famous “bridge to bridge” section of the even more famous Futaleufu River in southern Chile. Also pictured is Josh Lowry, a veteran […] And I, too, feel a fire under me. I woke up this morning in Coyhaique, Chile, the capital of the Aysen Region. I’d slept later than I’d wanted. It stays light here until 11 pm, and I’m having a hard time remembering to go to bed at a decent hour. I woke this morning with […] Front page of the Santiago Times today featured a story by an up-and-coming young writer: ME! Yippeeeeeee!!!!!!! Please excuse the momentary inarticulateness. I’ll be back to crafting good sentences tomorrow. Steve (publisher) wants me to write another article for Friday’s paper, this one about the Chilean Supreme Court’s upcoming hearing on the injunction against the […] Twenty kilometers south of Puerto Montt, Steve Anderson runs a sizable camping ground, WWOOFing operation, and the Patagonia branch of The Santiago Times, Chile’s first English-language newspaper. His office is a small, many windowed tower at the top of his house, with an uninterrupted view of a sheltered, salty bay. Buoys in neat geometric lines […] I set up my tent to a chorus of laughter. Chuckles turned to cackles, then built into contagious, breathless hilarity that shook the trees and rattled the windows of the houses around the lawn. It spread across the street, into the next yard, until the entire flock of black-winged jesters exploded from the tall pines, […] …make Jack Nicholson chase after his family with an axe through a topiary garden. Right? Santiago isn’t exactly in the running for the setting of “The Shining II”, but I was definitely beginning to feel twitchy and cooped up. No wonder, with this as my most frequent work space: Working through my pile of […] |
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