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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 […] 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 […] 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, […] Gray skies gradually succumbed to the spirit of honor, gaiety, and remembrance at the 2011 American Indian Association of Florida, Inc. Powwow. By early afternoon the sun had emerged to cast its gentle, fall warmth on the gathering. I can’t duplicate the melody of bells jangling, feathers swooping, streamers flying, drums reverberating, and singers chanting […] 5:30 pm. I stood on the platform of the Santiago metro. No, not stood, sagged. Eyelids blinked in slow motion. Shoulders protested the weight of my bag. I was exhausted. The day’s interviews (two: one with a representative from Ecosistemas, and the second with a spokesman for Costa Carrera) and the wealth of information they’d […] I landed in Santiago on Friday morning, jet-lagged, sticky, bleary-eyed, and with a stomach dancing about in what Syreena assures me is excitement, not fear. I broke down the things I needed to do into tiny steps. First, immigration and customs. I did NOT have to pay the silly $100 reciprocity fee (only because I […] They’re called the Teeth of Navarino. Better they should be called the Fangs. Vicious, merciless, and sharp, these rocks bite. El Circuito de Los Dientes de Navarino is the southernmost trek in the world, a five-days-plus mission into the exposed interior of the island that sits south of Ushuaia, between the water of the Beagle […] |
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