Things have gotten worse and turned violent, according to the Santiago Times. There are four impassible road blockages between here and Coyhaique and a general fuel shortage throughout the region from Puerto Montt and southwards. Kris says that this has largely escaped even national media coverage...the articles from the Santiago Times show up on page six or so of the printed version. I suspect that'll fuel the protesters to keep raising a ruckus and get increasingly more extreme until they get the whole country's attention...stay tuned.
Fuel has become the major issue everywhere. As I said in the last post, the public buses have ceased to run their routes for lack of gas. Here on the estancia, we're running out as well. We have about a week's worth of diesel fuel for our generator, so we're operating on shortened hours of electricity, trying to have it running only during peak usage times. We're also pretty much out of gas for our cars, besides what's been set aside for pre-planned trips or moving volunteers to and from their work sites. Unfortunate when you're working in a huge park designed for exploration by vehicle. The whole situation here and in Aysén has really thrown into sharp relief how much life here is dependent on fuel; without it, food, supplies, and people stop traveling from place to place. The basic ease of transportation that we so often take for granted is suddenly questioned and we're exposed as incredibly vulnerable; gas is the noose around our necks, the rug pulled out from under the people of Patagonia, turning everything in Aysén on its head.
Maybe I'm not taking this fuel shortage serious enough, but I'm looking forward to the time when we run out of gas like a little girl anticipates a play date. I'm just imagining us all sitting around the hearth in our houses, doing everything by candlelight and getting around on horses when we have to go longer distances than our feet can carry us. Of course, it would bring normal office work to a standstill, Collin would have to come up with some ingenious way to refrigerate all the meat we have, and we'd have no way to get in touch with the outside world, which could be bad in an emergency situation. But come on. We're about to start living like people did here thirty, forty, fifty years ago and that, to me, sounds like one darn good adventure. Don't ya think?
Aysén on its head
I realize it's been quite a while since my last post, and I'll write another one soon updating you on what I've done in the past few weeks (I've had some pretty great adventures). But for now, I want to write a quick piece on the current political situation here in the region of Aysén.
About a week ago, riots began in the town of Puerto Aysén, spurred by angry fisherman pushing for changes in fishing regulations. Apparently this has happened many times before and nothing much comes of it because the fisherman are alone in expressing their discontent. But not this time. Citizens of Puerto Aysén jumped on the bandwagon and started complaining about a myriad of issues, from the higher costs of living in the south to the lack of good schools to inferior health care to the HidroAsyén project to...the list goes on. Protesters in the port town seized the only bridge connecting it with Puerto Chacabuco and the rest of the Aysén region, stopping the movement of people, vehicles, and supplies (most importantly, fuel) in and out of the area. Citizens of Coyhaique caught on and starting raising hell in their own town, blocking the road south to the airport and onwards. At first it seemed that the unrest would be short lived, but something has really lit a fire under these people (literally and figuratively) and they want results from the higher-ups. Interestingly enough, so far this has escaped international attention, but here are a couple national news article about these events: Protests plague Chile's Aysén region with number of demands and Protests continue as Chileans in Aysén wait for answers.
So what does this mean for me? Rest assured that I'm safe and there will be no protesters storming the estancia any time soon. But, since there are an increasing number of road blockages and a decreasing amount of available fuel, things have kind of come to a standstill south of Coyhaique. Buses have ceased to run their regular routes, and full fuel trucks are caught on the wrong side of the protesters, unable to deliver their loads to the gas stations. Since our weekly food orders usually come into Puerto Aysén and are trucked down to us, we're having to make do with what we have and can manage to pick up in town. Luckily, Paula was able to make a trip to Coyhaique a few days ago and brought down some fruits and vegetables. Otherwise, I believe we're organizing an air drop of food before the entire CP team arrives on Sunday for a week-long retreat (assuming they can make it down here from the airport...). I'm feeling thankful for the fact that I don't have to leave any time soon, because I would otherwise be worried about catching my flight. Instead, I can content myself with exploring more of the valley, relishing the epic sunsets and the absurd number of guanaco on the front lawn...
Signing off for now. Love, your adventuress who's enjoying feeling cut off and stranded.
All photography copyright Kendall DeLyser.
About a week ago, riots began in the town of Puerto Aysén, spurred by angry fisherman pushing for changes in fishing regulations. Apparently this has happened many times before and nothing much comes of it because the fisherman are alone in expressing their discontent. But not this time. Citizens of Puerto Aysén jumped on the bandwagon and started complaining about a myriad of issues, from the higher costs of living in the south to the lack of good schools to inferior health care to the HidroAsyén project to...the list goes on. Protesters in the port town seized the only bridge connecting it with Puerto Chacabuco and the rest of the Aysén region, stopping the movement of people, vehicles, and supplies (most importantly, fuel) in and out of the area. Citizens of Coyhaique caught on and starting raising hell in their own town, blocking the road south to the airport and onwards. At first it seemed that the unrest would be short lived, but something has really lit a fire under these people (literally and figuratively) and they want results from the higher-ups. Interestingly enough, so far this has escaped international attention, but here are a couple national news article about these events: Protests plague Chile's Aysén region with number of demands and Protests continue as Chileans in Aysén wait for answers.
So what does this mean for me? Rest assured that I'm safe and there will be no protesters storming the estancia any time soon. But, since there are an increasing number of road blockages and a decreasing amount of available fuel, things have kind of come to a standstill south of Coyhaique. Buses have ceased to run their regular routes, and full fuel trucks are caught on the wrong side of the protesters, unable to deliver their loads to the gas stations. Since our weekly food orders usually come into Puerto Aysén and are trucked down to us, we're having to make do with what we have and can manage to pick up in town. Luckily, Paula was able to make a trip to Coyhaique a few days ago and brought down some fruits and vegetables. Otherwise, I believe we're organizing an air drop of food before the entire CP team arrives on Sunday for a week-long retreat (assuming they can make it down here from the airport...). I'm feeling thankful for the fact that I don't have to leave any time soon, because I would otherwise be worried about catching my flight. Instead, I can content myself with exploring more of the valley, relishing the epic sunsets and the absurd number of guanaco on the front lawn...
(I snapped a quick shot with my computer because that's all I had with me...please excuse the photo quality)
All photography copyright Kendall DeLyser.
Tuesday
It's been a solid week and a half since that last post. My, how time flies! And I have been having fun. We finally had a weekend without guests in the lodge, and it was also time for the annual Ruta del Huemul, so we got some time off the estancia with a cool group of people. The Ruta, in its seventh season this year, is a two-day hike that goes from our estancia into the Reserva Tamango (by the town of Cochrane) through the heart of local huemul territory, in an effort to raise awareness about the endangered status of this symbolic Chilean deer. The Reserva is home to about 10% of the world's population of huemul deer, and when CP donates the land from the estancia to the Chilean government, one of their conditions is that the Reserva Tamango be upgraded to national park status to further aid in the protection of the animal.
Saturday marked the end of the Ruta and a huge celebratory asado in the Reserva, which we from the lodge helped to run. There were over 100 people that participated in the Ruta, largely Chileans from the local area, so we had an interesting group of people to interact with. It was a warm, sunny day, perfect for being outside. Here are some photos from the festivities, the few I took between serving people food and cleaning up:
After the asado, Collin, Sarah, Josh and I hitched a ride back to the cruce (crossing), where the road to our estancia meets with the Carretera Austral, and hiked down to the Confluencia of the Baker and Chacabuco Rivers, where we camped for the night.
There was a large rocky beach right by the river, and there we sat around a campfire sharing some wine and some stories. Juanjo, the only Chilean intern, arrived later with a few new acquaintances he'd made at the asado, some university students from Santiago hitchhiking around Patagonia during their summer break. Sunday was a day off for all of us, so we took advantage of the time off and enjoyed a lazy day by the river, fishing, reading, and talking. In the afternoon some threatening clouds rolled in over the Northern Ice Field, so we packed up and started on our way back to the estancia. We got rained on a bit, and blown around by strong gusts of wind, but three hours later we arrived back home, contented from the walk in the cool weather.
Yesterday more guests arrived at the lodge, and they kick off the next round of visitors that will last for a couple weeks. Today, a Chilean senator graces us with his presence, an important visit because he represents the Aysén region of Chile (where we are) and has the power to pull for or against our cause within the government. Of course, the day that he comes Mother Nature decides to pull out the stops and unleash a nice rainy day. That's been happening more and more these days...we're starting to suspect that summer was short-lived and fall is quickly approaching. Luckily, there are random days of sunshine to break up the grey weather, which keeps this sunshine girl happy. Hopefully on the next one, I'll be able to go out for a horseback ride - I've talked it over with my new friend Luigi, the jack-of-all-trades who's in charge of the caballos, among other things, and he's told me that all we need is a mild afternoon to make it happen. Fingers crossed!
All photography copyright Kendall DeLyser.
Saturday marked the end of the Ruta and a huge celebratory asado in the Reserva, which we from the lodge helped to run. There were over 100 people that participated in the Ruta, largely Chileans from the local area, so we had an interesting group of people to interact with. It was a warm, sunny day, perfect for being outside. Here are some photos from the festivities, the few I took between serving people food and cleaning up:
After the asado, Collin, Sarah, Josh and I hitched a ride back to the cruce (crossing), where the road to our estancia meets with the Carretera Austral, and hiked down to the Confluencia of the Baker and Chacabuco Rivers, where we camped for the night.
There was a large rocky beach right by the river, and there we sat around a campfire sharing some wine and some stories. Juanjo, the only Chilean intern, arrived later with a few new acquaintances he'd made at the asado, some university students from Santiago hitchhiking around Patagonia during their summer break. Sunday was a day off for all of us, so we took advantage of the time off and enjoyed a lazy day by the river, fishing, reading, and talking. In the afternoon some threatening clouds rolled in over the Northern Ice Field, so we packed up and started on our way back to the estancia. We got rained on a bit, and blown around by strong gusts of wind, but three hours later we arrived back home, contented from the walk in the cool weather.
Yesterday more guests arrived at the lodge, and they kick off the next round of visitors that will last for a couple weeks. Today, a Chilean senator graces us with his presence, an important visit because he represents the Aysén region of Chile (where we are) and has the power to pull for or against our cause within the government. Of course, the day that he comes Mother Nature decides to pull out the stops and unleash a nice rainy day. That's been happening more and more these days...we're starting to suspect that summer was short-lived and fall is quickly approaching. Luckily, there are random days of sunshine to break up the grey weather, which keeps this sunshine girl happy. Hopefully on the next one, I'll be able to go out for a horseback ride - I've talked it over with my new friend Luigi, the jack-of-all-trades who's in charge of the caballos, among other things, and he's told me that all we need is a mild afternoon to make it happen. Fingers crossed!
All photography copyright Kendall DeLyser.
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