Friday

Life carries on here in Valle Chacabuco, despite the uproar from the protests.  The senator that came to visit us a few weeks ago was wildly impressed by the landscape that surrounds us here; I remember hearing him say he had no idea it would be so beautiful.  Sounds like we played our cards right in that regard.  Since then, a few more guests have come and gone, but in general things are quiet here on that front.  We’ve had other visitors here for a while, like Jeremy, who’s soon to join the ranks of pilots for Kris and Doug’s project at Iberá in Argentina, and Annabelle, who’s working on a short promo video to show here and when Kris goes on speaking tours.  The Spanish version, which will eventually go on the CP website and be shown at various events in the local region, is her current project – but the catch is that she doesn’t speak Spanish and therefore needs a translator.  Guess who gets to take on the task?  Yours truly.  It’s been a fun project, because I get to listen to interviews of the various people who work here and translate their message.  Since this is meant to be a promo video, everyone’s statements are all very optimistic and inspiring…maybe not one hundred percent realistic, but it does remind me of what attracted me to this internship and the ultimate reason that I’m here: we’re creating an important national park in Chile that leaves behind it a legacy for generations (of humans and other animals) to come.

Another reminder of why I’m here came a few weekends ago with a quick backpacking trip into Cochrane through the Tamango National Reserve.  I went with a group of interns and we had the most incredible time.  On day one, we got a late start and slowly made our way up part of the Lagunas Altas trail into the saddle between Cerro Tamango and Cerro Tamanguito, from which we got some pretty awesome views of the Chacabuco Valley behind us and the Tamango Reserve ahead.

Looking down at the recovering burn area and the Valle Chacabuco and Jeinimeni Reserve beyond.

In the saddle between the two peaks, looking towards the Tamango Reserve.

We decided to climb to the top of Cerro Tamango, which measures just over a mile high, and left our packs in a field below the start of our ascent.  Tamango has quite a few false summits, and we spent a couple hours scrambling up through continuous scree fields and winding our way around small high alpine lakes.  When we finally got to the top…incredible.  There was a low and heavy blanket of clouds overhead which somewhat diminished our view, but we could still see forever in all directions; from the Río Baker to Lago Cochrane, from the Jeinimeni Reserve to Cochrane and beyond.

From partway up Cerro Tamango, looking down on Cerro Tamanguito (foreground), Valle Chacabuco (left) and the Tamango Reserve (right).

From the summit of Cerro Tamango.

From the summit, southeast over the Tamango Reserve, with Lago Cochrane the last lake in the background.

The view south from the summit over Tamango Reserve and Cochrane, with Pete.

Group shot with (clockwise) Josh, Eric, Pete, me, Diane, and Collin.  This is why I love these people.

We loitered briefly at the summit, but then began to pick our way down the rocks, to make it to our packs and get a ways further to find a campsite before dark.  The afternoon light during our descent couldn’t have been better.

The Río Baker and a wee bit of the northern ice field.

The next day we were tasked with finding an existing trail in the Tamango Reserve that would take us downhill and into Cochrane, using only an old and partially reliable map and our general sense of direction.  We wandered and bushwhacked our way through the southern beech forests for most of the day, a different experience from the other terrain we’d covered thus far.  The forests are beautiful, and have a contagious kind of inherent peace to them that makes you feel like an explorer in a new wondrous place.  For us, that’s actually what we were.

The rare sight of Cerro San Lorenzo (3706 m or 12,159 ft), the second highest peak in Patagonia, looms over the Tamango Reserve.

Collin and Pete in the southern beech forest.

Josh.

Looking south-ish, with Cochrane barely visible on the left.

We rolled into Cochrane in the late afternoon, and since it was Sunday and everything was closed, we headed straight for the rodeo grounds to catch the end of the Fiesta Costumbrista, a small cultural event with a rodeo, food, and a live cumbia band.  We (or at least I) had a good time watching the end of the jineteada (a contest riding a bucking horse) and dancing to the live music.  We camped close to the rodeo grounds and hitched a ride back to the cruce the next day, from where we hoofed it back to the estancia, arriving tired and happy and refreshed.

The start of a jineteada round.

The food bus where we bought some french fries.

The live cumbia band with lots of dancers up front.

The next couple weeks passed by in a blur of few visitors, a couple journeys up the Aviles river valley, numerous sunny afternoons of frisbee, and an intern camping excursion by the Río Chacabuco.  In this case, I’ll let some pictures do the talking:

The Río Aviles.

Cerro Pintura above the Río Aviles.

The runout of the Río Aviles where it winds its way towards the Río Chacabuco. 

Sarah in the reeds on the shore of Laguna Cisnes.

Incredible late afternoon on the way to our camping spot at the Río Chac.

Collin.

The view of the Río Chacabuco from the beach where we camped.

Sunset.

Eric, Diane, Jeremy, Nadine, and Collin 'round the campfire.  Sarah's trout, which she caught in the river, is roasting in tin foil in the flames.

Newly discovered cliff jumping spot.  Jeremy takes a leap.

Jeremy and Nadine.

Josh, super excited about the rainbow trout he caught.

Annabelle, Jeremy, and Sarah.

Josh and Collin.  See Collin's line?

Jeremy and Josh.

In the past few days, we’ve had some employees from Kris and Doug’s projects in Argentina (the future Esteros del Iberá National Park and the Laguna Blanca farm) here as part of a “global” team meeting, the first of its kind.  The idea was to have all the staff from three of Kris and Doug’s foundations meet here in Val Chac and spend the week getting to know each other and learning about everyone’s work.  Unfortunately, none of the crew from Pumalín joined us for fear of transportation issues, but the week still turned out to be fun and interesting.  The first two days were filled with presentations about the various projects and what we’re all hoping to accomplish in the next couple years, interspersed with some afternoon hikes and horseback rides.  Yes, I finally got out on a horse!  No, I didn’t take my camera, but considering that I got launched off my horse at one point (when we were galloping along and he tripped), it’s probably a good thing I didn’t have anything important with me.  I was fine, just a little sore, and the event didn’t put much of a damper on the ride in general.  I’m addicted and want to go back out again as soon as I can.  Who knows when that will be.

This coming week we’re supposed to host a group of people from Ecotrust, a Portland-based organization that aims for “reliable prosperity,” helping found and fund projects that protect the natural environment in politically and economically viable and profitable ways so that they can be self-sustaining for long periods of time.  They’re coming in the capacity of potential donors to our efforts, so fingers crossed that they can actually make it here.  The group is slated to spend a week at the estancia, surely being entertained by Kris and exploring many aspects of the project, hopefully walking away with the idea that our work is worth supporting.  They are really the last important group of people to come this season, besides a few tourists and a German TV crew that come later in the month.  By the eighteenth of March, it seems like our traffic will drop off almost completely, so I’m starting to compile ideas of what to do with the rest of my time in Chile.  I want to spend as much time as I can getting to know new places, be it here in the park or elsewhere in Patagonia.  Time to break out that backpack again!

In the meantime, I’ve found a few interesting articles in the past few weeks when there’s enough internet to peruse the news.  Here are a couple of them:

Top 10 Jobs that Make the World a Worse Place

New Life, from an Arctic Flower that Died 32,000 Years Ago

And finally, this New York Times article just came out today, about the general paradox we’ve put ourselves in the middle of here around Cochrane.  Although the article doesn’t paint the most flattering picture of CP, it is pretty accurate; however, during and after talking to the reporter, we were and are working with a local sociologist to figure out what the barriers are to our acceptance in Cochrane and she’s proposed some initiatives to put into action to see if we can’t start to win people over.  That’s part of what the promo video I translated is for as well.  But without further ado, read up:

In Patagonia, Caught Between Visions of the Future

All photography copyright Kendall DeLyser.

Just when we thought things were on the up and up...

...here's a translation of an email we got from Daniela, one of our employees who works with the Patagonia Sin Represas campaign in Coyhaique:

As far as things go here, nothing came of the minister's visit; he asked yesterday that all the barricades come down before he'd even sit down and talk.  This morning, the protesters counterproposed that they open the barriers every two hours, but the minister rejected the idea, which spurred the leaders of the protests to declare a total blockage.  The government answered with the threat to impose the national security law.  People in Coyhaique started to protest and set up barricades early this afternoon, and there are a lot of people in the central plaza who plan to spend the night there.  For now things haven't gotten out of hand, but the government is just waiting for the first fighting or looting to send in special forces.  It's looking ugly.  This afternoon, finally, I got to talk with Patricio [another Sin Represas employee] and I told him that I was worried...his words were, "That's how revolutions are..."

So far things haven't gotten worse here in Val Chac, but if things continue as it seems they will, we may be waiting for an air drop of food and seeing cancellations from our guests slated to come in the next couple weeks.  Stay tuned...

Update on the protests

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...

(I snapped a quick shot with my computer because that's all I had with me...please excuse the photo quality)

Signing off for now.  Love, your adventuress who's enjoying feeling cut off and stranded.

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.