Concon/Vina del Mar/Valparaiso

Our hosts at the Yacht Club Higuerrillas turned out to be the friendliest yet. No one was afraid to come by to say hello or ask who we were. We got to know many of the kids in the sailing school program there by name and the Club manager, Francisco attended our every request. We held a presentation, Open House events with boat tours, and kids’ classes. All of which were well attended by very enthusiastic participants.

We were also invited to a luncheon one afternoon by Mauricio and his comrades at the Naval Club in Vina del Mar. We dined with Naval officers and friends which all sounds very classy but, thanks to one man named Ronald, thing were brought back down a notch or two. Ronald is a Chilean Scottsman with a fancy for drinking and dirty jokes. Unfortunately for us, he could even tell them in English. In between conversations over our concerns for the ocean and the environment good ole’ Ron would insert a sex joke, just to keep things interesting.

The next day Mauricio and his wife were kind enough to take me on a tour of Valparaiso. Kirsty and I had tried to go over the a couple days before but despite our best efforts, the best thing we found was the most random street fair I’d ever seen. Among the items lined up in the stands: books, nail polish, flowers, light bulbs, furniture, CDs, and beautiful arrays of carefully laid out plumbing supplies. As cool as that was, I felt I could use another trip into the city.

I had been excited to ride the famous old ascensors that climb the sides of the steep hills of the city. The first one we took was near the busy port. We walked on with several other people and one dog that seemed to know exactly where it was going, and the old pully system kicked into gear. It was a beautiful view and a short ride. At the top the dog walked off first and Mauricio and I followed.

His wife met us at the top in the car and then we went into the Naval and Maritime Museum which used to be Mauricio and Alberto’s Naval school. Mauricio guided me through Chile’s turbulent history of wars at sea, showed me where his mother was born, just next door, and I even got a picture of him with his grandfather’s portrait. It really brought the museum to life. Next, we drove over to La Ascensor de Concepcion to ride one of the most famous ones in the city. I finally felt like I’d seen Valparaiso for the colorful and historic city that it is. What a special treat that day was.

I had no shortage of friends in this city as they seemed to be cropping up everywhere. Chileans are, as I’ve stated before, some of the most amazingly friendly people I have ever met. So before I left I was also invited to the home of Ana Maria and Jorge, whom I’d met at Alberto’s house in Chiloe but live very close to the Yacht Club there in Concon. Jorge is an artist so he invited me over to see his paintings and his studio and I shared a wonderful vegetarian lunch with the three of them. I would love to come back and visit them again in the future.

The boat was scheduled to leave in the morning on a Wednesday but due to the all too common complicated bureaucracy of the Chilean customs system the crew was not able to depart until late that afternoon. It was a great headache all the way around but it didn’t taint our experience with the country in general, which was shining.

I headed out for Santiago with Kirsty and dropped her off at the airport and then vegged out in the airport hotel for another day before I left for Lima.

Sailing the Southern Pacific

We began by navigating our way South back out of the channels. The scenery reminded me a lot of the San Juan Islands back home, it was gorgeous and very easy sailing. Near the end of the channels we stopped for the night and anchored outside of the home of Alberto Montenellro on the island of Chiloe (cheel-oh-ay). Alberto is the author of a guide to the Patagonian channels of Chile which was instrumental to Ocean Watch’s navigation of these waters. When we wrote to him about using his guide he happily invited us to his home for dinner. His daughter Ana Maria, son-in-law, Jorge, and their teenage son also joined us. Alberto did all the cooking. His wife had passed away several years ago so he was very pleased to have guests and company. He was a very lively host and cooked a very fine meal. There were mussels (which I don’t normally eat but I could still appreciate) and grilled salmon and potatoes. After dinner we rode the dingy back to the boat under the bright southern stars and all slept full and happy.

The following morning we weighed anchor around 6:30 to catch the outflowing tide into the Pacific. It was a perfect blue sky and deep blue sea and relatively calm. Around eight off to the starboard side I spotted some whales. They were too far away to identify but we’d been told that Blue Whales were common in that area and time of year.

Soon the seas and the wind picked up at our backs and we were scooting right along at about 12 or 13 knots. By that evening the swell had grown to a wild and wooly 14-15 feet! Because we were traveling with the wind the motion wasn’t as bad as it sounds. One wave would come up underneath us and then we’d surf swiftly down the leeward side. Sleeping wasn’t entirely easy in these conditions. I had a hard time getting my neck comfortable. Every time it was just right the boat would roll and I’d lose my spot. The leecloth that ties up across the side of the bunk was definitely necessary. I came to really like the privacy and coziness it afforded as well.

I was on watch with Mark, David T. and Kirsty-four hour day shifts and three hour nights. I impressed the crew by always being the first up for my shifts. It was just too painful to lie there longer, lamenting the loss of sleep. Better to just get up and do it. Conversation flowed easily and after the first day or two we had built up enough jokes between us to pass the hours very quickly. But beware of what you let Herb overhear because it just might make it into the public blog…

Time becomes as the sea aboard Ocean Watch, fluid and dreamy. One morning we had another pod of dolphins join us. They swam alongside us for a couple of hours, dodging and surfing through the large seas.

The sea flattened around the time we were passing by Concepcion (epicenter of the recent Chile earthquake) and we finally had to turn the motor on after two quiet days of pure sailing. We plodded on for another day and finally pulled into the marina in Concon, about forty miles south of Valparaiso.

We had a large party of welcomers including some press, Yacht Club members, a host of excited children, Mauricio Ojeda (friend of Herb’s and classmate and coworker of Alberto’s) and two of his thirteen grandchildren. We conducted a couple interviews and then climbed ashore for a beautiful lunch on the terrace overlooking the marina.

Mario's Epic Tale of Pain and Folly over a Visa to Peru

To all who have seen the bizarre facebook status updates as they've gone by, here's the whole story of Mario's difficult journey to Peru and back over the past three days.

He came to meet me here in Lima on Friday so he left early Friday morning. He had an all day layover in Panama City and he arrived in Lima about 10:30 Friday night. We were all excited to see each other and then I got a phone call from him saying that he couldn't pass immigration. I thought he was just teasing me so I laughed at first until I realized he was serious.

Apparently, citizens of Central American countries need a Visa to enter Peru. It only costs $12 but they make you buy it in your home country. The airline allowed him to check in without checking to see that he had this Visa. So he got stuck in the Lima airport all night on Friday to be sent back to Panama on Saturday morning.

He needed to get to a Peruvian consulate so I thought it made more sense to just stay in Panama for the weekend until the consulate opened on Monday so he could fly directly from there without risking another long layover. He spent all Saturday talking to airline officials and finally they said he could leave the airport.

As he left the airport however, the arrested him. I guess because he was in transit, technically deported, he wasn't allowed to exit the airport until Costa Rica. Of course no one had told him that either.

So they put him in a room with 8 smelly guys and nothing like a bed. And someone had even stolen his toothbrush, which, if you know Mario, is a really big deal. This is his second night spent in an airport since he left CR. He called me exhausted and upset, as you can imagine, and there was nothing I could do. I told him to go eat and buy a new toothbrush and that I loved him.

He was supposed to fly out the following morning at 7am but just as he was about to board his flight they canceled the entire flight due to plane trouble. He tried all day to get on another flight but he couldn’t track down any airline officials all day and when he did all that was left was the next morning. He still couldn’t leave the airport. So Mario spent ANOTHER day and night, his third, in the airport.

He was then supposed to be on a flight this morning (Monday) at 5am. They said they would call him but they changed the gate without telling him so he missed that one too.

Finally they put him on a flight that left at 8:40 this morning and he must be on it because I haven’t heard anything otherwise.

Once he gets to Costa Rica he has to go to do battle with TACA to make them give him a new roundtrip ticket back to Lima, since it was their fault they didn’t properly check his passport on check-in. I think truly, it’s the very least they can do. Also he will have to go to the Peruvian embassy and hopefully get the stupid visa and then maybe, if that all comes together, he can travel all over again just to come see me.

It’s been a nightmare and every time I think it’s at its worst it worsens somehow.

So he’s had terrible luck but I, most certainly, have been very fortunate. I left Santiago just a matter of hours before the earthquake. The airport has been shut down for days and will continue to be for a while more. I can’t imagine how awful it would have been had I tried to leave the country just a day later.

So that’s our epic tale for the present. Not even including all the stuff from work. Life’s been very weird lately so I’m hoping things will begin to normalize soon and Mario and I can just have a nice vacation together in Peru.

Another good science site

This one's from Yale. The linked article is about Wal-Marts steps towards ecological transparency with their products. I'm not a Wal-Mart fan but this is actually an interesting and potentially significant step especially since it's an international corporation.

http://www.e360.yale.edu/content/feature.msp?id=2190

Puerto Montt, Chile-Part 2 : Teaching and Volcanoes

The next day I gave my first set of children’s classes at the library. There were about twelve kids in attendance from the ages of 8-12. We started with some coloring and making paper boats. Next, we sat on the carpet in a circle and did the Food Web activity using the stuffed animals. We discussed how these animals were connected to each other in the ocean and what happens to these connections when the web is disrupted. Also we talked about bioaccumulation and its effects on a marine ecosystem (see Educator’s Toolkit for more information). Finally, using their paper boats the kids played the game about Sustainable Fishing (see online curriculum). All the kids were really sweet and well behaved and they all looked like they had a great time.

On Wednesday, Feb. 10th the boat finally arrived. They had been battered by storms and difficult onboard guests and all were clearly in need to a break. We all had a happy reunion and then most checked into the hotel and went to sleep. David and Kirsty were kind enough to accompany me to my next day of children’s classes that afternoon. This time I gave a slide show presentation to the kids, we talked about ocean acidification and went outside for a cloud observation activity. Word must have spread from the day before because that day the attendance nearly tripled! Plus the library teacher had been inspired from the day before and brought in some fun ocean themed decorations for the room, including some turtle pillows, stuffed sharks and even a stuffed catfish! David got some great pictures of me with the kids, there’s a couple posted on the website even (www.aroundtheamericas.org).

This was the first day that the sun had some out in Puerto Montt so after class I decided to go take a drive. I went north armed with a couple crude maps and found my way to a town called Frutillera (Strawberry town?) on Lago Llanquihue. The town is an old German settlement that still maintains its character and that afternoon along the lake there was even a band playing. Behind the lake were two perfectly clear volcanoes, Orsorno and Cabulco. I took some great pictures and wished I could’ve stayed longer. I drove along the lake on the way back with the sun shining across grassy fields of wildflowers, happy looking cows, and willow trees. Between the travel and the work my life has been stressful at times just lately but this afternoon totally recharged my energy and my faith.

Thursday was somewhat uneventful. We cleaned the boat and I beat the rugs until I got a blister but the sunshine kept everyone cheerful enough. Then Friday was the day for the Open House.

Unfortunately Dave and I had to run an errand to the hardware store which ended up making me a little behind schedule that morning, but once the guests starting arriving things went very well. Everyone was in awe of the boat and the kids had fun running around the dock looking at fish and listening to the hydrophone (underwater microphone) I brought out. The parents commented on how special this event was because these marinas are not generally open to the public so this was a chance for them to see a part of their own town they’d never experienced.

Saturday came the day to leave for Valparaiso. We checked out, loaded up, fueled and headed out into the Chilean canals towards the Pacific.

Puerto Montt, Chile- Part 1: Welcome to Chile

I arrived after a long night from San Jose to Lima to Santaigo to Puerto Montt. I had received an early morning shock that Americas need to purchase a $130 visa to enter the country but I was also introduced to the kind and generous Chilean spirit. I was grumbling about the cost to the attendant at the visa window and he reminded me that it costs more than that for them to enter my country. Since the memory of being denied the US Visa for my mother-in-law was still very fresh I told him that I understood more than he knew about this problem. We proceeded to compare stories about our experiences with US officials. He once tried to visit a brother in California only to be denied entry in LAX. He then asked me where I was headed and when I told him Puerto Montt he told me that two of his nephews lived there, one a police officer the other a tour guide, and gave me their information with instructions to call them for help upon my arrival.

It was still 7am in Puerto Montt when I landed so I picked up my rental car (an automatic por suerte) and drove into town. The weather was cold, probably around 45 degrees, and drizzly. For a minute I thought I’d landed in Seattle in the winter after all! Though ironically I think the weather was actually nicer in Seattle.

It was too early to check into the hotel so my plan had been to try to do some sight-seeing but given the weather and my complete exhaustion I decided it was a better idea to just sleep. I pulled the car into a parking lot near the hotel, took out my stolen airplane blanket, and curled up in the backseat for about three hours. Around 11 I checked in, went upstairs to my room and comfortable bed and slept for a while more under the fluffy covers.

That evening my phone rang. It was Kirsty, girlfriend of David Thoreson the project’s photographer. She had arrived that afternoon as well so I invited her to join me. We became fast friends and passed on dinner with the Rockefellers in exchange for a good chat (I’m sure that sounds like a bad idea but from all that I later learned about Rockefeller and crew I think it was the right choice).

The next day Kirsty and I decided to head over to a local national park I had read about in my guide book. Parque Nacional Alerce Andino is a park with more than fifty lakes and near some of the region’s volcanoes. The weather was sunny in the morning but quickly became cool and rainy again. We had a very wet and muddy hike getting to one of the lakes but the fresh air and exercise did both of us a lot of good, though my tennis shoes certainly weren’t the better for it.

The boat had still not arrived but I needed to start working. Kirsty and I went over to the Public Library where all the week’s events were to be held with the intentions to just do a meet and greet. However, when I met them they requested that I go ahead with the previously scheduled slide presentation that evening. I nervously agreed and rushed back to the hotel to contact my supervisor for help putting together the presentation.

About ten people attended the presentation. One man who came turned out to be a very knowledgeable scientist who studies, among other thing, whale populations around Patagonian Chile and Argentina on a research boat that was also docked in Puerto Montt. He had heard about the project and took a whole week off just to take part in our activities there. The presentation went very well and I felt as if I’d gotten over the biggest hump knowing I could give an understandable presentation about our project. Afterwards a lively discussion began among the audience members about their concerns for environmental and ocean conservation. The biggest issue plaguing the area environmentally is the damage being done by the salmon farms.

Norwegian salmon farming companies descended on Southern Chile more than two decades ago. They were attracted by the pristine cold blue waters of the Chilean channels, perfect for salmon growing. Initially the industry created an economic boom with more jobs brought into the previously sparsely populated towns surrounding Puerto Montt. However, the locals soon began to suffer the consequences of large scale industrial farming. Like all industrial scale farms, the animals are grown at a very high density which, naturally, leads to problems. Soon a disease that has been the scourge of salmon farms around the world descended into the Chilean waters. Huge losses of salmon followed by jobs were sustained. The non-native salmon are not easily contained and so soon the disease also spread to native fish populations. Compounding the problem is the contamination being dumped into the once pristine waters. Antibiotics, nitrogenous fish food and waste, and even color enhancing chemicals now permeate the channels. Local fish stocks are down and the fishing culture and livelihoods of the local people are slowing sapping away. The industry’s plan? To move further south. I encourage you not to buy Chilean salmon and to pick up a Sea Food Guide by the Monterrey Bay Aquarium to help you choose responsible seafood options, both wild and farmed. The Jan/Feb issue of National Geographic and this NY Times article http://www.nytimes.com/2008/03/27/world/americas/27salmon.html?pagewanted=1&_r=1 has more information if you would like to read further.

After the presentation Kirsy and I treated ourselves to a nice dinner at a restaurant on the water near the hotel. I ended up eating there four nights in a row but it was good each time.

Puerto Madryn, Patagonia, Argentina

After running around in the heat and sitting on the bus for 17 hours I was in desperate need of a shower. We were scheduled to be on a flight to Patagonia that evening so I was worried I wouldn’t get one for a while but luckily, the hotel staff at the hotel in Buenos Aires really went above and beyond. They let us use a room for an hour or so to reorganize our things and take a shower at no charge! We even managed to take some laundry to get cleaned.

For this afternoon that we had in Buenos Aires we decided we would take the local Double-Decker tour bus. Since Mario has worked on the Double-Deckers in Seattle he was interested to see how they did it in another city. Unlike Seattle, they don’t use live guides for the tours, instead, it’s a recording you listen to with headphones. I thought that would make it too dry but it was actually fun and informative and we got to see a lot more of the city than we would have otherwise. It made me wish we had more time to explore the city. But, alas, we were off for the next part of our adventure.

We flew into a town called, Trelew (pronounce tray-lay-ew), and since we’d made our arrangements fairly last-minute we had to stay one night in a dorm-style hostel that night. As hostels go this one was at least quiet but I never really feel comfortable sharing a room with other people. Plus, the hostel staff was real pushy about selling their tours of the park, insisting that it would be reckless for us to rent a car. We decided to rent a car.

Like most of the rest of the world Argentina only offered manual transmission cars. I didn’t know how to drive one and Mario hadn’t practiced for several years (and the last time ended poorly as some of you may recall…) so we were hesitant. I thought it over for a while and decided that because Patagonia is full of long, flat, lonely roads this would be a great chance for both of us to practice and I really wasn’t interested in seeing Patagonia from a tour bus.

By another stroke of luck the woman working at Budget didn’t notice that Mario’s US ID wasn’t actually a driver’s license so we put him as the primary driver, me as the second. Everything was going well so far but now we had to get the car off the curb and into afternoon traffic in downtown Puerto Madryn. This lovely trusting woman who rented us the car did not stand by to watch us pull away. If she had, she probably would have had second thoughts about renting us the car. After about half a dozen hair raising tries we finally pulled in to traffic. We just had to make it through about thirty unclearly marked intersections and then we’d be on the open road! There was one moment when Mario stalled in the middle of one such intersection with a bus bearing down on us. I waved apologetically at the driver and we moved on.

Finally we made it to the highway. It was beautiful sunny open road with scrubby wind-blown Patagonian landscape on both sides, the jewel blue ocean water twinkling in the distance. Ahh, the freedom of having a car…after our years and years of bus travel this felt like real and true luxury.

Another scary moment came when we approached a police blockade. Mario was tense, I told him to stay calm and smile. He pretended to not speak Spanish well. The police were looking for someone and it wasn’t us. They waved us on.

We arrived to Puerto Pyramides on the Peninsula Valdez around six, with plenty of sunshine left to enjoy the beach. We took a romantic stroll down the beach to the sound of a group of local guys having an improvisational drumming jam session. We ended the day with a great dinner at our hotel.

The next day we headed out to explore the Peninsula. The roads on this UNESCO World Heritage site are all gravel and cover some 250km. We saw elephant seals first, though disappointingly there weren’t any of the odd-looking male seals around because they’d all gone back out to sea, leaving their female harems and young to care for themselves. We also saw some flightless birds (not penguins) that looked like ostriches running across the plains. Later I learned they are called Rheas. Additionally there were wild llamas called, Guanacos. We drove on a then came to the place where we could see the animals we’d come to see, penguins! The Megellenic Penguins were nesting so we were able to see them very close. They don’t try to run away anyway, I guess they realize their limitations when it comes to running.

Before we finished our circuit around the peninsula we went to Punta Norte where we saw a huge South Americas Sea Lion (Lobos Marinos) colony. They were large and impressive and very smelly. Standing downwind from them became unbearable after a short time. So we headed back down the dusty road towards our hotel.

The next day, upon the advice of one of the hotel owners, we drove to a place called Dique Florentino Ameghino about 300km away. Driving further and further out into the desert landscape I wasn’t sure we’d made the right choice. We turned left and started heading downhill. It reminded me so much of Utah with its red and orange towering rocks. It was a surprise because it really was gorgeous. Several long tunnels were blasted right through the rock that made for a rustic wild west atmosphere as we drove through them along the clear blue waters of the reservoir for which the place was named.

At the bottom of the canyon there was a small town, a green oasis in a dry, arid land. It felt like a sort of paradise in the cool green shade of the leafy trees. Mario and I took a rock climb up the canyon walls before sunset.

The next morning we were up early in order to get to Punto Tombo back on the coast before the heat and the tourists got there first. We didn’t pass a single other car along the entire 80km gravel road back to the highway.

Punto Tombo is a penguin reserve, home to the largest penguin colony on the American continent. The paths in the reserve pass right through the colony and you are not at all separated from them. They tell you not to pet them, as they may bite, as cute as they are, I wasn’t tempted. Since they were nesting there were also penguin babies and juveniles. I got a great picture of one grumpy looking teenage penguin. One of my favorite parts was when the path becomes an overpass for the penguin highway they use to get to and from the beach. Watching penguins walk is absolutely the most adorable and hilarious thing I have ever seen. We also sat on a hill above the beach and watched the penguins go in and out of the sea. Penguins are awkward until they flop into the water, then, suddenly, they transform into an animal that is graceful and agile. This was most certainly the highlight of the trip for me.

Just as the sun was becoming withering and the hoards of tourists were descending we took our leave and began our long journey back home. We had a brief stop for souvenir shopping and then we got on our flight back to Buenos Aires after more than 1,000km of driving in 3 days. The flight that night was very turbulent which prevented us from sleeping but we passed out right away once we made it back to our familiar hotel in Buenos Aires.

Our last day we walked around BA once more, took a ferry to Colonia, Uruguay, a bus to Montevideo, a bus to the airport, and then waited until 4am when our flight left. We got duped into sitting in the exit row on the long flight to Panama so our seats didn’t recline. Mario didn’t sleep but I did at least. Mario had a connecting flight from Panama to Costa Rica right away but I had an eight hour wait.

I decided to take a taxi up to the Baha’i temple in Panama City that afternoon. I’d never seen it before. It was on top of a high hill and, according to the taxi driver, had the best view of the city of anywhere. I even ran into a couple from Costa Rica that I knew of from all my friends here but had never met. They were on their way to Bolivia and it reminded me of what a great close community the Baha’is have all around the world.

At long last, I got on my one hour flight back to Costa Rica. Mario was waiting for me at the airport and we went back to his brother’s house, told some stories and slept.