Patagonia = Paraíso

By Andy Sternberg | Published: 26 December 2007


Christmas Day on the Beach @ Lago Nauel Huapi, originally uploaded by revolute.

There is something very sensual about arriving at a place you have long dreamt about — especially when it is above and beyond expectations and time transposes itself into slow motion snapshots. Yep, I have felt this kind of buen suerte before in my travels, and it is quite liberating to feel it again. I thrive on the seat-of-the-pants approach to my travels — it´s so easy when you´re solo — and roll with what comes, knowing that, no doubt, the first thing i´ll recognize in the southern night sky is Orion, only much brighter, and out of place in ths spotlight — right in the middle of the sky. Perhaps I´ll get some aurora action in the coming days as I cross the 51st parallel into Tierra del Fuego and the southernmost city in the world, Ushuaia — where I plan on spending New Years. New Years at the bottom of the world. Yes, I know, it sounds so Waitsian.

Everything you´ve heard and read about Argentina is true. I´ll leave it at that for now as I´m still sucking it up and knocking on cypress with my continuing good fortune (yes I received my luggage on my second day in Buenos Aires) — scoring the ¨last room¨ in hotels I really want to stay at only days before my arrival, seeming scoring the last available non-4×4 in all of Bariloche after arriving to the Hosteria — as you´ll see in the photos, this is a very popular spot for vacationing Argentines. And tomorrow I´m going rafting on the Rio Manso along the Chilean border. Check it out:

More photos tonight. I¨ve become quite accustomed to eating dinner at 11:30 p.m. (it is after all 6: 30 in LA at that time) and find it very difficult/unnecessary to get a whole lot of sleep (except a very important nap before dinner) what with 16 hours of daylight and those hours bound to increase as I continue south. There you go — that´s all without looking at my haphazard notes but as you´d imagine, i´m on the go — off to drive the Ruta de Siete Lagos — 7 lakes road … if you have any questions don´t hesitate to ask. Or just assume that the answer is ¨¨yes.¨

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