Central Chile

, originally uploaded by m_hagen.

SSSSSSSSSSSSSSShhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh........................

Central Chile - Sunset set

30 seconds of perfection. This wave was incredible! Only and handful of guys out this evening. Rich and I were so tired from our 3rd surf of the day we came in, lit a fire, cooked up some lentils and rice and crashed out. Ready to go again the next day.

Central Chile

, originally uploaded by m_hagen.

Rich knocked on the door at the Happy House in Santiago fresh off the plane from California. It was great to see him. It´s been nearly a year since he came out to Bali and Sumbawa. He was loaded down with a boardbag, books for me, (Haruki Murakami, my favorite author, so finally I wouldn´t be scrounging around the hostels hoping for something decent to read), and fresh baked cookies from Mom. We had a couple of coffees and breakfast while catching up.

By midday we were on the bus south to Pichilemu. There we had a decent surf at Punta de Lobos. It was good to get in the water after a month of trekking in Patagonia. We spent the next day organizing transport north and shopping for supplies for the next week of camping. The following afternoon we were on the bus to Litueche. Once there we bargained for a taxi ride to the Rancho. The driver dropped us at the clifftop overlooking the point. We´d been told it was only 30 minute hike down to the point. I later discovered there are a few different roads out there and this taxi driver decided to drop us at the point most convenient for him, not us. The view from the cliff revealed perfect lines of swell wrapping around the wind protected point. Wave after wave following in each others path. The taxi driver collected his cash and was quickly off. We were looking down an extremely steep and rutted out one-way track that would eventually lead us to the point. We grabbed our packs and then took turns letting the boardbag drag us down the hill. After 30 minutes we were down on the flat near the village. At this point Rich and I heaved the boardbag up and over our heads and finished the last hour hiking across a sandy track behind the surfline. We arrived just before sunset and quickly made a fire, cooked up some pasta and then crashed out in the tent to the sound of a rising swell.

The next week the surf didn´t let up. The point offered up variations of perfect surf everyday. Surfable through the tides, but low being by far the hollowest and most lined up. Camped directly in front of the surf. It was basically surf, eat breakfast, sleep, surf, lunch, read and then surf again before dark. I watched Rich catch a wave late one afternoon that looked more like backlit, green Padang Padang in Bali than any other wave I´ve ever seen. Not a huge wave, but he pulled in on the take-off and was perfectly slotted for about 4-5 seconds through two separate sections, just barely getting pipped at the end. Every night we lit fires with wood gathered from up the hill and warmed up under a starry night sky. There are some photos of the surf here.

Perito Moreno Glacier - Patagonia

, originally uploaded by m_hagen.

Last stop in Patagonia....

This has been an amazing month down on this end of the world. There is still debate in South America whether this is bottom or the top of the world. I kind of enjoy the idea. How does anyone really know... The glacier was impressive. 5 KM´s across and an average of 60 meters high. That´s wider than Sierra Madre is and almost twice the size of our dam in the canyon. The weather was perfect. We took a boat trip in the morning and saw the first of many large pieces of ice break off and come dramatically crashing down into the water.

The Italian style on the boat was pretty crazy as well. Fur head wraps, knee-high leather boots, and wild animal print matching tops and bottoms. Trippy to see all that after we d been so dirty hiking most of the past month.

In the afternoon we made it over to the lookout directly in front of the glacier and with the day getting warmer more and more massive chunks of ice crashed into to lake. Its pretty difficult to get a sense of the scale, but when some of the ice splashed down it sent spays of water almost 80 feet into the air. That must be a big piece of ice to do that....

All the wild horses - Patagonia

, originally uploaded by m_hagen.

I shot this photo just as we pulled back into El Chalten after 4 days hiking around the Fitzroy Mountains. I was fascinated to see the modern day Gauchos running their horses and cattle around the Estancia's. Although the Gaucho culture that Darwin and other early traveller´s experienced while visiting the Pampas has hasn't existed for many years, the modern day Cowboy seems to have a strong sense of history and pride in his occupation. The nomadic lifestyle the Gauchos lived was effectively destroyed the moment the land was divided and fenced in.

We finished setting up our tent in the free camping on the edge of town and watched the gauchos herd about 30 beautiful horses down the dusty road as the sun went down. They still had about 18km's to the Estancia.

Cerro Fitzroy - Patagonia

, originally uploaded by m_hagen.

Sunrise from the mirador this morning was stunning. I can't believe how lucky we've been to catch this kind of weather in one of the most notoriously bad weather zones in the world. The hikes around Fitzroy are a breeze as well. The trails aren't too steep, except for the mirador which of course is done in the dark. An hour uphill in the dark along with a little boulder hopping gets you to the top of the lookout where you look down on Laguna de Los Tres, the lake this glacier drains into and straight up at Cerro Fitzroy. I love it here.