Well, hi there. So I’ve done a lot, seen a lot since my last update. The trip has gone as follows: After my hike in PN Alerces, I hung out for a while in a real laid-back village called Trevelin, then took a 20-hour bus ride from Esquel (city near Trevelin) to Rio Gallegos in Southern Patagonia, then made my way to Calafate and saw one of the world’s most famous glaciers (it’s called Perito Moreno and it’s the most massive goddam thing I’ve ever seen) and finally headed to a small mountain town called El Chalten, which served as a base for a nice three-day hike around Mount Fitz Roy I finished yesterday. That’s a lot to write about — so instead of using that boring, time-consuming prose thing, I’m gonna make like the Japanese masters and describe each experience in (more or less) 17 syllables. Put on your poetry hats, ya’alls. Are they on? Do they have chin straps? Good. You’ll need chin straps…

Trevelin

Idle days in the shade

with Americans, Belgians and

banana ice cream

Esquel

Bus station gypsy

says she has a knife, I say

“No hablo español”

On the bus

Burnt, treeless landscape

so I sleep; wake up hours later

and see the same thing

Perito Moreno Glacier

An ice field bigger than

Boston, chunks crash into lake,

tourists all say Ahhhhhh

Mount Fitz Roy

See it from outside

town — towering in the sun –

think of my grandpa

El Chalten (pessimistic)

Once an outpost for

alpinists, now bulldozers roll,

hotels replace gauchos

El Chalten (optimistic)

Still no ATMS,

still no tour buses and still

at foot of Fitz Roy

After three days in the woods

Beer and chocolate

while sitting bootless in grass,

hiking’s best when it’s over

Leaping Leif in front of Perito Moreno

International trekking squadron

Contemplating Fitz Roy

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