We are not affected by the earthquake

**** UPDATE: No damage in Hawaii -- evacuation cancelled. Yay. ****

We are not affected by the earthquake -- thanks to all who have expressed concern.

We had been joking with our spanish teacher, Daniela, in Valparaiso about the steady stream of eathquakes that SF and Valparaiso share (and the way radio stations report on a box of cereal falling off some single store shelf as breaking news, etc.) Now that whole conversation feels very eerie as Valparaiso is in shambles.

The biggest tsunami since 1964 is heading to Hawaii at 11am SF time -- they have evacuated my parents´ neighborhood, so we are keeping our fingers crossed that all is safe there. We called my dad at 6am Hawaii time this morning (we are 7 hours ahead) to make sure that they were up and making preparations. Minutes later the disaster warning alarms sounded throughout the state. He was already up working to get the barges owned by the international desalinization company he works for out of the harbors and safely out to sea in time while my mom prepared stuff at the house.

NOTE From my Mom a few minutes ago (1:55pm SF time): ¨Nothing has happened yet - about a half hour after the estimated time. We packed 3 cars with baby books and treasured items, prepped the house and now are in the Methodist Church Parking lot.¨

Here are some photos of what is happening in Valparaiso, the city we spent a week in earlier this month:
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/gallery/2010/02/27/GA2010022701652.html?hpid=topnews

-- Blake

Torres del Paine: Take Two

Rebecca would like to start out this blog post with a special message for Vladimir Simovich: The toilets here do not all flush counter clockwise. Some of them do, some of them don't. Myth debunked.

Second order of business: the pronunciation of our names. I have now gotten used to pronouncing Rebecca's name in the Spanish way -- "Rrr-eh-b-ayy-ca". However, my name is more of a problem. Mostly, I get a quizzical look from people when I give my name because there is not a Spanish equivalent. Rebecca and I have been joking about just how exactly my name should be pronounced. Turns out "Blah-keh" (or "Blahqué" perhaps for the French-minded) is in fact how the Chileans and Argentinians do it when left to their own devices. I continue to spell it out for people rather than introduce myself as "Blah-keh".

After being slammed by the mountain last week, Rebecca convinced us all to give it another try. The internet said it would be a full 20 degrees warmer and almost no rain. The folks who live in the area scoffed at the idea that the weather can ever be predicted in the park. The German woman staying in our hostal looked slightly terrified when I told her the good news -- until I clarified 20 degrees FARENHEIT, not celsius. So we packed up what remained of our 10 days of backpacking food and left for a short three day, two night trip to the base of the Torres del Paine -- the three gigantic towers that the national park is named for.

Whatever force of bad luck clouded our last visit to Torres del Paine (literally) had lifted and we managed to trade in the 2 worst days of the season for the 3 best days.

We woke up that morning to catch the 2 hour bus to the park and the sky was beautiful, sunny, and blue. Along the road we saw Patagonian Red Foxes sunning themselves and chasing each other across hillsides, flocks of Ñandus (Emu-like creatures) pecking at the grasses, and of course Guanacos (kind of like alpacas but different) in small herds -- including babies! which are about the cutest things you ever saw. If you need proof, check out this baby Guanaco that Elizabeth and Marty encountered on their way down to meet us.

(Our first visit - the non-view from the foot of Paine Grande

taken while soaking wet and shivering.)

As we started the moderate 6 mile hike to Campamento Torres, the clouds began clearing, kicking off frenzied picture taking -- still scarred from the last attempt, we were all worried that each new view might be our last.

(All smiles this time as we embark. Note the t-shirts and lack of rain gear.)

We got to the park, ate our picnic lunch, soaked up the sun, and stared in awe at the mountain. The clouds were there but giving us amazing little peeks now and then at what lay behind them. We decided that having the good luck to see Patagonian red foxes on our way here was the good omen for this trip -- to replace the bad omen of the dead horse beside the trail on our last attempt.

(Still all smiles after our 6 mile hike to Campamento Torres.)

The weather was idyllic. And instead of the friendly "hello" on American trails, there was a constant stream of "hola"s. "Hola" ... "Hola"... "Hola". We encountered the occasional grumpy Brits "yeah yeah yeah, hola to all of you, hola already", but mostly it was a steady stream of friendly passerbys. Torres del Paine is a gem of the relatively extensive Chilean national park system and so it attracts people from all over the world and helps to fund many of their other parks. But there are tons of Chileans (and Argentinians) backpacking there as well, which is particularly cool because in many Latin American and South American countries you will only find foreigners going on hikes. As far as we could tell throughout our trip so far, the Chileans take great pride in the beauty of Chilean Patagonia.

(Siesta.)

(Elizabeth turns the hole in the ozone over southern Chile into a fashion statement.)

(Highlight of the trip #1: Dulce de leche ("manjar") and cream cheese on freshly made flatbread.)

Having been completely scarred by the cold foul weather of the week before we spent the whole trip consuming lots and lots of very fatty foods just in case it should turn bad again. Clogged arteries be dammed. Hello cream cheese, butter, salami, mozzarella, walnuts, and dulce de leche.

(Highlight of the trip #2: Our new zip together sleeping bags. Highly recommended!)

But the real highlight of this particular part of the park is taking the an early dawn hike up the very base of the towers to watch the sun rise reflect onto them in brilliant golds, pinks, and oranges. We woke up at 5:00 am and started on the trail at 5:30 for an hour-long hike more or less straight up, with sleeping bags, coffee, dulce de leche, and bread.

(Keeping ourselves warm in the height of the Patagonian summer.)

(We watched the mountains as they turned from soft pink to every shade of gold and red and then back again.)

Later that day we took a day hike to the spot where climbers generally make their base, and made a new friend:

And found a beautiful waterfall flowing out of the snowpack at the top of the mountain and decided to eat our lunch there.

The only, and relatively minor hitch to our trip came at the end. After being a little lazy about getting on our hike down, we ended up racing down the mountain at record speed (for us...) My grandfather's signature phrase "off like a herd of turtles" rang true. We made it just in time for the 1:30 shuttle back to the bus pick up area -- with Blake and Marty sprinting the last distance. The shuttle actually left at two. Elizabeth and Marty are experts at getting themselves onto buses quickly and Rebecca and I are still learning this skill -- so they made it on and we had to wait for the next shuttle "coming in 5 minutes". 45 minutes later, we hopped on a shuttle wondering if we'd make to the bus in time. Turns out our bus company's bus broke its transmission on a hill so we all piled onto other buses to meet up with our bus company's other bus 45 minutes away. Again Elizabeth and Marty expertly made it onto the first one while we scrambled for the next. The bus was squelching hot and we all were packed into the aisles. At the transfer to our bus, once again they made it on way ahead of us.

But this time, they realized our limitations and threw their bags on the seats behind them. As Rebecca and I scrambled on, Elizabeth subtly pointed with her eyes to the seats behind them. Rebecca and I excused our way up to the seats and rather guiltily sat down.

(Ahhhhhhhhh. Comfortable seats for the 2 hour ride back to Puerto Natales.)

(Beautiful sky in Puerto Natales that evening.)

We spent a day chilling out, doing laundry, and decompressing in Puerto Natales. The following morning, our leisurely goodbye breakfast with Elizabeth and Marty turned into a frenzied rush -- when they realized at 7:05 that their bus left at 7am not 8am. Ooops. But once again Chacana, the cool guy who ran the hostel we stayed at pulled as many strings as he could to get them onto another bus that would then meet up with their bus. We have yet to hear if it all worked out. But one way or another, they headed to Ushuaia to the south and we headed out for a five hour bus ride across the border to El Calafate, Argentina.

Highlight #3 (of many more) of my stay in Puerto Natales: Chacana taught me to roll my R's. Apparently there is a small phrase that they use in elementary schools in Chile for kids who are having trouble rolling their R's correctly: "Tres tristes tigres trigaban un trigal". (Three sad tigers harvested wheat in a wheat field). It worked like magic and I am now almost effortlessly rolling my R's. Whenever my mouth will not work with me, I simply say that phrase a few times and it works again. At first my ability to roll my R's would last only a minute or two after saying the phrase. But as time goes on, it's pretty constant -- and even just thinking the phrase in my head now helps me get over humps.

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Penguinos!

This morning at 7am we caught a tour (the only way out) to Isla Magdalena -- an island in the Strait of Magellan with a huge flock of penguins. 62,000 pairs of magellanic penguins live on this little island alone. On an island nearby lives a colony of huge sea lions that think the penguins are the perfect tasty treat. The island itself was barely visible from land -- that's how wide the Strait is at this point.

(this is not the boat we took, but Rebecca couldn't stop taking pictures of it...)

(From this dock we boarded an extra large enclosed zodiac. If you have really good eyes, you can see the island as a small blip at the exact center of the horizon.)

(The early morning ride was beautiful and not very choppy. As the island got closer we could begin to see the historic lighthouse at the top.)

(Rebecca was enjoying the ride out. Not so much on the way back. The tour leaves so early because the Strait gets downright nastly as the morning progresses.)

(Penguins!!!!! We also saw sea lions lurking nearby in the water..)

(Our boat at the dock on Isla Magdalena.)

(Basically our hour on the island was spent snapping as many photos as we possibly could. Penguins look totally adorable no matter what they are doing. Here Elizabeth and Blake are taking videos of penguins crossing the road.)

(It was cold!)

(Baby penguins. We also saw penguins making babies!)

The boat ride back was NOT smooth sailing. But Elizabeth, Marty, me, and our new German friend sat in the very front and rode the roller coaster -- you had to brace yourself against the ceiling and the floor when the huge swells hit! It was the first time in my life that I have not gotten seasick. yay! But poor Rebecca was crouched on the back of the boat for fresh air in her rain gear getting soaked by the ocean spray. She fortunately managed to avoid getting actually seasick. yay!

Short video of Boat Ride and Penguins (2min 38 sec)

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Mountain smackdown (from "Other-Climes")

"The coldest winter I ever spent was a summer in San Francisco" ... Ha!

Clearly Mark Twain was not very well traveled. Having spent many, many summers in San Francisco, the four of us unanimously agreed that the coldest winter WE ever spent was a summer in Torres del Paine, Patagonia.

We're pilfering some of Elizabeth & Marty's very accurate take (in blue) on our "10 day" trek from their own travel blog (www.other-climes.blogspot.com) in this posting:

We´re back from our ten-day Torres del Paine trek. It lasted, instead, one day.

(Nothing says "welcome" better than a sign in a downpour.)

(Optimism on a bus: Z, Marty, Rebecca)

Short version: The weather was just too horrendous for us. 10 minutes in, and some of us still have some dry garments.

Longer version: We set out in high spirits. Even the dead horse next to the trail didn´t seem like a bad omen. But it rained all day, we all got as soaked as if we were wearing bikinis instead of Goretex, and with the high winds, we each took turns flirting with hypothermia. Just for fun, a few old injuries flared up too. Suddenly 10 flat miles didn´t seem so easy after all.

And -- this was the clincher -- we never saw the mountains. After we got to camp we did get a couple of glimpses of the bases of some of the peaks, but the clouds stayed constant in spite of the equally constant winds.

(2 hours in: hallelujah, a temporary shelter)

Luckily, the camp we reached that evening was a very comfy one, complete with hot cocoa for sale.

(Cozy and warm at the Refugio.)

This fortified us so that we could put up our tents without their sailing into the lake (though Rebecca and Blake´s tent fly made a break for it, actually pulling out most of its stakes!).

(Tents with Paine Grande looming ever cloudily in the background.)

We took off our sodden clothes, and were even able to take showers and cook in an enclosed space (in some weird outfits!). But an easy day it was not. It was pretty demoralizing.

(The cooking dome at Paine Grande campground.)

So we left. We were still at a point where we could take a boat back across the lake and go back -- it was a very welcomed release valve. We got back to Puerto Natales, found a hostel with a puppy, and regrouped.

Now we´re trying to eat our way through 10 days of backpacking food (¨More polenta, Blake?¨ ¨Why, thank you, Rebecca.¨ ¨Perhaps some oatmeal, Marty? Or powdered drink mix?¨) while appreciating being warm and dry.

And we have decided to console ourselves with penguins.

This afternoon we arrived in Punta Arenas, a rather large Chilean city on the Strait of Magellan. Tomorrow morning, quite early, we´ll take a boat out to Isla Magdalena tomorrow to visit a colony of Magellanic penguins! I´m excited.

In a couple of days, we´ll return to Puerto Natales and we may take another crack at the park. Purportedly the weather should be better. We´ll see. It is a place that holds great attraction for all of us. Just think if we were actually able to see this!

(Torres del Paine in all of its glory -- not our photo...)

In the meantime, I´m looking forward to those pinguinos.

For now it's off to see the penguins, then back to the park for round two. This time our plan is to stay in the backcountry for a couple of nights at one campground and do a day hike on the interim day. The weather forecast (though everyone tells us there is no such thing as predictable weather in Torres del Paine) is to be 20 degrees warmer than last week and even a few days possibly without any rain at all.

Despite the foul weather, we did get to see some magical moments:

-- Blake

Patagonia: Puerto Natales

So, on our first day in Santiago a week ago, we made plane reservations on a local airline, Sky Airlines, to fly down to the southern tip of Chile -- but we forgot to ask how many stops the plane makes. Big mistake. Turns out our plane (which was not all that cheap...) made FOUR stops. It felt more like a bus than a plane. Though they did serve 2 actually pretty good meals along the way. We got into Punto Arenas way too late to catch the last 3 hour bus ride to Puerto Natales which is the gateway town to Torres del Paine National Park. We had to make last minute reservations at a hostel that neglected to tell us that they were having a huge rock party with bands playing until well past 3am. Grrrr. We felt old. But, I think it was all a blessing in disguise because we got to take the 3 hour bus ride in the daylight -- and it was beautiful! AND we saw wild flamingos!

(We left the bus station in Punto Arenas at around 10:30am. The couple in front of us leaned their chairs all the way back and made kissy noises most of the way until they finally fell asleep.)

(But then we drove on a highway that ran right alongside the Straight of Magellan. This is a photo out of the bus -- with the "Emergency Exit" letters on the window. )

For those whose grade school history is a little fuzzy, (as mine was), the Straight of Magellan is the route that Magellan discovered to cut off the very southern tip of the continent to save some time going around it. Now we have the Panama Canal instead. This whole region of Chile and parts of Argentina are full of fjords -- often you have to take ferries to get to other parts. Every Chilean in Santiago and Valparaiso who we told where we were headed exclaimed to us how beautiful it is in the south. Pampas, lakes and jagged snowcapped mountains as far as the eye can see.

(Me and my new best friend. She's only 4 months old and has no name yet. She's the Hostel cat at the hostel called "Erratic Rock" that we are staying in -- started by a friend of Elizabeth's. Awesome place to stay! Pretty much everyone staying there is about to head in to trek in the Park or just came back from it. Except for my new best friend. She just chases your shoelaces as you walk around the hostel all day long.)

We met up with Elizabeth and Marty yesterday, went out for drinks at a local brewery, and started to plan our 10 day backcountry trip through what is known as "the circuit" in Torres del Paine. They are halfway through their 1 year odyssey through India, Southeast Asia, and now South America, before they head back to San Francisco.

(Here we are in the final stages of planning our food for 10 days. Uggh. That's around 60 pounds of food! The circut has some refugios in it (like huts) that you can buy food it is *very* expensive and not good, so we're only eating a couple of meals at those.)

(Ahhh. After a grueling day of doing nothing but running around finding food, getting last minute supplies, packing our bags for the next 10 days, we finally got to eat at around 10:30pm.)

Tomorrow head out out on a 7:30am bus that takes 2 or 3 hours to get to the park. Then we ease into things with a fairly easy 5 hour hike. The first 4 days of our trip are along "the W" which is a very popular and heavily travelled trail. Then we head up and around the back of the amazing mountains where things will be a lot quieter.

It's whipping wind outside and it's been raining for part of the day every day. We've got rain gear, multiple pairs of long underwear, and plenty of hot cocoa. Wish us luck!

We plan to arrive back here at the Erratic Rock hostel later in the day on Thursday the 18th. We'll stay here two nights and then plan our next steps up through Argentina. Think sunny and warm thoughts for us!

-- Blake