Dear Bridget,
Please forgive my long lack of correspondence. You know me well and so two months straight of pleasant weather and thirteen-hour days should be excuse enough for my virtual absence. Since coming back to Chile in the middle of January I’ve been set on “go.” My mom and a family friend, Sue, came back with me for twelve days to visit Chile. We spent several days in Santiago, eating, shopping, wine touring, museuming, visiting friends, traveling to Valparaiso, sight-seeing, etc. From there we spent several more days in the south hiking, horseback riding, whitewater rafting, and enjoying each other’s company. The two “viejas,” as they called themselves, developed the saying “The best surprise is no surprise,” as a result of the countless surprises we encountered while travelin
g here (charges for excess luggage, a bus that went off the road, drivers that don’t answer their phones and show up late, etc.).
Please forgive my long lack of correspondence. You know me well and so two months straight of pleasant weather and thirteen-hour days should be excuse enough for my virtual absence. Since coming back to Chile in the middle of January I’ve been set on “go.” My mom and a family friend, Sue, came back with me for twelve days to visit Chile. We spent several days in Santiago, eating, shopping, wine touring, museuming, visiting friends, traveling to Valparaiso, sight-seeing, etc. From there we spent several more days in the south hiking, horseback riding, whitewater rafting, and enjoying each other’s company. The two “viejas,” as they called themselves, developed the saying “The best surprise is no surprise,” as a result of the countless surprises we encountered while travelin
g here (charges for excess luggage, a bus that went off the road, drivers that don’t answer their phones and show up late, etc.). They also came to the conclusion that one has to convert not only money in Chile but time as well: 20 Chilean minutes to every 60 clock minutes. This ruling came after we waited over an hour at a restaurant for our food. We placed bets as to whether the potatoes being peeled at a table near ours were for the mashed potatoes that we had ordered twenty minutes earlier. Even after having lived here for nearly a year I didn’t think it could be so. I stood corrected, however, when the cook rushed out and gathered the peeled potatoes and rushed back in, avoiding eye contact with us at all costs, knowing that we could have grown the potatoes faster than his restaurant was serving them.
After a sad goodbye, I went to Palena for a weekend with Fabian to see my first official Chilean Rodeo. It happened to also be the first official Chilean Rodeo in which Fabian was competing. I rendezvoused there with a German chick, Claudia, who I met in December, a curious lass who brought her dog, Monty, with her from Germany to travel the Patagonia by horseback. It was nice to have a female English-speaking companion, made the rodeo experience a bit more enjoyable as
I struggled to learn about the point system and why exactly the horses have to violently pin the cows against the hard wooden corral walls. I’m still not sure I exactly understand or agree with the sport but it has cultural significance and that adds somewhat to its justification, I suppose. Although if one were to dismiss all acts of cruelty against humans and animals due to cultural significance there would be a great deal more suffering in the world.
Moral issues aside, I had a nice time.
I struggled to learn about the point system and why exactly the horses have to violently pin the cows against the hard wooden corral walls. I’m still not sure I exactly understand or agree with the sport but it has cultural significance and that adds somewhat to its justification, I suppose. Although if one were to dismiss all acts of cruelty against humans and animals due to cultural significance there would be a great deal more suffering in the world.Moral issues aside, I had a nice time.
Since then I have been busy working with tourists who have been visiting; I spent a week with the director of the foundation and his family traveling in the area. In Parque Pumalin we met with Douglas Thompkins, world-renown conservationist and owner of the park, to discuss reforestation plans, methods of dealing with the salmon industries and their contamination, and other interesting topics. He’s a legend in the area, for some a role model and for others a rich foreigner who has no business buying so much land in Chile. Meeting him was a highlight for me personally and also an important step in carefully maintaining a positive (but not too close) relationship with him on behalf of Patagonia Sur. He showed us aerial photos of areas that he’s spent years and hundreds of thousands of dollars reforesting and shared tales of two-faced back-stabbing locals who have sold him land in the past.
Ironically, our next step on the trip was a visit to Palena where thousands of acres of mountain forests were burning as a result of intentional burns that became uncontrollable. A valuable mushroom, the morel, grows in soil after fires and so farmers often burn their own property in order to harvest this fungus and export it to Europe. It is frustrating to think of the measures and time it takes to reforest a burned or damaged area and the ease it takes one person to light a match and cause damage for years to come. Apart from the valuable mushroom, fire is also beneficial to farmers for “cleaning” their land to make more pastures for grazing. The ecological value is overlooked or, more often, unknown, and locals destroy that value in hopes
of raising 40 cattle. It is a reality that is sad for world ecology. On the flip side, prices of land are sky-rocketing as the ecological value is being realized and more foreigners are investing in conservation and tourism. This is a reality that is unfortunate for local farmers who can no longer afford to buy their own piece of land and will soon be forced to look elsewhere for work. It is also a reality that will have a positive effect ecologically, thereby preventing more devastating fires and the damaging effects of cattle farming. The best viable option then, for the future of Patagonia and its people, is tourism. If done properly, it both aids in conserving the precious ecology of the area as well as stimulating economic development for locals.
Ironically, our next step on the trip was a visit to Palena where thousands of acres of mountain forests were burning as a result of intentional burns that became uncontrollable. A valuable mushroom, the morel, grows in soil after fires and so farmers often burn their own property in order to harvest this fungus and export it to Europe. It is frustrating to think of the measures and time it takes to reforest a burned or damaged area and the ease it takes one person to light a match and cause damage for years to come. Apart from the valuable mushroom, fire is also beneficial to farmers for “cleaning” their land to make more pastures for grazing. The ecological value is overlooked or, more often, unknown, and locals destroy that value in hopes
of raising 40 cattle. It is a reality that is sad for world ecology. On the flip side, prices of land are sky-rocketing as the ecological value is being realized and more foreigners are investing in conservation and tourism. This is a reality that is unfortunate for local farmers who can no longer afford to buy their own piece of land and will soon be forced to look elsewhere for work. It is also a reality that will have a positive effect ecologically, thereby preventing more devastating fires and the damaging effects of cattle farming. The best viable option then, for the future of Patagonia and its people, is tourism. If done properly, it both aids in conserving the precious ecology of the area as well as stimulating economic development for locals. In keeping with the forest fire topic, after a meeting in Futaleufú with the CONAF workers (Chilean forestry industry) I was invited to accompany the helicopter pilot in during his round to check on the men at work on the ground and to evaluate the state of the forest fires. Talk about amazing. We flew directly over the flames, saw the ground brigades, wove through the billows of smoke, and returned to land on the soccer field of the Futaleufú school.
As you can see, my life since college has taken quite a dramatic turn. If you had told me that I’d be spending my third year in Chile working closely with matters in which I feel personally invested, I don’t think I would have believed you. Yet I wouldn’t have it any other way. Patagonia is a volatile place at this moment in time, its future lying in a tenuous balance between environmentally conscious development of its precious resources and the thoughtless exploiting of those same natural assets. I have grown to love the area tremendously, to have an emotional attachment to its landscape and its people. I consider myself lucky to be able to work not only among these things so dear to my heart but also to work for them and their continued improvement.
Well, what was originally intended to be a brief update has turned into a reflectional rant about my life in Chile. But that’s how I’m doing in a nutshell (a big nutshell!). I hope you’re taking care of Violet Dog and are enjoying all of the things the big city affords that I miss… theater, live music, bookstores, sushi… you get the picture. In the meantime, I'll take a hike in the mountains for you.
Love you and miss you, Nancy
No comments:
Post a Comment