Green Acres

Welp, i hopped on a bus and got out of town this Saturday! I didn't really know what i was in for when i purchased my ticket, but the price was right and anytime spent outside of Punta Arenas is a good time indeed! Turns out i bought a ticket for an ecotour on the Isla Riesco about two hours NW of town.

What's an ecotour you ask? Well mine involved a bus ride to a working estancia (spanish for ranch or farm!) outside of town, lectures about the local flora and fauna, a guided tour of the trees on the ranch, a demonstration on how to sheer wool, as well as a sack lunch picnic on the ranch. Probably the coolest part of the whole experience was that this was not a very touristy trip to make. The entire tour was presented in Spanish and i was one of only three gringos on the entire bus! While it may not have been the most exciting way to spend a Saturday, it was a great way to get out of town and to really soak up some local culture.

Also worth nothing, owning a farm has been bumped up much higher on my things-to-do-in-life list. I'm not really interested in own animals, so maybe i should say i want to own and work a decently large garden and orchard.

Gotta Travel On

Welp, it's been a while since i've written a meaningful blog entry. And it's actually going to probably be a little while longer before i write another, because there just isn't that much going on right now. The race is over and we're tying together loose ends at the office getting everything cleaned up and taken care of. I feel very fortunate to have been able to provide cartographic solutions and work the race, but five months in Punta Arenas is getting to be a bit old. I am ready to start traveling north and preparing for my return to the U.S.

My tentative travel plans for my remaining time in South America are as follows: two and a half more weeks in Punta Areans -> Bus to Puerto Natales for the night -> Bus to Calafate, Argentina to see Perito Moreno Glacier and spend the night -> Bus to El Chalten (the trekking capital of Argentina!) for a week or two to hike everything there is to hike and celebrate their annual trekking festival -> bus to Pucon, Chile to visit my host family from this past October and kick around some -> Bus to Santiago to visit Vina Del Mar, Valparaiso, and wait to fly back to the U.S. April 18th -> See my Sister, Mom, and Charlotte Grace!

Language Lesson of the Day: That silly wind will soon begin and I'll be on my way going home to stay, going home to stay. That silly wind will soon begin and I'll be on my way, and I feel like I just want to travel on. Done laid around, done stayed around this old town too long and it seems like I've got to travel on. Say it with me now! Ese viento tonto pronto comenzará y voy a viajar. Volviendo a casa para quedarse, volviendo a casa para quedarse. Ese viento tonto pronto comenzará y voy a viajar, y yo siento que sólo quieren viajar. He dormido y he estado en esta antigua ciudad para demasiado tiempo y parece tengo que viajar.

Remember the Mountain Bed

Welp, i found Stjepan's pictures from the second leg of the route exploration. Here are a few i thought were worth sharing. Hope you enjoy!

Disclaimer: This is a photo heavy post! I figured one photo for each day should do it...

The Update

Welp, i've been back in Punta Arenas for a while now and the race is officially coming to a close. Team Adidas Terrex was the first team to finish the abbreviated race course (shortened due to extreme weather! and in my opinion extreme gnarliness, but shhh! you did not hear that from me...) for the three peat. Congrats guys.

I will say this regarding the race; It was even more crazy than i ever imagined it could be. That's saying something.

I ended up only working check point 5 because my health did not recover as quickly as i reported it did and my sickness was lingering. It may have had something to do with the nine hours of sleep i got for a total of three days, but so it goes. All in the name of the race, right? I am happy to report i only have a sniffly nose now and my fever has been gone for almost four days now. Here are a few pictures from my "office" at cp5. I felt incredibly fortunate to experience two consecutive days of sunshine while out on the course. That is practically unheard of...

The Goin' Gets Tough from the Getgo

Welp sports fans, with the start of the race a mere day away, i can finally share with you the maps Lee and i have been working on for the past several months! Each team of racers receives a pack of 17 maps featureing an index map overviewing the race route in its entirety, and 16 large scale maps used for navigational purposes.

This years race format will be as follows: Bike 60km -> Kayak 47km -> Hike 73km -> Kayak 58km -> Hike 191 km -> Bike 188km for a grand total of 617 km!

This is the index map detailing the race route in its entirety. It features the start, the finish, everything in between including mandatory race check points, transitions between race disciplines, and then some! The scale is 1:750,000 and the map is projected in UTM zone 19.


And so as not to make this redundant i will share maps featuring the check points i will be responsible for guiding camera crews around - check point 5 and 10. The maps are a 1:50,000 scale with 20 meter contour intervals derived from NASA SRTM imagery.

A unique problem we faced in creating the orienteering maps was keeping the meridians running perfectly north south, and keeping the parallels perpendicular to those, all the while minimizing perceived distortion in the landscape. To do this, Lee and I created custom map projections for each of the large scale maps.


Worth noting: I feel super fortunate to be working around check points 5 and 10 as they are , in my opinion, two of the most scenic check points in the race. Check point 5, named Paso Profundo or the Deep Pass, sits high above a beautiful valley surrounded by waterfalls and mountains with some pretty severe relief. Check point 10, named Mirador Fiorodos or View point of the Fjords, situated high above a beautiful, glacially sculpted valley lends itself to an amazing vista of Estero Obstrucion, Ensenada Rodgriguez, Estero Excelsior, and numerous glacial lakes. And that´s pretty much that. Feels good to be done, feels better to be heading out into the field again! Have a great week everyone!

It's Gonna Be Alright

Welp, about 12 hrs after i made my last post my health took a turn towards improvement and i was on the road to recovery! As of now, my fever has been gone for almost 24 hrs and it looks like all is well. Thanks for all the well wishing everyone!

Worth mentioning, when i told my parents i was feeling under the weather, they urged me to go see a doctor. Now, i am not really one to seek out medical advice when i have a been suffereing a fever and body aches for a mere two or three days. If symptoms get more serious or last longer than a week i will seek medical attention, but otherwise i just let my body handle it and do its thing. So ANYWAYS. My parents are both urging me to go see a doctor. My mother mentions that i could have contacted bacterial meningitis from drinking unfiltered water during my most recent outing into the woods. I am thankful to say i do not have meningitis and would like thank my mother for scaring the shit out of me.

Hope everyone has a good day!

In My Time of Dying

Welp, it was only a matter of time before all my hard livin' caught up with me. I am sick abroad. And what a terrible time to be sick! The race is less than a week away, the office is a mess of people rushing around frantically to get everything ready, and i am lying on the couch, wearing my slippers and PJs, with a thermometer stuck in my mouth.

So far my recipe for recovery is as follows: Lots of rest, lots of fluids, lots of B12, vitamin C & D, ibuprofen, and grapefruit/strawberry/bananer smoothies.

Wish me well, blog followers!

Language Lesson of the Day: My symptoms include a mild fever, body aches, headaches, joint pain, night sweats, and general weakness. Say it with me now! Mis síntomas incluyen fiebre leve, dolores cuerpo, dolores de cabeza, dolor en las articulaciones, sudoración nocturna, y debilidad general.