To Patagonia

¡Buenas tardes y bienvenidos!

Less than a week from today, I will be both incommunicado and very much so in shock. On the morning of January 17th, I pile onto a bus for a rickety two hour ride just to roll off into Parque Nacional Torres del Paine in the Región de Magallenes, Chile, at the bottom of the planet. Affectionately known as Holy Sweet Mother of Jesus National Park to some, living here will be quite the test--dumping myself in the boonies of a country I've never been to in a language I'd like to think I'm fairly tolerable at for a solid two months of sleeping in a tent whilst traveling solo internationally for the first time in my life. Bring it.

Itinerary of flights ABQ to PUQ, January 15-16

After months of hunting and applications and emails and wire transfers and plans, I will be volunteering with an NGO within the park, Agrupación Medio Ambiental Torres del Paine (AMA Torres del Paine), on a trail maintenance crew for five weeks of the Patagonian summer. AMA is essentially the Torres-specific equivalent of the National Park Service and I will be working with a small team of fellow volunteers from all over the world on a variety of projects, depending on what's needed in the park. Our main tasks include the reparation and clearing of existing trails and bridges, wood-working on signs throughout the park's trail system, expanding the latest recycling and compost program, and teaching visitors and local students Leave No Trace principles. As an additive plus, I get a few days off every eleven days to do whatever I so please in one of the most gorgeous wildernesses of the world. I'm particularly excited to get more backpacking experience in and to meet plenty of other crazy outdoorsfolk in refugios and on the trails.

How did I end up getting myself into this? It honestly started off when I was somewhere around ten years old and saw a National Geographic documentary about pumas in the Torres del Paine National Park, and have had it in my mind ever since. Years later, I was fortunate enough upon admission to Wheaton College to be awarded the Balfour Scholar that includes a stipend for an unpaid venture in the summer following sophomore or junior years. There were plenty of other options I had bouncing around to do in the extra long southern hemisphere summer, but I figured I'd at very least visit while on the continent: why not actually get to know and give back to the park, rather than briefly pass through?

  

51°0′0″S 73°0′0″W

After emerging from the park, hopefully unscathed by puma, I immediately fly from Punta Arenas, Chile, to Buenos Aires for study abroad orientation with IFSA-Butler before moving to Mendoza, Argentina, for the remainder of the semester ending in July. I'll write more about that when the time comes and I rejoin society on February 21st. Fun fact of the day: Punta Arenas is the furthest south capital of any province in the world. Also, I was curious and switched the south coordinate of Torres del Paine to north; this is what happened:

51°0′0″N 73°0′0″W

 I am excited, overwhelmed, and terrified, but I still don't think I realize what madness I have gotten myself into this time and don't think I will until perhaps when I get off the 20 hours of flights. This is one of those times when the mindset I learned from skydiving last summer comes in handy--you're in the plane, all you can do now is jump. Clearly, I won't be jumping out of any of the planes between Albuquerque and Patagonia, but changing my mind really hasn't been an option since August. They say if you're not scared, you're not trying hard enough. If that's the case, I'm trying pretty outrageously hard.

Las Torres Moonlight, photo courtesy Jack Brauer

I am notoriously awful at keeping in touch and shall try my best to update this blog throughout the semester just to keep you all posted on my general life and adventures. I am supposed to have spotty internet access when I'm at la estancia in the park, but I don't expect to have much luck with it and if so, Skype priority #1 is my mother. Still, emails are definitely welcome and I will try my best to respond! Regardless, hearing from you will make my day just as it does no matter where in the world I happen to be. Once in Mendoza, I'll be much more on the map (a mailing address!), so just ask me and I'll let you know of my contact details.

I'll be missing Martin Luther King, Jr. Day, President Obama's second inauguration, the Super Bowl and Über Bowl at my beloved Wheaton Outdoors Haus (Glory!), and several friend's birthdays including my 21st, so I wish all a lovely end of January and beginning of February!

Much love from the bottom of the world,
    Emily

Some links that you may find interesting:
Voluntary Horizons, my contact with AMA
Erratic Rock hostel, collaborator with AMA
The Patagonian Foundation
Puma: Lion of the Andes National Geographic, my inspiration for just $1.43 on VHS!

Wheaton College
Balfour Scholar

Holy Sweet Mother of Jesus National Park blog post*
Argentina on Two Steaks a Day blog post*

 *found by T.K. Baldwin

Photo credits to Jack Brauer, one of my favorite mountain photographers

Torres del Paine Panorama, photo courtesy Jack Brauer