Chile Part 1: Getting Your Bag to the Bottom of the World

Ask me what I think the hardest part of travel is and I'd answer "logistics". My brother Thomas and I went on a 2 week journey to the southern tip of South America (not quite the bottom of the world, but it makes the title sound so much more dramatic), and logistics were probably our biggest hold-up/concern along the way. That and food. And mosquitoes. But mainly logistics.

Ironically, my brother was a logistics major in college and now works in the transportation industry. As much of a pro as he is at moving things from Point A to Point B, things never go quite as you'd expect when you're traveling in a foreign land. But at the same time, they always seem to find a way of working themselves out just fine.

Saturday, February 22 Thomas and I set out for the Knoxville airport to start our two day journey to Torres del Paine National Park at the bottom of Chile. It is 4,900 miles as the crow flies from Knoxville, TN to Santiago, Chile, our first stop, and another 1,300 miles from Santiago to Punta Arenas up to Torres del Paine. It took us all of 15 miles from our home to the McGhee Tyson airport to encounter our first "logistical" problem. That's 0.12% of the entire trip. You see, I booked our trip as a 3 flight option - flight 1 from Knoxville to Santiago; flight 2, a full 30 hours after arriving in Santiago, from Santiago to Punta Arenas (PA); flight 3 two weeks later from Punta Arenas to Knoxville, TN. However, US Airways viewed this as 2 flights and checked our bags all the way through to PA for our "first flight". They refused to change the destination on the checked baggage tickets, despite acknowledging that we had not booked our flights all the way through to PA. They told us we'd have to spend the day in Santiago with the clothes on our back and hope that our bags were waiting for us a full day + 1/2 later in PA. We could have survived a day with just the clothes on our back, but our biggest concern was "would we have bags waiting on us at our final destination?". After all, it's kind of hard to do a backpacking trip without backpacks.
Well, we've both traveled enough internationally to know that you usually have to take your checked bags through customs upon arriving in a country. So we crossed our fingers and hoped to beat US Airway's oversight by prematurely "stealing" our own bags from customs in Santiago, then checking them again the next day. That and I prayed. Man I prayed for those bags.

Our flights to Santiago were uneventful but that didn't make us any less concerned about our baggage situation. It kind of sucked spending 20+ hours wondering the whole time if you were going to have your gear for the next 2 weeks. But sure enough we get to Santiago, "steal" our bags, and get to our hotel with almost no problems. We both felt rich when we pulled out thousands of Chilean pesos (exchange rate about 550:1), then subsequently felt robbed when we spent over 5,000 on a meal.

Santiago was nice for a day. We left wintry North America and arrived in 90 degree South America in the dead of their summer. My only experience with Latin America being Mexico, where they do NOT wear shorts, I told Thomas we should probably wear our pants. We felt like idiots when every single Chilean we saw had shorts on. It was blazing hot after all. They probably think Americans are strange. But we explored downtown Santiago and climbed a hill that overlooked the entire city.

Plaza de Armas in Santiago, Chile. This was their main square and unfortunately was covered in construction.

We got a chance to walk through a fish market in central Santiago and ate some fresh salmon. One of the best meals I've had in a while.

We took the subway to their business district and felt like we had somehow made it back to America. Very groomed, very modern, not how I had stereo-typed South American at all.

It was a pretty tiring day and we zonked out by 9:30, then slept till about 10 the next day. For me, that's a miracle. Getting 8 hours out of me is a minor miracle in itself, much less 12+. Well we got on our 1:00 flight for Punta Arenas, saw some awesome mountains from our plane ride, and arrived in PA.

Logistical problem #2. They don't speak much English in Chile. Between Thomas and I, we almost make one barely comprehensible idiot in Spanish. That's not a good combo. 

We walk out of the airport and find a taxi that will take us to Punta Arenas city center where we are going to catch a bus to Puerto Natales. Somehow the driver gets the impression we are going to spend the night there (it's about 5:30) and go to Puerto Natales the next day. That's unfortunate because we have no hotel reservation in PA, but do have a hostel reservation that night in PN, which is 3 hours away. Somehow we keep talking to the guy in weak Spanish and he eventually learns that we are trying to get to PN that night. So he starts calling a few different bus lines to figure out which ones still have available seats that night to take us to our destination. Really nice guy. From him we learn that 2 hikers have died in Torres del Paine this year - 1 from a puma attack, another they just couldn't find. The wind is very very strong there, like over 100 KM/hour at times. And that it is very pretty. At least 1 of those 3 is good.

Logistical problem #3. Taxi drops us off at the bus station and I'm pretty sure we got the last 2 tickets of the day to Puerto Natales. We didn't care that the bus was 2 hours later, we were just glad to have a ride to get to our beds for the night. So we dropped our bags off and walked around the city for a few hours. They gave us claim tickets for our bags, so it's all good, right? When we got back to the station, we tried to make sure our bags got onto the bus. We saw 3 of our 4 bags get on, so we assumed the 4th had made it. There was no possible way they could've gotten 3 of our bags, but somehow messed up the 4th. 

You must know where this is going...it was the most stressful 3 hour bus ride ever. We tried to pretend like we weren't concerned and tried joking around with each other. But every conversation had an undertone of concern. I could sense it in my brother, and I think he could sense it in me. 

Sure enough, we arrive around 11:00 at night in Puerto Natales, they unload every single bag from under the bus, and we have 3 of our 4 bags. Thomas just looks at me with his jaw dropped. The missing bag has our tent, our cooking gear, Thomas's sleeping bag and all his clothes. Our 10 days of backpacking are not possible without that bag. 

Thomas immediately grabs the bag boy and hands him our claim ticket. There was no Spanish translation needed to know that we were in trouble and a little frustrated. So he takes us to the bus office inside the station and of course it's locked; it's 11:00 at night after all. About as soon as we think we've watched this trip go down the drain, some guy inside the office opens the door and Thomas's bag is just sitting in the middle of the room, all by itself. I wish this scene could have been video-taped. Our frowns flipped and Thomas rushed in. He told the guy in the office "te amo". He told the guy he loved him. I think it only caused more confusion.

Somehow that bag had made it onto the earlier bus leaving from Punta Arenas (don't get me started on how the other 3 bags made it onto the correct bus but not that one - it made it there, that's all I can ask for) and they just laid it aside when no one claimed it in Puerto Natales. 

So here we are at 11:00 at night, 60 hours after leaving Knoxville, 6,200 miles away and 2 minor freak-outs later, all set to start our trek. I prayed a lot during those 60 hours. I prayed that our bags would get to where they needed to be. Part of me really trusted God that they would get there alright, even when it looked pretty grim. But unfortunately the very human part of me spent a lot of time worrying when I couldn't control every second of our bags' journey when they were not physically attached to us. O ye of little faith.

To talk about these 2 weeks in Chile, I'm going to have to break this up into 3 parts. But I'll leave you with a few cool pictures of the town of Puerto Natales, the "base camp" town for Torres. All the transportation to the park and a ton of gear shops in this little windswept town. It was in the middle of their summer, when it is almost unbearably hot here in Tennessee, and I couldn't walk down the street without a winter jacket on. Even when the sun came out, wind gusts would come along and make it chilly all of a sudden. Don't know how the residents do it, but glad they are there to make this trip possible for everyone else.

Some Concluding Thoughts

Through 8,500 miles, 2 oil changes, 80+ miles hiked, countless hours spent alone and thinking, I could say so much about this past month. In some ways it might seem like it was all about the places I went and saw. I feel like an advocate for travel, the outdoors, for America. I've posted way too many pictures - my hope was not necessarily to show off "look what I'm doing", but to inspire others to get out there and try new things. To go where the road has not led you before. I'm inspired by pictures this way, so I try to give back accordingly. The pictures speak for themselves, so go see things!

However, the biggest thing I take away is the time spent with people. These times by far brought me the most joy. The time spent alone was great, and probably much needed. Time used to step away from my circumstances and realize the abundant blessings in my life, time to refocus and realign the path I'm on, time spent to ponder God's mysterious creation, time spent to ponder God's words. These were all great, but experiencing them alone was not where I felt the fullest. The alone days were not what I would consider my favorite moments of the trip. Although I would not trade them for anything, I think they offered a great contrast.
My time spent with people - my brother, friends in different cities, even strangers turned friends - was rich. Full of laughter, accomplishing things together, bonding, sharing stories. Comparing that to the alone journeys makes you realize how much less fulfilling alone is. When I left California, after being surrounded by 10 people for a whole week, it was really hard to hit the road again knowing I'd be by myself for the next 4 days. That to me says "work at those relationships at all costs".

Now hopefully this can be applied to living in Knoxville. Just like most people, I'm tied into multiple communities of people throughout weekly life - whether it be friends, coworkers, church groups, etc. So its time to give to those groups abundantly, whether it be time or efforts or whatever else, knowing the fruit of those relationships will be way better than going it alone.

Desert Places

It turns out there is something to be feared more than a storm on the prairie - a storm in the desert. Not only are the rain and lightning significantly stronger, they throw in swirling dust and tumbleweeds. I was driving along I-10 through New Mexico and I began seeing some signs I had never seen before. "Caution: Zero Visibility is Possible"; "Caution: Strong Crosswinds Area"'; "Caution: Dust Storms Next 10 Miles". They seemed interesting, but I didn't make much of them until I encountered what they were warning about. Once the dark sky on the horizon touched the road right in front of me, it was all a mess. The temperature dropped 30 degrees in under 2 minutes (no exaggeration). Dirt kicked up everywhere, the rain made me stop in the middle of the interstate (so did everyone else), and once I actually got going at about 20 MPH, I thought animals were running right by me as I saw dark objects flying by in the rain. I later figured out they were actually tumbleweeds. I managed to take this picture right as I was slowing down before I ran into the storm. That's rain and dust down there.

But I also confirmed some other thoughts about the desert. 1) It is remarkable in its own right, but I could never live there; 2) It is wild, maybe even vicious; 3) Of any geography, I think it offers the best sunsets. Better than over water, mountains, or the plains, the desert sunset is remarkable. I had to watch most of the sunset through my rearview mirrors as I was driving east, but it is something to behold. This is just a photo I took with my iPhone while stopping to get gas (I was too lazy to put my camera together), but every desert sunset I've seen is like this or better.

I started my drive through the desert on my way out of California on Tuesday afternoon. Drove all the way to Phoenix that night, where at 10 PM it was still over 100 degrees, and when I left at about 9 AM it was already over 100 degrees. Then from Phoenix I took I-10 through Tucson and El Paso. I wanted to take I-10 to see Saguaro National Park, which is just outside Tucson. I have to visit all the national parks after all. Although it was cool to see some of the giant cactus, this may be the only time I intentionally make a stop here...

So the desert is all-encompassing in some ways. Terrible, frightening, and powerful, but with its own beauty. Spending a little over 2 days driving through the desert, I can't help but think of Israel and their plight in the desert. I've grown to identify with Israel so much through my twenties - 40 years of wandering. At least that's what it feels like sometimes. The constant rebelling against God, things turn bad, asking "where are you God??", and then deliverance. I began reading a book recently and liked a line that read something like, "God never promised absence of trouble, but he does promise deliverance from trouble." Just like Israel, although you wander, there is a promised land.
It's difficult to go back and look at these personal deserts, but also much remarkable in their own right. Remarkable to see the things I've learned and ways I've grown in only 28 short years. Lessons that would not have been learned walking through fields of green. And that's one of the purposes of personal deserts - they are a training and testing ground for the times in better places. Where was Jesus led to in the temptation of Jesus? The desert (Luke 4). The desert reveals what we're really made of. Are you willing to give in to the harsh conditions and die of thirst/starvation, or you going to fight through to see greener fields? What is guiding you through the desert? Your own strength or something greater? I'll be the first to admit, I've tried the desert on my own strength. It resulted in such a severe fight against apathy that I nearly lost sight of any promised land. Or I just didn't care if there was a promised land. That's dangerous territory. But opening frequently this Book and the one word bookmark never would allow a complete apathy takeover.

Much like the physical desert - vicious and harsh, yet beautiful.
Through discouragement in the midst deserts, I've found encouragement in a few places. For anyone else that could use it, here are some of my favorites:
-read the story of Israel. It's such a testimony to God's faithfulness even when we are faithless
-Deuteronomy 8 - I try to read this at least once a week
-Joel 2:25-27
-Isaiah 45:2-5, with the emphasis on "treasures of darkness" and "riches stored in secret places".

I know these are all Old Testament, but it is in the Bible nonetheless. It is God speaking to His people. And are we not His people as well?

Although the desert is harsh, it produces previously unrevealed character.

So that's my preaching for the day. I would never wish the desert upon anyone, but if and when it does come, stay focused on the promised land.

From the desert I got a brief respite from the heat and dust by finding Carlsbad Caverns National Park. Carlsbad itself is a dump of a town, lots of heavy industry and mining. But there is an incredibly cool and GIGANTIC natural cave just outside the town. I spent about 2 hours wandering around in the damp, cool dark a few hundred feet below ground. It seemed like I could actually feel the pigment leaving my skin while underground. All that hard work in the California sun gone to waste!
But it was still an awesome experience. I had not been in this big of a cave since I was a little kid. I tried to take some pictures, but the lighting was often difficult.

Cave Entrance - its about an 800 foot descent into the cave floor

Crystal clear water surrounded these formations and offered some awesome reflections

This was called the "Whatle's Mouth"

This area was called the "Boneyard"

Stalactites and Stalagmites

As you can tell from the number of pictures I've put up, I was fascinated by this place. It felt like I was in a sci-fi movie. I kept waiting for aliens or Darth Vadar to pop out from behind one of these crazy formations.
At the end of all this, I hiked back up out of the cave. Most people took the elevators back out, but something about me just won't do that. It was 58 degrees and there I am sweating my butt off in a tanktop working my way up. It was funny to see people's faces who were walking down as I was going up. Several of them said things like "congratulations" or "you're almost there". I may have even heard one "you're crazy".

Ultimately, it was a really cool experience, and I would recommend to anyone next time you're in the Carlsbad area.

After hiking out of Planet X, I hit the road for Dallas, my hotel spot for the night. Not a whole of driving or scenery left after that, so look for some concluding thoughts and comments here soon.

Leaving the West

I've already made my way into the Arizona desert. I spent the last night just a little west of Phoenix, about as far as I could make it before getting too tired. I mean, I did absolutely nothing the past week, the endurance is not quite there yet.

It's funny how I can already look back and see the change of thoughts and emotions over the course of the trip. At first, it was kind of tough (although also very exciting) leaving Knoxville knowing it would be a whole month before I got back. It was hard to let go just as I had gotten comfortable there. Part of that was a feeling of lost control. I wouldn't be able to control anything back home - my yard, my home, whether or not I got included on the group text of what's going on that evening, activity with my family. You almost wonder if you'll be an afterthought (I don't say this to try to draw sympathy or consolation from anyone, just saying these are the natural thought processes) once you get back. But that's where giving those things up to God makes all the difference. I feel like I did that, decided I can't control any of those things back home so why even give them too much consideration. That and knowing I'm returning to something better, whether it's internal or circumstantial, gave me much peace.

Well, I think I got so good at giving those things up that I'm almost nervous to return home. As I began my drive home yesterday, I started thinking about some things at home and my stomach started to knot up. Responsibility. Social dynamics. Work. Geez, I haven't had those things in almost a month.

So what does that say to me? That we're adaptable. One summer in college I lived in Nashville for an internship. My first week or two, I was so homesick. By the end of the summer, I didn't want to come back to Knoxville. About a year ago, I had pretty much made up my mind that I was going to move to Portland - I thought I badly needed a change in scenery. It was hard giving up my hopes to remain in Knoxville, but I finally became ok with it. Then, a few months later, discussions of my new job came up. At that point, it was hard letting go of the decision to move - it was a done decision in my mind. All this to say, I've learned emotion and mindset can be powerful forces in the human experience. Through these experiences, I've learned its best to keep focused on the only constant, Christ. It makes all these other gyrations a little easier to maneuver. I always like to look to one of my favorite verses in these instances - Psalm 16:8 - "I have set the Lord always before me; because He is at my right hand, I will not be shaken".

I spent the last week with some good friends from Knoxville and their extended family in the Orange County area. We spent almost every day at the beach, eating great food, and laughing. Perfect timing for me. After wearing myself out for 3 straight weeks hiking, driving, and trying to think too hard, sitting in a lawn chair and bodysurfing (folks back home - Gulf and Atlantic waves are nothing like out here in the Pacific, at times I thought I would be broken in 2), eating like a king, and good fellowship were the perfect cap to a month away from home.

Plus, when it looks like this, it almost makes you wonder why you live in rainy Knoxville...

It probably looks weird that I crashed someone else's family vacation for a few days. But I guess I'm kind of the older, weird, single Uncle to these guys.

One of the funniest things from the week was my before and after. When I arrived, I had not shaved in a little over 3 weeks and not cut my hair in probably about 3 months. I had never met in person the California part of the family. They probably thought, "what kind of a person are we letting into our home?". Fortunately they were more than gracious. But it turned out one of my California hosts was an incredibly professional hair cutter (I'm sure there is a better term for that, but I don't know it) and they eventually persuaded me to let her clean me up. (I'm not really sunburnt in the 2nd picture, I think it was just the lighting, but it does look like I had a nuclear sunburn).

This kind of became the joke my last night there. Her husband, my friend's brother, is a preacher, so we joked that I showed up, he shared the gospel with me, and I changed my ways. Not that its about appearance, but it was just kind of funny. It basically does not look like the same person.

As soon as I got into the valley in California, I was already missing my time in Orange County. The new friends, the beautiful beaches, the relaxing atmosphere were almost enough to make me start looking for an apartment. But Knoxville is home, so here I come.

Being a national park geek, I wanted to take a slight detour through Joshua Tree National Park, since it is right off the interstate. I drove up to the north part of the park, cut right through, and hopped right back onto I-10. The trees and landscape almost seem out of this world.

This was really cool to see, but I don't know if I see much reason to make a special trip back. Other than to get a Joshua Tree coffee mug (national park geek has begun collecting national park coffee mugs).

This kind of began my 2 day drive through desert landscape. It's already got me thinking quite a bit about going through the desert, such as Israel. More to come tomorrow from what I think will be Carlsbad, New Mexico. Happy Wednesday people.

NorCal to CenCal to SoCal

As I stare at my blank TV screen here in my Hampton Inn room in Oxnard, CA, I realize that I have not turned on a TV in 3 weeks. What do those black boxes that sit on top of furniture or hang from walls do again???

I've not checked the news even once in 3 weeks. I have no idea if there are any good new songs or movies out. Call if blissful ignorance. 

I was noticing that my eyes are as white and clear as I have ever seen them. The absence of stress. Although I wouldn't say I now declare myself to be carefree for the rest of my life, I do think this short-term period of relative stress freedom has allowed me to see and realize some things that the past few years have not. Those years have not been so stress free. Looking back now, it looks like I couldn't see the forest for the trees.

To have a month like this has been good. I know once I get back, it will be back to many of the cares and considerations of before. But now I feel like I have a little more perspective. Getting away from it all it's a little easier to see the silver lining, and I've seen some great examples of joyful people. All the people I met in Glacier NP. The dude playing the weird horn at the cliff in Crater Lake. The breakfast bar attendant this morning who talked to everyone she could, and seemed to be best friends with everyone who had been at the hotel all week. I was in 2 Corinthians 2/3 yesterday where it talks about us "spreading everywhere the fragrance of the knowledge of him". It made me wonder how often I'm actually spreading the "fragrance" of Christ. I don't know what a lot of these peoples' backgrounds are, but I know I want to be more like them.

And what a great place to start practicing that, no better than Cali, right? What a chill place. I should be a pro by the time I get back home. Sunday afternoon Thomas and I were driving into the Bay area when we hit a lot of traffic. Traffic always stresses me out (probably a good thing I live in a small city where our traffic is nothing). We were trying to get to a little town called Sausalito on the northern peninsula right above SF before heading back into the East Bay to meet up with some friends of mine. We got there a lot later than expected because of the traffic, but as soon as we found a little place to sit down and have a beer, I said to Thomas "I can feel the stress just melting away". We had excellent views of the Bay and San Fran from right where we sat.

Good thing all that stress melted away because it came right back after. I was trying to make it back into the far side of the East Bay area to meet up with Toby and Erika Nichols to get some dinner before getting Thomas onto the BART to the airport. We were a little later than expected, dinner took longer than expected, and Thomas just barely missed his flight. I felt like a turd. He seemed to be pretty forgiving though.
It was really good to catch up with the Nichols though. I got to hear about their ministry and life in Concord. I was kind of hoping I would be the first Knoxvillian to meet baby Nichols who could be here any day. I missed out, but I look forward to meeting her one day in the near future.

So that pretty much sums up my time in NorCal. I stopped by the Golden Gate Bridge on my way out of town on Highway 101. Got a few cool views.

This always make me think of the 90's sitcom "Full House"

From there I headed down the coast on Highway 1, through the beautiful Big Sur area. Unfortunately it was mostly foggy the 2 days I spent driving. Actually, I planned to camp a little south of Monterey, but I drove all the way down there and it was so foggy and late (and expensive, $35 to camp is ridiculous!) that I decided to drive all the way back to Monterey and stay at a dumpy hotel.
Tuesday morning I drove all the way down the coast to just below Santa Barbara. Even though it was foggy about 2/3 of the time, I still saw some amazing views. This has to be one of the world's prettiest drives.

This is Bixby Bridge.

Below is McWay Falls. I've been here before, but I think this is the most scenic waterfall I've ever seen.

Kind of a funny story. I pulled over at one turnout over the cliff and saw a point I could climb down to (pics below). I spent a few minutes about halfway down just sitting and pondering the ocean and views before deciding I wanted to try to get all the way to the end. I got there, but immediately a seagull started dive-bombing me. At first I thought it was just flying a little close. But by its third pass, it was flying only a few feet away from me and making some hideous noises. So I got the point, packed up my stuff quickly and got out of there as fast as I could. I guess I got a little too close to its nest. I had no idea seagulls could be so harsh.

But I did get this picture from the seagull lair.

Spot where I ate some lunch

The only other noteworthy thing from Tuesday was the elephant seals. I was driving and saw a sign for "elephant seal viewpoint". I thought it was some gimmick, but pulled over anyway. Then I saw a ton of these fat, lazy, smelly and kind of ugly seals laying around on the beach. It was still pretty cool to see though.

Adults - not that attractive

Baby seal - these were alright - it looks like it is practicing its swim strokes

A whole beach full of them

Beautiful coastline

From here Highway 1 turns inland a little bit. I know "CenCal" is not a real term, but that is the phrase I will use to describe the central part of the state's Highway 1, which was mostly farmland. Once I got back to the coast, it was beautiful again. I got out in Santa Barbara, a great city where all the buildings have been kept in traditional Spanish architecture and design, and went to their farmers' market and got a pie...

I also saw some of the coast there. I remembered from visiting in 7th grade that there were a ton of very tall palm trees all along the beach. Well, they're still there. Santa Barbara is a cool little city that I wish I could've spent more time in. I guess that just means I'll have to come back one day...

Now I'm about to take off for San Diego to stay with the extended Wenger clan. This is the portion of the trip where I finally stop driving so much, take a little time to do nothing but sit on the beach and read/relax, and hopefully get it all out my system before heading home.

I'll update ya'll from San Diego.