Greetings! This Sunday, July 10, 2022, at 9:00 pm EDT, CNN is starting a six-part series titled, “Patagonia: Life on the Edge of the World.” Turns out that in 2015 Hoyt and I were there. We were Edges on the edge of the world 🙂 in Patagonia as part of a trip that included visits to Easter Island, Chile, Argentina, and Brazil.
When we returned home, I wrote seven blog posts about the trip. The one about Patagonia is #7, copied below.
Just for the record, here are links to the other blog posts:
Parts 1 -6 of our journey:
The Edges in The Wilderness Beyond | Charlene L. Edge (charleneedge.com)
Wilderness Beyond: Part 1- Santiago, Chile. | Charlene L. Edge (charleneedge.com)
Part 2: Wilderness Beyond – Easter Island. | Charlene L. Edge (charleneedge.com)
Part 3: Wilderness Beyond – In Buenos Aires. | Charlene L. Edge (charleneedge.com)
Part 4: Wilderness Beyond – Ushuaia & Cape Horn. | Charlene L. Edge (charleneedge.com)
Part 5: Wilderness Beyond – Glaciers & Whiskey! | Charlene L. Edge (charleneedge.com)
Part 6: Wilderness Beyond – Penguins Galore! | Charlene L. Edge (charleneedge.com)
Enjoy! And thanks for reading.
Your writer on the wing,
Charlene
Part 7: Wilderness Beyond – Patagonia and Its Pushy Wind
Where is Patagonia? Is it a country? A sportswear company? Patagonia IS a company that sells expensive outdoor adventure clothes but it is not a country. It is an area in the southern part of South America that stretches east to west across Chile and Argentina where the wind blusters and wildness rules.
After our cruise aboard the Via Australis ended at the Chilean port of Punta Arenas, we boarded a bus that took us first to the Strait of Magellan (featured photo) and onward into wild Patagonia.
Who has seen the wind?
When I was a kid I heard my mother often recite a poem, Who Has Seen the Wind by Christina Rossetti. It has a special room in my memory, and I entered it most every day while in Patagonia. In that vast territory, it’s not uncommon for gusts approaching 90 mph to whip through the expansive plains.
Torres del Paine park in Patagonia translates as “Blue Towers”
From our guidebook: “Torres del Paine, whose national park was declared a World Biosphere Reserve by UNESCO in 1978, is renowned as one of the most remote, beautiful, and unspoiled places in the world. The landscape is rich and diverse in dramatic geological formations, which combine in several distinct ecosystems, from the wind-bent grasses of the plains to the sheer, frozen cliffs of the Andes [mountains].”
Against the wind
The park is about 935 square miles. Enough space for speeding air to gain momentum and get the upper hand. One day on the highway, a gust of about 80 MPH blasted against the side of the bus throwing debris against the windows. We pulled over. Waited. It was in charge. When it let up, we lumbered on.
Another day, on a hike through the park, I had to stop fast, hunker down with my back against that wind; it nearly knocked me over.
The birds, animals, wildflowers, aquamarine water, towering rock. All of it, monumental.
Recommended reading
Bruce Chatwin’s, In Patagonia. A favorite quote, “Patagonia is the farthest place to which man walked from his place of origins. It is therefore a symbol of his restlessness.” Also: “To lose a passport was the least of one’s worries. To lose a notebook was a catastrophe.” I could not agree more.
The poems of Chilean lyric poet known as, Gabriela Mistral (1889 – 1957), a pseudonym for Lucila Godoy Alcayaga, educator, diplomat, winner of the Nobel Prize for Literature 1945.
The sound and the fury
Imagine howling wind and enter the slideshow by clicking the first photo.
Kathleen Brandt
Great pictures. Thanks Charlene!
Our son signed on as ship’s doctor on cruises to Antarctica a couple of times. He was lyrical about southern South America. It’s on my bucket list! (Not Antarctica, though…. his description of those choppy seas was enough to talk me out of that one.)
Charlene L. Edge
Wow, bet he had a highly unusual time. South America is full of exquisite art, as in Peru, which we experienced in 2011. We’ve been to Ecuador, too, during our Galapagos trip in 2006. Lots of wonderful jewelry! Silver, lots of silver.