story one...(geez, i've been a slacker about this!)

the avalanche.

we had been camping for three days in torres del paine national park in chile. it is probably the most beautiful place i have ever been.

the first day we hiked up to the paine towers, three spectaclar peaks towering above a turquoise-blue lake. The hike was long and the last 45 minutes were up a boulder field - scrambling and attempting not to twist ankles. (how people did this in sneakers, not hiking boots, is beyond me!). we had a cloudy day, not unusual for patagonia. the notorious patagonian winds were mild, fortunately.

that part of the trip was led by a company called bigfoot. they provided guides, tents, and fantastic food. we arrived back at camp to find 'happy hour' - appetizers and pisco sours (kind of a chilean margarita) - a HUGE spead of great food - home baked bread, cheeses, fruit, nuts...followed by a huge dinner, complete with wine and dessert. i want to camp like this all the time!! i thought i cooked well when i camped, but nothing like this!

the next day we hiked out to the grey glacier. we had another cloudy day, but no rain and mild wind again. of course, we had another great lunch, dinner, snack, dessert. it was a good thing we were hiking 8 hours a day! our final day was the journey out to the french valley and the famous cuernos del paine (horns of paine). we were extremely fortunate to get perfect - absolutely, positively PERFECT weather. patagonian weather is the type where people say 'if you don't like the weather wait 5 minutes'. climbers wait days and days for the weather to clear.

it was another long hike out, but the scenery was spectacular (that word cannot be over-used in describing patagonia). i often hike looking at my feet, in order to avoid tripping. yes, i'm a klutz! but, i sacraficed a few stumbles to gaze at the snowy peaks as i hiked. on one side of the valley we hiked in there were smooth granite walls, and on the other snowy peaks. as we neared paine grande we could hear the avalanches. because of the warm day, we had the opportunity to view some as we ate our lunches. watching, waiting, hearing the start of one...quickly scanning the peaks, looking for it...sometimes they were out of our view, on the other side of the mountain, but you waited...for that 'big one'.

we heard, then saw, the beginnings of one on the right side of the mountain. right away, it was obviously going to be a large one...we scrambled to grab cameras...frantically photographing and then looking with our own eyes...it got bigger and bigger...it was a bit eerie and surreal.

there were a few seconds where i was a bit nervous...we were on the other side of a small valley, one which i could easily imagine filling with snow, causing it to cascade over us. bigger...and bigger...then, poof! the snow dissapated and it was over. i never ever thought i'd be that close to an avalanche that large - and if i ever was, never thought i'd live to tell about it!

these words don't do it justice. the force, the beauty, the magnificance of nature. pictures can't do it justice. it's just a little taste. i wish i could take you all there, show you how awe-inspiring it was.

ohmigod. i guess i knew this would come one day. but i sure as hell did not think it was going to be today. this is sad. very sad. i understand, to the best of my ability, why...but, still. crazy. phish is the reason i got into live music. over 10 years ago. i fear the day i get the same announcement from dmb. :(((((

====================================================
P H I S H U P D A T E
** MAY 25, 2004 **
http://www.phish.com
====================================================


Last Friday night, I got together with Mike, Page and Fish to talk
openly about the strong feelings I've been having that Phish has run its
course and that we should end it now while it's still on a high note.
Once we started talking, it quickly became apparent that the other guys'
feelings, while not all the same as mine, were similar in many ways --
most importantly, that we all love and respect Phish and the Phish
audience far too much to stand by and allow it to drag on beyond the
point of vibrancy and health. We don't want to become caricatures of
ourselves, or worse yet, a nostalgia act. By the end of the meeting, we
realized that after almost twenty-one years together we were faced with
the opportunity to graciously step away in unison, as a group, united in
our friendship and our feelings of gratitude.

So Coventry will be the final Phish show. We are proud and thrilled
that it will be in our home state of Vermont. We're also excited for the
June and August shows, our last tour together. For the sake of clarity,
I should say that this is not like the hiatus, which was our last
attempt to revitalize ourselves. We're done. It's been an amazing and
incredible journey. We thank you all for the love and support that
you've shown us.


-- Trey Anastasio

"nature in these desolate scenes . . . moves us more deeply than in others." - w.h. hudson

patagonia pictures!

finally, here are some pictures from my trip. unfortunately, they're not mine. the CD with my pictures on it was stolen out of my boyfriends bag in mendoza (it was in the luggage compartment of the bus). fortunately, his cousin was able to go back to the internet cafe we downloaded the pictures at and get another copy of the disc (WHEW!) but they're still on their way up here...these are from a guy who was on the trip with me who graciously sent me a CD of his pictures. (and, they're all labeled! woo! i'm always lazy about doing that)

enjoy!

i still have so many stories to tell! soon, i promise!

patagonia links:
PBS
patagonias
GORP

my dad has come to visit me in canada. it's great having him here. but it's also interesting.

we went to niagara falls today, the canadian side. as he was walking back to my car in the parking lot, he was talking on his cell phone. he didn't realize it, but he was walking in the middle of the street. a man in a minivan came up behind him, and tapped his horn to get my dad to move. later, when we were driving away, he said 'he wasn't happy about me walking there...well, he was a foreigner'. huh? hello, dad, one: we are in canada. my car has california plates. his car had ontario plates. meaning: we were more foreign than he was. two: everyone in canada is FROM somewhere, it seems...i've never heard anyone here use that term. plus, when does darker skin make you a foreigner?

he has seven (yup, 7. ridiculous) cars in california. the one he takes on long road trip vacations is a pontiac transport minivan. car looks like a dustbuster. he loves it - it's plastic, so he doesn't get door dings. honestly, the sole reason he still has that car is they don't make them in plastic anymore. god forbid you get a door ding. (he'd never survive with a car in argentina...) in california, land o' the new (bigger, bigger, bigger) car, nobody drives them anymore. here in canada, everyone has them. they're plastic, they don't rust. plus, people in canada seem to hang on to their cars for much longer than in california. he is amazed at how many there are around here...it's a miracle! people keep their cars more than 2 years! on top of that, i told him many houses only have one garage. if that. he'd never survive. i still think one day i will go to visit him and my old bedroom will be turned into the 4th and 5th car garages!

i think some people were just meant to be some places, and he was meant to be a southern californian. i hope i'm finally getting him to understand why i am *not*.

i just started reading bill bryson's 'notes from a big country'. hilarious. funny how different america looks from the outside. even when the outside is just 2 hours over the border. (i always told my family i lived 'just over the border', which i consider two hours to be...when they came to visit they said, 'but i thought you lived 'just over' the border. it's over 100 miles away!'

um, yeah. that's close enough for me!!

dave matthews:
"although there was a surprising large amount of our fans there.
i'm always amazed...
no matter where we go in the world...
that there's a good percentage of the audience that belongs to a fraternity.
surprises me...
i think it's backpackers."

hmm, i think that i'm a member of that fraternity. :) funny, my backpacking friends are the ones who got me into dave matthews band in the first place.

i'm so excited to go bonnaroo...one night of dave, one night of trey, one night of the dead. holy shit, this is my dream! ever since i missed phish and the dead together, and then phish and dmb together, i've kicked myself that i'd never get that opportunity again. couldn't pass up going this year, even if it means that i won't get to go to any other shows this summer.

now if they only all played together....heaven!

mom, it's my birthday! 29...are you sure 30 comes after 29? i don't feel that old!!!

i recently moved (really moved this time - i even unpacked the storage unit. all of my clothes are in my closet, my kitchen stuff is out of boxes...it's very nice. i'm very excited) to a loft here in waterloo. it's in the old seagram's distillery. funny thing: it's in an old distillery, yet it's on father david bauer drive. doesn't that seem odd? they tore down the whole building aside from two walls and rebuilt it, using wood from the old racks that held the barrels for the doors, stairways, etc. it's a great place - never thought i'd live somewhere so hip! plus, there are two dairy queen's within a ten-minute walk from my new place. a two minute walk to the library, downtown, 10 minutes to yoga. couldn't be happier. :) or more broke!

i really dig tom robbins. i'm currently reading 'jitterbug perfume' which i picked up at a book exchange in a hostel in argentina.

our individuality is all, all, that we have. there are those who barter it for security, those who repress it for what they believe is the betterment of the whole society, but blessed in the twinkle of the morning star is the one who nurtures it and rides it, in grace and love and wit, from peculiar station to peculiar station along life's bittersweet route. - jitterbug perfume

life, death and goofiness. all serious writers write about life and death. and so do i. but they ignore the goofiness. and goofiness is 60% to 70% of our lives.

well, i believe life is a zen koan, that is, an unsolvable riddle. but the contemplation of that riddle - even though it cannot be solved - is, in itself, transformative. and if the contemplation is of high enough quality, you can merge with the divine.