Watchers

Back at the task of fence building. But you never know who might be watching.

Hola Llama

His name is Gus and we are pals. For some strange llama reason his greeting seems to often involve a good llama sniff behind the ears. No, he doesn't bite or spit. At least not for his friends. But then, you don't want to get on the bad side of Gus, either.

Gus is one of the biggest llamas I have ever known. But then, I have not been on a first-name basis with many large llamas.

Art Department: A Fitting End

Kids, don't try this at home.

Back in Colorado, cleaning out the house. Getting it ready for the next occupant.

Progress is slow. There is too much of an accumulation. The dusty detritus of unfinished projects and readings, the articles that surely someday would be useful. But now I am burning a lot of old documents and other papers. Cleansing, purifying fire, as WGR used to say. The burning is more than the simple elimination of a great deal of old material; it is a means of putting a lot of things - some innocent, some unpleasant, others simply unfortunate - into an irretrieveable past, a state of plausible denial.

But there is the issue of old 3.5-inch floppy disks. Can't burn those, even out here in the woods. Long after these floppies ceased to be a practical storage medium, I still had several hundreds of them with a variety of files that ranged from stupid to sensitive. By sensitive I include developmental reports on things like a ballistic missile system. Stuff that is not formally classified but you don't want the cat to find out.

Many of those disks were related to past work at Lockheed Martin. Some of the files attested to some past unpleasantness, and the generally unwholesome nature of the corporation. There is too much that might be left on old floppies. Time-consuming secure-overwriting is a waste of time for a worthless low-capacity medium that nobody uses anymore. No, I needed something that would put those floppies, and the unfortunate histories that attached to many of them, out of their misery. For this I had the perfect catharsis tool: 7.62mm in caliber, with a special heavy barrel and 12X scope. In its natural environment, it might reach out and touch someone at half a kilometer. But at my impromptu 70 meter range it would put a fast-moving projectile (courtesy of Her Majesty's Ministry of Defence) precisely at the crosshair aim-point, and would render each of several batches of 25 diskettes unreadable junk. And what we get in the tradeoff is.... art.

Which reminds me: the Army wants me back in Korea in August. Stay tuned.

Retrovisor: Catching Up

Catching up on recent fotos, this time shots from the 3 days of sailing on the NAVIMAG RORO ship, the Puerto Edén. As noted in a previous entry, the NAVIMAG vesels are for cargo and cattle, with passenger accommodations being an afterthought, a clip-on. The cattle are in open top/side trucks/trailers on the weatherdeck of the ship, and when the wind is blowing from behind the ship, the smell of cattle ammonia is rather strong.

The Pto Edén is hardly a luxury ship. Food is decent to marginal, but adequate for surviving the trip. The bunks are small and when more than one or two people are in a cabin for four, it feels like a WWII troopship. Well, maybe not quite that bad. Actually I rather like traveling on the Edén. You invariably meet interesting people from all over the world while aboard.

This time the crossing of the open-ocean Golfo de Penas was not as rough as I have seen it at other times. In fact it was easier on me than usual. We usually have winds of 40 mph or greater, and 6 foot rollers. I did not suffer the early stages of seasickness, as I usually do (have yet to urp on one of these crossings, and I have kept from taking the medication). In fact, for the last several hours of the crossing I was able to work on the laptop while lying in bed, something that would normally be impossible for me.

Puerto Montt

Now in Puerto Montt cyber café, after the trip north on the NAVIMAG ship Puerto Eden. Also known as the RORO, the Ferry, and The Cattle Ship. It is all of the above.

On this run I was fortunate to have a window cabin to myself. That was partly due to a friend at the NAVIMAG ticket office in Puerto Natales, but we won't go into that here.

The Puerto Eden is indeed a bit shabby, but the AA cabins had evidently received new bathrooms. Small structures as one expect on a cattle ship retrofitted for the backpacker crowd, but now with newish fixtures, and they all worked. The shower in particular was much appreciated. There was more hot water flow than in most new American homes. And after so long doing bucket showers once a week, I enjoyed every drop of that hot water.

Update, and plates

It was like pulling teeth. It took several expensive trips to Punta Arenas, and to the local Registro Civil and to the Aduana. There were errors upon errors in the documentation. I started the local importation and registration process back in February (it is now 24 April) and this morning I managed to get the last of the 4 sets of plates. One set for the pickup, and one set for each of the KLR650 bikes. "Set" because here motorcycles have both front and rear plates.

It doesn't end with just getting the plates. Now there are the additional measures of the technical inspection, and the obligatory insurance, and a few other items. But at least this major hurdle is done.

Heading out tomorrow on the Navimag ship, northward through the channels to Puerto Montt. Three days on the ship should give me some time to relax and work on the translations for the Chilean Antarctic Institute. I was thinking of loading up the older KLR and heading north on that after at Puerto Montt. The additional charge for a bike on the NAVIMAG ship is about US$155 right now. But in the end, a far simpler and more pedestrian trip seemed to be in order. Perhaps there will be another time. I am already considering an epic trip to crisscross the frontier between Chile and Argentina, visiting all the 25 or so frontier crossings, with photos and details. Perhaps an article. Maybe next year.

Estancia and lodging at Guido

I had passed by the Cerro Guido estancia in the past, on the road to Baguales, but I had never looked into the lodge. The tourism facilities are located a bit above the working part of the estancia and not readily visible. Very nice operation and location.

It must be a very comfortable and pleasant place to visit, and I understand that they now offer local wi-fi via a satellite connection. http://www.cerroguido.cl/lodge.html The order of my fotos is a bit mixed up.

Out of the park

Left Torres del Paine after a pleasant little lunch, sitting inside the Toyota while munching ham and cheese sandwiches. The usual views of the guanacos and surrounding sites.

Raindrops keep falling on my lense

Overnight at the lodge at the area that used to be the estancia headquarters. A rare sunny moment, early in the morning. Cold all day and rainy for much of it. A quick run out to the Gray glacier overlook in the wind and rain - all looking as though it was coming off the Patagonian ice cap. I think the sign warning about not swimming was because of a friend of mine who went skinny dipping there a few years ago. But that is another story.

Toyota Advert, Torres del Paine

On the new old road to Torres del Paine. I liked it better when it was the old 4WD road and I had it all to myself as long as the stock gates were left unlocked. But now that has changed. Now it is the main approach to the park, and a much quicker route from Natales. I stopped here for a late afternoon lunch. The wind is often very strong here, and during the short break it rocked the truck around.

Flamingos

On the way back from Punta Arenas, in a small lake by the highway, there was a group of Chilean flamingos. And while the bulk of the reader population may think of these critters as tropical birds, they are far ranging. I have seen them from the salt lakes high in the Andes in northwestern Argentina, all the way to Tierra del Fuego. I am told that they are found in large numbers around Puerto Natales during the local winter.

View of the day

And then there some fotos of the area around Río Verde and Skyring. There is a 41 km segment from Río Verde with some interesting sights.

The last foto is from Natales, looking toward the glaciers, before heading for Punta Arenas.

To Estancia Perales

Despite the recent cold and rain, it seemed like a good thing to check out some local roads I had not yet visited. For today, that meant a trip to Estancia Perales. I had been there on the boat that takes visitors up the fjord to the glaciers. Today's trip involved a turnoff from the main gravel road to the park, about 3 km past the milodon cave, and then about 20 km of further travel shown in the attached fotos.

South of Punta Arenas

On Tuesday I took the truck south of Punta Arenas, in the direction of the Fuerte Bulnes reconstruction, and further south. I could see snow in the clouds, and the wind blew mercilessly. Pavement quickly gave way to muddy gravel. At a bend in the road I came to what was described as a 19th century cemetery. Further along, there was a three-way fork in the road, and I drove out through an austral beech forest to the reconstructed Fuerte Bulnes site.

Snow

Headed for Punta Arenas on Monday. Snow was down to near sea level and it was sleeting in the port in Puerto Natales. A short distance inland, and intermittently during the run into Punta Arenas, the snow had started to stick.

Monday

More progress on the foundation. We brought back enough cement from Punta Arenas for the perimeter work, and the interior pads can be done later, when more cement makes its way to Natales.

Having installed the trailer at the work site, I have a bit of a workshop and storage vehicle out there. And it has a fine view.

In Patagonian Concrete

Yesterday the foundation, or "sobrecimientos" forms were completed and the first of the concrete was poured. The builder had not accounted for the additional concrete that would be needed because of some earlier issues and so I was told that they would need 10 additional sacks of portland cement. Claudio and I took the Toyota into Natales to try to find the additional cement. We visited every construction materials store and found that there was no cement to be had in Natales. That meant that in order to continue with the project, that I would have to drive the 300 roundtrip miles to and from Punta Arenas.

Claudio would take advantage of the trip to buy doors for the renovation work on the original Casa 7. Then, as I was getting ready to leave, I asked the builder one more time if there was anything else that we should get on this trip. Ah, yes, there was. Pick up 30 cutoff disks for cutting the steeling framing materials. And some more esparragos. Now, esparragos is the word for asparagus, but in building it means threaded rod that will be used for the anchor bolts, that is, the mudsill anchors. It is not the ideal material for these anchor bolts, but the proper J-bolts I need for the job do not appear to be easily found here, south of the Patagonian Ice Cap.

The threaded rod is sold in a mixture of English and metric sizing. You specify the diameter in inches (in this case, half-inch) and the length in metric (I was told to pick up 6 meters' worth, along with nuts and washers). And how many nuts and washers? Oh, about 20. That results in nearly doubling the original bill of materials number I bought the other day. Since I can count all the places that the materials are being used, they don't seem to be disappearing. This event follows another recent replanning event, in which I had to return to the local lumber yard (dismiss any mental pictures you may have of North American lumber yards) where I had to buy one hundred percent more of the packages of boards that were originally specified. These packages appear to be the same stuff that is used for sheep fencing hereabouts but again, nothing seems to be disappearing except into the growing foundation forms forest.

It was a fine warm and nearly cloudless day yesterday, not unlike a summer day. The view along the Sound was splendid. The drive to Punta Arenas was also pleasant, and we accomplished our materials acquisition with little trouble. I certainly don't feel like a local, but I am getting to feel a little more comfortable at the Sodimac, the closest equivalent locally to a big-box store that vaguely resembles a Home Depot.

When I left for Punta Arenas, there was concrete being mixed and poured. It was good to see this progress. The experience has been painful and expensive. But I had been warned. Just as the building of the Black Forest barn had been a good experience to use for application in the building of Casa 7 Bis, so is this job providing useful knowledge for any subsequent work, including possible additional house building projects. Already Claudio has said that he is interested in buying the place I am now building. But that would probably not be anytime soon.

Today, Sunday, it is raining. There will be no more work at the site in this weather.

Dualsport Ride, Torres del Paine

We had put two of the KLRs outside the store today. And all day I had thought about getting away for a ride. It turned out that I forgot to deliver a roll of wire to the building site, so I used one of the KLRs to do that, so that the foundation work could continue. While at the Bories house I found my old Belstaff jacket and some Goretex pants, and that was good enough. By the new road to the site of the old Puente Negro at the edge of Torres del Paine, it is just a little over 100 miles for a round trip, mostly on gravel road. But the gravel is in good shape and relatively smooth in most places. If you are a WFO KLR rider, you can crank it up to over 70 mph or more. But for most of the ride out, I just enjoyed the scenery. On the trip back it was getting cold, so I wicked it up a bit. I was on Cecil's old KLR, with new Gripsters, and it ran like a rocketship.

Progress and sundry fotos

A trip to Punta Arenas for some building materials. And a look while there at a cruise ship in the harbor, and a dormer as a model for the new place in Bories. A look at the Bories building site, across the foundations and down the Sound. The addition of a dormer is under consideration. It would face the northwest, toward the end of Last Hope Sound and the southern end of the ice field.

It was a decent day today, windy and cool but not bad. I rode the bicycle from Natales to the building site. Alas, I am not in the best of condition for bicycle riding, and some adjustments must be made to the seat. But I hope to make this an occasional means of transport and exercise.

Around here

There was one day when there were three ships in the Natales-Bories ports. Good for local business. Weather has been in a general cooling trend but hardly surprising temps for the end of the austral summer. The rain has converted a bit of the building site to mud but it has been good for recovery from the long dry spell earlier.

Catching up

Ooops. I forgot the fotos of the trip to Punta Arenas last week, to pick up the steel material for the new house foundations. The steel material is called cadena, which literally means chain. The builder specified the minium cross section information and the overall length needed. It is not available here in Puerto Natales, which is one of the reasons that construction work here is so expensive -- everything has to be imported, and the gasoline for a roundtrip to Punta Arenas is over US$100 for my Toyota pickup. But besides the materials I needed a mental health trip to Punta Arenas, and this trip included a bypass section through Río Verde. More scenic than the normal stretch. The bottles in the windows were at the Río Verde estancia. Not far from that was the so-called flag tree, not an uncommon sight in these parts, where the strong winds that come from the north/northwest often cause trees to grow like this. That is, if the wind does not just blow them over altogether.

Foundations

Starting to see some tangible progress on Casa 7 Bis. They build things a bit differently here, including the foundations. And the local dogs pitch in, of course.

I inserted a foto from the trip to Punta Arenas last week, to pick up the steel to be used in the "sobrecimientos" - the part of the concrete foundation that is placed on top of the below-grade initial pour. They say that is the way they do it here.

One of the other fotos shows the steel to be used later in the framing and joists.