Two months in Patagonia.
and a whole host of updates plus my closing thoughts!
Well, I have made it home back to the United States! The wild adventure is over, but not until after two very full months of traveling all over Patagonia, which only grew on me as I went. These past few months have been crazy full of travel and fun and chaos, (sometimes a bit too much!), but being back home, I am left with such gratitude for my entire time in Argentina and to say I miss it is a huge understatement. So let’s jump in!
More frisbee, you say?
Just days after moving in to my new home in Bariloche, I turned right back around and headed to Paraná for Argentina’s Ultimate Frisbee nationals as part of the Córdoba squad. Unfortunately, I had booked my bus ticket there for the wrong day, so instead of a leisurely ride from Córdoba, I had to Amazing Race-style sprint to the airport to rent a massive truck (the only automatic car available) and drive the six hours myself, barely making it in time for the game against the Rosario squad I had been training with most of the winter. But we won, and the rest of the tournament was a blast, even though Rosario came back to beat us, landing us 7th place overall.
One highlight, which made the bus mistake worthwhile, was driving home with my teammate Eloy who is Venezuelan and help found the Córdoba frisbee team when he arrived to Argentina back in high school. It was so cool to hear that bit of history straight from the source, and I am so proud and grateful to have had the opportunity to play with him and so many other welcoming teammates.
Patagonia: Chatwin in one hand, iPhone in the other
Being home now, I can safely say that I am all traveled out after two months of nonstop movement and wonderful (but exhausting) visits from friends and family to Patagonia. The region truly swept me off my feet—at first, I was hugely intimidated by the imposing mountains and barren landscape. I can’t say I ever truly got used to the lack of vegetation or the cold, harsh wind, but living in and visiting Patagonia was a profound experience to push myself outside of my comfort zone and be humbled again and again by nature. To welcome you to experience it with me, here is a song called Mari Mari, a common greeting in native Mapuche language Mapudungun, performed on a lovely tourist train ride from Esquel to Nahuelpan.
Some highlights:
Trekking on the massive Perito Moreno glacier, exploring Chilean Patagonia, and seeing penguins in Ushuaia, the southernmost city in the world, with my dad.
Welcoming friends from near and far to my temporary home in Bariloche where we ate good food, drank craft beer, hiked and relaxed with Milo, Nino, Lupe, and Marty McFly, the two cats and two dogs living at my house.
Booking a last-minute detour to El Chaltén to hike to the base of Fitz Roy, the mountain much-famed by its presence on the Patagonia outdoor brand’s logo. This was my first-ever fully solo trip and my favorite hike in all of Patagonia!
The W trek, a weeklong backpacking trip I got to do with friends, which included some of the most impressive views I’ve ever seen, an icy-cold kayaking adventure, and much-needed quality friend time.
Kayaking with sea lions in Puerto Madryn, the most unexpectedly beautiful, relaxing seaside town where I got to spend almost a whole week exploring and chilling to end out my grant.
My final day in Argentina spent in the historic neighborhood of San Telmo gallery hopping with old friends and new!
But wait, there’s more!
And yes, I did manage to get some research in during this time, traveling with fellow Fulbright researcher Erin to the 42nd parallel, called the Comarca Andina, to learn about recent wildfires near the town of El Bolsón and to Esquel to present at a conference alongside other researchers and industry experts. I owe many thanks to the organizers and participants who helped me get up to speed on their fire situation in under a week, and who welcomed me with open arms!
The most fun part of this trip, however, was my unexpected stop in the small town of Cholila, which was such an apt ending to my time in Argentina because of how it all went down:
After chatting up Ailin, a fellow presenter at the conference on Thursday, she extended an open invite to show me around her hometown, which I didn’t expect to take up, seeing as I had just two weeks left in the country. But as I was on my way back to Bariloche passing by the turnoff to the town, I realized now may be my only chance to ever go there, and I didn’t want to miss it.
So I made the bold (for me) decision to just get off the bus and hope it all would work out. I sent her a message asking if tomorrow would work to meet up, and to my surprise, she agreed! So after an unexpected night in a lovely hostel, she picked me up at the bus station the next morning and spent all day with me, taking me around to various interviews, including to meet a high school classmate of hers who is now the fire chief. Another friend of hers is a business leader in the community, Tuni, who invited me to his daughter’s birthday asado that afternoon.
So there I was, mere hours after changing my plans, in Tuni’s kitchen and sharing food and drinks with his family in a stunning lupine-filled valley under Patagonia’s most imposing peaks listening to classic Argentine rock and swapping emotional stories about fires and life. In that moment I felt so lucky to be there and to be trusted with this work.
And just a week later, I woke up to some hugely exciting news: My article in The Guardian about citizen firefighters I met in Córdoba was finally published! You can read here, if you’d like.
Final thoughts (and one last tune)
These past few months were a LOT, mostly because of a habit I have of always saying yes to opportunities. But saying yes and showing up time and again has been so, so worth it, and I can confidently say I did everything I set out to do on my grant and during my time living abroad, which feels really, really good.
I am especially proud of my ability to adapt, learn, throw away shame, embrace chaos, and push myself to do things even when they felt difficult. I met so many wonderful people who taught me so many important life lessons and found myself well beyond my known limits in Spanish, travel, research, and so many other ways.
Most of all, I know I will never forget the instant trust and kindness I received in Argentina. Connecting so deeply and instantly with strangers in my second language just may be at the top of the list of what I’ll miss the most.
Now that I am back, I am readjusting to the U.S. by enjoying spicy food and the company of family and friends. For now, I am located back in Tahoe while I decide what’s next and am always welcoming visitors, so reach out! Thanks so much for following along, and Happy New Year to everyone.
And because I took more photos that I can even comprehend, here are some bonus pics!
