Bariloche, March 11, 2000

Hi everyone.

First off, thanks to all of you who are writing to me. I DO read your mail, even though I do not have time to reply to it all. Secondly, all of you who get these mails and don´t really want them spamming up your inbox, just tell me and I´ll take you off the list and won´t be offended, I promise. (And I´ll never send a 500K soundfile again, I promise that as well.)

We´re in Bariloche, Argentina, now. Our plan to head South through Chile was foiled on the island of Chiloe. Tourist season is over, so the highway down from Puerto Montt along the mainland is closed (there are several fjords where a ferry is the only bridge, and they only run in January and February). We took the ferry to Chiloe, hoping to take another ferry back to the mainland at a point further South of the closings in the highway. That ferry, however, only goes on Wednesdays. Our only other option is to head into Argentina and re-enter Chile at a point further South.

Our rides from Santiago have been great. Did I mention that Chile is great hitch hiking country? So far we have not had to wait more than two hours (on long treks, when you´re two people with large backpacks, that´s pretty good). It´s also fun to get into conversations with the people that give us rides. At some time along the way, the subject of Pinochet will come up. We never have to ask about it, it is so present in people´s minds that they can´t comfortably talk for too long without bringing it up. And contrary to what we may think of Pinochet, the Chilean population is split neatly down the middle between his supporters and opposers. Obviously, the ones who have had family members disappear on them or who have spent some time in torture chambers are wanting to see him fry. But many of the others remember the eighties as the good old days when the economy was stable and everyone was happy (and the economy has dropped significantly since Pinochet stepped down).

Yesterday we spent our first real "camping" day, where we were not fishing for rides but fishing for fish. Bryan caught two salmon and a trout, and released them all again. He´s getting understandably eager to start hiking, but I´m still itching to get as far South as I can as soon as possible. There are constant little differences you have to settle when you travel together.

Given the nature of our current plans, this may be the last mailing for another two weeks or so. Then again, I may find an internet cafe in some tourist village in the Patagonian Andes as early as tomorrow night. Don´t know. Sorry this mail is such a short, sprawling mess. I only bought a half hour of time, and most of that was spent deleting junk mail. Must learn to think and write faster...

Marco

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