Last night was great! I cooked myself a stirfry something just like I would back home and ate with the Australians, had an intense talk about rock climbing and chimi churri sauce with Pato the chef, and then shared some Piscola with Robert the German and this crazy Chileno. We went out to this teeny tiny little local bar with the guys who run our hostel and listened to a local reggae band, which was very fun. But I was very tired!
Today on the other hand was perfectly lovely. I strolled around the village a little, bought some post cards, and then walked over to the lake which is actually an ecology reserve for birds and sat and wrote them out. I was trying to relax and soak in the Patagonian sun the epic panoramic view of Lago Argentino and the Andes mountains but I was dying in the wind! It's harsh. The birds were amazing though. Flocks of wild pink flamingoes hanging out in the teal blue lagoon, flanked by yellow grass against a thin horizon of grey nothingness. It could almost be a mural with the back wall being the blue and white mountains and neon blue sky polka dotted with marshmallow clouds. And all the bird calls! Those trump piropos in the city anyday! So many different sounds and songs!
As I'm treading through the spongy wet marsh a pair of hawks swoops down in front of my face. They weren't afraid of me. They weren't afraid of anything. They live in a nature reserve in Patagonia. What threat could they possibly know out here? That's what stands out to me the most. There is a tangible calm and comfort in the nature, like this world truly is untouched and very well respected. My brochure said that all the plants and animals have different needs such as shelter and food, etc. and that's why there is so much biodiversity because they can all exist in the same habitat witout competing with each other for space and resources in order to survive. What a world they have?! If only in human society, our differences would ensure a peaceful existence rather than antagonize and destroy it.
I've been wondering what it would be like to have been born in El Calafate. How would you see the world as built by man, like a city such as Buenos Aires, if what you'd grown accustomed to and took for granted all your life were these grand scale natural wonders? The colors, the smells, the space, the sounds, all the elements that make you feel what you feel in a certain space and make you know it. Surely anywhere after this would be too busy and claustrophobic compared to here. And wasteful. And futile. Buildings and cars and clothes are so temporary. We, ourselves, are so temporary. These mountains and glaciers have been for a longer time than our transient minds can even grasp, nor are they moved at all by the mere misfortune that we don't grasp them. We don't matter to them, not the other way around. We are the ones that will pass away.
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