Is there anybody out there?

I have not written for close to a month and I have spent the past hour pondering why that is.  I have come to one conclusion; I know my time is up.  I don’t want to go back to what I left.  There is no hope for me back in the US and I won’t last long the way things go.  There is another world here that I am becoming accustomed to.  Surrounded by friends, nature, and an endless trout rich paradise I have a short list of reasons of why I would want to go back.  The biggest, and unfortunately the most important, is money.  It is a shame that we live our whole lives trying to amass a fortune or pay a debt without ever attempting to change the system that has drowned a culture and is now invading others.  America… it is no longer my dream.  I may be 40 years old and eating my words but today, as it has been ever since I wrote on this diary, is all that matters.

If today is all we see than tomorrow seems to me just an illusion.

Why then am I writing again now?  Well… there is one reason why I write now.  A dream finally came true and I don’t mean a day-dream.  Before I left I had the same dream about 3 times where I finally reach the Andes and I fell to my knees before it’s beauty.  That moment never came when I first reached Patagonia and now I know why.  The dream was not at the beginning of the trip but towards the end.  After battling 30 mph winds, frost, snow, rain, fog, and freezing cold water, I finally found it.  After a 2 hour hike (about 12km) and endless hours of fishing I just turned around and there it was.  It had been two of the sunniest days in the area all autumn and there was a storm holding over the continental divide all morning.  Around 5 pm the storm started to break trail and make its way over to the Atlantic watershed.  I had stashed my camera and my backpack under a tree about a kilometer back to explore some deeper water downstream.  Alone I walked until I peered to the west.  I stopped and fell.  Without thinking about it I fell into a deja vu like trance.  I looked at my hands and felt my lungs taking in air.  From top to bottom I could see the face of god in front of me.  Tranquil chaos is what I saw.  A heavy, strong storm with blue bird skies above it.  A clear, clean river roaring below and one thing I didn’t expect, the famous Patagonian steppe to the east.  Here are the photos.  If I write again it is because I am continuing with my journey.  If a month passes and I do not write it is because I have ditched my flight back and I have decided to stay away… just fishing.

Thank you

Steppe

A little more like South-West