Going South

Talk about things ‘going south’ …

Exactly one week ago, Sunday Oct 25, we were ‘banging the corners’ outside the Straits of Magellan …. like Sisyphus (the ancient Greek dude doomed to eternally push a boulder up the mountain, only to have it roll down again) we were attempting to get a decent sailing angle to the building wind, which would not cooperate. Try as we might, we just couldn’t ‘get there from here’. The Straits are not much to look at, but deadly. There are more than 2,000 wrecks in this area; multiplied by the number of souls (and this, only the ones we know of) … it is mind-numbing. At least in this 5C (41F) water, you know their deaths would have been swift. We did not, however, want to add to this tally …

So, for nearly a day and a half, as the storm fumed, we were hove to; going in circles with the wind, twisting and turning around and again … and my mind had been doing the same. Never was my plan to leave my world behind. My desire has been to EXPAND my life, not ESCAPE my life , and in doing so, to share with my loved ones these adventures. What joy is there in adventure if I have no-one to share it with? The point, to me (as a journalist, as a writer, as a mother/daughter/friend/lover) was moot.

So ... I am forging a new path … I’m just not quite sure what it is!! But I am well … in my small, simple hotel room in Punta Arenas, Chile (just a smidge up the ratings from a hostel, but with ample heat, hot water - and fantastic water pressure! - and a large soft bed that does not throw itself against a concrete dock every 8 seconds) … where I also have unlimited FREE wireless! So I checked my emails, showered, napped (with the heat cranked), went out for dinner to a nice café just two blocks away (where I had salmon, fries, blueberry mousse AND ordered a bottle of wine, which I’ve brought back to the hotel with me) and will soon curl up in my spacious, non-moving bed, and sleep in warm, spread-out comfort, until I feel like getting up.

Tomorrow I plan to do a little sight-seeing and consolidate my ‘stuff’ into one bag so I can travel more freely. Then … a bus (12 hours) to Ushuaia where I have a place to stay aboard a friend’s boat … then to Buenos Aires (still looking for a place to sofa surf there: ideas?)

So that is my ‘rebound’ plan. Dreams have been dashed and my spirits crushed ... my plans have disappeared like footprints in the sand: here one minute – swept away by an unforeseen wave, the next. But that just means I have a blank slate with which to plan the ongoing saga of the Upside Down Summer.

Much love to all and thanks for your concern and support!!

PHOTOS:

1) And we thought THAT was alot of wind!!

2) The purple line on the left is the northbound track; check out our loop-di-loo on the right

3) Statue of Magellan in downtown Punta Arenas

4) Proof that I am still alive and no longer wearing 3 layers of fleece to bed!