Training Archive: stoneIn the 7 days ending 2007-02-25:
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Saturday Feb 24 | ||
| Running 1:00:00 [3]12 km (5:00 / km) +300m 4:27 / km | |
| I ran up to Cerro San Cristobal one last time on a beautiful morning. It seemed like a cycle had been closed, was almost like my first run here on the first day almost 3 months ago. Except that all the other runners and bikers seem to have gotten faster in the meantime... although, that probably depends on the point of view. But who cares anyway??
It takes a lot for me to get sentimental, but today, taking a break up on the Cerro and enjoying the view over the city on one side, the Andes on the other, with El Plomo (Santiago's Uetliberg, 5400m) standing tall, was one of those moments where I did get sentimental ;-) My stay here has come to an end, and I was thinking about all the things I have had the chance to do and learn, all the great people I've got to know, and getting to enjoy the great hospitality and simply awesome nature that Chile has to offer. And if that weren't enough, learning to speak spanish more or less fluently almost for free. It's hard to say, but of all the many countries I have been to so far, Chile is certainly one, probably even the one, that has left the strongest impression on me. I fell in love with this country (yes, I can be sentimental :-)) And this country really is on a good way, not just in terms of the things mentioned above, but also in terms of the more 'hard-facts', like economy, politics, etc. There is a lot of poverty, and wealth is very unequally distributed, but it seems that the economy is getting stronger (although maybe a bit too much based on the exploitation of natural resources), and politics is quite stable, which is a necessary condition for a country to develop in the long term. Also in terms of corruption, I think they have a pretty good standard here, which is another good sign. That the police really is honest here and shouldn't be bribed, as the traveller guides tell you, I was able to experience first-on when crossing the border to Argentina for the first time. I had forgotten some piece of paper in Santiago that you need to leave the country. After some discussion they let me go, and when I wanted to thank (thank, not bribe) the guy with some cash for a beer or two, he strongly refused. Don't think you'll find that in many other Latin-American countries, and I wonder what a swiss border cop would do in that case. I flew back from Punta Arenas yesterday in the far south, and from the plane I was able to see many of the places I had been to in the previous weeks, with all the memories coming back. Almost every day in the past 3 months has been an experience, all of them being different, and often I liked just going along and letting life lead me instead of the other way around, which resulted in many interesting and almost always pleasant encounters with locals and other people from abroad. Somehow I always felt more comfortable in the more local places than in the touristic ones. The first month in the spanish school was a great experience, I didn't think that you could get to know so many great people in such a short time. And it's a great way to start in a country where so many things are different than at home(although, before coming here I thought it would be much more different). Then there were my attempts to conquer high mountains. So far, none has been successful, but with the experiences gained and with the right people, I will succeed some day. Btw., if anyone wants to join me for something like that in the nearer future, I'd be happy to organize something here. And then finally, the 5 weeks of travelling south, through rainforests, across the sea, mountains and glaciers, getting closer and closer and being more and more attracted to Antarctica. Even though I've seen a lot, there was a lot I had to leave out, originally I also wanted to see more of Argentina. So there's lots of reasons more to come back some day, if possible sooner than later. And in all the time, there weren't many things I have missed from back home. Maybe orienteering and being able to do sports in beautiful nearby and accessible mountains, but apart from that, I can't think of much. Often, it seems to me that life has just started, I feel like there are so many possibilities and there are so many things I want to do in the near and mid-term future, I think I will have to start writing them down so I don't forget ;-) Like doing an arctic expedition, cross the Southern Patagonian Ice field, finish my PhD, learn italian, improve my french, train decently again, learn salsa, etc. etc. etc. The last 3 months have definitely changed and opened my mind in many ways. Just like Jonas Trindler wrote at the end of his trip in the region here (http://www.trjo.ch/viaje), I thought I was open-minded when I came here, but now I think I can say that I have started to become so. There is sooo much more to life than work, train, eat, party, or sleep. Some day, again hopefully sooner than later, I will return to Chile, maybe not only for travelling. I'm sure they need some computer scientists and engineers here... But now, after a stop to meet Andreas Haldi in Atlanta tomorrow, it's time to go back. It will take some weeks to get adjusted to everyday life again, to small-sized and sometimes small-minded Switzerland. But I hope that I will be able to take back home with me in my mind and my heart some of the friendliness of the people here, the immensity of Patagonia, the silence and sunsets on the salt flats in the Atacama desert, and the power of the glaciers. | ||
Tuesday Feb 20 | ||
| Note | |
| still stuck here in Ushuaia, and the weather is really bad so not much to do. Will be glad to get out of here, touristic like San Pedro de Atacama, although here you're ripped off even more, often as a tourist pay 3-5 times as much as Argentinians...
Although, yesterday I visited a museum about the history of the exploration and development of Tierra del Fuego and Antarctica, which was quite interesting, especially the attempts to go to the South Pole or cross Antarctica at the beginning of the last century. One of the failed expeditions and probably the most mindboggling one was that of Shackleton, where their ship got trapped in the ice before even reaching land. Eventually they spent 20months there, including the antarctic winter with no sun at all and temperatures down to -50deg, trying to get out. In the end, Shackleton and some others rowed for 2 months from a small island to another island to get help, only a mere 1000km away, in one of the coldest and stormiest seas with waves up to 10m. Finally, the others got rescued as well, and not a single one of the 30 people died in those 20 months. I don't know how they managed not to starve, much less freeze to death, with the equipment they had in those days. Stories of heroism and real rockers... | ||