Phase 3: Post-program Patagonia

To say that I am now in the ¨post-program¨ portion of my trip is partially true, but I still feel like I´m keeping to some kind of ¨program,¨ even if it´s just my own. That´s just the way I work, I figure. Like it or not, it´s what I´m most comfortable with: having some kind schedule, timeframe, etc, however flexible they might be. I have been weighing my options. While exploring the beauty of the place I´m in (like above, on Isla Victoria where Olivia and I arrived by boat after crossing the lake), I have had the chance to do a lot of thinking about where I might be headed next. Conclusion: I still don´t know. But I do think I know one thing maybe a little bit more clearly than before--I want to be doing something... in particular. Not one thing, I´ve realized, though, or even following one main trajectory...What I know about it isn´t so much what it is going to be, look like, be called...so much as feel like. I want to be doing things that make me feel right. Kind of obvious, maybe? Well, maybe, if not obvious then at least something that I´ve been told I should do time and time again by people I respect...but I guess before I just wasn´t so sure exactly what that meant. If you´re not sure what exactly ¨right¨ is supposed to feel like, then how do you know when whatever you´re doing is? Well, for me at least, I think the answer is ¨you´ll know when it is.¨ And I think I´m getting warmer. As for right now, I´m going to continue following this path and letting a feeling lead me along as much as anything else. I guess I´m just seeing things a little bit differently these days.

For Thanksgiving, Olivia, Pat and I helped to make a large dinner for our host families. It was a really special experience, and I think we all connected a little bit by sharing not only culture but also thanks with one another. Two days later, Olivia was to leave for California. Two days after that, I moved from José´s house into a hostel in the city. Sometimes I´m astonished by the rate at which so much in my life can be changing. I miss them all very much, but here I still am, doing my thing. And I´m doing alright after all.


This past weekend, I went to El Bolsón, two hours to the south of here, for a jazz festival with Pat and James, a new student in town who I met in Buenos Aires. We saw some amazing ¨conjuntos¨ playing traditional jazz and latin jazz variations. The crowd was quite a switch--El Bolsón used to be home to some kind of commune that is still partially active in the community , I´ve heard--and we all enjoyed the change of scenery and music a lot.

Bolsón is also home to a weekly fair in the summer with all kinds of beautiful and interesting crafts. It´s a big tourist draw, and I could see why. We also drank smoothies called ¨licuados¨ and ate tartas all day. mmmmm...

The setting was incredible. In the backgroung, looming over the town, you can see Cerro Piltrikitron. It reminded me a lot of the granite peaks of central Washington. I want to be up there! Luckily, I have been making connections with some local climbers lately and even climbing a bit. Hopefully I will get to go soon! Hooray!

On Sunday morning, there was this gorgeous traditional choir playing and singing in the park. They sounded beautiful. It was not only a real treat, but also pretty moving for me considering the amazing backdrop that set the scene.

I am spending my days with others experiencing this incredible place and learning more than I thought was possible on almost a daily basis. What´s more, the things I´m learning aren´t at all like subjects that could ever be taught in an academic course (Spanish excluded, of course, and I´m taking in as much as I can of that each day, as well), but Í feel like the things I´m learning are really important in order to live my life like I want to, and to do what I need to. I just wasn´t aware that there could be so much more out there, or that to gain access to it I would have to take myself so far from my own zone of comfort, voluntarily and involuntarily. I´m finally feeling like I´ve got my head in the game, anew if not for the first time. And this time I´m definately playing for keeps.