Iguazu Falls

The Iguazu Falls are an interesting place to visit for all those which have been also bored by the Niagra Falls. The Iguazu ("Big Water") Falls are set in a secondary subtropical rainforest and by that itself are much more part of the natural environment. The Brazilian side is more panoramic, the Argentinian more intense. You can reach over to Devil's Throat via gangways and of course it is quite splashing to take a boat at the foot which takes you extremely close to the fall (bring a dry bag for you things). You can reach Iguazu by plane. If Aerolineas Argentina gives their standard announcement that the flight is canceled or delayed because of weather, it might in this case even be true. The clouds can be hanging really low above the rainforest here. And when I broke through, it was just a few hundred feet above it - with patches of fog dense on the forest canopy. Even in detail the vegetation is different from the Amazon, by the landing scene I was reminded of Fizzgeraldo by Werner Herzog.

Iguazu was the last stop before of my five year academic sabbatical. From here it takes 18 hours by bus (because flight canceled due to a volcano eruption) plus 15 hours plus 13 hours flights with no significant break in between. Then applying for a Chinese F-Visa (one of the very few F-Words I use), and finally hitting a bed. Then packing up and moving to Beijing. Life itself can be extreme sport already.

The beginning of this journey is "The End of the World"

What calls itself the end of the world, is the beginning of a journey to the seventh continent. Ushuaia is the world's most Southern urban settlement, which has an Indian history before it was a jail for re-offenders and dangerous prisoners. Today it is a friendly and quiet little place having an existence between the port, a national park and a little airport. The main street is full of souvenir and outdoor gear shops, which are well priced because this is a tax free zone. In the port a bunch of lazy guys hang around which have the monopoly of any work done here and at the gate you have to get off and see the customs from time to time to justify that they get a salary. What is striking is that when you look at the landscape, it looks like the Swiss Alps meet the seaside. When I saw this it was absolutely clear that what ever comes South of here, must be as bizarre as landing on the moon.

Patagonia

"Il n'y a plus que la Patagonie, qui convienne a mon immense tristess ...", writes Blaise Cendrars in Prose du Transsiberien. I wanted to know more about the geography and people, which turned Bruce Chatwin from a journalist into a a fine writer. There, in his book on his journeys down in the most Southern Part of the Andes, it says: "Patagonia! ... She is a hard mistress. She casts her spell, An enchantress! She folds you in her arms and never lets go."

Patagonia is a desert of thorns, bushes, steppe, Megellanic and Valdivian forests, ice fields and glaciers - which is shared between Argentina and Chile. It is a volcanic area with Ceratous rocks and Teriarty granite, cut deep in my rivers and with long sand and gravel fields in meandering streams. El Calafate, even it is still a large settlement for Patagonian standards, already is a village community. And it is not just because of the visitors still passing by here that most clothes you can buy are outdoor gear. There is simply indoor life expect the dinner table and the bed in El Calafate. And people are so strait forward that it took me sometimes some effort to remember to be still in South America.

Patagonia is the last place on Earth, which was reached by human migration. Wherever you walk, you will go for hours. But time goes slow in Patagonia. Nothing matters, but being warm, fed and knowing directions. Like this you hike through crystal clear air and drink from crystal clear rivers. The guest house outside El Chalten, where the railheads to Mount McKinroy start, was powered by the river nerby. Drilled into my mind since childhood to switch off the light when leaving the room, here it was just a bit of clear water running a turbine alongside the house. The Patagonian Ice Field is feeding countless glaciers pushing their bright blue compressed ice masses down into the low land. They end in moraines, or break off in lakes. Many of them are still stable, luckily - despite global warming. It is like nothing from the "other world" can touch you here.

I know many people, when they think about where to retire, they think about a place with mild weather and good medical services. I am actually thinking about Patagonia. As I quoted before: "... She folds you in her arms and never lets go." This is one of the most fascinating landscapes I have seen so far. If I ever have the chance for a new sabbatical to write a book, then I might write it here.

Buenos Aires

The last time I went to Buenos Aires, I left Hannover Airport on September 13th 2001, just two days after September 11th. I remember that the wife of my young colleague and travel companion was very worried, because for days it felt that the world might go to war for a third time. After we had our first glass of wine in the airport lounge, the airport was evacuated and we had to withdraw to the parking place. There was a bomb threat and nobody knew where the potential bomb might be. I thought going to a public parking lot when there is a bomb threat is not the best option and we made it back into the lounge and had a second glass of wine. There was no bomb. Then we flew off to Argentina, while the US airspace was blocked for any aviation.

I remember that we went for dinner and paid quite a price for a steak. I wondered that if this is expensive for us, then how do the Argentineans pay for their steak? Weeks later they rose up. There were street riots, looting of shops and people died in street fights. Then Argentina un-pegged the Peso from the US$ while I was sitting in a tango bar in Buenos Aires. The currency literally collapsed and the country declared default on their debts.

Now, more than 10 years later I returned to Buenos Aires as a stop over to Patagonia. It is one of my favorite cities. The artistic and creative output is ranked as one of the word's highest. Who ever knows how to do such rankings? 

Currently Out of Office

I am currenly out of the office. As I am roughly following the red arrows on the map above, please allow longer time for responding e-mails due to potential lack of sufficient infrastructure. Please also allow infrequent updates of this website, if at all. Later though, most likely at the beginning of the next year, I am happy to condense field book notes in some blog posts and also upload some photos. If you like you can subscribe to the RSS Feeds and you will not miss it when I am back to Cyberspace. I will try to feed the Microblog from time to time, which you also find in the left column or you can link to Twitter, which is the system via which I feed this section remotely. I hope you excuse, that I have pulled the contact form on this website into the "members only" section, as I will not be able to respond to website requests. If you have a login to this website, you will see emergency contact data and satellite communication features. I wish all you on the Northen hemisphere a good autumn and those on the Southern hemisphere a nice spring time. Some of you I might meet on the way. So far, take care and all the best.