Northbound: El Chalten to Puerto Montt

argentina road signs have classic style

looking back's a bad habit  --marshall cockburn in True Grit

scratched on a road sign, it reads:  if you want to die, hitchhike here.  Claire and Nico from France

land rovers await you in El Chalten

old truck in La Siberia, a ranch in the middle of nowhere

3 days of hitchhiking the desolate Route 40, I had a beer in my hand as Pako and I zoomed into the desert to rock climb

the desert guards its secrets

once a salt lake, now 3 miles of perfect rock climbing routes

Pako, from Perito Moreno knows all the routes

there's Pako, most of the way up

to climb some routes, you need to hammer spikes into the rock to clip into

and then he drills a hole with his Hilti hammer drill

after inserting an expanding bolt, he clips into the ring and moves up.

do you partake in sports that require a hammer drill?  hellyeah!

the desert is full of secrets

taking the boat ride back north

sundown in puerto ibañez

when you find a piece of paper on the road at dawn that says ''crowned matthew'', it's going to be a perfect day.  and it was.

mountain ahead

frost is gettin long

the enchanted forest.  bosque encantado

back at Paul's place.

there is not a word to say what you feel.  every word will be futile when you feel the love.

paul and konomi's earth bag house.  cozy in the hill.

i went on an adventure to visit a japanese family that moved to patagonia to escape the radiation back home.

of course i taught them how to launch apples from the orchard with bamboo poles.  100 yards easy.

koichi

taking a bath  in a barrel.  patagonia is awesome.