The Overpacker

Location: Porto Natales, Chile

Date: Sunday, December 19, 2010

I do not hike. I do not trek. I do not walk 20 miles eating only dried fruits and nuts. I do not wear the same shirt for five days straight or saw the handles off my toothbrush to save carrying weight. I do not cart around my night’s accommodations on my back. If I do bother to camp, I do so within stumbling distance of my car and a five minute drive of the nearest Wal-Mart. I mean, what about walking for hours a day, sleeping in a makeshift shelter on cold ground, subsisting on dried food, and carrying all your belongings on your back through natural selection’s wheelhouse says “vacation”? Read more…

Location: Punta Arenas to Puerto Natales, Chile

Date: Saturday, December 18, 2010

Turns out Patagonia looks a lot like Texas. We’re talking wide open plains, cattle, and the occasional ranch. Even the vegetation looks the same, what with scrub brush and the distant rolling hills. And there are miles and miles of it stretching nearly to Torres del Paine.

The similarities are striking, even down to the flag. You ever seen the Chilean flag? It’s one quarter band of blue away from morphing into the Texas standard. Read more…

Location: Road to Punta Arenas, Chile

Date: Friday, December 17, 2010

Ushuaia has a surprising amount of things to do. There’s a prison museum (complete with a collection of model trains), a boat tour of the fjords, fly fishing, loads of treks, and surprisingly good food (see: Patagonia cordero). That’s not counting skiing, snowboarding, and all snow sports, which aren’t options now because it’s “summer” here. Yet, after a day and a half, after only doing one trek , I’ve opted to skip town.

Why leave with all this unfinished business? Simple. The bus to my next stop, Punta Arenas in Chile leaves infrequently. If I stayed one more day, I’d have to stay three because the next bus doesn’t leave until Monday. That is probably one day too much, especially considering I don’t fly fish, I can do a fjord tour elsewhere, and all I’ll be doing in Chile is trekking (or hiking, to us Americans).

And who doesn’t love to take another bus journey and cross another border? It’s so much fun! Really.

With that I’ll make this quick, short, and painless—in other words, exactly the opposite of a border crossing bus journey. Read more…

Location: Parque Nacional Tierra del Fuego, Ushuaia, Argentina

Date: Thursday, December 16, 2010

Someone once said that a picture is worth a thousand words. I’m guessing that’s for really good pictures. Stuff by Cezanne and Picasso and Ansel Adams. I’m nowhere near those guys so let’s say my pictures are worth, oh, seventy-five words. With that formula in mind I’m about to drop over 3,000 words on you.

This is all a bit of chicanery, of course. I’m behind on writing so a pictorial post seems like a good way to move things along. Coming up with captions is a hell of a lot faster than writing something that has a beginning, end, and a narrative in the middle. With that, on to the pictures! Read more…

Location: Ushuaia, Argentina

Date: Wednesday, December 15, 2010

Today I boarded a plane to the southernmost city in the world namely, Ushuaia, Argentina. For whatever reason, I’ve decided that instead of enjoying the southern hemisphere’s summer, it’d be a good idea to freeze my ass off in the unforgiving environs of Patagonia. Instead of taking 36 hours to get here by bus (or splitting the trip over a few days) I opted for a few hour plane ride. Read more…

Location: Buenos Aires, Argentina

Date: Tuesday, December 14, 2010

If you come to Buenos Aires and you’re supposed to see an Argentine tango show. Well, I’m also supposed to climb the corporate ladder, get married, and quit this traveling thing and have me some little Mervyns and Mervinas. I think you know how that’s going. Read more…

Location: Montevideo, Uruguay and Buenos Aires, Argentina

Date: Monday, December 13, 2010

Today was some perfect beach weather; sunny, warm, and just breezy enough to keep you from feeling like the side of a tin shed. Where was all this yesterday when I was driven from Punte del Este by beach holiday ruining rain? Luckily, Montevideo has a decent beach so a group of us headed seaside to soak in the warm sun. Just when I was feeling relaxed, it was time to hop on an afternoon bus to catch the ferry from Colonia to Buenos Aires. My Uruguayan holiday (within my holiday) was over. Read more…

Location: Punte del Este and Montevideo, Uruguay

Date: Sunday, December 12, 2010

Ahh, yes. The best laid plans of mice and men. Today was supposed to be another beach day, but the weather spoiled that. Yesterday’s sunshine traded itself for pounding rain. With no signs of clearing, Marie and I traded in our bus tickets for tomorrow for a bus ticket today. If we were going to be trapped indoors, we decided rather do it Montevideo instead of Punte del Este. Rain in the city isn’t as much of a downer as it is in a beach town. Read more…

Location: Punte del Este, Uruguay

Date: Saturday, December 11, 2010

Punte del Este is a beach town. Unfortunately, it is not a beach town built for Uruguayans. It’s a beach town built for Argentines. Fredrico, a Uruguayan in town with his American couchsurfing guest, pointed out that everyone at the bar tonight was from Argentina except for the staff and him. And we’re not talking about the nice, friendly Argentines. We’re talking about the kind that are in town to hang out with no one other than their friends and who really are just here to be seen by everyone else. The douchebag rate was sky high. Read more…

Location: Montevideo and Punte del Este, Uruguay

Date: Friday, December 10, 2010

I’m chasing Anthony Bourdain. The man has one of my dream jobs–the others of course being Richard Branson’s sole heir and Angelina Jolie’s kiss coach (I hear Mrs. Brad Pitt could use some help).

Bourdain travels the world, eating and drinking too much (sounds like someone I know, except he gets paid). When he gets bored, he writes a book. He’s an asshole who’s somehow convinced the world he’s a jackass (a jackass being like an asshole, but funnier). His antics are excused because “that’s just Tony.” The only thing that would make his job better is if I were doing it. Read more…

Location: Colonia and Montevideo, Uruguay

Date: Thursday, December 9, 2010

This morning I traded in the hustle and bustle of Buenos Aires for the laidback charm of Uruguay. Specifically, the town of Colonia located a three hour slow ferry ride from Argentina. Formerly, a colonial town (Colonia!) it’s now a sleepy town across the bay from Buenos Aires. Read more…

Location: Buenos Aires, Argentina

Date: Wednesday, December 8, 2010

Today a group of us were supposed to get up early and go to Tigre, a riverside community just outside Buenos Aires. Alas, through a series of unfortunate incidents, we never got off the ground.

Instead, Marie and I spent the day failing to buy ferry tickets to Uruguay. This involved a lot of walking around and not finding the ferry ticket office, then finding the ticket office but it not being open. Read more…

Location: Buenos Aires, Argentina

Date: Tuesday, December 7, 2010

Jam packed day. After pounding food all day, I made up for it by going on a free walking tour of Buenos Aires city center in the morning, a visit to colorful La Boca in the afternoon, then redeemed yesterday’s empanada failure. Since pictures are worth a thousand words and I took a ton of pictures, I will now allow them to do most of the talking. Enjoy, with intermittent commentary. Read more…

Location: Buenos Aires, Argentina

Date: Monday, December 6, 2010

Today was a straight up food day. It began with failure. A subway expedition led by me to, in my opinion, the best empanadas place in Buenos Aires (a place called La Cocina) was for naught; the place was closed. Post-empanada failure, our group split up. Half went to a drum show. Read more…

Location: Buenos Aires, Argentina

Date: Sunday, December 5, 2010

I am now in the full traveler swing. After sitting on my ass for the last week or so, today was a flurry of activity. A preview: the San Telmo Sunday market, Puerto Madero, and a Boca Jrs. night game with a bunch of soccer hooligans. Read more…