.JPG)
I write this from the end of the world. D is sitting across from me in the living room of our b&b, chatting merrily in Spanish with the proprietors' little boy. We got into Puerto Natales, Chile last night, at the southern tip of Patagonia. It is roughly 1,000 miles from the Antarctic Circle. The ozone is thin here. I have been using a lot of sunscreen.
The night before we arrived here, we found ourselves standing in the middle of a sandy plain in the pitch darkness, just outside of the town of San Pedro de Atacama. We were with some people we had met during the course of our trip, and some we met on the street after our dinner as they loitered on a corner in town, drinking beers out of paper bags and looking for a party: some Poles, some Norwegians, a Chilean, and a friendly stray dog who had attached herself to our group. The stars glittered thickly, infinitely above. The Milky Way stretched across the sky, and alongside it we could see the Southern Cross rising, and the two Magellanic galaxies glimmering dimly, like a pair of clouds. We all turned our faces to the sky, looking for shooting stars; and when they didn't immediately appear, willing the shooting stars. Someone said into the quiet, "You can't force it."
Tomorrow, the day after Mila's first birthday, we go into Torres del Paine to hike and camp the roughly 50-mile W. It is summer here, but the forecast calls for cold, wind, and rain. I have come to think of it as a spirit walk, a literal walk to embody the symbolic one of the last twelve months. I rail, still, against the shape our life has taken, trying to form it into complete circles, all 360 degrees intact. It doesn't look the way I wanted it to. But I am slowly, painfully learning that you can't force it. So we will walk very far through the woods, and come out -- I don't know, wherever the trail takes us.
There comes the morning when I can feel that there's nothing left to be concealed
Moving on
A scene surreal
I know my heart will never be far from here
Sure as I'm breathing, sure as I'm sad
I'll keep this wisdom in my flesh
I leave here believing more than I had
And there's a reason I'll be back
As I walk the hemisphere
I got my wish to up and disappear
I've been wounded, I've been healed
Now for landing I've been cleared
Sure as I'm breathing, sure as I'm sad
I'll keep this wisdom in my flesh
I leave here believing more than I had
This love has got no ceiling
Related posts:
First birthday.
Atacama and Patagonia, Part 1: The Atacama Desert.
Atacama and Patagonia, part 2: Torres del Paine.
Atacama and Patagonia, part 3: Argentina.
Atacama and Patagonia, part 4: Our trip in lists.
.JPG)