Puerto Madryn

Sitting in a hot, dark room in the middle of the day, checking emails, and yes, facebook. I cannot seem to completely escape technology and rather than completely throwing it out, have come to accept that maybe community can still be created through an avenue which I initially wrote off and attempted to leave behind.

The rest of Puerto Madryn is asleep for the time being...Siesta will be over shortly, and part of me wishes I would have joined in...you know...just to be culturally sensative and all.

Northern Patagonia. A desolate land mass, not all that different from central washington, except with maybe a few less hills. It is windy here, causing the dust to swirl around us, leaving a new coating on our hot, dry skin. I learned today that it is rainy in Seattle and 40 degrees. And then I decided that I have absolutely nothing to complain about.

Two days ago, we rented a car. The 3 of us and two friends hopped in and set out for the Peninsula Valdes, mostly in search of penguins, but also adventure and the joys of riding in a car for the first time. First things first: after sitting in the hot car for a while, Cody thought it would be a good idea to turn on the air condition. We rolled up our windows, excited for a cool blast of air. And to our shock and surprise a cloud of dust shot out from the vents, indiscriminately swallowing us in all its glory, and momentarily interrupting our vision. Well, we did see penguins. An entire colony. Lindsey thought that they were dirty animals, because they are. They burry themselves into the side of the dusty bluff and waldle back and forth from their make-shift homes to the sandy beach. I still thought that they were cute and funny and perhaps took one too many pictures of them. But they made me smile and laugh and very glad that I saw them free and in the wild, rather than a little bit sad in a caged zoo. It made me not like zoos very much. We saw lots of other animals too, like a whole beach filled with sea lions and seals. They made lots of funny noises and were play fighting. And then other seals lounged in the sun, flicking sand on themselves to cool off and I thought that they didn´t have such bad lives. In the parking lot, we saw armadillos! They were very friendly and posed for pictures like it was no big deal.

Our hostel here is run by a man named Gaston. Lindsey sang him a couple lines from Beauty and the Beast. He has a little boy around the age of 5 or so, who runs around the hostel with his toy dinasours. He is the cutest and makes me miss being around kids. I like this hostel. It feels a bit more like a community than the others we have stayed in. Every night, Gaston cooks dinner for the travelers. Yesterday we joined in for a delicious meal of steak, chicken, chorizo, veggies, and rolls, which Gaston had cooked over the coals from wood from Patagonia plains. We sat around the table talking about our travels with our new friends from Germany, Austrailia, the States, and Wales. I sensed community for the first time, when I did not realize I missed it at all.

Today consisted of drinking coffee, having meaningful conversations, and prayer. Praying with friends is better sometimes than praying by yourself. Learning more. Taking more action. My question of the day: When all is stripped away, who am I? When I do not have a job to define myself by, when I do not have activities planned, when I am not surrounded constantly by friends, family, people--when it´s just me and God, who am I? Pondering who I want to be and praying more.

Thank you for reading and for your thoughts and prayers. Signing off from Northern Patagonia. May God be with you all.