Jeff's Stuff

Marvelous Idea from Australia

2009-02-14T22:10:00.001+01:00

I came across this picture this week from a trip I took to Australia about a year ago. I was so struck by what a marvelous idea it was that I had to stop and take a picture. That black rectangle is a rubber mat, like you sometimes see on children's playgrounds. This mat keeps the roots from the trees along the road from buckling the sidewalk. In Amsterdam (where I live),the city solves this problem by cutting down trees that get big enough to push the sidewalk up with their roots. I find this solution far preferable.

I took this picture when walking to an ex-colleague's house in St. Kilda near Melbourne to have dinner. I found out later that he and his wife had moved to the country, and lost everything to the recent brush fires while going to the grocery store. The devastation of these fires has been unimaginable, in a magical part of the world. The Australian Red Cross is accepting online donations for victims.

From my Gartner blog

2009-02-01T18:30:00.001+01:00

Why I Tweet

Summer Camp in January: Lotusphere 2009

Kickoffs, but not as we know them

Gaining Time with Blackberry; Not Always a Good Thing

2008-12-29T18:39:00.001+01:00

A few weeks ago, I blogged about my first month of Blackberry use, and the drawbacks I found. One of the reasons I held off on getting a Blackberry was that I was afraid of the messages I would send while on the move. When I'm in a rush, I don't give good email. Like most people, I've been guilty of pissy, sarcastic communications when there was little or no justification for it. Almost all of these happened when I was in a hurry, leading to groveling and embarrassing apologies.

I was afraid that being able to send messages from just about anywhere would make that worse. Recovering snatches of otherwise unproductive time is one of the advantages of having one of these things, even if the snatches are brief. Small amounts of time can lead to boo-boos, however.

Today I did it. I was catching up on messages from other analysts while waiting in an airport security line. I had what I thought was a salient comment to add and just saw enough time to squeeze it out before I had to walk through that portal. Fifteen minutes later I was trying to remember what I said, and smacked my forehead. This is what came out:

If the vendor sells an unlimited plan, they cannot complain when people use a lot. They can't get the marketing cake of using the term AND the cake of capping or punishing users who take them at their word.

There was a real thought buried in there about having your cake and eating it too, but it didn't survive the transition from head to thumbs to message.

Maybe Blackberry needs something like mail goggles.

Changing Reactions: Thank You, Mr. Obama

2008-11-26T14:42:00.001+01:00

Little nice things I notice: Three times in the last week, someone has noticed my appalling accent when speaking bad French and reacted nicely, offering a few English words. One person even said I had a nice accent, but I know she was lying, just to be nice. It has always struck me as grossly unfair that when Americans speak French, we usually sound like rubes killing a beautiful language. When French people speak English, it makes me want to melt. Just listen to this:

Melt me, M. Deneuve

I have been living as an American in Europe for over 20 years (as a dual Dutch-American citizen for the last five years). I have never seen open hostility or anti-Americanism directed at me, perhaps because at least for the last eight years I have been as disillusioned with the US government as pretty much anybody. While I never got hostility, most people let me struggle along. I was in France, so I should be at least trying to speak French.

This week though, that changed subtly. When hearing me speak, or talk with my wife, they smiled. I am sure they were thinking of a tall, skinny man speaking from a podium in Chicago to adoring crowds, and the hope he provides. Even the most anti-American Europeans (and several Canadians) I have met make a distinction between the government and the people (for the last 8 years bad and still good, respectively). Those smiles show that hope travels around the world that these two can be reconciled.

For this too, thank you Mr. Obama.

Thing I Dislike About Cannes

2008-11-08T18:11:00.002+01:00

A few weeks ago, I posted here about why I dislike Orlando, the traditional location of my company's Fall user conference in the US. I feel obligated to post a similar list about Cannes, the European venue.

It will be a much shorter list, as while there is one thing I don't like about the place, I generally find it quite pleasant. The main thing it has going for it is that it is a real city, an actual place. One can wander into town, see people going about their lives with their ridiculously small dogs in tow, and escape the conference bubble without too much effort. None of that is possible in Orlando.

So here it is, the one thing I don't like.

Cannes is expensive and pretentious.
I mean really: €14 for a beer? The polo shirts are nice, but am I really supposed to pay €140 for them because of the logo?

That's it. Not really too much to get excited about. I can't even get worked up about the famous rudeness. I either seem to not attract it somehow, or it feels right. I expect a brusque reception at a busy brasserie, even if it is not that busy. A stern warning that I shouldn't expect to order a full meal at 4:00 PM makes it feel authentic and familiar, mostly since I only wanted some oysters anyway.

I really don't think I will be able to continue this thread much longer. The next US location is Las Vegas, and I wouldn't even know how to begin there. The next European location is Barcelona, and I'm not sure I could come up with anything I dislike about that place.

If you have anything you'd like to add about something to dislike about Cannes or Orlando, please leave a comment.

Things I dislike about Orlando

2008-10-12T17:52:00.006+02:00

Please don't get me wrong. I am delighted to be at my employer's conference, to have the chance to see customers and colleagues. I just wish it didn't have to be in Orlando, one of my least favorite places to travel to.

Here are the things I don't like about Orlando. What can you add?

Large furry animals frolicking around at breakfast. Scary before coffee.

"Have a magical day"

Seeing so many people desperate to have a good time after spending money they don't have, and not enjoying it.

That sticky feeling you get when walking outside for more than 30 seconds.

Forgot an important toiletry item (see previous point). No real drug store accessible to get more at reasonable prices.

The $40 taxi ride to anywhere that does not look like the resort I am in.

The 90 minute shuttle from the airport because I am too cheap to spend my employer's money on a taxi.

Hotel windows that don't open.

Air conditioning set too high.

20% service fees added for my "convenience."

The not quite natural look of the nature.

I'm sorry. Dolphins do not have scales
Food that is good enough to eat too much of, but not good enough to be worth eating a lot of.
I have to go back in January, June and October.
Toll booths every 5 miles.

Notice that I didn't say that I hate Orlando. There are much worse places in the world to visit, so I didn't title this "Things I hate." Hate is a pretty strong emotion I try to stay away from. As much as I dislike it, I don't hate Orlando, I promise. Actually, reading over this again this is mostly about why I dislike Disney World hotels. But they are in Orlando.

How can I be too busy to go to work?

2008-10-03T13:15:00.002+02:00

It sounds strange, but I realized this morning that I am actually too busy with my job to go to work. Like many analysts, I work primarily from home. Combined with the time I spend traveling, I rarely get the chance to go into my "official" office. I think that the last time I was in the Amsterdam building was in April.

This month I don't have too much travel, so I was planning on going in this week to see my colleagues, check my mail box, and use the copier. My best intentions didn't pan out though -- I've been too busy, with too many overdue deliverables to get done. I can't afford the time it takes to get on the tram/metro and make my way out to the office, or even to take the car. I know when I get there, I will have less time available to produce the stuff I have to get done. One of the reasons for going in is to to talk to people, a good thing to do, but it takes time away from other work.

It seems odd to say that I am too busy to go to the office. Isn't that what offices are for? A place to do work? Not so much anymore, at least in my case. Increasingly I've seen the same thing with the clients I talk with. An office is a place to coordinate, socialize, and make connections. But as we increasingly adopt digital ways of getting things done, I can coordinate, socialize and make connections from anywhere. I can turn off email to get things done, and open up to email, IM, Twitter and RSS feeds when I'm looking for external input.

There still is a place for face to face meetings, but it won't necessarily have to be in the office. I meet colleagues at events, on audio conferences, and at client sites. In fact, I expect that the office will increasingly start to look like The Office. Depending on face to face, location-based management leads to abuses and inefficiencies. Showing up early and leaving late shouldn't be the key to success as much as actually getting things done.

Going all Official and Everything

2008-09-25T15:02:00.002+02:00

Gartner has changed its policy on blogging, to encourage analysts to pontificate even more. So I will be slightly more active on the official Garner blog site. Watch out for my industry musings there. This blog will occasionally spotlight personal and non-IT related ideas.

Things I don't understand

2008-07-21T16:20:00.004+02:00

I know, there are many things I don't understand. But some things I think I should understand, but don't. Like the people in this picture:
This was taken this weekend at Lyon airport during a bomb scare. Yes, a bomb. A package that could blow up. Notice how when asked to leave the building because of a suspicious package, most people chose to stay as close as possible to the building, standing in front of a big plate glass window.
Yes, several hundred people decided that standing in front of a plate glass window was the best place to be if an explosive device went off. And the police were cool with that. Notice where I am standing: on the other side of the car park.
Now, I know that these things have become routine, and it wasn't actually a bomb but somone's shopping that they left behind where they shouldn't have.
But still...

Jeff goes dogsledding

2008-01-28T21:37:00.000+01:00

This weekend, some old colleagues from the Uniface time came to visit for the annual Banaan (Bananna) skiing weekend. Banaan in Dutch is the slang word for the stretcher they use to carry broken bodies off of the ski slopes. About 10 of us from UNIFACE have been going off on a ski weekend for about 18 years. This year, it was just three of us (me, Roel Aldenkamp and Albert Beijlevelt) plus two honorary Banaan-ers: my wife Hennie and Edith Douqué.

To make things a little different, we decided to go dogsledding this year instead of just skiing. I organized it with our friend Juraj, the musher who set us up with dogs, sleds and guidance. Juraj is great with the dogs, and with us as well. The dogs absolutely LOVE being out there and pulling through the snow.

Our dog Betty (a semi-retired sled dog) was at the head of my sled team. I loved seeing her doing what she loves to do. She would literally jump up in the air (see the picture above) with excitement at the prospect of pulling the sled.

A great experience, even if I did
fall at the end of the day and bruise

my chest slightly. It only hurts when I breathe.

Here is a video of what it's like behind the sled.

Here is a video with the sound of the dogs before we set off again after lunch. Usually Juraj's dogs were silent and calm, but once we started packing up and getting ready to go, they couldn't hold back.

Buenos Aires

2007-04-11T12:58:00.000+02:00

We`re back in Europe now, in the Air France lounge waiting for the connecting flight to Amsterdam (excuse the a<>q qnd other mixups; French keyboqrds!
Bueos Aires was a great alternative to Patagonia: dirty, busy, and exciting. We got there on Good Friday, qnd would have gotten the wrong impression if we hadn`t stqyed until Tuesday. All weekend, we couldn`t get over how quiet qnd relaxed everything was. We wqndered into great museums, strolled through markets with greqt stuff (buying some of it too), We had heqrd horror stories of how stressful, smelly and dqngerous BA was, but we found it delightful. We wandered thgough La Boca, saw some great museums, and thoroughly enjoyed the weekend

And then it was Monday, a normal working day after the Holy Week holidays around Easter when everyone leaves the city. The buses zere belching smoke, the taxis couldn`t move through traffic, qnd everyone seemed to be in a hurry. Not much time for tourists now. Two tours we tried to take (of the Congressos parliqment building qnd the Recolletto cemetery) didn`t materialize for unexplained reasons. We mqde one last visit to a parilla criolla restaurant for massive haunches of meat, which kept us up at night trying to digest it.
It was clearly time to go home. So we did.

Day 9: End of the World

2007-04-05T22:07:00.000+02:00

Jeff and the others are attempting to climb up to a glacier today, but I`m taking it easy and getting ready for our departure tomorrow for Buenos Aires. I also need to find a nice (fun) restaurant for tonight, our last night all together.

That end of the world thing (fin del mundo) is getting kind of grating. I have seen the gallery at the end of the world, the bar at the end of the world, restaurant at the end of the world, the end of the world museum, beer brewery at the end of the world (EXCELLENT beer! Try Beagle beer if you get a chance).

The glacier walk was a great morning trip. We drove up to a small ski area (one lift, one slope). No snow now, but we took it up to save some walking then. We continued up to just below the glaciar. A bit of a huffy-puffy climb, but worth it. The last bit required real climbing, which we didn`t really want to do, but we reached the snow (pictures to prove it, promise!). The rest of the day was lazily seeing Ushuaia. You don´t come down here for the city, however. It`s the scenery all around that makes it worthwhile.

Day 8: to Ushuaia

2007-04-05T22:02:00.000+02:00

The next day we had breakfast in their lovely kitchen and went for a walk to see the beavers.

Get this: some goof in some Argentine government thought it would be a good idea to import them and start a fur industry. They abandoned the scheme, but not before the beavers were firmly installed in the country. These people we stayed with can´t keep up with their construction/destruction. We saw dam after dam. They destroy trees, cover up good pasture land with water and generally are a pest.

Back in the van, we headed for Ushuaia. Every day, since we left, the landscape has been different. Steppes, mountains, lakes, water everywhere or land everywhere. Amazing. We rolled into Ushuaia around one and found it another goldrush dump. The place has grown from 10,000 thirty years ago to more than 60,000 today. Building is done in any style in any way, and not always finished. What the people have made is generally as ugly as the scenery around them is beautiful.

When Annie and I decided on this hotel way before Christmas, it had a beautiful Internet sight with soothing quiet music, advertised its restful harmony, etc. Amazing photography. The place is at the heart of the strip, and yet again we slept with ear plugs and a closed door. It`s so noisy at the end of the world!

We took a boat into the Beagle channel and saw sea lions and a colony of cormorants. Penguins continue to elude us. Sometimes we see them bopping up and down in the water, but they´re hard to fix.

For dinner we headed off to a Parilla - one of those restaurants where you have a couple of lamb carcasses roasting in the window. We ate like horses and had a great time. It was so noisy, but in a nice family kind of way. There appear to be tons of Argentine tourists here for the Easter holidays.

--> Now about the dogs. They`re everywhere. They belong to no one and everyone. They at first seemed sad, but when you get used to it, it appears sort of fun. They sometimes hang out in little groups - I saw one with a lab, a furry little thing and a Jack Russel type hanging out together, and this morning, when I went to give a little white dog some leftovers from our BBQ last night, he only half ate it - he was distracted by a buddy across the street. If you can get over the nasty back story (in Puerto Natales, the mayor has put poisoned food out for dogs, who then die in agony - along with any child who also happens to fancy what s/he finds) they`re adorable and demonstrate pure dogness. You can pet them, they`re not scary, and at their best, they have a certain joi de vivre about them. They always seem to sleep where there are people - like bus stops, in doorways. And they`re not as skinny as the working dogs we saw at the estancia.

Day 8: To Tierra del Fuego

2007-04-05T21:57:00.000+02:00

We got up at 6 to leave early for the estancia (ranch), but Jeff couldn't find his passport. We were all set for plan B - separating and spending the rest of the day in the police station, when we saw Guy coming down the stairs with his backpack. We both jumped up at the same time and almost ran him down: Jeff and Guy have the same backpack (I got two almost identical ones at two different IBM conferences), and it occurred to us together that Jeff had put it in Guy`s backpack instead of his own. Yup, that`s what happened! All`s well that ends well.

We then had a had a long ride across the Patagonian Steppe. Hard to imagine a place with that much nothing, but so beautiful. We stopped at the Straits of Magellan for a ferry. A place that for so long had been a geography class test question now was in front of us: a real river-looking thing.

We crossed the border into Argentina, and had paved roads again (Aaaahhh!). In Rio Grande it was almost impossible to find the right road (hard to believe, since there is basically one road in from the North and one road out to the South, but no signs). Finally some man whom we had asked before and bumped into again - going the wrong way - showed us the way out of town and pointed us in the right direction. Rio Grande is notable for it`s big trout sculpture, and a large memorial to the Heroes of the Malvinas (Falklands) War.

We finally arrived at our estancia in the middle of nowhere a round 6 p.m. We were greeted in French by a very chic woman and served a cup of tea in a lovely pot with china cups. I could have hugged her. Tea until then had been a bag tossed in lukewarm cup of water, almost as an afterthought. The whole thing felt like we were in a Martha Stewart spread. Lovely furniture, gracious hosts, table beautfiully laid. We ate with the owner and her son and daughter who help her run the place. Slept like a log with the window open, no noise, and sheepskins on our feet for warmth.

Day 7: To Punta Arenas

2007-04-05T21:52:00.000+02:00

In the morning, we picked we picked up a duffel bag full of now-clean laundry and headed out to Punta Arenas. We finally arrived, after another bumpy trip and gorgeous scenery, in a town that again had a goldrush feel, but more of a real city than Puerto Natales.

We split up and we went to a museum that could have been in any big European city. There was an exhibition of winning entries from a competition for young talent, and it was great to see local approaches to art. Plus the rooms where beautifully decorated in a Victorian/Colonial style. Super opulent and very glitzy. It was built by English ranch owners when this was a big cattle-producing area for Europe. That all ended when the Panama Canal ended.

We each bought an alpaca sweater for ten bucks each, and those goofy hats with the ear flaps - they`re a real lifesaver when the wind howls, and you don`t really care how you look! Our hotel in Punta Arenas was a nice example of a sort of twenties architecture that you see a lot here - left over from the glory days before the Panama Canal ruined everything for them. However inside it was a riot of colour and decorated to within an inch of it`s gaudy life. Again, noisy, but we slept, though not for long.

Day 6: More Torres del Paine, and back to Puerto Natales

2007-04-05T21:46:00.000+02:00

Next morning we did some more touring in the park. We saw tons of guanacos, a sort of llama - beautifully gentle looking creatures that are curious and not too skittish. Beautiful big eyelashes. We stopped to look at a lake, and two semi-tame foxes emerged from the bushes to beg for scraps. Kind of sad, that even in a place this remote the wildlife learns to beg from the visitors, but also kind of cool to see foxes this close up.

We drove back to Puerto Natales over more bumpy, bouncy roads.

Annie and I finished with a massage in this cute hippy kind of place, owned by one of Lucie`s friends, back in Puerto Natales, while Jeff worked on this blog, then lost what he did because the timer ran out at exactly 30 minutes and I wasn`t paying attention. Oh well. Then another big meal of king crab and scallops at Darrio and Lucie`s, thanks to Darriò´s mother. These are the local specialties, so cheap and delicious. The hotel we stayed in that night had no windows, but was still noisy.

We have this theory that because populations are so sparse and spread out here, everyone makes as much noise as possible to compensate. Also, working hours appear very fluid, so there`s always someone working (Darrio worked till 1 am cleaning hottubs before we left - one of his jobs).

Day 5: Parque Torres del Paine

2007-04-05T21:21:00.000+02:00

The morning started slowly (we had to wake up the hotel guy to make our breakfast), but quickly picked up. The Park is magnificent, and we saw a glacier and what they called an iceberg graveyard. Large chunks of ice from the glacier at the far end of Lake Grey float down to the other end of the lake near a sort of pebble beach. I found a set of guanaco teeth in the sand. It started pouring rain, so we squelched back to the van and headed for a waterfall. We picnicked in the van overlooking a lovely lake. The wind was too strong to stay outside the van for long. The sandwiches would have been ripped from our fingers.

--> A quick aside on the weather. We have been pretty lucky. They don`t talk about the weather here so much. Forecasts are laughed at, since it changes so quickly. We`ve had wind, rain, sun, cold and heat, sometimes in the same hour it seems. Aside from the morning walking to the glaciar cemetery and one bit in Puerto Montt, we haven´t had all that much heavy rain. Every day a little, but no big deal. In fact, we have had more magnificent, sunny days than bad ones. We count ourselves very lucky. Temperatures are generally around F 50 / C 10.

The wind is an amazing thing. It blows a lot, and hard. When you buy an outdoor jacket, you sometimes ask what all those zippers, clips, velcro patches, buttons and string pulls are for (at least I do). When you come to Patagonia, you discover them all very quickly. We were constantly tugging, pulling, snapping, adjusting, etc. to keep rain out, heat in, then heat out, etc.>--

Walking to the waterfall, the wind was so strong, we had to hold onto each other. Seriously. I have never seen wind like that, on the North Sea, English Channel, or any mountain I`ve been on. Apparently it is always like that there. The sun came out and we managed to walk about 4 km to a view of the Quernos (horns). The path was brilliant and easy, the distance nothing when you are constantly being treated to a new and amazing view. We got almost underneath the biggest mountains and goggled at the glaciers.

The path is lined with bushes that look lush from a distance, but actually are covered with 1.5 cm long thorns. When you brush against them, you feel nothing. They only sting if you try to reach inside the bush (not recommended).

That night we had a rousing dinner, with lots of laughs, and trying to dim the sound of the giant Coke machine in the dining room with us (we were the only guests). Guy and Annie are great fun, and we laugh all day long. It is great to go through the country with Lucie and Darrio. They`re easy company on a trip and we never have to wait for them, or constantly look out for washrooms or anything horrid like that.

Day 4: Approaching Puerto Montt

2007-04-05T21:14:00.000+02:00

Sunday at 6 a.m. we got a wakeup announcement saying we were about to pass through the White Narrows (Angostura White) - 80 metres wide at its narrowest (we figured the boat had to be around 30 metres wide . . .). We slipped quickly into our clothes and out of our bunks and headed towards the bridge. Absolutely speechless from the beauty of it all. The captain and his second guided us through what looked like it was certain to have a Titanic ending without looking away from the water, just calling out headings to his assistant. We were meant to dock at around 9 am. But . . . after approaching the dock, there was too much wind. So we circled the harbour till about one o`clock. Trips to the bridge were cancelled, and the captain guided us towards a dock. With great pulling and shoving from tug boats, they got the ship tied up to the dock. Quite exciting, and apparently quite common. They were obviously late back to Puerto Montt for the next trip, and the next two sailings after that were cancelled. The main ship is being repaired, and they need this replacement for the "normal" run.

When we got to Lucie and Darrio`s house finally - much kissing by all and sundry at the arrivals terminal - Darios mum had prepared a meal for us: filled avocados and a cornmush cooked in corn husks. Delicious, but heavy - especially since we`d already eaten on the boat! (This is fun: the Chileans call meatloaf a German BBQ - that`s what we ate) The whole experience was like being in a film or TV show: Northern Exposure, eg, or something else that plays in Alaska, or in a goldrush place or something unreal. Tons of colours everywhere, a stove that has seen at least 100 years! and everywhere the sea and a howling wind. (It was so windy and the places are so makeshift, that Guy woke up one morning to a howling gale and saw the tin roof lift off over his head.)

After a stout lunch and a couple Pisco Sours, we took off that very afternoon (or rather evening - we were on Chilean time) for the park Torres del Paine (pie-nay), a distance of about 160 km. The road was there, but just. We forget what it is like to ride on unpaved roads, spoiled as we are in Europe and North America. There are MANY unpaved roads down here. We bumped along from one pothole to another, and finally, in the pitch dark, ended up in a hotel from some Klondike time warp. Very cabin-y, feeble windows you couldn't´t open because of the howling wind. Toilets that would flush, but not paper (if you see what I mean), all very casual and thrown together. But we slept, and woke to a great day.

Day 2-3: The Boat

2007-04-02T01:10:00.000+02:00

The people have been so nice and friendly - almost as though they´re so glad anyone has come to see them so far away!
On Sunday, we flew to Puerto Montt to join Guy and Annie and the boat. We hooked up with them at the airport just as we had planned. We stayed at a lovely hotel - though the city was a dump. On Sunday we walked to a great fish restaurant right on - over - the water.
We dutifully went to the boat on Monday morning, only to hear that it would be delayed till 11 that night (it was supposed to leave at 4 p.m.). So instead of hanging around horrible Puerto Montt, we rented a car and went to see the Orsono volcano - the weather was incredible, and instead of the usual rain and strong winds, we had lovely sunshine. Jeff and I took a "collectivo" to the Budget office - great fun - it´s a small bus and slows down to about 30 KM for you to jump out at your stop - wherever that is! We drove up to Puerto Varas, which is 100 times prettier than Montt. It was founded by Germans, and many buildings look straight out of Bavaria. The volcano was spectacular, and the trip around the lake amazing. We started driving up the volcano towards what was promised to be a ski area. But the road was not finished, and the ski area not started. Still, we got a lot closer to the top.
We made it back for the boat, only to hear that once we were on board, we wouldn´t be leaving till 8 a.m the following day. There were loads of horses being loaded on (sad to see, since they woulddn´t be leaving the truck where they were packed in for 4 days) and the most amazing heavy equipment. The boat (called Puerto Eden) is fine. Not like a cruise ship, but an adequately equipped ferry. We have our own cabin, with Guy and Annie next door.

Three times a day we shuffle along in the galley area for OK to good meals, and pretty good wine. They organize films and talks on the area to pass the time. We usually don´t opt for those, but hang out on deck (well-padded against the wind, rain and cold). We watch out for whales, seals and penguins. We saw them all, but the sightings were few and far between. Still, the last time I saw a Blue Whale it was hanging in the Smithsonian Institution.

Jeff did see two films, because they were Chilean and probably the last chance to see them. One (Mi Mejor Enemigo - My Best Enemy) was about the almost war in Patagonia in 1973 (who knew?) and the other (Machuka) was about upper-lower class struggles in Pinochet`s Santiago. Both worth seeing.

They let passengers on the bridge except during docking and at night, which is pretty cool. We can see where we are, follow progress on the maps, check out the sonar and radar, etc. It´s also drier and warmer than outside.

Early the next morning we enter the open ocean part of the trip. We were warned, so we dutifully get up to take our seasick pills at 4 am. We don´t have much trouble, but many people do. The dining room is pretty empty, and we don't see Guy and Annie all day. They spent 20 hours in bed! That evening we entered the fjords again. The captain slowed down to a crawl so that we would reach the Angostura Inglesa (English Narrow) at daylight. It can't be traversed in the dark.

This was the day to visit Puerto Eden, a very remote village with the last pureblood Karawasek indians. There are 10-15 of them left, depending on which pamphlet you believe. One of them joined us there to travel to Santiago to work on a dictionary. He was one of 4 people who still speak the language fluently. It's hard to think of how they live out here, with one boat coming by every week, but no other contact (except for telephone, radio and Internet).

After Puerto Eden, we made a small detour to see the glaciar Pio XI. Magnificent! A blue wall spilling off the coast into the water. This is one of the few glaciars anywhere which is actually growing instead of receding. That makes it interesting as well as stirringly beautiful.

Day 1: Santiago de Chile

2007-03-25T01:22:00.000+01:00

Our big trip has started! Thanks to a glut of points, we enjoyed a luxurious trip on Air France via Paris to Santiago (fois gras with dinner AND breakfast!), but it was still 14 hours. We slept most of the way, but still felt exhausted.
Unforunately, we couldn get into the hotel we thought we would have (Villafranca). A problem with the room, and voluminous apologies. The owner put us in another hotel just around the corner. It was ok, but that's about all we can say. The neighbourhood is nice, with pretty tree-lined streets, although pretty noisy up to now. (lots of lovely gum and plane trees).
We spent the day wandering the streets, seeing the government area (mucho policia) and several churches, one with a hunk of St. Theresa. We saw a tour of other hunks of her in Ireland a couple years ago. Small world!
The high point (at least for me) was the mercado central. It reminded me of the food courts in Singapore, but latin. Several restaurants among the fish stalls. We had beer and almejas (clams) with cilantro. Amazing fish stalls with just about everything that could come out of the sea.
Tomorrow we fly to Puerto Montt to meet Guy and Annie. We spend one night there (Sunday), then join the boat to Puerto Natales.

First posting

2007-02-27T20:58:00.001+01:00

No one ever has anything sensible to say on their first post.