HRW

Not really a post today as I've just got to Buenos Aires and I'll probably need a couple of days at least before I've got anything interesting to say about the place. However I would like to draw everybody's attention to this year's Human Rights Watch world report that has just come out, which to a large degree pillories the USA's record and their blatant hypocrisy in claiming the "moral high ground". To view the report just click on the permanent HRW link on the left. HRW is a fantastic organisation that objectively sheds light on the machinations of all countries regardless of status and cuts through the spin (and are therefore one of the few charities I support unreservedly). Anyway, I think there are some of you who may find it interesting reading.

Beastly

In north eastern Patagonia there are several towns that were founded by Welsh immigrants at the end of the 19th century and where it is said that it is still possible to speak Welsh in some shops. I was looking forward to seeing these places because I've got a Welsh friend on the trip and I wanted to see him "in his element". Unfortunately the towns have grown so much now that the Welsh language has been diluted out (although I'm sure it still exists in some small enclaves) and so my hopes were dashed. Still, there is something else to see round here, namely the Valdes peninsula (a piece of land shaped a bit like a bowler hat attached to the mainland by a very narrow isthmus at the top of the "head") which is home to colonies of sea-lions, elephant seals and Magellanic penguins as well as visiting southern right whales and orcas (and one of only 2 places in the world where orcas have been documented to "beach" themselves to hunt sea-lion pups). Unfortunately I didn't see any whales but we did get rather close to both the sea-lions and elephant seals and within touching distance of the penguins, so I'm happy enough.

On the way back from the peninsula we picked up a French cyclist who was getting battered by the wind (in 2 hours driving we had saved her a day and a half of cycling). Kristelle, for that turned out to be her name, is travelling round the world by herself on her bike, which I'm sure you'll agree requires a hell of a lot more cojones than my (in comparison) luxury-laden trip. If anybody is interested you can check out her website here or check out the link at the side of the page.

On The Rocks

I have just spent the past day visiting one of Argentina's top attractions that lies 80km to the west of a small town called El Calafate: the Perito Moreno glacier a.k.a. one mother of an ice cube desperately in need of a large enough whisky tumbler. The glacier is one of the few in the world that is not receding due to global warming, and at its base, where it plunges into the vast waters of Lago Argentina, towers up to 60m high. I decided to book myself onto a tour that does a big 5 hour trek right into the heart of the glacier (I was in luck as that particular tour was only just starting up that day and I would be among the first group of people to try it). Our first view of the glacier as we rounded a bend in the road opposite was not too impressive as it was still quite far off and partially obscured by clouds, but by the time we got into a boat and sailed to within 100m of the ice front I fet sufficiently dwarfed by the giant sheet of ice. We landed to one side of it and started trudging up the lateral morraine that flanks the glacier. After about an hour we donned our crampons and headed onto the ice. Walking with crampons is strange at first but soon you get used to the feeling and the techniques required to scale 70 degree slopes.

I'm not sure what preconceptions I had about glaciers before today, but whatever they were I don't think the Moreno fit any of them. First of all the surface of the glacier is highly irregular, with thousands of cracks, crevasses and holes that disappear hundreds of metres down to the bottom of the ice (moulins). The irregularity, coupled with the dynamic nature of the surface, which is continually changing, makes navigation on the ice rather difficult, even for experienced guides, and leads to a certain amount of backtracking when one reaches an impasse. Secondly the surface of the ice is far dirtier than I thought it would be, often being covered in dust and stones of various sizes (although this does lead to the production of many interesting ice formations as well). And finally (and probably most spectacularly) the colour of the ice: deep blue. The ice is actually transparent but absorbs light, with the blue wavelength being absorbed the least, hence the blue colour. Although physically demanding the trek was ultimately very satisfying and allowed me to get a good understanding of these awesome geological beasts (the Moreno glacier is almost 40km long, over 700m deep and advances at about 2m a month) that form our landscape by gouging out entire valleys. Again, the superlatves fail to impress sufficiently the grandeur of the glacier and even the picture below can't capture the sheer scale. If you ever get the chance to trek a glacier, do it.

Chilean Beauty

It's been some time since my last post because we have just spent the past 5 days in Chile's Torres del Paine national park. It is a must see for travelers coming down to Patagonia. Apart from the impressive towers of granite (that give the park its name) that jut into the sky like cracked fingers (although they would have been more impressive if they weren't surrounded by clouds when we hiked up to them) there are the cuernos (horns): mountains produced by an extrusion of light-coloured granite through a layer of darker rock, making them look like the worlds biggest sandwich. There are also a few glaciers and more secluded lakes than you can shake a hiking stick at. I spent 4 days doing various hikes around the park, and on the last one I didn't see a single soul for the whole 8 hours I was walking (probably because I got lost, took a wrong turning and ended up miles away from the lake I was planning to visit!) and arrived at a crystal clear lake that must have been a shallow, tropical sea many millions of years ago because it was surrounded by fossilised coral reefs. I could go on but my words would be totally inadequate for the beautiful landscapes, so instead I have trawled the web and recommend you have a look at the picture below of the cuernos, a view I was lucky enough to wake up to every morning there.

The End Of The World Is Here

At least that is the way the town of Ushuaia, the most southerly in the world, markets itself. I knew the name Ushuaia even before I knew where it was because it is also the name of a well known brand of shower gel and shampoo in France. Funnily enough though, in all their adverts they always show exotic Tahitian locations and lots of tropical fruits. Nothing could be further from the truth of the real Ushuaia which is at the tip of South America in Tierra del Fuego. Despite only being at the same latitude as Newcastle, it is a very chilly place, even now in Summer. And I am yet to find some long-haired beauty washing her hair in a waterfall surrounded by lush vegetation. Actually you probably aren't likely to see anybody's hair here for most of the year as it's usually covered in a woolly hat.

Apart from the bleak nature of most of the surroundings it's very pretty round here. Yesterday I went to do some hiking in the local national park and I was struck by the similarities shared with the Highlands of Scotland. And even though the plants are different (for example there are no pines or heather here) they are similar and you can see they fill the same ecological niches.

Anyway, I hope you all have a very excellent 2005 and wish you success and happiness in this year that has so unfortunately been overshadowed already by misfortune. I also hope that the politicians will finally pull their fingers out of their arses and do something useful for a change (although there's fat chance of that happening).

P.S. I thought I might also leave you with an amusing little anecdote from my camping experiences (though it wasn't so amusing at the time). It was the last night at El Chalten, only a few days after Daniel (a Czech guy on the tour with whom I share a tent) and I had christened our tent Prdel (for those of you who don't speak Czech you might want to look up the meaning of the word here). The wind was blowing in off the mountains and bringing with it a fair amount of rain as well, but we managed to get to sleep OK, until about 2:30 that is, when I first felt a puddle next to me. When I properly came to (and found my torch) we found that a small, yet important, part of the tent that separates the flysheet from the inner lining of the tent had blown away, causing the flysheet to become stuck to the lining (allowing water to pour in) and one of the internal poles had also fallen down, in turn causing the soaked lining to lie on top of us. We were unable to fix the tent in the dark and howling wind and so had to quickly pack up our belongings and retreat to the truck to try and get some fitful sleep. As I write Prdel is hanging up to dry and so I am fervently hoping I will have somewhere desiccated to sleep.

Walking In Patagonia

Before I start I would like to offer my sympathy to the people affected by the tsunamis caused by the earthquake on Boxing Day. I hope none of you have friends or family there and if so that they are safe and well. Boxing Day really doesn't seem to be a very happy day lately, as only a year ago there was the earthquake in Bam which killed around 40,000 people (it also made me sad because Bam was a beautiful city that I had not yet had the chance to see, and now never will).

Anyway, back to the journey. You only truly appreciate the size of Argentina once you get down into Patagonia: it took us two long driving days (made all the longer by one puncture and one complete blow-out) to get from Bariloche to El Chalten, which is next to the great southern ice field, a vast expanse of along the southern Argentina-Chile border. The landscape is impressive by its size and uniformity; huge undulating plains, covered only by hardy grasses, stretch out as far as the eye can see, with the odd mountain peak way off to the west. The wildlife is also correspondingly bare, with only a few groups of rheas and the odd guanaco punctuating the monotony. El Chalten is a strange town: it is Argentina's youngest and was quickly cobbled together (and it shows) so as to have the upper hand in a land dispute with Chile.

The town is next to the Los Glaciares national park where there are some beautiful hiking trails taking in some of the most stunning scenery in the continent; glaciers and their associated lakes, sheer, craggy mountain peaks, and gnarled old forests. I got to see my first glacier up close and personal (well, from a distance of about 100m. Any closer and you're at risk from falling ice) and it didn't disappoint. I also tested my walking limits. Just after 2pm I reached the turnoff to head back to town (distance: 10km, walking time: 2hrs), but I thought that that would get me back too early and I'd spend the rest of the day twiddling my thumbs (as there is absolutely nothing to do in El Chalten). So I decided to add a detour to my ramble and take the long way home. Perhaps not the wisest decision I had ever made as by the time I got back to camp it was half past seven and I had covered well over 40km, some of it over difficult terrain (up and down steep hills, along large boulder-strewn moraines, and even through a marsh), and had accumulated 3 blisters (which have gone away surprisingly quickly). Ah well, at least I know roughly how far I can manage to walk in a day.

Why I'm An Atheist; Or It's Been Far Too Long Since My Last Rant

I think the title is rather self-explanatory, so if you aren't interested, can't be bothered or might be offended, feel free to skip this post and move on to the previous one which talks about Christmas, Santa and dogs.

Seeing as it's the holiday season, and the time for introspection amongst other things, I've been thinking a bit about religion and suchlike. The majority of people in the world profess some sort of religious belief or faith, in fact us atheists are a statistically insignificant minority. So why do I persist in thinking as I do? Well there are several reasons which I shall try and put forward as best I can (by the way, if you have any comments or disagreements please feel free to voice your opinions, as there's little I love more than a good discussion). Now although most of my remarks are based on my knowledge of Abrahamic religions (Judaism, Christianity and Islam), I'm sure that with a little bit of tweaking they could be applied to other religions as well.

1) The Diversity Of Religions
There are so many mutually exclusive religious belief systems in the world. It's impossible that every single one of them is right, yet it is possible that they are all wrong. Even within one religion there can be many different viewpoints and interpretations. As somebody clever once said: "you tell me why you don't believe in every other god, and I'll tell you why I don't believe in yours."

2) The Self-Perpetuating Dogma
Many people profess to belong to a certain religion, and yet when asked why, the best reason they can come up with is "I was brought up in it (the religion)" or "my parents are...". There their religion is due to their cultural surroundings. And when you consider that most religions were spread down the barrel of a gun (or the blade of a sword) it makes you wonder if anybody anywhere ever browsed through all the possible religions and chose the one they liked best. But surely that's what belief ought to be: a conscious choice. You can't choose where and when you're born or your family, but you sure as hell should be able to choose what you think.

3) Inability To Stand Up To The Light Of Science
Religions are old, and therefore the knowledge of the world upon which they are based is old as well. When Copernicus first proposed his heliocentric model for the universe, the church fought tooth and nail to discredit the idea. When it became obvious that it was true the church just changed its doctrines as if nothing happened. Similar examples can be found throughout history. If a religion has to change its tune with every new scientific discovery how can one trust anything they say? Just as our knowledge of geology and astronomy has shattered every creation myth, our understanding of evolution, genetics and DNA have blown away the special pedestal religions hoist our species onto (and the creationist argument that evolution evolution is "just a theory" holds even less water than Higgs' elusive boson). The problem with religions is that they are dogmas that cannot bear being questioned because they don't have adequate answers for the discoveries made by science. And it's not just questions posed by science that make religions uncomfortable, very often questioning from within is also heavily suppressed.

4) The Moral Fallacy
Many religious apologists will perhaps agree with what I've said above (or at least parts of it), but still argue in favour of religion saying that religions always preach moral and social rules and codes of conduct, and therefore are important in maintaining the social fabric. Although I agree that religions contain moral rules I disagree with the argument. Consider the following hypothetical situation. You bring up a group of people, but without teaching them either morals or religion. Now if you give them enough time these people will almost certainly develop moral rules and probably religion as well. The moral rules will probably be familiar to us: treat others as you would like to be treated (the Golden Rule), don't kill, don't steal, don't lie, etc. The religion will almost certainly be something new that we will not have seen before. Therefore the universal human constant isn't religion, but morals. In fact organised religions often obscure moral principles when it suits them (see next argument). Furthermore the hypothetical example above shows that religions that profess to be The Truth (i.e. immutable, constant and universal) are false because universal truths should be able to be independently arrived at, whereas religions only exist by continually promoting themselves. By this measure the only Truth is morality and not religion.

5) The Hypocrisy Of Religion
The majority of people who claim to follow a religion do really adhere to the precepts in either spirit or deed. Similarly, an uncountable number of reprehensible, evil and self-serving acts have been carried out in the name of religion that I would much rather not be associated with them. Although this is more of an argument against the people that follow a religion and the leadership of religions rather than the founders and the philosophy of a religion, but for me mud sticks, especially when caked on over centuries and millennia.

6) The Underlying Motivation Behind Religion
Religions generally exhort their followers to behave in a certain way: do good deeds, don't steal, don't kill, etc. This is thoroughly laudable, however when one looks at the reasons given by religions to persuade people to carry out this sort of behaviour they invariably appeal to peoples' sense of greed and self-preservation. In the Abrahamic religions if you do something good you are rewarded with Heaven, if you do something bad you are punished with Hell. And in religions that believe in reincarnation a good deed improves karma leading to a better life next time around, whereas a bad deed does the opposite. Therefore a thoroughly religious person, when helping someone (cross the street lets say) wouldn't be helping them because it's the Right Thing To Do, but rather to further their own spiritual points tally. The atheist, on the other hand, who believes that death is the end, is the only one who carries out truly altruistic acts because they do not believe they will reap some future metaphysical reward.

That's about it really. I know it's very easy to criticise without offering a solution, so I only think it's fair that I give some alternative to religion seeing as I've tried my best to knock it down. Personally I would consider myself a secular humanist. I'm not going to bother explaining it when the link above does it far better than I ever could (by the way, that site is a mine of objective information about all sorts of things concerning religion and philosophy and I highly recommend it if you are at all interested in that sort of stuff). Another article you might find interesting is the following speech by Richard Dawkins (the biologist who coined the term Selfish Gene) just after the World Trade Centre attacks; for me it is incredibly impelling and impassioned.

Crimbo

Christmas Eve and Day were passed in San Carlos de Bariloche, a town that really takes the biscuit for Alpine-ness. Of course it has the obligatory chalet-esque architecture, but it also has fondue restaurants, chocolate shops aplenty and even saint Bernard dogs with casks of brandy round their necks. I decided to break with tradition and had a steak for my Christmas meal, seeing as I'm in Argentina, the land of the steak, and I wasn't at all disappointed; it must have been the tastiest steak I have ever eaten (and I'm looking forward to trying some more).

Christmas Day was surprisingly traditional (especially given the absence of TV) in that most of the day was spent doing very little, and what little activity there was usually centred around food. Instead of a bird though we opted for another spit-roast, and although we started at 7am (and when I say we, I mean other people from the group, as I was sound asleep until way past 10 o'clock) the meat wasn't ready until half past four in the afternoon.

After dinner we all got together to get our presents. We had organised a secret santa, whereby people pick a name out of a hat and have to buy a Christmas present for that person. I ended up being given a big bucket of random snacks from Lorna as I have acquired a reputation within the group for being a consummate glutton.

P.S. It is now a few days after Christmas (I didn't get to finish writing the post in Bariloche) and we have penetrated deep into Patagonia, but I'll recount what has happened there in my next diary post (as I've still got my rant to finish).

Hydrospeed

A few days ago if you had mentioned hydrospeed to me my probable response would have been "huh?". In fact hydrospeed is a sports activity where participants don wetsuits, flippers and a helmet and plunge headfirst through white water rapids clinging on to a polystyrene board reminiscent of those you're given when you first learn to swim. I don't know what crazy individual first came up with the idea, but I'd like to shake him (or her) by the hand, as it is definitely one of the best adrenaline rushes you can get, especially when you get submerged by oncoming waves and buffeted around like a little doll. So if any of you get the chance to try this exciting new activity jump at the opportunity, I cannot recommend it highly enough.

Otherwise I'd like to wish you all a very Merry Christmas (especially to those that I have not managed to send a Christmas e-mail to), I hope you all gorge yourselves on food and wine and yet remain free of indigestion and hangovers.

River Deep, Mountain High

The adventure sports capital of Chile is, without a doubt, Pucon, some 500 miles to the south of Santiago. Sitting in the middle of verdant, rolling countryside, on a large lake and with the ever-present Villarica volcano keeping watch over the town, smoking to keep itself occupied. For many the volcano is the main attraction as it is one of the few in the world to have a permanent lava lake, which contrasts with the permanent snowcap around the summit. Climbing the beast was too tempting to resist and so I signed up for a tour the other day.

We were kitted out head to toe in climbing gear, including mountaineering boots, gaiters, an ice axe, heavy duty trousers and jacket and crampons, and then headed off to the base of the mountain. There was a chairlift that could take you up the first 400m, but I decided not to take it because I thought $5 really was far too excessive, and so I had to trudge up along with a handful of other misers, and it was no mean feat as mountaineering boots are fantastic for walking up snowy slopes, but are absolute hell for scree and rocks because the sole is completely rigid. Once we reached the snow the going was much easier, but there was still over 1000m of mountain to climb, trudging Indian file through well-worn tracks in the snow, zig-zagging up the mountainside (I was quite surprised that there was still that much snow on the slopes). After 4hrs we finally got to the caldera and were greeted with lungfuls of noxious gas that billows out of the caldera, but through the billowing smoke we could also see the lava spurting up in irregular bursts from the pool at the heart of the mountain. We couldn't stay at the top for long though due to the smoke and the piercing wind, so we headed down after about 15mins ... and that was the best part of the whole excursion. Whereas climbing was a slog, the descent was ridiculously easy as we spent most of the time sliding down through the snow on our arses. Definitely the highlight, even though by the end my bum was soaking and numb from the cold! and at least now I can say that I've looked into an active volcano.

Other activities in the area include cycling, hiking, lounging in thermal springs, rafting and hydrospeeding. A few days ago if you had mentioned hydrospeed to me my probable response would have been "huh?". In fact hydrospeed is a sports activity where participants don wetsuits, flippers and a helmet and plunge headfirst through white water rapids clinging on to a polystyrene board reminiscent of those you're given when you first learn to swim. I don't know what crazy individual first came up with the idea, but I'd like to shake him (or her) by the hand, as it is definitely one of the best adrenaline rushes you can get, especially when you get submerged by oncoming waves and buffeted around like a little doll. So if any of you get the chance to try this exciting new activity jump at the opportunity, I cannot recommend it highly enough.

Otherwise I'd like to wish you all a very Merry Christmas (especially to those that I have not managed to send a Christmas e-mail to), I hope you all gorge yourselves on food and wine and yet remain free of indigestion and hangovers.