We spent three days trekking in the Torres del Paine National Park, which is a World Heritage Site. It has an almost unreal landscape, with vibrant green vegetation, turquoise blue water, and amazing light at sunrise. The horns of the mountains catch the sunlight, and the colors are wonderful. I was there in the summer through January and February, so the weather was great. Even when the storm clouds rolled in, it was beautiful. They formed what looked like an ice cap behind the mountains and lit up with a golden hue. It's an incredibly beautiful place. When I saw it, I thought, Wow! I've never seen anything like this. I didn't know a place like this existed.
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The days were very long during our time in Patagonia. The sun didn't set until about 11 p.m., and sunrise was at four in the morning. We had to travel to a lot of different places. So by the end, my assistant and I had major sleep deprivation. By the time I'd finish for the day, eat something, write my captions, and go to bed, I'd have only about three hours of sleep before it was time to get to work again. We really enjoyed what we were doing and wanted to make the most of the long days, but it got extremely tiring.
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I met a man named Joaquin Nonso in the northern Patagonian town of Gaima. He's about 82 years old and runs an outdoor gallery in his backyard that he calls El Desafío (The Challenge). He takes discards such as old plastic bottles, tins, and soda cans, and makes artwork out of them. Some of the pieces are statements about consumer society, and some are just art. He even created a monument to himself. It's really an odd, interesting place.
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