Port of Friday Harbor

Rhodie bloom in February?!?

Flying around the San Juan Islands

Welcome f*ing home...

Wow! Welcome to Seattle. As we bend you over, we're sorry to say we
are all out of lube... BOTH of my bage were destroyed by Continental
Airlines. My brand new 1 day old bag, seen here, had the handle ripped
off. My other bag, a plastic clamshell that gad survived 4 previous
14,000 mile round trips, squashed like a bug and split into fragments.
The upshot? A $50 travel voucher.

Welcome home...

Almost home!

These mountains are starting to look familiar!

Creepy empty airport!

This place was PACKED last year with thousands of people! It's kind of
creepy to see it this empty!

On my way back home to the USA! (gotta love sleeping pills on long
flights!)

Fresh Snow? It's August here, for crying out loud!

Woke up this morning to fresh snow... Here in Argentina it's summer, and the equivalent of the 3rd of August...

The one that got away...

Try and try, I just couldn't get this geode out of the surrounding
matrix of rock! Grrr...

Home Surgery!

Today I decided that the stitches must come out. Eleven days is long enough, right? So my dad and I scrubbed up with plenty of Betadine (Povidona Iodo al 10%) and cleaned all my fly-fishing / surgical tools in rubbing alcohol (Alcohol Etílico) and commenced the removal. No blood – that’s the betadine! And no pain!

We’re going to open shop as amateur surgeons!

Moonrise over the finger of god

At the Estancia Lemu Cuyén, the almost full moon rising over "Dedo de Dios"

Lago Filo Hua Hum

Here is the beautiful lake, Lago Filo Hua Hum. It’s about 40km south of San Martin de los Andes. The mountains are absolutely beautiful, and our lodge was something out of a movie! No phone or internet, electricity only when the generator worked. Paradise!

Geode hunting grounds

2 hours north of Bariloche.

Estancia Lemu Cuyen

This is the view from our cabaña in the mountains!

My mortal enemy... The Tabano!

This is what causes us the most pain in all of Argentina... The mighty (bastard) Tabano! It's the biggest horsefly you've ever seen (this one is actually pretty small). They take CHUNKS out of you, not just little bites...

Lunch Time!

I took this photo thinking there was a small fly on a Daisy. When I loaded it into the computer, I discovered that there was a tiny white spider eating the little fly! Amazing!

Aphids and Spiders, Oh My!

The poor roses in front of my cabaña – they have been infested with Aphids, and a spider who watches over everything. Anyone have any suggestions, sans pesticides, for removing Aphids? I would love to hear them!

New Videos Posted

I’ve been hard at work! I’ve posted a few short videos of my adventures so far in Argentina.

http://www.youtube.com/nwislandguy

1 in a million Blue Freshwater Crab

While out fishing a new stretch of Pichi Leufu, I looked down and to my amazement I saw a little blue dot creeping up the river. I looked closer, and found a bright blue freshwater crab! The blue is caused by the same genetic mutation that gives us albinos. And in the freshwater crab world, this is a one in a million crab!

Bimbos Everywhere!

Another case of "lost in translation"

Stitches!

Here’s my arm with the stitches!

What a pool!

This is at the Bariloche equivalent of Parks & Rec. For some reason,
it's closed on a beautiful sunny day...

Rock & Roll

Here's the little hitch-hiker I've been carrying around in my arm for
the last week!

I'm not pregnant!

Had my first ever ultrasound yesterday, and I’m not pregnant! Wait – in a weird way, I guess I am... I have to have a ‘c-section’ of the arm to get the piece of rock removed. The shard is at the top of the picture between the small ‘+’ signs, and the dark band below that is the shadow the fragment casts through my arm on the ultrasound. Off to the hospital I go!

Virgin of the Lake panorama

The Virgin of the Lake lookout on Circuito Chico Road. This pano was made up of 46 images, and the final output was over 400 megabytes! Click on the picture to see the whole thing, and remember to scroll to the left and right!

Special souvenir from Argentina

Well, it looks like I get to bring a special souvenir home from Argentina this year! I DO  have a piece of rock in my arm, about 5mm across - see the little white speck? Fifty dollars was the cost for a consult and x-ray. Tomorrow I get to go have surgery to remove the shard...

Guard dog at Río Pichiléufu

Maybe I should stay away from rock cutting machines...

Rocks fight back...

A couple of days ago while hunting geodes and agates, one splintered
and shot me. Two days later it is becoming apparent there might be a
piece of rock stuck deep in my arm. Tomorrow I will go to a hospital
in Bariloche, Argentina - where the doctors speak NO English, and try
to explain why I want an x-ray and if there is something there, I'll
have a nice, unique, souvenir from here - stiches, a scar, and a
pieceif rock that tried to kill me!

Hopefully my only souvenir will be the x-ray!

Beautiful rose in front of our cabaña in Bariloche

Geode hunting in Argentina

This pile of geodes is a naturally occuring pile! Amazing - they were
everywhere!