Not Present ... But Accounted For

I haven't been posting much lately.  It's not like I haven't had enough to write about with the pandemic and the continuing protests of injustice and inequality.  Some may assume that the social distancing may be at the root of this blog inactivity but that would be far from the truth.  When the stay at home orders came down in mid-March my life, frankly, didn't change a whit.  I've been socially distancing, self-isolating, and staying at home since long before the world even heard of COVID-19.  The only change I had in my life, really, was the Wife being with me all day - a plus in my book.

The fact is, since I returned from the Appalachian Trail I haven't been ... present.  I feel a bit adrift ... tuned out ... and I am content with this - at least for the moment.  This feeling is probably a result of having completed all my plans that I've had since 2012.  Ending my Appalachian Trail hike was the last thing on my list and I'm still digesting my experience.

Now, while part of me feels disconnected, my Twitter followers (@HomersTravels) know I am following what 2020 is throwing at us very closely.  I've kept Homer's Travels fairly politics-free.  Twitter is where my politics comes out full force.  So, If you are bored by the blog silence, feel free to check out my twitter feed.

At this point in similar posts I would pledge to either make plans, do things, or post more ... yada yada yada.  I'm not doing that this time.  My head isn't in the right place to make plans right now and, frankly, 2020 is not making it easy to make plans - a good thing since I've had my fill of plans for a while.  This may change ... or it may not.  You'll know it as soon as I figure it all out.

Chilean Patagonia: Days Seven And Eight - The Way Home

Day Six:  On our last partial day in Patagonia we took a free shuttle into town for the last gasp of our sightseeing and shopping.  We visited the modest church and a few stores we'd stopped at a few days earlier to finish off our shopping list ... mostly.

After a lunch at our hotel we were taken to the airport for our mid afternoon flight to Santiago (the flight where I left my fleece).  We were picked up at the airport by the same guide who's helped us nearly a week earlier.

We ate dinner at our hotel's rooftop bar before walking to our favorite ice cream shop in Santiago.

Day Seven:  Our flight home didn't leave until the evening so we had a free day in the city.  The Wife had one task - buy Cuban cigars for her brother.  It now seems to be a custom since we've bought them in Cuba, Canada, and now Chile - all the 'C' countries.

The Wife had asked our guide about the easiest way to get to the Casa de Habano cigar store.  She suggested we take the subway.  She also suggested take the subway to a market connected to a church.  Her suggestions became our last day itinerary.

We walked a couple blocks to the subway and rode it to the end of the line.  A short, and hot, one block walk took us to the market.  We ate lunch in a restaurant connected to the market before we dropped some more money here buying some rather unique pieces for our collection.

There was a funeral going on in the church so we couldn't go in so we got back on the subway and headed to the Casa de Habano.  This was a longer walk from the station and I was sweating by the time we got there.  The Wife pulled out her brother's list and impressed everyone with her brother's taste in cigars.

After the cigar shop we stopped at an ice cream place.  It was good but not nearly as good as our favorite.  Our guide had suggested another ice cream place but we didn't see it until after we'd had our ice creams.

A subway ride took us back to the hotel's neighborhood.  On the walk back we browsed through the protest stickers and found some more treasures.  I'll have to share one or two in future posts.

Cat on a chill tin roof.

The rest was uneventful. They took us to the airport where we caught our red-eye flight back to the States.

A peacock displaying his finest at the church market.

It turned out to be a nice relaxing trip.  It is the southernmost the Wife and I have ever been.  The opposite of last year's trip to Iceland geography wise.  I think next Christmas we'll stay home.  I kinda miss being home during that time of the year.

Pictures can be found in my 2019-2020 Chilean Patagonia Google Photos album.

Chilean Patagonia: Day One - On The Way ... Via Santiago, Chile

I'm a bit late at documenting our winter travels to Chilean Patagonia.  I haven't been much in the mood to write lately.  But this needs to get done so here goes.

Our dog/house sitter drove us to the airport mid-afternoon on the day after Christmas.  All our flights on this trip were at great times - mid-morning, mid-afternoon, or evening flights.

We flew from Omaha to Dallas then on to Santiago, Chile.  Our connecting flight gate in Dallas was changed twice.  The first change took us to another terminal and the skytrain, which would have made it easy, was out of service.  Fortunately we had lots of time to walk to the new gate.  It's interesting that the stores in the international terminal are so much more upscale than those in domestic.  Hmmm ...

In Santa Lucia Park.

We arrived in Santiago an hour late.  Customs went smoothly and we were picked up by a guide.  We knew we would have the afternoon to ourselves and had planned to see if we could set up a tour of the city.  This turned out not to be necessary as our guide had anticipated this and had already setup an afternoon tour.

We got to our room some five hours before check in time and had a half hour to freshen up before our city guide picked us up.  We started with a list of places the Wife and I had visited the last time we were in Santiago so the guide could change his plans a bit to add things we hadn't seen.

Santiago had changed a bit since the last time we were here.  Every wall we saw was covered in graffiti related to the recent ... and continuing ... protests.  A lot of the graffiti was violent against Paco, a nickname for the police.  Our guide took us to a church, past the historical district, and  a small hole-in-the-wall sandwich shop when we mentioned we hadn't had anything to eat for nearly twelve hours.  The restaurant served the local favorite: Chacarero.  The sandwich was good but a bit too spicy for my tastes.  I only finished half of it.

Black Neck Swans.

We visit San Francisco Church with it's connected colonial museum, several parks including Santa Lucía Hill.  We visited with the black neck swans and flamingos.  We took a gondola ride up to the top of San Cristóbal Hill (we visited here before but last time we took the funicular).  In between the stops the Wife talked to our guide about politics.  Based on his comments about the protesters, we decided our city guide was a fascist. In general, despite being a bit tired, I enjoyed the tour.

Words are not necessary in this example of protest graffiti.  The 'nose' through
the eye represents a protester injured when a rubber bullet hit his eye.

After they dropped us off at our hotel we walked to our favorite ice cream place (Cafe de Opera).  Our hotel was not far from the one we stayed at last time so we roughly knew the area.  The ice cream was just like we remembered it - delicious.

Resist ... with a heart.

As we were returning to our hotel, protesters began to gather in a park a few blocks from our hotel.  We knew something was coming when we saw people calmly strolling down the street carrying gas masks.  Next came the police vehicles (water cannons).  As it got darker the protesters began banging pots and pans (the Casseroles).  While I would have loved to take pictures of the protest, I was a bit over-cautious.  We had a meal of tapas in the rooftop bar before the Wife and I retired to our room on the eighth floor.  We opened our balcony door and listened to the well coordinated banging of pots.  Occasionally there were explosions - either tear gas or fireworks, hard to tell.  You could see smoke in the distance.  I wondered if we should be experiencing this in our nation's capital as well.

I think we are becoming birders.

Our flight to Puerto Natales left late next morning.  We had breakfast, were picked up by our airport guide, and we took the flight south.  Patagonia ... here we come.

Pictures can be found in my 2019-2020 Chilean Patagonia Google Photos album.

I Am An Engineer And I Support Science

There is an anti-science wave going through society today that has worried me for a while.  Today the scientists are marching against this institutionalized ignorance and supporting science that supports the common good.  I support the March for Science.

Resist Ignorance.

The Start Of Something Wonderful

Yesterday the President signed an executive order banning entry to refugees and other legal immigrants from seven nations in Africa and the Middle East.   There was a protest at Turner Park in the Mid-Town Crossings area of Omaha.

The Wife and a friend joined the crowd of roughly a thousand peaceful protesters.  I would have joined as well but I am still recovering from my surgery and I definitely was not up to the challenge.  I am sure there will be other opportunities to join the righteous cause and protest the crazy sh!t our elected government is trying to get past us.

It's nice to see the return of peaceful protests.  I expected to see a few during the Iraq war but was disappointed when they didn't materialize.  I guess it took a narcissistic reality star with delusions of White grandeur to bring out the protest in people.  All we need now are some awesome twenty-first century anti-establishment folk music to sing at the rallies.

Nice crowd at Turner Park this afternoon.

Note: The photographs in this post were taken by the Wife.