Torres del Paine in the LA Times

by Erik Olsen on

There are few places I’ve blogged about here more than Patagonia. If ever you wanted to visit a place of immense beauty, gaping space and old-fashioned, Latin American charm, it’s the bottom of the South American continent. When I lived in Chile, I took several trips down to Patagonia, one of which had me trekking and riding the long, cool trails of Torres del Paine, a magnificent national park in Chile that is something of a mix of Yosemite, Yellowstone and, well, another world. The towers themselves (or Torres) are like modern art layer cakes carved by eons of wind, water and ice. The animal life is unique and varied and includes the guanaco (some of which actually spit at you) and the Nandu, an ostrich-like bird that lumbers around and one of which actually stalked a friend of mine and I as if we were prey.

Well, seems the mainstream media is catching on…they have for a while, actually…and the grandeur of Torres is revealed nicely in this piece in the LA Times. One key place mentioned here that I too, highly recommend, is the Hosteria Pehoe and it’s amazing dining room overlooking Lake Pehoe. I don’t recall EVER having eaten a meal with as fine a view as this one…with the exception, perhaps, of sitting one day years ago eating a sandwich on the lip of the Grand Canyon. But that’s a different story, and one that I’ll refrain from telling here.

World Heritage Sights Rated

by Erik Olsen on

My wife and I are planning our upcoming trip to Norway and we’re trying to decide whether it’s worth the effort to take a boat called the Coastal Steamer up to the Western Fjords…places with pretty much unpronounceable (and unspellable) names like Geirangerfjord and Naroyfjord (names, several letters of which, do not seem displayable here because they are, well, weird-looking letters). Well, there I was contemplating whether these places would be worth seeing, and I discover that they are both top scorers in the World Heritage Site rating piece over at National Geographic.

The whole World Heritage Site system is wonderful. Think of it as the original 1000 Things to Do Before You Die…even though there are only 833 of them currently. The process of giving places around the planet World Heritage status began back in 1973 when UNESCO (the United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization) was entrusted with administering the program in an effort to identify and protect places of “outstanding universal value.”

The list of sites ranges across a wide spectrum of both natural and man-made places from astonishing ruins like Angkor Wat to, well, as I pointed out here, the Norwegian fjords.

Anyway, these places are always worth pointing out and the nicely done ranking system here at Nat Geo is a helpful guide for anyone putting together their personal “life-lists”.

Silk Road in Less than Four Minutes

by Jamie Rhein on

After the 10 rolls of film I took on a trek in Ladakh were overexposed by the professional developer I took them to, and after my camera was stolen out of my apartment in Albuquerque–twice (not the same camera, different cameras on two different occassions) and after leaving one camera in the trunk of a taxi in Hanoi, Vietnam when we were dropped off at the airport, I don’t take pictures all that often anymore. That’s why I am doubly impressed by travel videos. Not only did someone manage to hold onto a video camera long enough to have loads of footage by the end of the trip, the person managed to not get the video camera lifted or forgotten. Then there is the editing afterwards.

Here is a video of a Silk Road tour by Ameriklik that moves at a fast clip through East and Central Asia. I particularly like this one because of the added music, the performances and the photos of the people who were on this trip interspersed with the culture and the scenery. This makes me want to rethink my camera neglect–and head out on a Silk Road journey. There is a lot packed in here in under four minutes.

Appalachian Trail Blog

by Erik Olsen on

It is probably America’s most famous trail. It stretches and winds and twists up the entire East Coast of the United States and was immortalized in a book by one of our great living travel writing humorists, Bill Bryson. The Appalachian Trail is nothing less than a jewel in the crown of the American trail system. So I like to keep my eyes out for news about the AT, as it is affectionately known, whose blazes burn bright and whose springtime appeal is just about now at its peak. You may be stuck indoors, but the Boston Globe is running a great little blog by Michelle Holmes who is taking on the trail. Taking a look at the photos she’s included, it’s hard to tell whether these folks are part of an epic hike or a Grateful Dead show, but…well, let us not judge that we be not judged.

No matter. Ms. Holmes’ adventure, which is just starting out, will be fun to follow.

Solar Cooled Pith Helmet

by Neil Woodburn on

Okay, this is a bit goofy, and it comes to us from the Hammacher Schlemmer catalog, but I could resist spotlighting it for today. Yes, it is a solar powered pith helmet.

I’m not sure anyone actually wears old-school pith helmets these days, not even on a safari, yet nonetheless some rocket scientist decided to improve on the design by mounting a simple solar panel atop the hat that powers a miniature fan on the front brim.

Now if they could only mount two beer holders on either side and redirect that energy towards cooling the brewskies, I might just consider buying one.

Cost: $49.95