Turn Your Lights On, And Take Your Shoe Off ...

Sometimes, it seems like your eyes will pop out of your head ...

 

The scenery in this part of the world is mind blowing.  Patagonia is the region at the southern end of South America shared by Chile and Argentina, and it is so splendid that it is almost too much to comprehend.

We have spent the last couple days in the Torres del Paine National Park here in Chile.  It's an amazing and remote landscape full of glaciers, towering snow capped peaks, waterfalls, lakes, icebergs, brilliant views and ... bad roads. 
(you have to read to the bottom of this post to understand that last comment) 

 

The incredible views are too numerous to count, and around every corner is another spectacular scene. For the most part, I will let the pictures do the talking on this blog post.  

There are so many things to see and do.  On Friday, near the entrance to the National Park, there is a really amazing cave with dinosaur bones.  Fiona even got close to the beast (well, even if it was just a statue).  It's a Milodon, if you're curious ...

The cave was really big, with a huge expanse of rock under cover of the enormous cliff above.  The lighting was excellent for photography.  I couldn't resist. 

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We did something today for the first time that was tremendously exciting for us.  We went on a boat ride up to the glacier face that runs into Lago Grey here at the park.  Unbelievable is a word that comes to mind, among others.  It was a beautiful sunny day, rather windy (it apparently always is here), but clear and almost warm.  It was a twin hull Catamaran, which made it a bit smoother on choppy water.  

 
The boat made its way up to the face of the glacier with ice cliffs probably a hundred feet high.  The colors were bright vivid shades of blue and white. 


On the way up to the glacier, we passed a giant iceberg that had broken off the face and fallen into the water.  It was massive, about the size of the Oregon State Capital.  

The backdrop to all this - towering mountains behind, up to ten thousand feet high.   It was one of the most amazing things we've seen.  

 
We got right up close to the glacier, within fifty yards.  It seemed like you could almost touch it. The photo opportunities were infinite.  I finally had to put down my iphone/camera and just watch it and soak it all in.  It is something I will never forget.  

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Okay, so where does the story come into play about the lights and the shoe coming off?

Well, they have rules in every country and this is no exception.  Two major rules in this place:  Wear your seat belt, and turn your lights on.  
You have to drive with your lights on during the day in Chile and Argentina.  Why? Safety, I guess, not for me to say.  But it's kind of a hassle.  Let me explain.

Our truck, shown in the photo below (couldn't resist the red on red), is a basic off road work rig.  It doesn't have fancy bells and buzzers.  You know, the kind that let you know when your lights are on. 
So it you get out of the car during the day, and your lights are on, you forget to turn them off. 

This drains the battery.  In fact, we were warned by the guy when we got the car, "the battery will go dead if you leave the lights on".  Okay, so how do we not forget?  ... which we already did twice.  

I devised a foolproof method to remind me to turn the lights out when we get out of the car.  I thought about a couple of things like tie a string around your finger or put a tag on the door, but no, this had to have absolutely no chance of ignoring. 


So each time I turned on the lights, which was every time we drove the car during the day, I took off my shoe.  Like my left shoe.  The truck is a stick shift, so that's the clutch foot. And believe me, you don't forget to put your shoe on when you get out of the rig, so you turn the lights off.  Inspired, if you ask me!


So if you see a guy walking around in Patagonia with one shoe on ... well, it's probably related to the headlights in his car. 

The roads can be treacherous down here.  You have to be careful.  We came upon this car that crashed yesterday - unable to negotiate a dangerous turn. 
I hope he had his lights on!