We in England have a tendency to hop swiftly onto bandwagons, especially if they are driven by the likes of Posh Spice. So when the whole Eco-marketing ploy went into operation, I went into reverse. I had always, just naturally out of common-sense respect for the Earth, re-used and recyled. What is the point of paying good money for ECO-Goods while wasting thousands of gallons of treated water to flush a little pee-pee?
Something about Patagonia has got me on a bandwagon now. I did happen to see Al Gore's film 'An Inconvenient Truth' just before travelling and maybe his vivid depiction of retreating glaciares has contributed to my sense of injustice. The sight of Lago Nunez, the bird sanctuary in El Calafate, currently underwater from the melted glaciar was awakening.
Human beings have lost not only their sense but their sensuality. Not only was I frustrated last night at Vaca Profana, listening, or attempting to listen to a band play over the top of two women yakking but in El Calafate it seemed wrong that American Lawyers jet in for one day to tick the Glaciar off their 'Been There, Done It' list whilst yakking full blast about where they were off to next.
As a City, El Calafate is obviously ruined. The old gravel road to the Glaciar now replaced with a superhighway. At least Men With Axes try to keep the glaciar pristine by insisting that you remove every shred of garbage and by totally forbidding smoking. But where were Men With Axes the day we went frente a frente with Mount Fitzroy and some idiot from New Jersey who could be heard yakking across the Moraine although he was just a tiny speck on the horizon, jumped into pristine Lago de Los Tres. (You are not allowed bathe in the waters and even when camping, have to take water from its source and wash 30 metres distant).
El Chalten is going the same way. Construction of hotels everywhere. Ruta 40 currently being paved to facilitate more tourist buses.
I came across a note in my journal from travelling to Puerto Madryn in 2007 - 'What a disastrous testament to human existence Patagonia is. Rumbling across the esteppe with a vista of thousands of plastic bags trapped in the gorse, blown there by the wind and held captive forever'. At least El Calafate and El Chalten have banned plastic bags from shops now. What about the mega-pervasive mineral water bottles? Post Carneval at Guayleguaychu, the streets were a nuevo mountain of plastic. We don't need them. But then again we don't need most of the things we thing we can't live without.
Tracy,
I've been looking for you for two days with no luck
(both in your barrio and at Restaurant Colorado.
I want to apologize for upsetting you and
and disrupting the peace in a public place.
I look forward to seeing you soon and engaging on more amiable terms.
You're an intelligent and very intriquing women.
Paul
Posted by: paulschutt@mac.com | July 18, 2009 at 08:30 PM