10-01-08

"Ahora empieza la temporada del viento," a Chilean friend mused, sinking into a cushy red chair and looking out from a large picture window. Logs crackled in a woodstove while wind lashed the air outside, which had turned frighteningly cold.

Now begins the season of the winds. How could it be? It was supposed to be spring. I thought I'd left the worst weather behind me in the Patagonian winter, but apparently awful winds arrive in the spring--and even worse ones in summer. It snowed today for the first time in weeks, and it may have been the first time I've seen hail down here at all. My now familiar mountains have been obscured in low, gray cloud whihc looks like a sinister dust storm or twister on the horizon, but it is just more cold, damn wind.