Buenos Aires, Argentina: Plaza de San Martin - English Tower
posted by Manuel Ceja @ 1:24 AM
0 comments
Wednesday, March 29, 2006
An Urban Exploration: Buenos Aires, Argentina
Hi everyone I hope you are doing well.
Its been almost two weeks since I've returned from my too short visit South America and thought I'd share a thought about my travels. The best way to describe was: Surprising.
The first part of our trip was to the capital city of Argentina, Buenos Aires (BA). If you've not been to BA my best description is to compare it to a mixture of San Francisco, and New York City - A very,hip, sophisticated, cosmopolitan, young, metropolitan town - In short, a fun place to visit.
What was originally meant to be a larger group turned into a small group of three which consisted of my brother Armando, his friend Steve, and of course me. From the moment we arrived, until the moment we left, our travels were full of surprises; most very pleasant.
Some characteristics of Argentinos that I've brought back with me are their overwhelming sense of national pride, and their love of food and drink. Some specific items that come to mind are the their Parrilladas, Fracturas, Empanandas, Pizzas, Chimichuri; Cafe (coffee), Yerba Mate (tea), Quilmes (beer) and Malbec (wine).
BA is walking town; and walk we did. Together, and me separately, we walked to Recoleta, El Centro, San Telmo, Palermo, Boca, Nuevo Palermo, Puerto Madero - Pretty much everywhere. Our walks were interrupted only by our need to eat and hydrate - Although it was the end of their summer it was still very hot, although only mildly humid.
I had a chance to visit many city parks, the botanical gardens, the planetarium, the zoo, and other points of architectural, artistic, and cultural interest. We went to a Tango show, which is a Must See, we visited a small river town, Tigre, Northwest of BA on the banks of the Rio Plata. All these destinations and interests only skimmed the surface of what the city has to offer and I certainly left wanting more.
For now I'm left satisfied with the introduction to Argentinian life, but I do plan to return someday, and visit much more remote locations such as Patagonia, Anaconugua, Torres del Paine, Tierra del Fuego and other destinations.
In reality our introduction to Argentina on started in BA, while in reality it ended in El Puerto de Iguazu, but that will have to wait for another night, and another email For now I will only add: I love life and hope you do too!
-Manny
Its been almost two weeks since I've returned from my too short visit South America and thought I'd share a thought about my travels. The best way to describe was: Surprising.
The first part of our trip was to the capital city of Argentina, Buenos Aires (BA). If you've not been to BA my best description is to compare it to a mixture of San Francisco, and New York City - A very,hip, sophisticated, cosmopolitan, young, metropolitan town - In short, a fun place to visit.
What was originally meant to be a larger group turned into a small group of three which consisted of my brother Armando, his friend Steve, and of course me. From the moment we arrived, until the moment we left, our travels were full of surprises; most very pleasant.
Some characteristics of Argentinos that I've brought back with me are their overwhelming sense of national pride, and their love of food and drink. Some specific items that come to mind are the their Parrilladas, Fracturas, Empanandas, Pizzas, Chimichuri; Cafe (coffee), Yerba Mate (tea), Quilmes (beer) and Malbec (wine).
BA is walking town; and walk we did. Together, and me separately, we walked to Recoleta, El Centro, San Telmo, Palermo, Boca, Nuevo Palermo, Puerto Madero - Pretty much everywhere. Our walks were interrupted only by our need to eat and hydrate - Although it was the end of their summer it was still very hot, although only mildly humid.
I had a chance to visit many city parks, the botanical gardens, the planetarium, the zoo, and other points of architectural, artistic, and cultural interest. We went to a Tango show, which is a Must See, we visited a small river town, Tigre, Northwest of BA on the banks of the Rio Plata. All these destinations and interests only skimmed the surface of what the city has to offer and I certainly left wanting more.
For now I'm left satisfied with the introduction to Argentinian life, but I do plan to return someday, and visit much more remote locations such as Patagonia, Anaconugua, Torres del Paine, Tierra del Fuego and other destinations.
In reality our introduction to Argentina on started in BA, while in reality it ended in El Puerto de Iguazu, but that will have to wait for another night, and another email For now I will only add: I love life and hope you do too!
-Manny
posted by Manuel Ceja @ 1:21 AM
1 comments
Sunday, March 19, 2006
Avalanche Course in the Sierra's
Hi. Since I already started the day of on a good note with a long run, I thought I'd take a time out of my morning to catch up with some recent adventures I've been wanting to share.
About a month ago I took a trip to the southern end of the Northern Sierras, in other words the Central Sierra's! I made the voyage north to complete an avalanche course. Because I intend to continue to explore back-country winter landscapes I wanted to be better able to evaluate the hazards associated with travel across snow-laden trails and mountain sides. Having successfully completed the two day course i am extremely happy I invested the time to learn about avalanche safety.
The bottom line in winter activities is - You DO NOT want to get caught in an avalanche. If this is not immediately intuitive, which I hope it is, this email will hopefully provide some amount of enlightenment.
The course consisted of two very long days, of classroom instruction and field work. Most of our time was spent outdoors, putting into practice the skills and knowledge that we reviewed in the classroom. Our timing for the course was perfect - it has snowed heavily the week before, and established just the right conditions that we were there to explore. In fact were were made aware of the sad news that a well known experienced Ski Patrol person had perished from injuries sustained after being caught in an avalanche three days earlier. This of course made the class that much more poignant.
Most of the participants in the course were members of The Outdoors Club (www.outdoorsclub.org), myself included, although none of us had previously met, so it was fun to get to know everyone. The class was taught by Kurt Wedberg, well known Alpinist and Guide/Owner of Sierra Mountaineering International (www.sierramountaineering.com), as well of two of his staff. In total there were about 18 participants in the class, which was held in the city of Bishop.
Day 1 was classroom work, which started bright and early at 7AM, and consisted of studying the science of weather, snow, snow pack formation, avalanche terrain, avalanche triggers, trip and travel planning, search and rescue equipment, and methods. After we had learned most of the theory we took a trip outside of town, up into the mountains to about 9500 ft elevation. There we simulated burials, and practiced our search and rescue techniques with our avalanche transceivers, probes and shovels - See picture. I'm the one in the orange jacket.
After the field work we return the classroom, and delved back into the science and theory of avalanche avoidance, back-country medical care, and trip planning for the following day. Day 2 was all held outdoors, in the hills surrounding Mammoth Lakes. Like the day before class started at 7AM, which made for a very early morning start, since it took about an hour to drive to Mammoth from Bishop. However, one nice thing about making the early morning drive, was watching the sun come up and watching the eastern face of the Sierras light up with a warm Golden glow - It was very beautiful.
Day 2 consisted of a back-country trek through avalanche territory, and all the knowledge we learned the day before was put into practice. In fact, we did have to a real life rescue, when a person fell into a hole in the snow pack and had to be extracted - We were fortunate that he was not hurt; the attached picture shows the about 12 ft deep pit we eventually dug.
By most accounts the trip we made was very modest, less than six miles total with about 1600 ft of elevation gain. However, we had plenty of group dynamics to contend with, even after split into three smaller groups, issues such as poor equipment, pace, and even some health issues. That said, we did manage to work through our issues and safely made our summit.
Once we were at the summit, we dug a snow pit to do snow pack study for strength and stability - We eventually determined that there was only a moderate (which is actually very high) risk of an avalanche - Of course we already knew this, and it was the reason why we were there! The most interest part of the day however came after we had completed our snow pack study, it was at that point that the instructors surprised us with a mock avalanche and tasked to prepare and complete a rescue.
For reasons that I don't recall anymore, I was elected as the leader for the group, and was responsible for coordinating the search and rescue. Although it was only a simulation, we were all nevertheless immediately charged with adrenaline and emotion as we coordinated and completed the search and rescue. As the leader, my mind and heart raced the entire time.
We eventually found and unburied all the avalanche victims, three of which survived, one which did not. Please keep in mind this was just a simulation - No one actually got hurt, but we treated it as if it were a real situation. You can imagine that the exercise turned from thrilling to morbid, before we were complete. The first rescue took about 6 minutes, the second 8 minutes, the third about 12 minutes and the fourth in about 35 minutes after forming a probe line.
Make note of the rescue times, they are critical. If I recall correctly, the survival rate for victims buried in an avalanche for more than 15 minutes drops off to virtually zero. Although bodily injuries or hypothermia are often thought of as the things that kill you in an avalanche; they are not - It's asphyxiation. Some exceptions aside, it is a well established medical fact that after 6 minutes of oxygen deprivation you will sustain irreversible, fatal brain damage. Now go back and reread our rescue times: Pretty somber if you think about it, especially when you think that the rescue consisted of about twenty trained and skilled individuals doing the rescue. [Insert you own emotional response here].
Two of the victims were wearing avalanche beacons, two were not - Want to guess which ones were found the quickest? Yup - good guess, the ones with the avalanche transceivers. Once we had all made it back down to the trail-head we did an hour long critique of the rescue. The rescue instructor had a lot of praise for the group, and said something which was a shock to most of us, me especially: He said that in his fifteen years of doing first-time, group avalanche classes, ours was the best he had ever seen, both the group as a whole and me as the leader.
This immediately floored me. His comments were thoroughly objective, and well calibrated, since he is also the June Mountain Avalanche Search and Rescue Ski Patrol Instructor, but I reflected on all the mistakes I knew I was making, even as I was making them, and thought to myself that in a real life situation, you will be extremely unlikely to have the same favorable conditions we did in our mock exercise.
These realizations of course lead me back to my bottom line conclusion of the class - "You DO NOT want to get caught in an avalanche".
Based on my experience in the class and my personal experience in the back-country, I strongly encourage you to take a similar course, if you intend to spend any time the winter back-country. If you are out and about, it is unlikely you will be able to eliminate the risks, but having this type of knowledge should allow you to make better decisions and plans.
I hope this email doesn't seem depressing, I did not intend be. In the event it is I'll end on a positive note: I love life - It's great! I hope you feel the same.
-Manny
About a month ago I took a trip to the southern end of the Northern Sierras, in other words the Central Sierra's! I made the voyage north to complete an avalanche course. Because I intend to continue to explore back-country winter landscapes I wanted to be better able to evaluate the hazards associated with travel across snow-laden trails and mountain sides. Having successfully completed the two day course i am extremely happy I invested the time to learn about avalanche safety.
The bottom line in winter activities is - You DO NOT want to get caught in an avalanche. If this is not immediately intuitive, which I hope it is, this email will hopefully provide some amount of enlightenment.
The course consisted of two very long days, of classroom instruction and field work. Most of our time was spent outdoors, putting into practice the skills and knowledge that we reviewed in the classroom. Our timing for the course was perfect - it has snowed heavily the week before, and established just the right conditions that we were there to explore. In fact were were made aware of the sad news that a well known experienced Ski Patrol person had perished from injuries sustained after being caught in an avalanche three days earlier. This of course made the class that much more poignant.
Most of the participants in the course were members of The Outdoors Club (www.outdoorsclub.org), myself included, although none of us had previously met, so it was fun to get to know everyone. The class was taught by Kurt Wedberg, well known Alpinist and Guide/Owner of Sierra Mountaineering International (www.sierramountaineering.com), as well of two of his staff. In total there were about 18 participants in the class, which was held in the city of Bishop.
Day 1 was classroom work, which started bright and early at 7AM, and consisted of studying the science of weather, snow, snow pack formation, avalanche terrain, avalanche triggers, trip and travel planning, search and rescue equipment, and methods. After we had learned most of the theory we took a trip outside of town, up into the mountains to about 9500 ft elevation. There we simulated burials, and practiced our search and rescue techniques with our avalanche transceivers, probes and shovels - See picture. I'm the one in the orange jacket.
After the field work we return the classroom, and delved back into the science and theory of avalanche avoidance, back-country medical care, and trip planning for the following day. Day 2 was all held outdoors, in the hills surrounding Mammoth Lakes. Like the day before class started at 7AM, which made for a very early morning start, since it took about an hour to drive to Mammoth from Bishop. However, one nice thing about making the early morning drive, was watching the sun come up and watching the eastern face of the Sierras light up with a warm Golden glow - It was very beautiful.
Day 2 consisted of a back-country trek through avalanche territory, and all the knowledge we learned the day before was put into practice. In fact, we did have to a real life rescue, when a person fell into a hole in the snow pack and had to be extracted - We were fortunate that he was not hurt; the attached picture shows the about 12 ft deep pit we eventually dug.
By most accounts the trip we made was very modest, less than six miles total with about 1600 ft of elevation gain. However, we had plenty of group dynamics to contend with, even after split into three smaller groups, issues such as poor equipment, pace, and even some health issues. That said, we did manage to work through our issues and safely made our summit.
Once we were at the summit, we dug a snow pit to do snow pack study for strength and stability - We eventually determined that there was only a moderate (which is actually very high) risk of an avalanche - Of course we already knew this, and it was the reason why we were there! The most interest part of the day however came after we had completed our snow pack study, it was at that point that the instructors surprised us with a mock avalanche and tasked to prepare and complete a rescue.
For reasons that I don't recall anymore, I was elected as the leader for the group, and was responsible for coordinating the search and rescue. Although it was only a simulation, we were all nevertheless immediately charged with adrenaline and emotion as we coordinated and completed the search and rescue. As the leader, my mind and heart raced the entire time.
We eventually found and unburied all the avalanche victims, three of which survived, one which did not. Please keep in mind this was just a simulation - No one actually got hurt, but we treated it as if it were a real situation. You can imagine that the exercise turned from thrilling to morbid, before we were complete. The first rescue took about 6 minutes, the second 8 minutes, the third about 12 minutes and the fourth in about 35 minutes after forming a probe line.
Make note of the rescue times, they are critical. If I recall correctly, the survival rate for victims buried in an avalanche for more than 15 minutes drops off to virtually zero. Although bodily injuries or hypothermia are often thought of as the things that kill you in an avalanche; they are not - It's asphyxiation. Some exceptions aside, it is a well established medical fact that after 6 minutes of oxygen deprivation you will sustain irreversible, fatal brain damage. Now go back and reread our rescue times: Pretty somber if you think about it, especially when you think that the rescue consisted of about twenty trained and skilled individuals doing the rescue. [Insert you own emotional response here].
Two of the victims were wearing avalanche beacons, two were not - Want to guess which ones were found the quickest? Yup - good guess, the ones with the avalanche transceivers. Once we had all made it back down to the trail-head we did an hour long critique of the rescue. The rescue instructor had a lot of praise for the group, and said something which was a shock to most of us, me especially: He said that in his fifteen years of doing first-time, group avalanche classes, ours was the best he had ever seen, both the group as a whole and me as the leader.
This immediately floored me. His comments were thoroughly objective, and well calibrated, since he is also the June Mountain Avalanche Search and Rescue Ski Patrol Instructor, but I reflected on all the mistakes I knew I was making, even as I was making them, and thought to myself that in a real life situation, you will be extremely unlikely to have the same favorable conditions we did in our mock exercise.
These realizations of course lead me back to my bottom line conclusion of the class - "You DO NOT want to get caught in an avalanche".
Based on my experience in the class and my personal experience in the back-country, I strongly encourage you to take a similar course, if you intend to spend any time the winter back-country. If you are out and about, it is unlikely you will be able to eliminate the risks, but having this type of knowledge should allow you to make better decisions and plans.
I hope this email doesn't seem depressing, I did not intend be. In the event it is I'll end on a positive note: I love life - It's great! I hope you feel the same.
-Manny
posted by Manuel Ceja @ 3:37 PM
0 comments
Thursday, March 09, 2006
Calabasas Peak & My Maiden Voyage
Hi everyone, I hope you are doing well.
It seems odd how quickly time seems to slip by, I keep telling myself that it was only yesterday since I captured my thoughts about what I've been up to lately, however looking back its been a while, and it appears I've accumulated a backlog of small adventures and activities to share.
It seems odd how quickly time seems to slip by, I keep telling myself that it was only yesterday since I captured my thoughts about what I've been up to lately, however looking back its been a while, and it appears I've accumulated a backlog of small adventures and activities to share.
More than a month ago now, I spent time roaming the hills and hidden peaks of the Santa Monica National Recreation Area. One memorable hike was my hike to Calabasas Peak. The hike was relatively short, at less than 8 miles, with a modest elevation gain of about 1600 ft. The hike nevertheless was very pleasant.
Java and I had a chance to observe varied arid hillsides, numerous sandstone rock features, and impressive vistas. It really is amazing to think of how under appreciated the hills of the greater Los Angeles area are, although I secretly hope they continue to remain undiscovered and thus left unexplored by the masses.
One weekend later I was exploring a completely different landscape; one even more barren, but equally engrossing and rewarding. For more than a year, in reality since much earlier than that, I have dreamed of exploring the remote lakes, oceans, and other waterways. Well now, I have the means to do exactly that.
A month ago I received shipment of my semi-custom built vessel; a 16 foot long, sit-inside touring kayak. My maiden voyage was launched from the Ventura Harbor, which I explored extensively, before heading out on a short off-shore excursion into the Pacific Ocean.
I paddled out to the furthest navigational buoy which marks the entrance to the harbor. The difference between the calm harbor waters, and the open ocean where fantastic. Instead of small waves lapping the side of the kayak from passing boats, the ocean offered a energetic ride atop crests and troughs of 4 - 6 ft swells.
The following day I explored the Channel Islands Harbor, substantially larger and more varied than the Ventura harbor which I visited the day before. On this day I reversed my previous day's activities and first set out on the ocean, and then explored the calm waters of the harbor.
My launch was made adjacent to the Coast Guard station, about a quarter mile inland on the Eastern-most bank of the harbor. Once out of the harbor I discovered that the ocean waters were substantially larger than they had been the day before; 8 - 10 ft. swells crashed fiercely against the breakwater at the entrance to the harbor.
Once clear of the harbor I set off on a western course, parallel to the coast about a mile offshore. I paddled half-way to Ventura, perhaps more, and then reversed my course back to the harbor, which I explored at length.
The freedom to explorer other inaccessible locations is what has always attracted me to the idea of owning a kayak, and in this I was not disappointed. I had a chance to examine locations not otherwise accessible and to view places I've visited frequently from an entirely new perspective - I look forward to doing more of the same for a long time to come!
Of course there is more to share, but it will have to wait for another day... I love life - It's great! I hope you have reason to feel the same.
-Manny
The following day I explored the Channel Islands Harbor, substantially larger and more varied than the Ventura harbor which I visited the day before. On this day I reversed my previous day's activities and first set out on the ocean, and then explored the calm waters of the harbor.
My launch was made adjacent to the Coast Guard station, about a quarter mile inland on the Eastern-most bank of the harbor. Once out of the harbor I discovered that the ocean waters were substantially larger than they had been the day before; 8 - 10 ft. swells crashed fiercely against the breakwater at the entrance to the harbor.
Once clear of the harbor I set off on a western course, parallel to the coast about a mile offshore. I paddled half-way to Ventura, perhaps more, and then reversed my course back to the harbor, which I explored at length.
The freedom to explorer other inaccessible locations is what has always attracted me to the idea of owning a kayak, and in this I was not disappointed. I had a chance to examine locations not otherwise accessible and to view places I've visited frequently from an entirely new perspective - I look forward to doing more of the same for a long time to come!
Of course there is more to share, but it will have to wait for another day... I love life - It's great! I hope you have reason to feel the same.
-Manny
posted by Manuel Ceja @ 12:30 AM
0 comments
