Drifting down the road: Catching up

Well, it took me some time to continue posting on this blog.
It is not that I am lazy. Quite the contrary, I am a very active person but there is a time for everything, and I hope this is a good time to narrate my adventures.

As you know, we moved to Esquel, in the Northwest corner of Chubut province, Argentina. This is not a very big place, some 35000 people, but it is full of attractions. The city has many activities and shows that keep us busy the entire week. In addition, Esquel is in the foothills of the Andean Mountains, so we are surrounded by mountains, lakes, rivers, trees, and vegetation of all sorts.

We are also engaged in two other activities that take much of our time: birdwatching, and the popular protest against mining activities.

Birdwatching is fantastic because of the big variety of birds in our province, but it also allow us to meet interesting people and know the area.

Regarding the popular protest against mining activities, you might be aware that the world is currently being destroyed by big mining companies eager to grab minerals regardless of the environmental and social impact. In Argentina, both the central government and provincial governments are in the forefront of the sellout to mining interests. Accordingly, they gave the authorization for mining exploration and exploitation in many provinces of our country. Of course, it is easy to make such decisions when you live hundreds or thousands of miles from the mine sites and it is not your kids but someone else's that get the contamination. We are currently trying to stop the contamination and the depletion of water resources in our province. Our city is apparently saved from the destruction but now they targeted the central plateau, so there is always a reason to be on guard against the mining companies and its allies in the government.

Here you have some pictures of our province, and hopefully this will convince you to come visit some time.

A view of the petrified forest, near Sarmiento in South Central Chubut.
This place was covered by dense forests some 65 million years ago, then it sunk under the sea for some million years where it suffered the petrification process. Later on, a few million years later, it emerged again.