Camping 2.0

We have co-existed for almost a month now. Luis and me in a 2 x 3,5m motorhome situated away from everything behind a calafate bush in the middle of a windswept field. The freckle I call it. Seen from the road it does resemble a small dot and when you compare the size of it with the neighboring farm houses and mansions we appear to be a simple outpost used by the herding Sheppard or maybe even a dog house! We are visible yet we seem to be nothing. That’s us: getting used to living retrieved and in symbiosis with our surroundings. We get up with the first ray of light and usually go to bed when the sun retrieves. It’s too cold without it. If it does not rain we are outside. Occasionally we can even cook and eat outside. These days are incredible and I have to pinch myself to make sure I’m not dreaming. Some days we have to stay inside all day. These days are complicated as our problem with condensation increases considerably.

To begin with we spent time on accommodating the place to our basic needs. Let me rephrase that again. Luis spent time on building a toilet while I once again nursed my knee that had suffered a severe strain on the very first night, when I failed to see a recession in the terrain. Luckily the days were spectacular so I sat outside, in the abandoned bus seat we had retrieved, all cuddled up in clothes and blanquettes with a binocular, my bird field guide and a regional map, identifying every bird and situating us in relation to the surrounding peninsulas and mountains. This is something I really appreciate and I had the perfect excuse not to worry about anything else.

10 days in, we accomplished our second mission: Electricity. We had gathered sufficient abandoned cables around Puerto Natales to carefully unite them and install one long cable between the freckle and our nearest neighbor that had indulged in supplying us via a socket in his kitchen. Imagine now an extremely homemade cable running from his socket out his window via a small hole in the frame and running approx. 200 m over the ground. Where we overrun it by car upon leaving or entering our terrain,  the cable is wrapped in a pvc tube. It enters the freckle just under the roof from where the cable ends in a 5 port slot. On the very same day a friend helped me to open an account and contract multimedia services and a chip for the IPhone I have brought, thus supplying us with – surprisingly good -internet. In just one day we went from a very humble candlelit camp to a 2.0 camp with light, music and internet. That was quite an advance. Now I could work sitting in the freckle looking out at the mountains. Stop, take a step outside and share a mate with Luis. We danced and laughed out loud.

Our budget is extremely low. That means our plans and visions are second to our actual material supply. And our supply is so far limited to what we find tossed or thrown away. We re use pallets, cement tiles, window frames, cables etc. You name it. At the local sawmill we pick up the cuts of bark that is otherwise chopped up or thrown away. We have cleared space in front of the freckle, we have planted a plum tree, calafate and Alamos. We have worked a lot on the muddy common entrance road collecting and throwing in stones. We have started the fencing, installed a football goal and corrected details on the freckle as well as on our very interim and exposed toilet. We have been moving around outside and ended up making a beautiful space, overlooking the Sierra Dorotea, where the sun is shining and heating all day converting it to our favorite spot for drinking mate and observing the abundant and varied bird life around us. We have everything from condor to small sparrows. The migrating birds have arrived just a few weeks ago, so shortly we expect to be able to follow their mating acts and behavior

And without us noticing it we have created a routine balancing common home duties, desk work and house/ garden work. It’s so relaxing and strangely fulfilling  being outside cutting grass, moving stones or just circumwalking our terrain checking out the bushes, the humidity, searching for signs of hares and rabbits and saluting the neighboring horses, sheep and cows respectively living on the other side of our fence. 

August 2013

Next step is to start up the extention of “The Freckle” building a simple construction to enlarge our living space. During one of our nightly “Mission Imposible” outings, when searching for building materials, we stumbled upon 2 giant gates that had been rejected by their former owner and left on the curv. We asked permission and brought the gates home strapped ontop of the jeep. These we have agreed upon will act as the model to build 2 other copies. A friend of ours has gifted us with 8 4x4” beams that will be inserted in the ground and supported by stones and gravel. The gates will span in between and thus making flexible and de-mountable walls. Towards the north we will put the entrance door and window frames to let in a lot of sunlight. The roof will be something very simple and cladded with metallic wave boards leading the water away from the junction between “the freckle” and “the mold”

Something like this!

Let the digging begin