Dear Mom and Dad

The hiking is beautiful here. George was so excited finally be in Patagonia. I enclosed a Polaroid of his priceless face. Looks like it was a good idea bringing grandpas old camera with us. Wonder why? Oh wait,it was my idea.

At this time we are in a trading post in some little village that barely shows on the map. By the time this letter reaches you we will be long gone. Apparently the joys of modern technology are useless when there is no internet service. We’re about 15 miles from the official start of the mountain path and it’s already freezing. We had to hike the way here until we finally found someone to hitch hike with.

Three days ago we were hiking by a tributary to the river and we decided to take a swim. The water was so refreshing and you could see trout swimming right past our feet. As we camped that night,our clothes still drying out,we heard something moving behind us. Lo’ and behold it was a skunk! In a second I did the sensible thing and bolted down,through the bush,straight into the river. George had promptly followed me into the water.

We smelled the spray moments later and I was so glad we were down wind. You could see the little bushy tale come up to the shore, quite triumphantly I might add,and disappear into the bushes again. I told him “it’s okay... we’ll just rough it out,upwind. We can build a shelter out of sticks! When we were kids we always wanted to do that!” I could here him huff behind me. “But I forgot my pants!” He told me and we burst out laughing at our predicament. Our gear still smells faintly of skunk. I’ll write again when we reach the next trading post. For now George is begging for a decent bath. I have to agree with him. He could use a bath. Ha ha.

Love

Your favorite son (Sam) and the other one (George)

PS: We both miss you... terribly. And send soap.