Camping along a river in Chilean Patagonia
by Kamran Ali
Title
Camping along a river in Chilean Patagonia
Artist
Kamran Ali
Medium
Photograph - Digital Photograph
Description
After a day of cycling on the gravel road, I reach the bank of Rio Baker river. Each screw of my body is loose. I wipe off the dust and sweat on my face with the cold turquoise-blue water of the river. It is very quiet but in my head I can hear the bicycle wheel scratching and bouncing on the loose gravel road.
I breathe in and out feeling the scent of fresh vegetation. My mind begins to clear up. I see the river meandering through the valley. The sun is setting. Long shadows are creeping up the mountains.
I pitch the tent on a soft grassy patch; a couple of feet from the water level. I have an uneasy feeling in my empty stomach, but my mind and body are too frazzled to cook. I pull everything out from the shoulder bag. At last, I find the boiled eggs and the bread which I stuff in my mouth and swallow.
As the moon rises above the mountains, the valley is covered in a soft blue hue. I sit on a boulder on the edge of the river and write my daily diary. Slowly, it becomes chilly; I crawl into the tent.
I am hardly asleep when it starts to drizzle. I go out, dismount the bags from the bicycle, and bring them inside. Soon, the rain begins to pelt down. I hide my head inside the sleeping bag and close my eyes. I try to ignore the rain, changing sides, turning around in the sleeping bag, but the sound of heavy rain keeps hitting my ears.
Suddenly it dawns on me that I am camping only a few feet from the edge of the river. Rio Baker is the largest river in Chile. Many rivers, small and big, fall into it. The water level of the river may increase due to the rain and reach my tent. I put my glasses on and go out in the rain with my headlamp to check the level of the water which seems unchanged since I last saw it. I look for a higher place to move the tent but by now everywhere is wet! Unable to think, I go back in the tent, praying to the God for safety. It continues to rain. Every sound of the river wakes me up. I keep peeking outside and using the headlamp to make sure th
Uploaded
January 31st, 2019
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