iceberg alley

The east coast of Newfoundland and Labrador is known as Iceberg Alley, with 90% of the icebergs that float by in May, June, and July coming from glaciers in western Greenland.

This is an annual phenomenon, not the result of climate change. 

You can track and report them with the Iceberg Finder website. It's true that 90% of an iceberg is beneath the surface of the sea.

This map will give you a good idea. 

 The tiny town of Crow's Next, just northeast of Twillingate. Pull up a Muskoka chair.

Joelle makes these exquisite bowls from knotted rope.

 I've seen glaciers before but never seen anything quite like this.

It was sunnier last night when I arrived. I'd hoped to go out on a boat today, but the weather blew in, so they didn't go out.

 This looks like a modern house, just floating by.

This is an unusually good year. The ice pack was so thick late in the season, it damaged the big ferry to Fogo Island. 

 I mean, really.

Tonight I'm off to hear The Split Peas, 7 local women who sing and perform traditional music. With tea and tontons.

rest stop

“I pictured a low timber house with a shingled roof, caulked against storms, with blazing log fires inside and the walls lined with all the best books, somewhere to live when the rest of the world blew up.” ―Bruce Chatwin, In Patagonia

Torres del Paine is extraordinary.

This is the view from my room. Really,

The park is filled with wildlife. Elusive pumas. Adorable herds of guanaco. And most startlingly, a flock of Patagonian flamingoes. I didn't get a picture of them so you'll have to settle for ducklings.

 The lagoons are turquoise from rich minerals flowing down from the glaciers.

Rugged peaks. Nearly everyone on the bus was planning on hiking the W, one of two loops around the park, from Refugio to Refugio.

Unfortunately the internet at my hosteria runs at 1990s speeds. But that's allowed me to watch the clouds clearing and talk to the Spanish tour guides who've just finished 10 days of hardcore hiking in the backcountry.

Yeah.