Part II

7.29.2009

Dear Brother,

While I await a response to the proposal I made late last night, I have decided to do a little backpacking here in the hills above El Calafate. The hotel suite is nice enough to be sure, but I can't stand sitting around waiting for an answer. I had to get out in the fresh air and clear my head.

So far the going has been pretty moderate. Although it's pushing 110 degrees, the trees provide enough shade and the native grasses grow tall and there is a sweet cool breeze sweeping across this high valley. I can now see the Lake Argentino off to the North-West. For a brief time I was down in a depression where there were no distinguishable landmarks. Fortunately I had my pocket GPS compass and was able to keep on course. Using the GPS compass reminded me of something I recently watched on the History channel. It's interesting that when you press the SAP button down here the English subtitles appear on the screen. Anyways I was fascinated to learn that throughout the course of human history there have been three perspectives on what exactly "North" means. Ever since man wandered out of sight from his/her dwelling there has been a need to plot a course home. In ancient Mesopotamia the first great explorers used the term "Nominus" (which translated is "North") which referred to a a temple on top of a mountain in their largest city. This temple became the reference point for all Mesopotamian maps. Four thousand years later the famous Norse explorer Leif Ericson discovered that the Earth is roughly a sphere. (He basically stepped off his front porch, sailed from Norway to what is present day New York, hiked to the San Fransisco area, built a catamaran, rowed to the Japanese Islands and after some more hiking eventually ended up in his own backyard. His dog was very happy to see him). When he drew up the first map of the modern world he designated the topmost point as "North". Leif was a real Ancient Mesopotamian history buff and thought it was a fitting homage to his predecessors. Nine hundred and seventy three years to the day another giant leap was made in the geographical frontier. On October 7th, 1971 the renowned Raum geographer Dr. Phillip Mattson discovered the concept of True North. Thanks to the access to newly acquired data from Space exploration, Dr. Mattson was able to prove the inaccuracy of the traditional Magnetic North method, and developed a new way of viewing North. The Dr. contended that a magnetic based compass only was accurate when the North Pole was actually visible within the horizon. The curvature of the Earth means that to arrive at North one must actually travel a arc instead of a straight line as the magnetic compass suggests. The further you moved away from the Pole the more useless the magnetic compass became. Dr. Phillip through a painstaking process was able to calculate an intricate equation to accurately determine which direction was True North from any point on the globe.

I am sorry if I bore you with my detailed account of my new found knowledge. The main reason I brought it up is that I thought you would find it interesting in lieu of the next piece of information I'm about to bestow upon you: As a citizen of the Northern hemisphere, like you I was under the impression that North is always North. No matter where you are a compass would point you in the direction up to the top of the world. Well it does, but here's where it gets a little tricky. Here on the other side of the Equator the compass spins the other direction. Just like the water in the toilet bowl flows the other way or the hurricane blows counterclockwise, the Magnetic center is at our corresponding Pole. Dr. Phillip's equation works here as well, as a means for determining a reference exactly to what is known as the South Pole. This has always been the dirty little secret of the Geographic Society, an arrogant conspiracy to demean and suppress the Southern hemisphere. Sure there is an absolute dividing line between North and South, but why is North considered "up" and South "down" or "down there"? The first images from space clearly show that South America is above North America. In our hearts I guess we've always known that we are somehow above Canadians, but we tend to ignore that inner voice that screams that our Southern neighbors are above us in a literal sense.

Well dusk is setting in and I see that I just received a text on my Sat phone from Adriana, so I'd better head back to civilization. Until next time, please give my love to everyone down there in the States.

Love,
Edwardo