The Futaleufú River

PK-3 THE AMERICAS Peter Keller is a Forest & Society Fellow of the Institute, studying and writing about national ICWA and private parks in Chile and Argentina. LETTERS The Futaleufú River Part I: To be or not to be dammed? Since 1925 the Institute of Current World Affairs (the Crane- By Peter Keller Rogers Foundation) has provided June 2000 long-term fellowships to enable PUERTO VARAS, Chile – “Nada, nada, nada, nada” was the answer I received from outstanding young professionals the polite and direct woman on the other end of the telephone line. But, just to to live outside the United States make sure she understood my question, I asked her again. “Does your company and write about international propose to build a dam on the Futaleufú River?” Again, she answered that noth- areas and issues. An exempt ing is proposed now, but there was a proposal several years ago. She even re- operating foundation endowed by peated the word “nothing” four or five times more to make sure I heard her final the late Charles R. Crane, the answer. Now, I was thoroughly confused. This conversation, with the public rela- Institute is also supported by tions office of Endesa (Empresa Nacional de Energia, Sociedad Anonima), a once state- contributions from like-minded owned energy company — now privatized — left me wondering if I had a dead individuals and foundations. story. If it is a dead issue, then why are so many people still speaking about it as if it were imminent? Perhaps I missed something along the way during my search down the proverbial “information trail.” Thus I continue the search — so put on TRUSTEES your hiking shoes and backpack as we knock on a few doors in pursuit of the Carole Beaulieu illusive and wily “bottom line.” Mary Lynne Bird Steven Butler My original itinerary was for a one-week stay in Pumalín Park. However, I William F. Foote should have known that the weather was going to dictate my schedule, because Pramila Jayapal each time I called the ferry transportation company, I received a different answer Peter Bird Martin for the departure time. During the winter months there are only two ways of Ann Mische reaching Pumalín; one is by ferry from Puerto Montt to Chaitén and the other by Dorothy S. Patterson airplane between the same towns. The ferry operates three times a week and the Paul A. Rahe airline has daily connections. A road also connects these communities, but two Carol Rose fiords must be crossed and the ferry services this route only in the summer months. Chandler Rosenberger (Technically, there is one other way to reach Pumalín, and that is by car through John Spencer Argentina — a long, circuitous route.) Since time was running out and I had only Edmund Sutton one week left before my trip to the United States (to attend ICWA’s 75th anniver- Dirk J. Vandewalle sary celebration), I decided to take the more dependable alternative — the air- Sally Wriggins plane. HONORARY TRUSTEES On my way to the airline office in the center of Puerto Montt (the fare for the David Elliot trip includes transportation to and from the airport) I was delayed by a peculiar David Hapgood incident. While I was walking with a full backpack through the busy morning Pat M. Holt streets, a man came rushing past me from behind. As he dashed between another Edwin S. Munger person and myself, a plastic bag the size of a baseball fell out of his pocket. At first Richard H. Nolte I thought it was just the usual garbage that people in Chile casually throw away. I Albert Ravenholt kept on walking, but the man next to me noticed the bag was filled with money Phillips Talbot and he picked it up. He looked at me with a bright smile and cunning eyes as he said, “If you keep quiet I will split the money with you.” The tightly rolled wad of peso notes in denominations of $10,000 (equivalent to U.S. $20 bills) looked to be Institute of Current World Affairs a lot of money — perhaps for a mortgage payment. The owner of the money was The Crane-Rogers Foundation already a block away and for a split second I actually considered the proposal, Four West Wheelock Street but then switched gears and wondered if it would be best to hold the wanna-be Hanover, New Hampshire 03755 U.S.A. thief or run after the owner of the money. The man sensed my unwillingness to participate in the scheme and started to walk in the opposite direction in an in- conspicuous manner, not to draw attention to him. I ran off at the center of town, which turned out to be no more after the owner and finally reached him, as he was about to than the crossroads of two empty streets next to the plaza. enter an office building. Out of breath from the “elephant” The only sound I heard was a distant barking dog and the on my back, I told him in cryptic Spanish that the man in wind whistling off the gulf. It felt like I had reached earth’s the blue hat down the street had his money. He was gone in an end. But, in terms of comparison with the Northern Hemi- instant — and, in a matter of seconds, both were out of view. sphere, I was no farther north than Boston, Massachusetts. A month later I found out that I almost became a “pi- If you have a map of the world or globe nearby this geon.” Peter Martin, the editor of these newsletters who would be the time to get it. Take a close look at the North- began his reporting career on the police beat of the St. Louis ern Hemisphere and note how far the landmass extends Post-Dispatch, told me that this con is one of the oldest in north. Now flip your map or globe upside down. You will the books. It is called the“pigeon drop.” These two gents soon notice a lot of blue and the landmasses of South were working together. One dropped the plastic bag filled America, Africa, and Australia/New Zealand jutting into with money. The other, if I got carried away by greed, would this expanse. In Chile I live along the latitude parallel of 42 have insisted that I give him some of my own money to degrees south, which —compared to the same position in insure my complicity in this plot to keep the found cash. I the North Hemisphere — just happens to be the exact lati- would have ended up with — if anything — a roll of cut- tude where I lived when I worked at Redwood National up newspaper with a ten-thousand-peso note wrapped Park. When I worked at Redwood, located near the Cali- around it. I tell this story not just to provide a good laugh fornia/Oregon border along the Pacific Ocean, I dreaded about my naiveté but, hopefully, to help others avoid the the rainy winters and thought nothing of a flight to San trap. Diego just to see the sun (and my good friends there). The cruel irony is that I have voluntarily placed myself back I made it to the office just in time to board the bus for into the same climate. The tip of South America, Cape Horn, the airport. The half-hour flight south to Chaitén offered may look like the nearest point of land closest to a polar ice spectacular views of Chiloé Island on the right side of the cap. However, the latitude is only 55 degrees south, equiva- nine-passenger aircraft and fiords to the left as we flew over lent in the northern latitudes to Ketchikan, Alaska and the Gulf of Ancud. The geography of Chile south of Puerto Moscow, Russia. Montt to the tip of Cape Horn is an immense archipelago that extends for over 2,000 kilometers. These islands and Wherever I was in relation to my northern neighbor- fiords receive the initial brunt of storms coming from the hoods, I still needed to find a place to stay for the night. To South Pacific Ocean. Some areas along the rugged and my surprise every hostel I found was completely full. High- densely forested coast receive nearly three meters of rain way workers had occupied every vacant lodging facility. annually. Inland the terrain is more hospitable, and that is They were fixing the “highway,” which is really just a two- where many of the communities and the main highway lane dirt road, but this southern highway called the Carretera are located. When we landed in Chaitén (population 3,258) Austral is the only land-access route within Chilean the partly cloudy sky quickly filled with rain clouds and Patagonia. Finally, at the last hostel I encountered, the owner light drizzle soon began. I asked the van driver to drop me said his place was full, but that a friend might have an exra 2 PK-3 room in his house. He did. Although the house was only a few blocks away the owner of the hostel was kind enough to drive me there. I was surprised how casually this family ac- cepted me into their house. The jefe of the house, a local policeman named Manual Fuentes, showed me around my new abode and introduced me to his family — daughters Karine, Andrea and cousin Fabian (Fabian’s family lives on a remote peninsula so he lives with his cousins during school year).

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