February 6, 2025

Torres del Paine National Park, Southern Patagonia, Chile

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They call this National Park the 8th Wonder of the World  and I don't disagree! It was stunning! Lakes, glaciers, majestic peaks it was sooo hard to edit my photos down to these select beauties. Photos changed so much, depending on clouds, sun and fading light in just one spot! You'll notice a lot of burned tree pieces littering some of the landscapes. These are from a huge fire, in December 2011, that burned 70,000 hectares in the Park due to an Israeli tourist who was camping in the park and took a poop in a brown paper bag, (as one does when camping) but he decided to set it on fire in lieu of carrying it out or burying it, like your suppose too! He confessed when he saw how much damage his stupidity caused.


Besides amazing scenery there was a plethora of wildlife. The birds were the easiest to spot, and later in the day we saw a ton of guanaco (kind of like their deer). Interestingly the guanaco travel in packs - with an alpha male and several females and their babies. The young males, who want to become alpha's, travel together until they mature and come up on a pack where they want to challenge the reigning alpha. The winning male in these battles will bite the balls off the defeated male, rendering him a eunuch! Those eunuch guanaco, then travel alone and become Puma bait! We saw a couple of these

eunuch's while we were searching for the elusive pumas. All too no avail. Our guide was diligent with us, having just seen some earlier in the week with another tour group. There is a section of the park where the pumas hunt the guanaco's, it is fairly wide open with few places to hide. We searched a few hours until dusk and 3 of us even came back out at 5 a.m. to give it another look before sunrise, as the Puma are nocturnal hunters. The images at the end were our inspirations from our so called friends and the good spirited guide, who really wanted to make our trip the best!

By Pat Patrick • November 4, 2026
October has been a bit of a blur! My last post from Thailand , was about medical treatment and I'm happy to report all good; pathology negative and I'm healing nicely. What I haven't posted about, is what has been going on in the background of my fantastic voyage around the world . You have probably already seen a lot of news coverage and social media post and sorry I have done none. I have been busy weighing options, the logistics ( visas ugh! ) and gathering my things: organizing, weighing, purging, repacking, weighing again and flying. Below is my attempt of the short version, from my point of view and a map of area (and my quick stops) for reference.
By Pat Patrick • October 23, 2026
This Blog is more than a journal of my travels around the world, it's a major memory tool for me in documenting all the events along the way. You often ask me how we take care of medical things, as we travel non stop and today is a perfect example. A fellow resident had posted on one of our WhatsApp groups ( this is the main way we all- residents, crew and stateside support all communicate ) that she had an excellent contact for anyone looking to get medical appointments in the Pattaya / Bangkok area.
By Pat Patrick • October 20, 2026
Off the coast of Pattaya, Thailand a talented and dedicated group of residents, the Odyssey Troubadours , performed A Night of Broadway for the enjoyment of all the other residents and senior staff on board. The group of 20 performed, 15 Broadway songs that had some special Odyssey edits, personalizing them to our journey. We loved it ! Such a clever, talented and fun loving group. I was upfront and focused on getting candid pictures of the talented cast.