About "Ushuaia":
In 1976, just after the bicentenial Fourth of July in the USA, an epic journey commenced. Departing from Mexicali, Mexico, Vern Castle traveled overland through Mexico, Central America and the Caribbean, down the western escarpment of the Andes, all the way to Ushuaia, in Tierra del Fuego. Katja Sommers, whom he met on the Greek island of Ios in the summer of 1975, joined him in Caracas, Venezuela. Together they made their way through the tumultuous years 1976 to 1978, when Central and South America convulsed in powerful political and cultural revolution. The brewing civil wars in Guatemala and El Salvador, the fascistic regimes of Augusto Pinochet in Chile and Jorge Vidella in Argentina, the CIA and their Operation Condor, provide the unfolding backdrop of the journey.
Like so much in life, in the midst of events, the whole picture is nearly impossible to grasp. Vern and Katja were true "innocents abroad" making their way south. Working on a farm in the south of Colombia, owned by an expatriate American and his beautiful Colombian wife, the life and culture of rural Colombia was revealed. On Tierra del Fuego, outside of Ushuaia, Vern and Katja lived on wild and rural land where a Korean farmer tried to scratch out a living. Vern became the "protein" gatherer and lived the life of the hunter, providing the small group with wild geese, rabbit, trout and shell fish.
The journey north led along the eastern escarpment of the Andes and through the Patagonia. Vast glaciers growled down windswept valleys, calving into wide, pure lakes. The exquisite natural beauty of Argentina held them for nearly a year. They settled for a time in San Carlos de Bariloche with Vern teaching English and Katja finding work in her field as an architect. They entered a fascinating community of European expats- old Nazis and the people who fled them, artists and diplomats, gauchos and "Che".
Their travels back north would take them through Brazil and the entire length of the Amazon, finally out the Amazon basin aboard an old, open door DC-3 sitting atop mountains of dried fish, feet dangling out the door thousands of feet above the rain forest.
This is a real story of people and of times. It picks up where book number one, The Appearance of Things, left off. An ongoing rumination on the nature of freedom, Ushuaia invites the reader along on a journey of discovery and insight.
Expected release date: Spring, 2018
In 1976, just after the bicentenial Fourth of July in the USA, an epic journey commenced. Departing from Mexicali, Mexico, Vern Castle traveled overland through Mexico, Central America and the Caribbean, down the western escarpment of the Andes, all the way to Ushuaia, in Tierra del Fuego. Katja Sommers, whom he met on the Greek island of Ios in the summer of 1975, joined him in Caracas, Venezuela. Together they made their way through the tumultuous years 1976 to 1978, when Central and South America convulsed in powerful political and cultural revolution. The brewing civil wars in Guatemala and El Salvador, the fascistic regimes of Augusto Pinochet in Chile and Jorge Vidella in Argentina, the CIA and their Operation Condor, provide the unfolding backdrop of the journey.
Like so much in life, in the midst of events, the whole picture is nearly impossible to grasp. Vern and Katja were true "innocents abroad" making their way south. Working on a farm in the south of Colombia, owned by an expatriate American and his beautiful Colombian wife, the life and culture of rural Colombia was revealed. On Tierra del Fuego, outside of Ushuaia, Vern and Katja lived on wild and rural land where a Korean farmer tried to scratch out a living. Vern became the "protein" gatherer and lived the life of the hunter, providing the small group with wild geese, rabbit, trout and shell fish.
The journey north led along the eastern escarpment of the Andes and through the Patagonia. Vast glaciers growled down windswept valleys, calving into wide, pure lakes. The exquisite natural beauty of Argentina held them for nearly a year. They settled for a time in San Carlos de Bariloche with Vern teaching English and Katja finding work in her field as an architect. They entered a fascinating community of European expats- old Nazis and the people who fled them, artists and diplomats, gauchos and "Che".
Their travels back north would take them through Brazil and the entire length of the Amazon, finally out the Amazon basin aboard an old, open door DC-3 sitting atop mountains of dried fish, feet dangling out the door thousands of feet above the rain forest.
This is a real story of people and of times. It picks up where book number one, The Appearance of Things, left off. An ongoing rumination on the nature of freedom, Ushuaia invites the reader along on a journey of discovery and insight.
Expected release date: Spring, 2018