Los Puesteros, solitary men who look after ranches and livestock in Patagonia(www.newyorker.com)
109 pointsby bookofjoe8 hours ago11 comments
  • giardini10 minutes ago
    The above link, https://archive.ph/XDM2H

    does not work for me. However I can see that there is plenty of food (perhaps too much) at the end of the world.

  • sriacha6 hours ago
    Good article about living at a remote estancia at the bottom of Argentina, January 1971, 'The Housewife at the End of the World'. Not too much has changed since then.

    https://archive.org/details/edg-ng-1961/edg%20NG%201971-01%2...

  • wxw6 hours ago
    These photos are beautiful: https://media.newyorker.com/photos/6a7f7ed55b6cfa7eff424505/...
    • roblh4 hours ago
      For real. Amazing work. And also, there’s a reason people refuse to give up shooting on film. Especially medium format film.
  • _whiteCaps_4 hours ago
    I was just looking up lightkeeper positions in my province. Unfortunately no openings right now. But it would be an interesting job for an introvert like myself.
  • glimshe6 hours ago
    Incredible photos. First thing that came to my mind was an awareness of the contrast between "the full breadth of humanity experience" vs "Silicon Valley's view of humanity". I don't know if that makes sense, but it's literally the first thing that came to my mind.
    • tocs35 hours ago
      Seeing the photos, the first thing that came to mind was "Wow,really well kept and clean."
  • foodandart7 hours ago
    Looks amazing. Just finagle a small solar array for power, some backup batteries and a satellite uplink for the web and I'd be there in a heartbest.
    • Aboutplants6 hours ago
      Take a 2 week long vacation deep somewhere doing just this, you will appreciate it but more than likely come to realize it is not something you would prefer long term. If you can find a middle ground, to me that’s the dream.
      • alexpotato2 hours ago
        During COVID lockdown with:

        - my wife

        - au pair

        - 3 kids (all under 5)

        - dog

        I thought that was plenty of human interaction (I'm somewhat extroverted) until we had a friend come over and chat with us outside on the porch.

        I couldn't believe how, for lack of a better word, "refreshing" it felt. It was an excellent reminder that we are largely social creatures who also need some variety in the social circles we interact with.

        • adrianN35 minutes ago
          At least the extroverts among us.
          • m46317 minutes ago
            Many (most) introverts turn into extremely chatty individuals when talking to the right person regarding the right subject(s).
    • fierycatnet6 hours ago
      Same... that's the goal now. Try to get a place somewhere remote, cabin, fireplace, books, Starlink, maybe a diesel truck and couple of dogs.
      • Makeitmakesense6 hours ago
        Are you open to the other tasks this life requires or are you just looking for western comfort but in a place far from whatever you have now?

        Living out here means dealing with real problems because there is no infrastructure. You need to know how to survive if that solar panels break and you need 2 weeks to get a new ones. What happens if the food delivery couldn't make it for one extra week because the one guy who flies that out is sick. Can you handle illness without medicine or a doctor for a few days. etc..

        The people shown in this article live very differently then the starlink solar van campers who work in tech and glamp out in the Sierra Nevda on Saturday night.

        • jambalaya85 hours ago
          I think a lot of people want the feeling of being in that sort of space without any of the hard parts. I personally would settle for being a few miles from the nearest person (maybe ten), a well-fenced-off property with a safe well, a good electric fence around it all, some weapons to protect myself, a couple of dogs, a handful of kittens, a place to store food, a good connection to the net (not starlink; I would settle for something a bit slower and terrestrial), some farm animals which procreate reasonably fast, and a decent diesel truck.
          • dyauspitr4 hours ago
            Yeah all of that plus a wife. I want to be relatively alone not solitary. I have that setup right now. About 30 minutes from a major city, 30 acres, remote work and my wife and kid. Kid goes to a good school, we go out to nice dinners on the weekend, I make tech big bucks but it’s a farm life other than that.
            • jambalaya841 minutes ago
              sounds relaxing. congrats.
        • fierycatnet3 hours ago
          I grew up in post-USSR state and living in those conditions was part of my childhood. I understand the limitations. I'm just tired of city life and all property has been sold by my parents. I would be okay living 50 miles away from a major city like a lot of folks do here in Texas. My initial comment was perhaps a little ambitious, but I'm not a hermit. The issue is, living out in the country is probably more expensive than my current situation.
    • epolanski7 hours ago
      But why?

      You can "isolate" in less isolated places.

      Also what's the point if the activity you're describing is linking through other people anyway (just over internet).

      • ASalazarMX6 hours ago
        I think they'd intend to consume content, not to interact with it, but commenting here discredits my interpretation.

        Anyway, isolation and solitude seem lovely until you get appendicitis.

        • T3OU-7366 hours ago
          Or a nice tooth issue. Those get even dicier in austere environments.
    • jambalaya87 hours ago
      Don't think the mall would like that. </sarcasm>
    • RationPhantoms7 hours ago
      Please don't romanticize isolation. We have enough elderly folk existing in dire loneliness in assisted-living facilities and nursing homes who understand the true definition of it.
      • applfanboysbgon7 hours ago
        People aren't allowed to enjoy something because other people don't enjoy it? Other people are experiencing something they didn't choose, so nobody should be allowed to choose it?
        • tocs37 hours ago
          Whoever can enjoy what ever. There is some danger in romanticize things. Romanticizing shows the good in something but leaves out the difficulties. Some may very well enjoy an extremely remote and isolated lifestyle but it is not a Disney cruise of Hollywood movie.
        • dumberquestions7 hours ago
          I think they're suggesting that those who romanticize it actually just have never truly experienced it, and will not appreciate it if they do.
          • b1126 hours ago
            Exactly, like what happened to me when I tried to be a vegetarian.
            • hermitcrab6 hours ago
              People who try to become vegetarians because they think they should rarely last. You need to want to. (context: vegetarian for 40 years, apart from the occasional bit of white fish).
            • jambalaya85 hours ago
              Hmm. I think you sorta need to feel "you should" before you "want to", for most people. I have gone through periods of veganism, lacto-vegetarianism, ovo-lacto vegetarianism, ovo-lacto-pescatarian (and with and without poultry), etc. At the end of the day, my body was not built to be vegetarian in any capacity. It stops working properly without red meat, even (even when I try to supplement iron in other ways, my body literally does not function properly). I can go without chicken, but not other animal sources. It's a shame; I sort of didn't mind the food if it was prepared properly, but it is dangerous to suggest everyone can follow the same diet.
              • b1125 hours ago
                This is somewhat, what happened to me. I found I lost all energy, and my strength was about half what it was.

                We all have unique biomes in our gut, and they're tailored to us. If you lose it, eg something kills all your gut bacteria, you will be very sick. The only cure is to have a transplant from a relative. Literally fecal matter is taken from a donar, pureed, and shoved up your wahzoo.

                https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fecal_microbiota_transplant

                My point? Your and my gut bacteria may need meat, and it could be why some cannot do the vegan thing. If your gut bacteria isn't happy, you aren't. And you can't just swap that out.

      • Barrin927 hours ago
        as is often pointed out, loneliness and solitude are two different things. The latter, especially in nature, can be a very formative and restorative experience.
  • josefritzishere7 hours ago
    Where do I sign up? Seriously. ¿Dónde solicito el empleo?
  • ChrisArchitect7 hours ago
    Chilean Patagonia, not Patagonia, Inc.

    (/s though from the title did consider for a second that it meant a retail store in some isolated place)

    • bluealienpie6 hours ago
      Patagonia as it’s referred to today was never unpopulated, it still has an indigenous population. This narrative is used everywhere for vast untamed wilderness that just ignores the many people still living there.
      • volkl485 hours ago
        I'm certainly willing to be corrected, but as far as I can tell from some brief searching, indigenous populations that exist in the region today aren't living some nomadic life out in the wilderness either. They're living in cities and towns like almost everyone else does.

        So a post like this is still correct in how it's presented.

        Almost no one is actually living out at "the end of the world" in the wilderness with few or no other people around, and it is potentially a topic of interest/curiosity to hear about those who do.

    • estetlinus6 hours ago
      Phew. I am sitting here in my fleece feeling attacked.
    • bayganyo6 hours ago
      "At the End of the World" disambiguates it pretty well, I think.
    • kev0095 hours ago
      The lonely men sewing VC's ugly sweater vests, at the financial end of the world.