A milestone birthday for me this year. I donāt want cities in 2026.
Iāve already seen so many cities. Enough to know that, after a while, they blur into the same place. Different skylines, same noise. Different cafĆ©s, same urgency. Glass, traffic, performance, excess. Cities are impressive at first – then they become repetitive monuments to human self-importance. At some point, you stop arriving anywhere. You just relocate your body.
I want Patagonia. With penguins and my mother.
Not as an attraction. Not behind ropes. Not narrated through headphones.
I want to stand in a place where humans never became the main character.
Patagonia still resists us. The wind doesnāt negotiate. The land doesnāt adjust. The animals donāt perform. Penguins waddle past you with complete indifference – which is exactly how it should be.
š¬ļø A Place That Wasnāt Built for Us
Patagonia was not improved by humans.
It was merely visited.
The farther south you go, the quieter it gets. Fewer signs. Fewer rules. Fewer people pretending they belong. Just rock, ocean, wind, and life that existed long before we arrived and will exist long after we leave – if we donāt ruin it first.
The penguins are the point.
They are not symbols. They are not cute mascots. They are proof that the world can still belong to something other than us.
š« This Is Not a Vacation
This isnāt escape.
Itās alignment.
You donāt go to Patagonia to relax. You go to be corrected. To remember that comfort is not the default state of existence. That the planet doesnāt owe you softness.
You go because silence is honest.
Because wind strips away nonsense.
Because animals that donāt acknowledge you are a gift.
š¾ With Penguins, Not Over Them
If I go, itās with restraint.
No chasing.
No posing.
No entitlement disguised as curiosity.
Just distance, stillness, and respect.
The goal isnāt to see penguins.
Itās to not interfere with them.
š Why This Matters
Places like Patagonia survive precisely because they were inconvenient. Because humans didnāt stay. Because domination failed.
That scarcity is not a flaw – itās protection.
If we ever make Patagonia āaccessible,ā it will be gone.
š§ Thatās the Direction
In 2026, I donāt want more destinations.
I want fewer humans.
I want Patagonia.
I want wind, emptiness, and penguins that donāt care I exist.
Thatās not tourism.
Thatās remembering our place.
