Huddled under the dense rhododendrons in a futile attempt to escape the downpour, we tried to remember how many Mississippis there are in a mile. You know, Flash, 1-Mississippi, 2-Mississippi, 3-Mississippi, … , Boom. Divide the number of Mississippis by 5 (or is it 10) and you know how many miles away the lightning strike was. The question was academic, though, as our flashes and our booms were now little more than a startled heartbeat apart. Whatever your metric, the distance was more appropriately measured in meters than miles. It was no time to be in the water. All we could do is sit and watch the river rise, taking on the color of a nice mocha java.

That, and pray.

Sound travels at 1,125ft/sec. A mile is 5,280 feet, making it a little less than 5 Mississippis. The National Lightning Safety Institute recommends taking precautions if the F-B interval (their term, not mine) is less than 25 Mississippis (my term, not theirs).

An almost decade-long effort that began as a small grassroots campaign and grew to an international effort to stop dam construction on two of Patagonia's most wild and celebrated rivers has finally come to an end. Yesterday, Chile's Community of Minsters, its highest administrative authority, made a unanimous decision to formally cancel the HidroAysén plan, a $8 billion project which sought to build a five dam hydroelectric generation system on the country's Baker and Pascua Rivers. The Baker and Pascua rivers flow through Aysen in Patagonia, a mostly roadless, remote region of Chile where powerful rivers that teem with wild trout descend from their Andean roots flanked by glaciers and course their way to the sea through breathtaking mountainous scenery and lush green countryside.

According to International Rivers, "the Committee, which consists of the Minister of Environment, Health, Economy, Energy and Mining, Agriculture, and Tourism, evaluated 35 appeals which were filed by the Patagonia Defense Council and local citizens in response to the project’s Environmental Impact Assessment after it was approved in May 2011. Though it [took] more than three years, with meetings and decisions being repeatedly delayed and eventually passed on to the new administration, [the] decision is a recognition of the technical and procedural flaws surrounding HidroAysén as well as the significant impacts the project would have had on one of Chile’s most iconic regions."

The people of Chile have been vehemently against to the project since it was proposed, with over 75% of Chilean citizens opposed to the HidroAysén plan being approved.