Yes, it's true that I have not updated this blog since August. And you're wondering, what happened to Joshua? Did Celco's henchmen finally catch up to him and send him packing to Antarctica? Has he been paid off by the Chilean forestry industry? Has he finally gotten a real job with a real schedule?

No, no, and no. Things have certainly been busy these past months, and internet access is rather sparse in rural southern Chile, not to mention slow when there is a connection! Please stay tuned over the next week as I will update this blog in delayed segments with my stories and reports of the past three months. Suffice to say that things have been very interesting, including: an international "green" debate with one of the surf industry's largest and oldest brands (they dropped the ball, disrespected the locals and showed the true colors of the surf industry - not very green); a glamorous fashion event; and my visit to the pulp mill itself!

Last week we held Fashion for the Ocean (Moda por el Mar), a beachwear fashion event in benefit of Save the Waves Coalition and Proplaya. It was a smashing success with over 400 people in attendance at the small underground bar "El Subterraneo." We hung our protest banners from the ceiling, decorated everything with giant bolts of red cloth and pasted up old Proplaya advertisements on all the walls. Eight top models from Elite Models Chile donated their time and their long legs for the cause and the crowd loved every minute of it! The models walked the bright red catwalk in Roxy, Quiksilver and Patagonia's Watergirl and many of the lovelies were seen holding protest placards demanding justice and protection for the Chilean sea. Who said this stuff has to be dull and serious?

Gonzalo Feito and Fran Concha, two Chilean TV stars, hosted the event and the raffle. We raised over US$1,400 in cash for our programs in Chile and we received tons of press coverage about what we're doing. I worked my butt off and now everyone is asking about the 2007 version! There's nothing like a little bit of good old sex appeal to make things more attractive to the public. At the end of the night we raffled off a Honda Scooter with a custom surf rack attached, a custom surfboard, a wetsuit and clothing. The night finally ended at 5AM after a dance party with DJ Soul. You can visit www.savethewaves.org and www.proplaya.cl for more photos and stories of the evening!

This Thursday: an account of my visit to the Nueva Aldea pulp mill.