Episodio 18: Snowy Pastimes (Pasatiempos en la nieve)

En este episodio, dos historias de personas que encuentran fuerza en sí mismas mientras persiguen los pasatiempos más fríos de Estados Unidos.

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Transcripción

Diana: Cuando cayó la tormenta de nieve, Dick Mackey estaba a sólo 120 kilómetros de la meta del Iditarod. El Iditarod es una famosa carrera de trineos de perros de 1,600 kilómetros de duración, en un camino que recorre Alaska. Era 1978... y era la sexta vez que Dick participaba en la carrera.

Dick: I prepared for the race all year, and I hoped to finally finish in first place. But as I got close to the finish line, a terrible storm started. It was the worst storm I had ever seen.

Diana: El mal tiempo es muy común durante el Iditarod. La carrera se lleva a cabo en Alaska durante dos semanas en marzo… en pleno invierno. En el sendero, o trail, las temperaturas pueden descender hasta 40 grados centígrados bajo cero.

Dick: When this storm started, I was winning the race. But then it started to snow really hard, and the wind was hitting my face. I couldn’t see anything — not even the trail in front of me. I had to make a decision then: should I try to finish this race and put my life in danger, or should I stop and accept that I would never win the Iditarod?

Diana: Welcome, bienvenidos y bienvenidas a “Relatos en inglés”, un podcast de Duolingo. Soy Diana Gameros. En cada episodio podrás practicar inglés a tu propio ritmo, escuchando historias reales y fascinantes contadas por las personas que las vivieron.

Los protagonistas hablan en un inglés sencillo y fácil de entender para quienes están aprendiendo el idioma. En cada capítulo, yo te acompañaré, para asegurarme de que entiendas todo.

Hoy, dos historias de personas que encuentran fuerza en sí mismas mientras practican los deportes más fríos de Estados Unidos.

Diana: Dick Mackey se mudó a Alaska en 1959… el año en que Alaska se convirtió en el estado número cuarenta y nueve de los Estados Unidos. Tenía veintisiete años y estaba casado, con tres hijos.

Dick: I grew up in the state of New Hampshire, but I was ready for a change. Alaska was a new state that was full of opportunity and adventure. My family thought that I was crazy to move so far away, but I immediately fell in love with the place. There’s so much beautiful nature and lots of outdoor activities. It was exactly what I was looking for!

Diana: Cuando Dick se mudó a Alaska, no había muchas carreteras y las motos de nieve aún no eran tan comunes. En invierno la mayoría de la gente se movía usando trineos tirados por perros o dog sleds.

Dick: Outside of the city, every house had many dogs, to pull their dog sleds. It was the most common type of transportation in Alaska. Life in Alaska was definitely a big change, but I got used to it pretty quickly. My oldest son went to school and noticed that everyone had dogs, so he really wanted one too. And by the end of our first year there, we had a dozen sled dogs.

Diana: Una docena de perros es suficiente para tirar de un trineo con una persona abordo. A esta persona que conduce el trineo se le llama musher.

Dick: When I became a musher and had my own sled dog team, I wanted to race. I knew a lot of mushers who were racing, and I wanted to see how good I was. So, I signed up for my first race. I had a good team of dogs and I felt pretty confident.

Diana: Dick incluso pensó que podría ganar la carrera... Pero no fue así, él fue el último en llegar.

Dick: I decided that I didn’t like being in last place. So I practiced more often with my dogs, and I continued to participate in local races. Preparing for the race was the best part. I loved taking my dogs out at night under the moonlight with snow on the ground. It was silent except for the sound of the dogs running. It was magical!

Diana: Pero una década después de que Dick llegó a Alaska, los trineos tirados por perros comenzaron a perder popularidad. Las motos de nieve o snowmobiles eran cada vez más comunes... y a algunos, incluido Dick, les preocupaba que los trineos tirados por perros desaparecieran por completo. Entonces, se juntaron para crear un plan y evitar que eso sucediera.

Dick: We decided to have a big race on the Iditarod Trail because we wanted people to get excited about dog sledding again. Our message was: have your snowmobile, but keep your dogs too. Everyone thought we were crazy. They thought it was impossible to travel 1,600 kilometers across Alaska with a dog team. But we decided to show them that it was possible.

Diana: La primera carrera de Iditarod tuvo lugar en 1973 con cuarenta y cuatro equipos de perros. Comenzó en Anchorage, la ciudad más grande de Alaska, y terminó en Nome, al borde del Ártico. Los trineos tirados por perros recorrieron cadenas montañosas y la tundra ártica, hasta la costa.

Dick: The race was very hard. Since it was the first one, the trail was hard to follow. The weather was freezing too. And we had to sleep outside. But we stayed in groups, and each night, we made a fire together. We laughed and had a good time. It was almost like we were on a camping trip. It didn’t feel like a competition. We were just trying to finish the race.

Diana: Después de veinte días, el primer equipo llegó a la meta. Dick terminó en veintidós días. Eso lo puso entre los diez primeros. Lo cierto es que la mitad de los equipos ni siquiera terminaron. Algunos de ellos se demoraron por el mal tiempo, a otros los perros se les cansaron.

Dick: After that first race, I was addicted. I’d loved seeing Alaska that way, and I’d loved being out in nature with my dogs. They were like children to me. I raced the Iditarod every year. And as the race became more popular, more and more people wanted to do it, so it got more competitive. After a while, I didn’t just want to finish the race, I wanted to win!

Diana: Pero Dick sabía que ganar el Iditarod no iba a ser fácil. Era una carrera tan larga y muchas cosas podrían salir mal. ¡Y, sí, muchas cosas salieron mal!

Dick: Some years were better than others. One year, my dogs got sick and I had to quit the race. Another year, I hit a tree and hurt my stomach, so I had to go to the hospital. But usually, I was one of the first ten people to finish the race. Each year, though, I was getting older and older, and I knew I couldn’t do it forever. At 45, I was one of the oldest mushers in the competition. So, I decided that 1978 was going to be my year.

Diana: El favorito para ganar la carrera en 1978 era un hombre llamado Rick Swenson. Había ganado la carrera el año anterior en sólo dieciséis días y realmente estaba ganando fama en el deporte de los trineos tirados por perros. Rick tenía veintisiete años, dieciocho años más joven que Dick.

Dick: I knew it was going to be difficult, but I had a good team. I had a dog named Shrew, who was really smart, and a dog named Skipper, who was really fast. But I knew that I needed more than a good team to win. I had to be smarter than Rick. It was a long race, so I was going to play mind games with him.

Diana: Los juegos mentales o mind games eran la mejor apuesta de Dick para ganar, ya que no era tan joven ni tan ágil como Rick. Dick y Rick comenzaron la carrera empatados. Uno tomaba la delantera, y luego el otro lo rebasaba. Y así, todo el tiempo. Pero Dick tenía un plan.

Dick: When the trails were difficult, I let Rick go in front of me. When the trails were easy, I went in front of him. And when we stopped for the night, I let him unpack his stuff and then I said, “Oh, I’m going to continue on the trail for a little longer.” Then, I traveled for a few more minutes and stopped. And, of course, Rick followed me. I was trying to make the race difficult for him, mentally.

Diana: Dick le jugó así durante cientos de kilómetros. Pero no pudo deshacerse de Rick. Luego, cuando quedaban unos 120 kilómetros de carrera, se desató una terrible tormenta.

Dick: The storm made sledding really difficult. The wind was very strong, and there was a lot of heavy snow. Rick was right beside me, and we both wondered if we should continue. We didn’t want to die trying to finish a race.

Diana: En ese momento, Dick no estaba preocupado por vencer a Rick ... de hecho, sabía que para sobrevivir, tendrían que colaborar. Hacía tanto frío y tanto viento...

Dick: We talked about it, and we decided to stay together. After doing the race so many times, I knew the trail really well. And I knew if we continued for another 30 kilometers, then the wind wouldn’t be so strong. So, we started working together, and we continued on the trail.

Diana: Como Dick había previsto, el viento finalmente perdió fuerza. Y juntos, Dick y Rick llegaron a un pequeño claro en el bosque, con una cabaña en medio. El dueño de la cabaña les hizo señas para que entraran.

Dick: After an awful night of sledding in the storm, we were so happy to go inside and get warm. The man gave us a cup of coffee, and we took off our coats and just chatted. Then, I looked at my watch and realized 40 minutes had passed. We needed to go! We were still in a race. So, we grabbed our jackets and ran out of the cabin to our sleds.

Diana: Pasaron las siguientes horas intercambiando el primer y segundo lugar. Cuando Dick y Rick llegaron a la meta, estaban casi uno al lado del otro. En ese momento el perro-guía de Dick… Skipper... se quedó enredado en su collar.

Dick: I had to jump off my sled to help him. My dogs continued, and I had to run next to my sled. It was hard to breathe, but I knew that Rick was right behind me. Finally, I saw Skipper’s nose cross the finish line. I was so excited that I tried to jump into my sled but I fell right on the ground. Everyone at the finish line was shocked. They thought I had a heart attack, but I immediately stood up. And I thought, “I won! I finally won!”

Diana: Dick venció a Rick por un segundo. Fue el resultado más cerrado de todas las carreras de Iditarod hasta el día de hoy. Su tiempo: 14 días 18 horas 52 minutos y... lo más importante... 24 segundos.

Dick: After my victory, I raced two more times, but I didn’t win. After that, I retired. But I still go to the start of the race every year. It always makes me want to race again, but then I go home and really enjoy sleeping in my warm bed.

Diana: Al igual que Alaska, el estado de Wisconsin, en el medio oeste de los Estados Unidos, tiene un invierno muy duro. Pero a Hannah Stonehouse Hudson no le importa el frío... en realidad lo disfruta. Especialmente cuando está pescando en hielo o ice fishing, pescando a través de un agujero en un lago... congelado.

Hannah: Everyone thinks it’s crazy to choose to be in this weather for fun, and they’re right. You have to be crazy to enjoy being out in freezing temperatures. And that’s why I love the ice fishing community. We are a bunch of strange people who love the cold.

Diana: Aunque a Hannah hoy en día le encanta pescar en hielo, ella no creció haciéndolo. Lo descubrió cuando tenía veintiséis años, viviendo cerca del Lago Superior, el más grande de los cinco Grandes Lagos que se encuentran en la frontera entre Canadá y Estados Unidos.

Hannah: In 2004, I was living near Lake Superior, in the city of Bayfield, in the state of Wisconsin. I was studying to become a nurse. Bayfield is a tiny town, with only around 500 people. While I lived there, a lot of people told me that I should meet this guy named Jim. He was one of the few police officers in Bayfield. Everyone thought we would like each other a lot. And one night, I finally met him at a local bar.

Diana: Hannah se acercó a Jim, se presentó y empezaron a hablar. Sintieron una conexión instantánea.

Hannah: Pretty quickly, we started to talk about fishing. I told him that I taught myself how to fish and his eyes got huge. He stopped and said, “Wait, you like to fish?” I only knew how to fish in the water — not under the ice! So, he told me all about ice fishing. And that’s all we talked about for the rest of the night. I knew right then that I was going to marry that man.

Diana: Ese mismo fin de semana fueron juntos al Lago Superior a pescar.

Hannah: It was a cold, windy day in April and we fished for 12 hours. I loved every minute of it. Very quickly, fishing became our favorite thing to do together. A month later, I even bought him a boat. He was so happy that he cried! And in December, after Lake Superior froze, he took me ice fishing for the first time.

Diana: En invierno, partes del Lago Superior se congelan y acumulan hasta 50 centímetros de hielo. Para ir a pescar sobre el hielo, la gente conduce hacia el lago en un camión o una moto de nieve ... y luego perfora o drill un agujero en el hielo.

Hannah: We rode Jim’s snowmobile out onto the lake to a place Jim knew there were a lot of fish. And then, he drilled a hole into the ice.

Diana: Luego arrojaron su caña de pescar o fishing rod en el agujero que Jim había perforado.

Hannah: We just sat there for hours, moving our fishing rods up and down to attract the fish. While we were out there, I got really worried every time I heard a noise. I thought we were going to fall through the ice. But Jim kept telling me that it was just the sound of the lake freezing, and that I shouldn’t be afraid. It was like being on an airplane — you hear strange noises, but you can’t do anything about them.

Diana: Hannah y Jim pescaron todo tipo de peces ese primer día. Luego, después de varias horas, empacaron su equipo y fueron a encender la moto de nieve para regresar...pero no arrancaba.

Hannah: There was a guy ice fishing close to us, and he had his truck with him. So, I walked over to ask if he could help us get our snowmobile started. He said, “Sure, no problem.” We got into his truck and started driving on the lake towards Jim. As we got closer to him, I saw Jim jumping up and down waving at us. He started shouting, “Don’t drive over here! The ice will break!” I quickly got out of the truck, and I could hear the ice cracking below us. I was terrified!

Diana: Pero el conductor ni se inmutó. Agarró una cuerda del asiento trasero, enganchó la moto de nieve de Jim al camión y la sacó del hielo.

Hannah: After that, I fell in love with ice fishing. It was such an adventure. Soon, I even started to love the sound of the ice. It sounds like the ice is singing. But my favorite part is sitting on the ice and looking at all the fish and plant life below. It’s like an exclusive aquarium.

Diana: La pesca en hielo se convirtió en la actividad favorita de Hannah. Y Jim le enseñó todo sobre el deporte. Jim había aprendido los métodos de su comunidad Chippewa, que es una tribu de nativos americanos. Los Chippewa han estado pescando en el Lago Superior durante generaciones.

Hannah: Jim taught me everything about ice fishing, like how to find specific fish, which fishing rod to use, how to read maps — literally everything.

Diana: Un año después de conocerse en el bar, Hannah y Jim se casaron. Y con el nuevo barco que Hannah le compró a Jim, finalmente pudo dejar su trabajo como agente de policía y convertirse en guía de pesca, algo que siempre soñó hacer.

Hannah: He was a pretty good one, too. Everyone in the fishing community knew him. He was even asked to be on fishing TV shows. He was a local celebrity.

Diana: Un día de enero del 2013, Jim se levantó, como siempre, alrededor de las 5:30 de la mañana para llevar a un grupo de chicos a pescar en hielo. Estaba explorando una nueva área en el Lago Superior cuando su moto de nieve cayó dentro del hielo.

Hannah: I was at home and someone knocked on my door. It was one of the local police officers. He looked really sad. He said, “Jim’s snowmobile fell through the ice.” I immediately went to the hospital. When I got there, they were trying to revive him, but it was too late.

Diana: Jim tenía treinta y cuatro años.

Hannah: After Jim died, I promised myself that I would not be afraid of the ice. Lake Superior was my husband’s favorite place on Earth. He’s a part of that lake, and I didn’t want to be scared of it. So, I continued doing activities on the ice. But I couldn’t ice fish again for a while.

Diana: Un año después de la muerte de Jim, una amiga de Hannah le pidió ayuda con un proyecto para promover la pesca en hielo para mujeres, ya que históricamente ha sido una actividad dominada por hombres. El proyecto necesitaba un fotógrafo y Hannah, que ha estado tomando fotos desde que era una niña, era perfecta para el trabajo.

Hannah: I loved the idea. There aren’t many positive photos of women ice fishing. If you Google “women ice fishing,” the first things you see are images of women fishing in bikinis. I wanted to help change that.

Diana: Así que Hannah y su amiga comenzaron el proyecto Women Ice Angler y organizaron eventos para tomar fotos de mujeres pescando en hielo. Ya en pleno invierno, Hannah fue a Minnesota, a pescar en hielo con algunas de las mujeres del proyecto.

Hannah: This was my first time ice fishing without my husband Jim, and I didn’t know what to expect. We were out on the ice, and suddenly, I started crying so hard. But it was so nice to be out there with all those women. They consoled me, and we started fishing. And we caught a lot of fish. Then I knew I could do it, even if Jim wasn’t there with me. I had all the skills to do it myself and those women helped me realize that.

Diana: Desde ese primer viaje de pesca en hielo con el grupo, Hannah ha vuelto muchas veces.

Hannah: Ice fishing didn’t kill my husband. It was an accident, and I don’t want fear to stop me from doing what I love — and what Jim loved. The best way to honor him is to use what he taught me and keep fishing. Because when I’m ice fishing, he is always with me.

Diana: Hannah vive en Fargo, Dakota del Norte con su pareja Sam y su perro Stewie. Acaba de mudarse allí desde Wisconsin para estar más cerca de buenos puntos de pesca en hielo.

Nuestro primer narrador, Dick Mackey, está jubilado y vive en Wasilla, Alaska con su esposa y su perro Foxy. Participó en Iditarod ocho veces, algo que se ha convertido en toda una tradición familiar. Sus cuatro hijos completaron la carrera: dos la han ganado, uno de ellos cuatro años seguidos.

Diana: Este episodio fue producido por Paige Sutherland, una periodista de Boston.

Gracias por haber escuchado “Relatos en inglés”. Nos encantaría saber qué te pareció este episodio. Puedes enviarnos un correo electrónico a podcast@duolingo.com, o también puedes enviarnos un mensaje de audio por WhatsApp al +1-703-953-93-69.

“Relatos en inglés” es una producción de Duolingo y Adonde Media. Puedes seguirnos en Spotify o tu plataforma preferida. Yo soy Diana Gameros. Thank you for listening!

Créditos

Este episodio es una producción de Duolingo y Adonde Media.