Final post

Ah, after 4 plane flights I am finally home.  There is a cat adhered to my lap (Ranma, who's picture was one of my first posts) and I am full of mixed emotions.  There is some residual elation and trepidation surrounding the days of work to come, and also a deep sadness because I miss my new friends so much already.  If I go back, it'll still be amazing but not the same.

The last few days in Antarctica the lyrics of a song were playing in my head.  The song is by a group called Calaveras.

"I am standing on the edge of the water
And I am watching the wild birds fill the sky
And I am longing to be lifted up among them.
I am not dying, I'm getting ready to fly."

That kind of joy I felt when looking out at all those beautiful vistas make me unafraid of the future, of life and all its accompanying stressors, and also unafraid of my own mortality.  It reminds me to stay in the moment and truly experience life.  I also feel desperate to preserve this place, to teach our children to be good citizens of the Earth (sadly, already seems cliche). To preserve Antarctica and its species so that others can not just enjoy it, but carry it in their hearts for the rest of their lives.

In the Beagle channel

We finished the Drake passage last night, again a very mild crossing.  I did fine without any seasickness medications. I spent most of the day today running around and trying to take photos of everyone and of the boat before leaving.  It is a beautiful day and so much warmer than before.  Watched the seabirds as they followed behind the boat and practiced with my camera so got some good photos of brown-eyed albatross, terns, shags, giant petrels, and a bonus treat of some magellanic penguins and peales dolphins.  To the left of the boat we can see Chile and to the right of the Beagle channel we can see Argentina.  Visited the bridge which is fun and I wish I could ask more questions but they were SOOOO serious.  Since the crossing was done in record time, we are just circling in the Beagle Channel until we can dock tomorrow at 6 am.  Sort of like sitting on a very lovely tarmac (with a bar, thankfully). 

Carol talked today about the effects of longline fishing on the albatross population.  Fishing boats will set out long lines with multiple hooks and the birds will go for the bait and get snagged.  Studies have shown that the rate of death of albatrosses is 4 per 100,000 hooks set, which at first may seem low. But taking into account the 3 billion legally set hooks, the number of albatrosses killed is more than 100,000 annually. And that is not even counting the birds killed by illegal longliners! Some species, like the Chatham Albatross, has only 5,000 breeding pairs in total which all nest on a single small rock island off of New Zealand.  20 of the 22 species of albatross are endangered.  There is a fund to help the albatross at http://www.rspb.org.uk/supporting/campaigns/albatross/

Peales dolphin

Franz and Dimitri, our expedition team

Mikowai (on expedition team) and Amelia (ship photographer).  Thanks to Amelia, I was finally able to figure out all the buttons on my camera!

Black-browed albatross

December 8

Today we ventured into Antarctic sound (named after a ship called the Antarctic that sank there) for our last day on Antarctica.  We landed at the site of an old volcano named Brown Bluff.  It is named aptly as there are these towering brown basalt rock faces overshadowing the beach.  All the rocks on the shore were smoothed-down old volcanic rocks, and I thought they were very beautiful with their different-sized holes where there were previous pockets of hot gas.  We saw snow petrels and the best part was Adelie penguins!  They are by far the most entertaining of penguins to watch as they have a comic way of walking and movement.  For example, they tend to go out into the water as a group because there are leopard seals out there waiting to make them into a nice Adelie snack.  So as a group they will walk up to the waters edge but no one really wants to be the first to go in.  The first one will hesitate at the shore and all the others will kind of pile into him/her.  We also saw snow petrels today but from a distance.  And of course, Franz took us on a little hike.  Did I mention he is Bavarian?  

Antarctic sound is also know for having more “tabular” ice bergs. They have broken off the ice shelf and can be huge.  One they told us was 40 m high and about 7 km across.  It is hard to tell in the water just how big they are with no external reference but they are rather forbidding.  Close up the lines of packed snow are easy to see and the older ones have ice “caves” and more water wear towards the bottom.  They don’t have the unique cloud-like shapes of the ice bergs from the outer peninsula.

Anyway, as I am writing there is an island that I can see from the window that is so beautiful.  It has land mass (as opposed to just snow), you can see that  but it also has this huge dome of packed snow that covers a large portion of it.  There are chunks of snowpack that have broken off, like bites off of a cookie.  The remaining flat “bite-mark” reflects the golden afternoon sunlight.  I guess it’s hard to describe.    I also just saw some whales, humpbacks.  Two large flukes and a smaller one.

Our last day in Antarctica was marked by a little celebration.  It is nearing the end of our trip and I find myself getting a little - kind of like nostalgic but maybe sentimental is a better word.  Dinner was fantastic with a “chocolate explosion” dessert theme - chocolate cake, chocolate cheesecake, mousse, eclairs, you get the idea.  Pastries extraordinaire.  The best were these sliced almonds covered in chocolate, but I didn’t get to try the other stuff so others might disagree.  In the bar last night our Turkish bartender invented 10 “mystery shots” that you could order for $3 each.  Of course, some people had to try them all which resulted in some excessive staggering, especially after we entered the Drake passage and the room started to sway on it’s own.  We also borrowed the karaoke machine from the sailor crew and had a karaoke night.  I sang “White Flag” by Dido because of the ship reference, thought it was fitting.  I haven’t talked much about the people I am with for privacy reasons but I can say that they are all truly wonderful people with an exceptional capacity for discovery and a love of life.

So now we have two days across the Drake passage.  I have decided this time to not take any seasickness medications.   Consequently, I am not drowsy which is great.  Actually, I haven’t slept at all.  I did go to bed around 1 or so but whether it was nausea from the shots (I did NOT have all 10) or from sea sickness, or just the plain tossing that made it hard to fall asleep.  So internet is faster in the middle of the night.  Figured I would take advantage.

Adelie penguin inspecting its charge - most actually have two eggs so not quite sure why there is just one.

This is not photoshop'd but the penguin did this on its own.  

Tabular iceberg in the foreground and Antarctica behind.

Photos

Sunrise

Selfie with an iceberg

Orne Harbor

the Polar Plunge

Humpbacks

Training hill 2

Sliding back down training hill #3- not a bad view.

Sorry it has been a few days.  The mountains of Antarctica block out the satellite internet, so we have been without.

December 5th
We started out with a zodiac tour that went past the 3433 ton Guvermoren which was a whaling ship.  When a fire broke out on the ship in 1911 they ran it aground to save the crew.  It still is there, with Antarctic terns perched on the railings.  We saw mostly scenery and a few seals.  The weather was pristine, the sunshine reflecting off of the icebergs which varied from being snow white, to blue, to crystal clear.  Some of the icebergs had flipped over at sometime as the base underneath became smaller, exposing the smoother riveted bottom (now top) surface.

The weather was so perfect that we had lunch out on the deck.  Then we went to Orne harbor.  It comprises the southwestern part of a double  bay on the tip of the Arctowski Peninsula.  This is our first step on the actual continent of Antarctica!  There was a steep walk towards a saddle when there was a very hardy group of penguins nesting.  The walk that they had to do was very impressive and yet there they were, their tiny bodies making their way up and down this cliffside as we watched from far above.  The walk to the stop of the saddle was exhilarating and I was so stir-crazy from the ship that I did it twice.  I went to go climb it a third time and was met by the guides who made me go back because it was getting late.  It felt so good to work up a sweat and the views were spectacular.  The day was so warm and clear that we were all stripping down to our lighter clothing.  The views form the saddle reaches to the souther Gerlache Strait and Wiencke, Anvers and Brabant islands.

I mused about what actually happens overnight here.  I mean, does it get dark at all?  I am usually asleep by 11 and it is still quite light out. So last night I sought to answer this question.  We saw the sun set over the mountains at about 11:30 or so.  It was lovely, still clear blue skies.  Then we sat in the bar to celebrate Mikowai’s birthday (one of our expedition team) with double-vodka shots (Mikowai is Polish) and gradually watched as twilight slowly set in.  The most we could see is venus and the new moon, no other stars emerged.  We were determined to see the sun rise again, which we figured would be at about 3:30.  In the end, only Charlie, Kyla and myself stayed for the sunrise, but the sun seemed to be behind a tall mountain and we figured it would be a while before it emerged.  I finally went to bed and Charlie took one for the team, gazing until the sun peeked out from behind the mountains.  The pinks that spread over the icebergs and the skies in the morning were well worth the long night.  We could see penguins swimming in the glassy pink-tinged water and we were dying to see whales but were disappointed.  They tell us that this fabulous weather we have been having is unheard of and we should enjoy every last bit of it.

December 6
We explored Danco island.  It is a small island in the southern part of the Errera Channel off the West coast of the Antarctic peninsula.  It was first charted by Gerlache’s Belgian Antarctic expedition (1897-99) and named for the Belgian geophysicist who died on board the Belgica.  The Errera channel is a narrow waterway between Ronge island and the Arctowski Peninsula on the mainland.  Franz, the expedition leader, seems to enjoy getting us some exercise, and this morning was no exception.  We had about a 1/2 mile hike up to the top of the glacier which afforded at 360 view of the island and the channel.  Another pristine early morning in Antarctica, with the usual combination of dark gray mountains, white snow and deep blues of icebergs and ocean.  Impossible to really capture with a photograph.  On the way back in the zodiac we tooled around and looked more closely at some of the icebergs.  Some of them have layers of snow in them which are visible when a chunk of compacted snow/ice breaks off. Each layer represents a year of snowfall, like tree rings.  It’s sort of like the Grand Canyon in reverse, with layers slowly being built up rather than worn down.  There is really very little snow in Antarctica but what snow there is doesn’t melt much so all the mountains are piled high with several feet of snow.  There is evidence of previous avalanches, and where the penguins are you can see little curvy paths “penguin highways” to the ocean.

Cuverville island was a lot like Danco, except no hills to climb. The highlights were towards the end, as we sat on the pebbled beach the penguins would porpoise in, then swim in and get up onto the beach. They would walk up to where we were sitting, very close, then look at us for a long time, as if trying to decide what we were doing there. It was warm; we had taken our parkas off and the penguins were laying on their stomachs in the snow as if they were pretty warm too.

I went out onto the treadmill afterwards, that made me feel so much better but totally missed out on an orca sighting. Pisser.

In the evening we had one more excursion (nice that it’s daylight 24 hours a day…) This was to Neko harbor, which was one of my favorite spots so far. There is a very beautiful active glacier that supposedly frequently calves. It did not do any spectacular calving but a very large chunk fell off, just didn’t generate a tsunami (supposedly it can be enough to flip a zodiac). The penguins in this area were very active and there was a hike (thanks, Franz) to the top of a hill where a spectacular view awaited. We could walk all the way back, or we could take the short route down, a glissade down a near vertical hill. So of course I had to do it (although for those of you who know me well this is one of my major fears). And I screamed - I wish I had an audio of the scream because it was an honest-to-goodness all-out horror-movie scream. The picture of the hill doesn’t really do it justice but I’ll try to upload it.

Is it really Saturday?  Wow, time flies.  Anyway, today we went to Paradise Harbor at the location of the Argentine based called Almirante Brown.  There is a story that the doctor was stationed there for a very long Antarctic winter.  Come summer, he was under the impression that he would finally get to go home.   But they informed him that he was stuck for another year.  So he went a little nuts and burned the place down.  It has been rebuilt but today (this year) it is unoccupied.  Franz had a nice hill for us to climb again, and a nice little slope to slide down, not nearly as terrifying as the one yesterday.  We also went on a little zodiac tour and saw a very beautiful glacier surrounded by brash ice (where there is a sea of little chunks of ice).  Mikowai was driving the zodiac and he almost seemed to be deliberately hitting the chunks of ice.  And these were huge chunks!  Gradually the ice would move aside and we would slowly make our way through, enjoying the frosty beauty.  Even though I know it is flirting with death if not at least a severe case of hypothermia, I wanted the glacier to calve in front of us.  How cool would that be?

The afternoon was spent in various lectures about ice, seals, fish medicine, and small cetacean medicine.  I remained on the lookout for whales at the window.  The first time I saw them I interrupted the lecture, alerted the whole room and everyone ran out there to see but by then they were gone and I was accused of seeing “mirages.”  The second time I alerted Christina, who verified the sighting and alerted the room - this time everyone got a treat of seeing their tails (every humpback has a unique tail).  Lots of “oohs” and “aahs” and of course, brownie points for Noelani.

Whales!

What an amazing morning! We stayed in the shelter of deception island for a while, then about 4 in the morning the boat started rocking (about the time I fell into a deep sleep) and we arrived at Greenwich Island about 7 am and explored Yankee Harbor. It was named for sealers from the USA that were here in the 1820’s.

My cold is full-blown now, sleeping with the box of tissues. Better living through pharmacology - removed the scopolamine and took some cough meds.

We saw some whales in the distance, and several types of seals (crab eater and elephant). Supposedly there was a leopard seal but I didn’t see it. We landed on the island which was mostly inhabited by Gentoo penguins. They form their nests out of little pebbles and most of them were sitting tight. Others were doing mating calls and some other pairs were gently bowing to each other. Getting acquainted, I guess. Others were walking around which I found to be hilarious as the place was milling with people in brightly colored parkas and here are these penguins milling about among them, seemingly oblivious.

By the way, the smell is supposedly quite bad but there is a decided advantage in being ill. I didn’t last long however and returned to the ship about the time that I couldn’t feel my nose anymore. The wind was pretty nippy. Went to run on the treadmill (amazing view of icebergs from the top deck out of the exercise room, never thought I would be running like that, on a boat - challenging with all the rocking, like the incline is changing without me telling it to) but the conveyor belt acutely destabilized and shredded. NOT MY FAULT.

This afternoon was even better.  We went to Half Moon Island.  There was a decaying abandoned wooden dory on the shore, leftover from earlier days.  There were Weddell seals hanging out that you could get so close to - of course we are required to stay 15 feet away which is prudent anyway.  Brown skuas are evil birds who like to feast off of baby penguins and eggs, as well as snowy sheathbills who resemble very ugly chickens - these are the scavenging vultures of the rookery.  Antarctic terns are these little guys who seems to hate the kelp gulls (they don’t eat kelp) and are constantly screeching at them.  Antarctic shags seem to keep to themselves but look just like penguins in terms of their coloring.  I think there is an advantage if you are a swimmer in Antarctica to be white on the belly and black on top - like orcas, penguins, and shags.

It was amazing to watch the little chinstrap penguins which are numerous in this area.  They also build their nests out of little pebbles.  The male builds the nest and will sometimes steal pebbles from other nests when the owners aren’t looking.  We watched for a while as a very dedicated male kept adding to his nest, which was already bigger than all the others.  When a mated pair sees each other, they greet each other by warbling, flapping their wings, and moving their heads back and forth.  We also saw a pair mating!  If you looked carefully, you could see that some of the nests have eggs.  Sometimes from the ship or zodiac you will see penguins “porpoising” like dolphins in the water.

The final highlight of the day - humpback whales!!  There were several both up close and in the distance.  No breaching or anything but still impressive nevertheless.  I stole up to the top observation deck (which no one seems to know about) and got a video of them swimming.  Wish I could upload videos!  We saw so many whales that when someone spotted another not everyone rushed to see them.  It is merely a judgement between how cold you want to be and how likely you want to see the whale.  I could stare at them for hours.  

There are so many videos that I would love to post on this blog but alas, I can’t seem to do it with blogger.  Not to mention  the fact that it would take hours with the dismally slow internet and I am paying by the minute.

Antarctica is truly a special place.  I find myself writing and cataloguing all the wildlife however I neglect to mention the sheer and awesome beauty of it all. The landscape is both forbidding and beautiful.  It doesn't really get dark, but the ship has heavy curtains to allow sleep.

"Gosh, there are a lot of funny-looking penguins around today."

One of these penguins does not resemble the others....

This one doesn't really require a caption...

Seals, shags, and a penguin

A weddell seal against an amazing backdrop.

Deception Island

Today we finally arrived in Antarctica! We first are in the south Shetland Islands. So beautiful, although it reminds me a lot of the top of Mauna Kea. The wind is fierce here. I have to bundle up so there is no exposed skin. We landed on Deception Island, which is actually and active volcano caldera that last erupted in 1969/70. Seemed pretty quiet today.

I saw my first penguin! It was a Gentoo penguin. He/she was alone on the beach looking a little lost. Sooo cute! We hiked to the top of a hill where you could get a pretty good view of the water-filled crater. There were also remnants of an old whaling community and research station. 

The Polar Plunge!
Because of the volcano, they said that the water was warmer and that we could go for a swim. Hahaha. I accused them that they only present this as a possibility to see how many stupid Americans would actually get in the water. It’s not like there was steam coming off the water to indicate that it is warmer than the outside air. So of course we had to do it. At the briefing they joked that they would have the defibrillator ready, and I was actually kind of nervous about that.  The worst part was stripping down to the swimsuit, with the wind. Oh my God. Ok that was fng cold. So I am one of the club, having survived my first Antarctic cruise hazing initiation. High five!

Deception Island Caldera with our ship.

Gentoo Penguin

Drake passage

Yesterday was a relatively quiet day. We are experiencing what they refer to as “Drake Lake” where the swells are only 10 feet. Because of this we are making excellent time and should arrive in the South Shetland islands by tonight so we may have time to do a landing! Had a little bit of snow today as well. Despite the fact that the swells are mild, people aren’t feeling too great. We lost several of our group at various moments of the day as they battled nausea. I love the gentle rocking. Yesterday I cut a scopolamine patch in half and am wearing that. This has had the added benefit for drying out any nasal secretions, because of course now I have a cold. So altogether while I am somewhat drowsy, I am not the least bit seasick and I am almost disappointed that I played it safe. On the other hand, after watching more than one person hurl in public, it’s probably wise. Yesterday we learned about birds and whales, ID and some medical stuff, such as how to euthanize a beached whale that is suffering. The birds we saw were some petrols and a smaller albatross called a sooty albatross. Then there is the northern petrol. Coordinates today: S 59 degrees, 22.668’; W 64 deg 7.537 minutes. We did get our parkas which are very large for everyone. Mine is so big on me that I feel like a large blue marshmallow smurf when I wear it. Not so many great pictures, unless you like blue.

Pictures

Tierra del Fuego

Yesterday, we explored the area around Ushuaia.  We went to Tierra del Fuego national park, which is a nice place overall with some good scenery.  There were some bird watchers among us.  Mike for example, had a camera lens so big that he looked like he might fall over.  We saw a great grebe, which everyone got extremely excited over because I suppose that is quite rare.  We also saw an Ibis, which I got very excited over because their beaks are just so cool.  They are like curved daggers about 12” long.  I imagine the female turning her head to talk to her mate and accidentally stabbing him if he happened to be too close.  Oops, didn’t realize you were there, dear.
The highlight was a red fox which meant that the whole bus leaned to the right as everyone moved to that side to grab a photo. click click click.

There is supposedly this route 3 that ends in Tierra del Fuego and goes all the way down South America.  We encountered a group on their motorcycles, some of which had driven all they way down from Alaska!  That was almost better than seeing a great grebe.  One guy had stickers all over his beamer with different flags from several different countries.  At first I assumed they were places he had ridden through on this trip but then I noted Germany and Finland and said out loud, “Oh he just is putting the flags on, can’t have driven through those countries.”  And then this huge guy in motorcycle clothes comes up and looms over me.  He tells us that he is from Vancouver, has driven down from Bogota on this particular trip - but he ships his bike around the world and he actually had been to all those countries.  Of course he does this very politely because that is how Canadians are.  I stand corrected anyway.

Also there is a post office at the end of the world (fin de mundo) where for 10 pesos (about $2) they will stamp your passport (see picture below).  The man there kindly put a sticker on a page and then put a huge stamp that filled the whole page.  He then did a date stamp.  I didn’t even know that was allowed, to put a stamp there that wasn’t a country stamp.  We looked at the sticker and it’s a picture of himself!  Hilarious.  His name was either Lorenzo or Carlos, depending on who you ask. I suppose if I was Lorenzo/Carlos, I would change my name regularly, just for kicks, to confuse all the tourists.
(does this mean that I can put other fun stickers in my passport?)

Ushuaia

When we flew into Ushuaia the beauty was astounding. I started to cry with all these mixed emotions - the sheer beauty, the fact that I was actually here, in Antarctica! Wow! I can’t believe I am actually doing this! Morbidly I imagined ways I might not have to go home, and the only way I thought is if I die here. Maybe I can have a dramatic death, getting eaten by a leopard seal or maybe I can die of hypothermia or get stranded in one of the research stations. The dominant species that will replace the human race will find my naked body (because people who die of hypothermia take their clothes off, or so I heard) 10,000,000 years from now and try to extrapolate, like Otzi, what happened to me.  They will extrapolate that the human race lived mostly off of cafe con leche.

But I suppose the preferable alternative is to stay alive but still not go home.  I would miss my cats though.

Ushuaia is at the base of the Andes mountains.  The mountains seem to go right up to the sea, with not much foothills.  The town is set on the hill heading straight up to the mountain.  Everything here is at the "fin de mundo" Even next to the elevator in the hotel there is a plaque that says something like "ascenseurs de fin de mundo."

My morning run was mostly along the shoreline.  It was very picturesque in the morning sunlight, although by that time the sun had already been up for a few hours.  Despite a brief adrenaline-laced interlude of getting chased by wild dogs (that does seem to be the most ironic way to die) it was a very beautiful run.

For those "training hill" aficionados - try this one on for size.

The bay with Andes in the background.

Last day in BA

OK this is my last post before heading to Ushuaia.  Yesterday was a pretty busy day.  After only a few hours’ sleep, went for a run down in the parks.  There is a large cluster of parks about 1.5 miles from my hotel.  Then, after breakfast I met Oliver and we explored Buenos Aires by bus, foot, taxi, and subway.  We went to the Recoleta cemetery (Where Evita is interred) and had coffee in a number of cafes, explored Ave 9 de Julio, Plaza de Mayo, watched tango dancers, looked at Antique shops and had extremely yummy ice cream.  We covered an awful lot of ground in one day.  Then last night I went to a fancy (and likely overpriced, not sure how much I paid for it) tango show.  I was so exhausted though that I found myself distracted throughout.  The couple next to me was from France and one of them spoke English so I had someone to talk to.  Then finally back to the hotel.

Figuring out flavors was a bit tough in Spanish.  I decided anything with chocolat or dulce de leche was a good start.  

This morning I explored the parks some more while running.  There is a fitness path that is a 10K with stops for exercises.   Since it was Saturday joggers were out in full force.  Very much like central park in NYC.

Tango show.  

Happy Thanksgiving! Food coma...

Ahh, what a meal.  Comes on a wooden cutting board basically. Fries with an egg, grilled red pepper, steak, slab of grilled cheese, rice, a grilled onion and mashed sweet potato.    Top it off with some malbec!
Los Caberos restaurant in Palermo.
The best part of this meal was the price.  About 85 pesos which is $12 or so.

Brazilian side of Iguazu falls

Looking over the edge, this rainbow was more than 180 degrees!

Wall of rushing water...

Today we had a 1/2 day on the Brazil side of Iguazu falls.  This meant exiting Argentina, entering Brazil (stamp, stamp), and then back to Argentina (stamp).  Kind of fun getting all of those stamps in my passport.  It was just two of us today with Silvio.  My new friend for the day is Oliver, who is also from California but living in BA for 6 months or so.  The Brazil side of the falls is less impressive as far as getting close in but it is much better at capturing the full extent of the falls.  Imagine, if you can, a waterfall about 4 times the size of Niagara falls.  A guide said that the only people who go off the falls are suicides, the last one being 3 mos ago.  No way you could do this in a barrel!  There seems to be two main levels, each one a 200+ foot drop.  And of course, you can´t capture the whole thing in just one camera photo so photographs just don´t do it justice.  You can´t even see all of it with just one view point.  You have to walk all over, and they have designed these metal walkways that go over the water so you can feel the roar in your bones and you get soaked by the spray and the rainbows seem just beyond your reach.  And the little tiny falls that would be described as mere rivulets here would be considered very impressive by American standards (say, Yosemite at its best for example).  Would you agree Andrea?  So that was a nice morning and then Oliver and I had lunch at a restaurant in Iguazu.  Turns out we are both headed back to BA today and he lives just down the street from my hotel so may help guide me around BA tomorrow.

A completely random digression if I may- the other night I was in my hotel room and turned on the TV. I was so tired. It was animal planet and I instantly recognized the man on the screen.  Why, it´s Jackson!  He and I used to work together back in the day at the Boulder Humane Society.  He helped me buy my first guitar and here he is playing his guitar for cats.  Wow, that is bizarre, to see his voice dubbed over in Spanish halfway around the world.  I guess I don´t watch that much TV and I had no idea he had his own cat-whisperer type show.  Good for you Jackson!  Definitely a step up from where we were back then.  But then Amanda (Canadian friend from yesterday) was like, oh yeah, Jackson Galaxy, he´s real popular in Canada.  OK then.

Today, will fly to Buenos Aires. No stamps.

Videos and Photos

Iguazu Falls, Argentinian Side

A neat shot from the plane, early AM flying into Lima, the Andes I assume

I made it!

The internet here is a little slow.  I am alive and well, and managed to survive my first two days here.  First was the endless amount of flying and a very long layover in Lima.  I was never so happy to see the piece of paper with my name printed on it at the airport in Brazil.  Silvio picked me up and drove me out of Brazil and into Argentina.  Settled at my hotel which a. does not change money.  b. only has internet in these little cubicles, no WiFi.  C. does not give out maps of the town of Iguazu d. still uses skeleton keys.  I needed pesos (no cards accepted) to get to the park today so I took a cab down to the town last night but I was so exhausted I miscalculated and didn't get enough from the ATM.  So then this morning I was going to walk down to the town to get more.  Except I overslept so I gave up on that idea and went down to breakfast.  But, that's odd, breakfast wasn't ready yet.  Oh wait.  Silvio forgot to mention that the time changes and Brazil is one hour ahead.  I had a whole extra hour!  So I donned some running shoes and made a sprint for town.  About 2.2 miles.  Great, am running home when I realized I had left my debit card in the ATM.  RAN back.  Hallelujah, the people at the bank opened the door when I banged on it and gave me back my card.  Muchas gracias! RAN home.  Shower.

Got to the national park and they had an ATM right there.  I was thinking that happy people generally feel as though the universe is out to support them and maybe if I was happier I would have assumed that of course there would be an ATM at the park entrance and not gone through so much hassle.  On the other hand, I had a nice little adventure with a non English speaking cab driver.I mean, not a word.  ¿And why isn't ATM in my phrase book? 

Iguzu Falls really are impressive.  I will post pictures in a little bit but the videos are probably the best as they capture the roar that goes with it.  It was an exhausting day as it is very muggy here and I was soaked in sweat for pretty much the whole day.  Made some new friends, Canadians from Vancouver on holiday (well, one of them now lives in Vana Watu and owns a zip line there).  It was sort of by default since they were the only other English speakers on the tour.  But they were very nice.

OK more to follow!

All the bags are packed!  Surprisingly there is a little bit of extra space, but must be reserved for both the expedition parka we will receive and gifts, of course.

I’ll be flying tomorrow to Lima where I have a 4-hour layover, and then on to Iguazu Falls, Brazil.  I don’t get to Brazil until 7:15 at night the next day, about 21 hours total of travel time.  I'm tired just thinking about it!

Testing coordinates

So I wanted to post my GPS coordinates and it looks like this will work - if you click will take you to Moab but hopefully I'll be able to fill in the coordinates with my location in the Southern Hemisphere!

+38° 34' 24.00", -109° 32' 57.00"

I thought you may also be interested in some southern hemisphere constellations, because I will be seeing a lot of stars!
South Constellations

Gear Update

Binoculars - check.  I got the Tasco 12x25.  I meant to get the 10x25 but goofed.  It's hard to hold steady but I'm getting better (or used to it).
Suitcase - check.  Got the REI tech 32" wheeled duffle.  I like how the base can come out so it completely collapses down.
Camera lenses - check.  I'm figuring out how to use them.  This is a practice shot that I took of my cat from across the bedroom.

Extra batteries - check

Backpack - check.  This is also going to be used to climb Half Dome.  It's a Moutain Hardware Women's Wandra.

104 days till I leave!

Hmm, called the camera store and they referred to my Canon G11 as "a little point and shoot."  Oh dear.

I found this great website (http://www.coolantarctica.com/Travel/antarctica_travel_clothing.php) that lists some very good items to bring (alas, more $$$), maybe I can borrow?
1. binoculars
2. luggage that can squish down.  This never occurred to me but it makes sense since the cabin size is small.  But then I look at wheeled duffel bags and they can range from $150-300. Whew.
3. Waterproof backpack
4. power strip

Fortunately I have plenty of warm clothing from having lived in Minnesota - glad I didn't get rid of too much!

Getting ready!

OK, this is my first posting.  Getting ready for Antarctica, and figuring out how to use this website.
There is so much to do still!  Did you know that you have to apply for a Brazilian visa in person at the consulate?  The nearest one is in San Francisco.  You can also use a visa agency, but I'm assuming that costs extra and then you would be entrusting your passport to a stranger.

So:
Airfare arranged: check
Hotels in Iguazu, Buenos Aires: check
Pre-cruise travel package: check

To do:
Brazilian visa
Reciprocity fee to Argentina
Seasickness remedies: TBD next week with physician
Supplies: waterproof pants, 300 mm zoom lens for camera, extra battery and memory card, long undies, waterproof covering for camera, (should I get one of those fishing tackle vests like in "Where'd you go, Bernadette?"), gluten-free snacks (still looking for the perfect 100 mL container so I can bring peanut butter onto the plane).
Shower SK (a.k.a. cat baby sitter) with gifts of appreciation
Fix the zipper on my suitcase

Here is a link to a penguin ID chart I found:
Penguin ID chart