24 December 2010

After breakfast our first landing today was at 9am on Danco Island. The island is covered in a thick snow which we had to crunch our way through to the top. But since the island is a common landing spot for the ship there were several trails for us to follow. There were also several “penguin highways” giving them access to the sea from their colony on top of the island and to the colony on the side of the island.

Penguin colony

Penguin Highways leading to the top

From the top of the island you get a majestic view of the mountainous peninsula and surrounding islands as well as the icy waters of Gerlache Strait. At first the air was calm but a sharp fast wind quickly blew in from off the peninsula. Katabatic winds, cold air dropping back to the earth from high in the atmosphere and rushing down the slopes of the hills and icebergs near the peninsula and towards us. I stayed for about twenty or thirty minutes before I made my way back down. Not long enough to see all the Israeli guys strip to their underwear and brandish the flag of Israel. 

View from the top of Danco Island

Penguins on the Highway

All the Israeli guys stripped to their underwear

Hiking down was a lot easier than hiking up. I practically slid the whole way down in my rubber boots. On the ship I finished watching La Mala Educación huddled up in bed.

We commenced our second landing of the day after lunch at 2:30. This time they divided the group in two according to the numbers on our assigned life jackets. One group landed on the peninsula while the other group did a tour of Paradise Bay in the zodiac boats. This landing was our first actual landing on the continent of Antarctica. It was pretty anticlimactic. There’s an old abandoned Argentine research station which the penguins have surrounded with their seasonal breeding colonies. We hiked a few meters up above the station but we didn’t follow the trail to the top of hill overlooking the whole area because of reports of hidden crevasses in the glacier underneath the snow deeming it unsafe. We waited at the landing site for almost half an hour before the boats returned to take our group on a tour of the bay.

View from the top with the research station

Paradise Bay was named so by whalers because of the calm nature of the water. We navigated our way along the edge of the mountains and between icebergs, seeing the most spectacular sights: cormorants nesting high up in the cliffs, blue patches of ice, mineral deposits seeping bright colors through the rocks, the jagged ends of glaciers extending of the land and floating in the water. The sounds of birds overhead and the crackle of unseen avalanches filled the air. Each avalanche sounded like a large cracking storm on the backside of the mountains. Once we turned in time to see the face or a wall of snow crumble into the ocean. Our helmsman stopped twice to collect huge chunks of clear ice for use on the ship. We found a lone weddell seal asleep on an iceberg but everyones attention was diverted as soon as a whale was spotted.  We  watched it surface a few times and did our best to followed its trail but lost it and then it was time to return to the ship. Everywhere was a beautiful picture waiting to be taken. It seemed pointless to even attempt to capture the stark regal beauty with which we were surrounded.

 

A penguin had hopped into Sebastian’s Zodiac and was having trouble jumping out so we went over to ogle the silly bird until he finally jumped back into the ocean.

While on land I took a rock to give to my sister Courtney. If anyone saw me they didn’t say a word. If I see a better rock I think I will do a trade. Tomorrow we may get to visit an Ukrainian research station if ice and weather conditions permit. We will be able to send postcards from there.

Dinner was a barbecue with chicken, lamb, and sausage. At my table this young German girl, Carolin, and a man from Maryland, Mark, began wondering how many different nationalities were on board. Once we got it figured out they then had all the tables guess the number with the winning table receiving a bottle of champagne. Mark was going to have the bottle charged to his account but the chef convinced the ship to donate two bottles because there were two winning tables. The answer was 24. 

Later Mark approached me asking if I would sing Christmas songs but I don’t know any so instead I lent my iPod which had a Bright Eyes Christmas album. I hadn’t even listened to it but it wasn’t too nontraditional for everyone. Though it does feel awkward to participate in any celebration of Christmas since I do not celebrate the holidays.

While writing this entry a whale appeared off the side and then the bow of the ship and we all ran out to watch it surface. Also earlier today it was exceptionally sunny and we took a group photo on the bow of the ship. My roommate did not participate though because he did not hear the announcement. This was right after lunch.

I was playing cards with the Israelis and some other new friends, one who happened to be the sixteen year old son of the ship’s geologist, when his dad came over and discreetly told him and us about a party happening later on in a secret location. He told his son to follow him so he could see the location and then return with us later. The crew was having a Christmas party. When we arrived they were still playing secret santa and passing out gifts. But then the music and dancing began.  One guy handed me a cup of foul smelling fruit pulp that was really a strawberry daiquiri. Suddenly the music stopped. A call from the captain saying he was coming down. They rushed us out of the cramped room and around a corner and back upstairs. Finally all was clear and they came to get us and now they had a black light and a strobe light and more music and dancing. But the captain showed up there too. He wasn’t displeased at all but wished all a Merry Christmas and then left. The music and dancing continued for a few more hours. I left an hour later and the party was still happening. The sun has not set. It is the color of an early morning. The color of the sky makes it seem as if we were partying all night and its only 1 am.

23 December 2010

Yesterday was uneventful. I could not sleep at night so I slept the entire day. The rocking motion of the boat takes some getting used to. Several folks offered me pills or patches but I haven’t had need of them and I’d rather not use them. The Drake Passage, which we are passing through, is reputedly one of the world's roughest bodies of water. There were two seminars, one on the birds of Antarctica and one on the geography of Antarctica.

Today at 2:30pm we made our first landing on Barrientos Island which is a part of the Atichoo Islands in the South Shetland Islands. In the morning we had a briefing on how to behave on shore and how to get in and out of the Zodiac boats which will take us to shore. The Zodiac boats are black inflatable rubber boats with a motor. We were also given a numbered emergency life preserver that we must wear the entire time we are in the Zodiacs and onshore.

Approaching Barrientos Island

The island was rocky and snow covered. The stench of hundreds of penguins filled the air as did their ceaseless squawking. Penguins were everywhere: waddling in the snow, resting on the beach after a swim, incubating their eggs in their rock nests, gathering pebbles for their nests. The ground was a soft wet mixture of mud, moss, feces, feathers, and pebbles. There were several penguin skeletons and bone fragments laying about. I watched as one penguin regurgitated her food and her chicks stuck their beaks in her mouth to feed. We were told to stay in a line and not stray from the path our guide was leading us down and to not get too close to the penguins.

Penguin skeleton?

I walked back up the hill to the boat landing area and waited for everyone so we could begin the hike to the other side of the island. To avoid trampling the moss we trudged across the snow up a slight hill until we arrived at an overlook revealing a gray cove. Two giant formations like fingers jutted towards the sky. We made our way past them and the elephant seals sleeping beneath them to the beach amongst the seaweed. The landscape was like a graveyard with whale vertebrae and jawbones strewn amongst the rocks. The sky was grey with clouds obscuring the horizon and a light snow falling.

Elephant seals

A grisly boneyard

Back on the ship there was a snack waiting for us. The expedition leader, Sebastian, who looks remarkably similar to Steve Guttenberg, did a recap of the days events. He said tomorrow we will probably do a landing in the morning and the afternoon. He also said we were making really good time and that the Drake passage had been unusually calm. A whale was spotted playing in the distance but it disappeared quickly.

Today is Otto Kraus’s birthday. He is part of the family from Wisconsin. He’s twenty-five today. The kitchen staff brought out a cake for him and they sung a song for him which was really just the jingle of a toy store in Chile named Otto Kraus.  The jingle goes, “Otto Kraus, Otto Kraus, Otto Kraus”, and there's some clapping as well.  Most of the kitchen staff is Chilean.  Everyone else gave a cheer at the behest of Otto’s father, Allen. We shouted: “Hip, Hip, Hooray!”

21 December 2010

Today is the first time I have ever experienced December 21st as the summer solstice and the longest day of the year. The past six days have been a haze of lounging about mixed with serious endeavours like finding a mechanic to inspect my car, doing laundry, and searching for a cheap ship to Antarctica. I managed to find a ticket for $3500 which is the cheapest available to me. While I am exploring the Antarctic peninsula my car will hopefully be repaired. While trying to get an alignment it was discovered that the rubber grommets holding my front struts in place had rotted away and were now disconnected from the car.  Very dangerous.  And I drove in that death trap for I don’t know how many hundreds of miles with only God’s mercy to protect me.  I blame the rough roads shaking my car to bits. 

In Ushuaia the town erected a stage on San Martin and I saw the most bizarre ballet of Alice in Wonderland. All the dialogue was lip-synched. The scene with the Mad Hatter’s tea party had it’s dialogue ripped from the Disney cartoon. Afterward there was a beauty pageant but I didn’t stick around to watch. I also took a tour out to Penguin Island near Estancia Harberton and walked around the breeding ground of Magellanic penguins.

The cruise to Antarctica is nine days long. I can only hope to see many magnificent things. There is a family on board who drove from France to South Africa and are now driving their R.V. around South America. There is also a family here from Wisconsin. We chatted a bit The son, Otto, thinks he might know my sister because he attended UW Madison while she was there. My roommate is an older Frenchman who, I think, is retired and sails around on his boat. In the cabin which shares our bathroom is a man filming a documentary for South Korean television. Just before the ship set sail there was a champagne toast and large platters of fruit, cheese, crackers, chocolates, and cubed meat. I greedily scarfed down a few cubes of delicious raw steak.

The Korean documentarian

Goodbye Ushuaia.  Goodbye South America.

18 December 2010

This is not in the journal but is a pictorial interlude between reaching the end of the road and venturing all the way South to Antarctica. 

On December 18th, 2010 I visited Penguin Island which is a sort of penguin conservatory. 

On the way back the bus had to stop for a while as the road was under construction.  The trees showed the stress of enduring strong winds.

15 December 2010

I don’t know for how long I slept.  Maybe an hour and a half.  I woke up at 4:30 and dawn was already breaking on the eastern horizon. I drove past a sign pointing to Tierra del Fuego and doubled back to head down the road to the ferry.

Dawn

There was a long line of semis and no ferry and no sign of activity in any of the buildings except for the janitor. I asked him what I was supposed to do. He said the ferry arrives at eight to begin loading, makes its first voyage of the day at eight-thirty, and that I needed to queue next to the trucks. Also Argentina pesos were just fine to pay with. So I parked next to the trucks. I still had a three hour wait so I cleared my backseat and curled up to nap. I woke when the semi next to me roared its engine to life.

I got out of the car, opened the rear, and fished out my mouthwash. Looking behind me I saw I was first in a long line. I was also first to board the ferry. I suppose I could’ve not paid because no one asked to see my receipt when I exited.

The boat was very bare bones. Just one level for cars and semis. Cars to the sides and semis in the middle. It made for a tight squeeze and I had to duck under one trailer to return to my car. I was going to have a coffee but everything, the coffee and the milk, was a powder. I walked out on the upper deck to get a view of the Strait of Magellan. One of the crew asked where I was going and then escorted me into an area blocked off with a chain. He said dolphins swim in the channel sometimes. He also said Punta Arenas is much more beautiful than Ushuaia and that I should visit. I probably will not visit.

On the ferry

It took us about twenty minutes to get to Tierra del Fuego. I snapped a picture of the welcome sign then headed on my way. The paved road gave way to a gravel road that lasted for about eighty miles. It was rainy and wet and I slid on the rocks like on snow and ice. Mud splashed all over the body and windows. The Chilean border was quick and painless but the Argentines thoroughly riffled through all my things throwing them out of order. Two of their dogs pissed on my tires. They cleared me to go.  I filled up the tank and washed my windows at the gas station outside the border.

Final border crossing

The cops pulled me over in the next town, Rio Grande and I almost splashed one of them. They told me to drive slower and turn on my lights. The rest of the way was a breeze. I second guessed myself and took a wrong turn in the city though. I stopped along the way to Ushuaia to snap photos of mountains. Cloudy and rainy the whole way but began to clear up the closer I got to Ushuaia.

At the entrance to town a couple who bicycled from Buenos Aires was taking photos at the Welcome to Ushuaia sign. I waited until they left and took a few photos of the sign. Then I drove to the end of the highway which happened to be in a national park. The road turned to dirt outside the city and snaked its way through the park all the way to a parking lot and a large official sign proclaiming the end of the road. 

Ushuaia entrance sign

The End of the Road

There wasn’t anything left after that The park and the town are both gorgeous. Surrounded by mountains and rivers, lakes and the ocean. The end of the road.  I headed back to Ushuaia and got a room in a hostel and began the search for the cheapest passage to Antarctica.

14 December 2010

In Sarmiento both ATMs were out of cash. I had to wait until I got to Comodoro Rivadavia to get any money. I came across an unfamiliar intersection, not on my map or in my driving book, which took me into town where I found a bank.  Then I backtracked to the intersection and headed south towards Caleta Olivia. In Caleta Olivia if I had consulted my turn-by-turn directions I wouldn’t have gotten lost and cursed myself hoarse. I eventually found a highway but wasn’t sure if it was Highway 3 so I stopped at an auto shop to ask. They both assured me I was on the right track. A mile later I realized from a few signs for towns not on the route I was supposed to be going that they were wrong.

Graffiti in Caleta Olivia

The way back to Highway 3 veered off down an unpaved rocky dirt road. This seemed like a joke to me so I asked a few guys I saw attending food stands near an empty gas station. One of them happened to speak English and he drew me a map and assured me the unpaved road was the way back to highway 3. I was back on the right way in no time.

I filled up on gas in a small town called Tres Cerros. It wasn’t on the map. I blew an hour using the slow wi-fi and eating a disgusting meat sandwich. A van of young boys, a soccer team I think, and bus of regular folks stopped by and the place got crowded and noisy real quick.

The drive to Rio Gallegos was long, dull, and boring. The plains of Patagonia stretch forever into the distance. There are guanacos grazing on the roadside and there is an occasional emu.  There is no civilization for miles and miles.  However the wind blows the clouds into fantastic shapes. The clouds are feathery and rounded with tails like comets. The Patagonian wind is very dangerous.  It will strip you bare if you aren’t careful.

Llamas

In Güer Aike I slowed down for a truck and my engine started to sputter and then it stopped completely and would not turn over.  Thankfully it was right in front of a police checkpoint station. The car was out of gas.  In all my calculations I forgot to factor in the high winds and the resistance.  Otherwise I could have gone a hundred more miles.  I told this to the police. There is no gas in Güer Aike. The nearest gas in 20 kilometers away in Rio Gallegos. I asked the police if they would call a tow truck to come with some gas. They said the tow truck wouldn’t bring gas. After a lot of putzing about and trying to get some help from the police and a ride into town from a trucker I decided to just walk into Rio Gallegos. One of the drivers who refused to give me a ride stopped for me and gave me a lift to Rio Gallegos.

I think it was this guy who gave me a ride

He dropped me off at the first gas station, a YPF. I bought a container, found an empty water bottle to use as a funnel, and stood in the massive line of cars. An attendant saw me and waved me over. He filled my container and I took off to the highway and began walking with my thumb out in hopes I could catch a ride back to the car. Finally a pick-up truck stopped but he only gave me a short ride before he let me off and turned off for his destination.  I took out a wad of money to flash but it didn’t work.  Everyone kept passing me by. So I stood in the middle of the road and waved down the next car that came along like I was a crazy person. The car slowed down and tried to speed around me but I wouldn’t let him. The passenger got out. I said “I have money. I need a ride to my car.” They let me in. It was three guys and a little girl. Probably family. I apologized and told them I wasn’t crazy I just needed to get back to my car. I did my best to tell them the whole situation in my broken Spanish. We also talked about a few other things.  The guy in the backseat is a car salesman.

Long lines at the gas station

Finally we arrived. They let me out. Somewhere I’d lost one of my gloves. I poured all the gas in the tank. It took a few tries before it fired up. I sped off to Rio Gallegos to fill up.

At the gas station I saw a massive line wrapped around the block and a line with no cars so I got in the line with no cars. This was not a good idea. They refused to fill my tank because they said I cut in line despite there being no line. The cops also showed up. It was a big misunderstanding. A guy with long curly hair approached the cops and it just so happened he was an Englishman. He translated for us. He and his girlfriend Sarah had flown to Seattle, bought a car, driven to Los Angeles, sold the Seattle car and bought a different truck, and then driven all the way to Ushuaia. They were on their way to Buenos Aires to sell their 4 x 4 Bronco. 

Sunset

We all needed gas and debated waiting in line and wether there would be any gas by the time we got to the pumps. As we slogged along in line we chatted a about our experiences on the road. He gave me half a tuna sandwich and I bummed a smoke from Sarah. Thankfully there was enough gas for us. The line kept extending as we waited. Everyone in town was in a hurry to get some gas.  All the gas stations in Rio Gallegos were plagued with long lines.  I couldn’t find a reasonably priced room so I headed toward Chile and slept on the side of the road in a parking area for trucks. 

13 December 2010

This morning my car was blocked in by another car. I had breakfast, some toast with jam and nescafe, while I waited for the owner to come down and move it. I picked up a student who was hitchhiking on the highway and gave him a ride a few miles up the road. Then I exited for Puyehue and the Argentina border. I didn’t fill up on gas because the book I had said there was gas near Puyehue but I didn’t see it. I had to drive 30 miles back from the border to Entre Lagos to find the gas station because I did not want to risk running out of gas in the Andes. The reason I did not see the gas station on the way to the border is because it is in town away from the main highway and therefore hidden.

Exiting Chile was easier than entering. No one inspected my belongings or my car. I didn’t have to unload everything and run each item through the x-ray. The drive between border stations runs through a large mountainous, snowy, national park. There was snow alongside the road and on the ground higher up. Chile was overcast but the sky cleared up to a bright happy blue as I entered Argentina. I saw a semi laying on it’s side. Dangerous curves.

Angled road ahead?

Immigration in Argentina was quick and painless but customs took a while. Slow computers perhaps? No car inspection here either. The customs official looked like a younger Roger Ebert. The drive from the border through the park was spectacular with panoramic mountain and lake views. I think there was a bike race because I saw bicyclists and at a curve there were two men taking photos of them with large professional cameras. I stopped many times to take photos of the scenery. Yellow and purple flowers bloomed along the highway. Some trees had a strange orange fruit or mold hanging from them. Summer in Patagonia was just beginning.

Not far from the border is Villa la Angostura which is composed of many resorts. Tourists were everywhere. The road wound round and between the mountains, each curve revealing a new marvel.

Way past Bariloche and close to Esquel the mountains begin to fade and give way to smaller hills and wide windy valleys. The gusts are extremely fast and dangerous. I thought my car was going to be blown off the road but I managed to keep it at a steady 80 mph. A large van behind me flashed it’s lights at me then pulled up beside me. A woman was yelling and pointing at my car like something was wrong but I couldn’t hear her or figure out what she was going on about. All of a sudden they started cutting back over into my lane to avoid an oncoming car, pushing me off the road. It’s times like these I wish I had a working horn.

Very windy

Further on the I stopped to take a picture of a sign warning of high winds. I saw my rear license plate was only hanging by one bolt so I fixed it. The van that almost ran me off the road zoomed by and honked. I think the lady was trying to tell me about my license plate. I sped back onto the road and into Esquel for gas. I ate a sandwich inside. There was a fat gaucho whistling loudly and talking on his cell phone. He looked French with his beret and shoe-slippers and his wide colorful sash. 

When I walked out I saw my rear plate was gone. Immediately I knew the wind had whisked it away right where I had fixed it. I headed off in a hurry before the wind could blow it too far.

But the cops at the towns entrance decided to stop me. They took my papers, looked in the car, and then called the captain over who did a thorough inspection of all my vehicles contents. All the while I was explaining the situation with my license plate: that the wind had blown it off and I needed to go search for it. Finally they let me go.

Frantically I looked from side to side as I slowly drove up the road. I saw nothing. I got  to the sign where I had taken a photo and then turned around to do another search. Still I didn’t see a thing.

Then all of a sudden I saw it! Upside down and stuck to a fence post by the wind. Praise God! What a mercy. It could’ve blown of into the field but He kept it right there for me. I threw it in my car, hurried back to show the captain, then proceeded on my way towards Tecka. I picked up a guy and gave him a lift to Tecka. There was a large statue in memory of a local man who had died in the Falklands War. It was still light out so I kept going for Gobernador Costa. But there were no hotels. The only hotel was full and wherever the attendant pointed me to in town, I couldn’t find it despite cruising up and down each street.

On the way out of town I saw what looked like little cabins but they were all dark and I didn’t see anything that could be the receptionists office. I knocked on the door of the house next door and asked the lady who answered. She called the owner for me. I’m not sure if she told me to wait for the owner or if they weren’t available but I waited for a minute then decided to leave. There was a lot of construction on some of the cabins and it all looked closed anyway. I also did not want to wait for an indeterminate amount of time.

I drove to San Martin and there was nothing so in the dark I headed towards Sarmiento. I hate driving in the dark here because it is especially dangerous. There are potholes you can’t see as well as curves you can’t see. I was cruising along at 70 when I hit the guanaco. I saw it run out just in time to slow down and clip its legs. I got out to inspect the car. No blood or damage. I shined a flashlight behind me and didn’t see a corpse. I’m sure the animal will die.

I was the only one on the road for a long way. At times I could see the headlights of semis from a long way off. A car eventually caught up with me and passed me. I made it safely to Sarmiento around midnight and pulled into the first hotel I saw. I had to pound and knock around before someone came out.  Thankfully they had a room.