Holiday Greetings....

Hey Everybody,

Since I've started the trip blog, I find there’s not much news for a formal letter, but I decided I could start a list on what I've learned: 

1. Living next to & sharing a bathroom with a 17yr old boy isn't so bad. Sometimes he grabs me when he finds cool music online; I love that!

2. When going to your friend's children's Christmas choir dinner/concert it's ok to wear hiking boots as dress shoes if the blouse is dressy. That makes sense when the alternatives are (a) flip flops -casual or dressy and (b) white w/ pink tennis shoes…right? ...which brings me to the next two points:

3. Travel packing is all about reuse and recycle. Still, it's tough to pack for a year (or more) and be prepared for everything, especially when you've intentionally packed "throwaway" stuff. On a related note, I wonder for how many more days I can wear the same t-shirt before my friend and/or her children stop inviting friends over to the house.

4. The longer I travel the less stuff I need or want.

5. In every place I visit I seem to add 2-3 new "must see" places to my list.

6. I am not tired of traveling - not even a little.

7. I remain most grateful for the opportunity to travel & for your support. Thanks especially to Sharmi for being my caretaker this year (mail, stuff, car, person who hears my stories repeatedly, as well as my frequent plan &  progress reports when I am in town) and to her family for letting me come and go as I do.

8. I have loved every place I have been....some more than others, but all would be a pleasure to revisit.

9. I can live with a stranger on a ship IN A VERY SMALL CABIN for three weeks and survive. Surprisingly, so did the stranger...

10. I have felt safe at every point along the way. People have been wonderful far more often than not. Sometimes strangers offer help before asked. Sometimes they just chat with you when crossing the street. Sometimes the kid behind the counter at the ice cream shop you visit [in Ushuaia] remembers you & your order even when you aren't in for three weeks.

11. While it is unlikely that I ever will be of Ansel Adam's caliber, my efforts reward me just often enough to keep lugging around my gear. 

12. Learning to drive on the other side of the road was fun and not difficult, perhaps especially in the Australian Outback. Why?
When people ask: "Have you ever driven on the left?"
You get to answer with some variation of: "No problem. I learned to drive in The Outback."
It's like Crocodile Dundee....only in reverse. Well, sort of.

13. My greatest challenge when passing through international airports is the bookstore. While I haven't made a purchase yet, I have written down dozen of titles, all of which I have looked up upon return to Montana. Only later do I discover that I often cannot buy the books in the US. About one third of the time I cannot find them on a UK website either.

I hope this finds all of you well and where you want to be this holiday season. Best wishes for 2013. 

Easter Island Wrap Up

Hey Everybody,
Ok...I think this will get me all caught up....finally!

In no particular order, here are a few photos from around the island:

One afternoon when I'm outside of town, walking along the coast, this caught my eye. These are the eyes of the god Maki-Maki. I also saw them carved in a cave and another place along the coast. 

Sadly, many of the Moai on the island are in this condition. A combination of clan wars, invaders, and weather have left many statues fallen and/or in pieces. 

This is a rock carving of the Birdman - a human god. There was an annual competition on the island and the winner became the birdman. 

The cave paintings at Ana Kai Tangata are still visible [although deteriorating]. 

The Moai at Ahu Akivi represent the seven explorers who discovered Easter Island. These seven Moai are looking out to sea [most of them look inland]. The explorers' homeland was thought to be in this direction.

The volcano in the background is Rano Raraku. We'll visit the volcano in a moment....

Ahu Tongariki is one of Easter Island's most popular sites - 15 Moai statues have been restored.

On to the volcano...not only were all the statues carved at Rano Raraku, but also many of them remain in various states of being. If you could only visit one place on the island I think it might be here. 

Perhaps stranger than the mystery of the Moai and how they were moved around the island... is this landscape. I have taken a second trail that leads to this.

Finally, some of you know  that LAN Airlines had some issues the week I was on Easter Island. I was "stuck" there an extra day and three days late returning to the US. One of the consequences of the delayed flights was this: 

That's it folks....thanks for being patient and for stopping by! 

Back to Easter Island....

Hey Everybody,

I am really trying to get all caught up...This post will include photos to give you a view of the whole island. The next post will be more Moai 'cuz it's hard to get enough of them!

I stayed in a small family-operated hotel in the center of town. The closest sunset hike was through this area, which passed the beautiful cemetery.

This is a slightly different view of the same area on the island.

On the first full day of exploring we (a small group from hotel) stopped on the island's second highest point - looking toward the highest point.

Only natives are allowed to own land here. If I were to marry a native I still could not own land, but our children could. One of the interesting facts about the island is that there is no begging on the streets & no poverty. I don't mean all the natives are wealthy, but rather each has a piece of land (to grow food) and a roof overhead.

There is a misconception that there are wild horses on the island. The reality is that they are free range horses. One reason for the confusion is a poorly translated sign that reads: Danger Wild Horses.

Wouldn't be a Polynesian Island without boats and palm trees....

Probably the most beautiful house I saw during my stay....

For the tent campers....here's the island campsite, just across the road from the Pacific Ocean.

This next spot is important because: (1) the Green Sea Turtles often hang out here; (2) the ice cream shop is among those buildings & they have some very good favors; and - Dana, just for you! (3) it turns out that being the only person in the water around 8am on a cold & windy day is the perfect chance to meet Chile's National Stand Up Paddle Board champion. He is one of just two SUP boarders on the island & there are only about 100 in Chile right now. He said the sport is just starting to gain popularity there.

Finally, a small group of houses with an interesting path....

That's all for tonight....gotta get some sleep. Tomorrow I get to hang out with middle schoolers again & talk to them about traveling! The best part of it for me is when they start talking about the places they want to go. Tanks for stopping by....more soon!

 

 

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Oops!

I forgot to mention the Drake Passage - a two day crossing - after all the build up & the 2 weeks practicing at sea in the Gulf of Alaska & Pacific Ocean!

As it turns out, we had rather calm seas through most of the Drake Passage. Just when it was time for the captain to decide whether to navigate straight back into the Beagle Channel or to round Cape Horn the weather took a turn and the forecast made his decision. We survived the Drake with ease for the most part - choppy, but not at all as bad as the trip between Kodiak and Homer! But sadly, we returned to port unable to state we round the Cape.

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One last post from Antarctica.....

Hey Everybody!

So, on the morning of November 19th we made landfall on the Peninsula at Paradise Harbour - an actual shore excursion on the Antarctic Mainland! The Argentinian Station is here - Brown Base.

The snow was quite deep here - there were places where I fell in thigh-deep, but getting out was manageable (and amusing). We also did some zodiac cruising. Here are a few pics from the morning:

Later the same day, we made landfall at a second mainland Harbour (Orne). Some people hiked a steep & slippery trail to see a Chinstrap Penguin colony. I knew I could walk up the hill, but wasn't looking forward to the icy walk down. Thus, on this last shore excursion of the trip I hung out at the base of the mountain for awhile and then had a most excellent final zodiac cruise. Many people skipped this last cruise and/or had shorter excursion with a less adventurous driver.

I was most pleased to get up close to these huge snow dunes in a hidden cove way out in the bay.

And we were able to get up closer to glaciers on this final Antarctic outing: I did mention my favorite color here was blue, right :-)

Once again, thanks for traveling along on this voyage that took forever to post. I think I have a little more from Easter Island and we'll be all caught up. More soon.....

 

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Antarctic Continent!

November 19th.....my boots touch their 5th continent!

 

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LeMaire Channel/Pleneau Island and Peterman Island

Hey Everybody!

It is now November 18th [you know, in blog land]...Before sunrise a small number of us were out on deck to watch the ship pass through the ice in LeMaire Channel. I could not take a picture that did justice to the beauty of this place. Trust me, it was beautiful....

A little later today... we anchored to take a look around in the zodiacs. Occasionally the captain moved the ship to keep the ice away. 

Pleneau Island could have been a shore landing, but conditions were determined to be unsafe. In the end I think that worked out okay because it meant moving on a bit, which resulted in a big Orca Whale surprise. For many people on the trip, the Orcas turned out to be THE highlight of the trip. That was not so for me, but we'll get to that in a bit.

While cruising through the channel we had spotted a small pod of Orcas [3-4] in the distance.Certainly the guides hoped that the whales would stick around in the bay through the morning, but there was no way to know whether they would - or what kinds of behaviors we might see if they did. Our final calculations suggest we were surrounded by a pod of at least 16 or 17 whales. Among that group were a handful of calves. These next two pics were taken by Austin &/or Natalie -- I know I didn't take 'em because I am in the zodiac to which this pod of whales is headed.

Some of you might remember from the Discovery Channel or elsewhere that the Orcas in Antarctica have a unique way of hunting. The Antarctic Orcas create waves with their tales that knock seals off floating ice. It is rarely witnessed by anybody.....our zodiacs just happened to be in the right place at the right time. These pics [taken by Rens & Jing] show the Orcas spy hopping after their waves. The seal is on the ice in both photos. Six times the whales made waves and 4 times the seal flew off the ice but QUICKLY returned to the ice. 

I'm probably wrong, but I think the adults were teaching the calves how to hunt. Orcas are good hunters; I've seen them hunt and play with their catch in Monterey, CA. The seal was very fast, but I find it hard to believe that the whales missed so many opportunities to feed. To further support my argument.... there were a bunch of penguins [scared & swimming FAST!] in the bay, but the whales never touched one of them. What I know for sure is that the hunters on the trip were quite disappointed that they didn't see a kill.... 

Speaking of disappointment...I think I mentioned a few posts back that the trip has been challenging and disappointing at times. It turns out that even on this day people were moaning and groaning about whatever wrongs they think were perpetrated upon them. In fact, sometimes it's just too easy & for brief moments I joined in the conversation. What about? People complained about where the zodiac drivers stopped for viewing, the speed with which they went toward the whales, and with just one day left and not so great weather nobody knew if we'd get to walk on the mainland, etc. As an aside, I will say that there were significant differences in zodiac drivers and I had some less than ideal zodiac trips during the past three weeks.... but at the end of the day & whether the ride has been ideal or not, we were in a pretty amazing place. 

In order to return to my senses I ditched the group for a while when we got to shore at Peterman Island. I told some friends about it later that night, so this isn't going to shock anybody when they read it. Peterman is home to lots of penguins & they were busy courting and building nests. We got to see the cute little Adelie penguins:  

And, of course, the ever-present and adorable Gentoos. Here they are getting to know each other....

This guy is hard at work building a nest for his partner; what you can't see is that he stole this rock from his own nest.... guess he was tired and needed to look productive for a moment while he caught his breath. In his defense, penguins really do seem to have hard lives! 

As you can see by the final picture... at the present time my life is much simpler than the penguins! And, this was the highlight of my day. On a day when everyone was talking whales and "what else do we get" I laid down in the snow away from everybody while the penguins talked amongst themselves [they get quite loud sometimes] and the snow fell. By the time we left Peterman I was grateful for the trip whether I got to touch the mainland or not... speaking of grateful, I didn't know he did it until later, but thanks to Rolf for snapping the photo!

As always, thanks for stopping by.......will wrap up the Antarctica posts in the next 24 hours.