Greetings from Punta Arenas, Chile!
I've left my little feathered friends,
the penguins (actually, most of them headed north a few days before I did)
and my 5 campmates to return to civilization. The field season is pretty
much over, but our ship isn't scheduled to pick up the Cape Shirreff crew
until March 13. Being wily & resourceful, I decided to see if I could leave
early with my Chilean colleagues. No problem. A woman is always welcome to
travel with the Chilean Navy. I was a little worried about crossing the
Drake because they use a very small ship, about 1/8 the size of the
icebreaker I came down on. Fortunately, my travels with the Chilenos ended
up being a great experience - probably the most fun I've had at sea yet. We
left Cape Shirreff early in the morning on 27 March. My campmates Dana &
John cooked up an excellent farewell breakfast of Eggs Benedict using their
last dozen eggs... very generous, although their hope was that the eggs
benedict would come back up a second time on the rough seas. Of course they
have every right to be a little mean since I abandoned them.
Veronica & I got special treatment on the ship being the only women. They
set us up in the VIP suite with our own bathroom. Our fist stop was a brief
visit to Prat Base, then we went to King George Island and Frei Air Force
Base where there is a Chilean settlement complete with families, a little
supermarket... pretty bizarre little industrial Antarctic outpost. The
Russians also have a base there. We visited for the day & went to a fun
party aboard a Chilean ice breaker... lots of dancing till 2 am. It's been a
while since I've gone dancing. Our Drake crossing was a bit rough - 20 ft
seas - so I spent the entire 40 hrs horizontal in my bunk. I'm fine if I'm horizontal, but the kind steward took pity on my and delivered food & ginger
ale to me. The Chileans have a great route home. They go through the
channels around Tierra del Fuego to reach Punta Arenas. It's too expensive
for foreign ships to go through (pilot fees, etc), so it was a rare treat
for me. For two days we had calm water & spectacular views of the glaciers,
mountains, as we were chased by dolphins & magellenic penguins. It was
amazing. I rarely left the bridge. Traveling with the Chilean Navy is
definitely the way to go. In port we were greeted by a brass band & had
farewell cocktails, then the INACH (Chilean Antarctic Institute) guys came
to pick us up. I've been adopted by the Chileans as an honorary Chilena. It's been great. Last night we went out dancing until 5 am. I also got to
see my good friends, Olivia & Ricardo here in Punta Arenas. I think I
prefer coming here without all of the other gringos because I got to see the
real Chile & I got to work on my Spanish.
In an hour I'll be on a plane headed north to Santiago. By tomorrow IŽll be
back in the US for a week in San Francisco. The only work still hanging
over my head is the year-end AMLR penguin report. It's been a great season with
the penguins. I'll miss them, but hopefully I'll see them again soon.
Thanks for following my journey & writing to me. I'll be able to write
individual emails from now on, but I'll send some photos when I get
home. Talk to you soon.
Take care.
Love, Iris
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