The White Continent

Location: Punta Arenas, southern Chile

The adventure is over and we have stepped onto the 7th continent to complete the set. It`s a long way from South America but being here represented an opportunity not to be missed since it is a lot further from Europe!

We spent 10 nights on board the M/V Ushuaia, owned an operated by Antarpply. It takes a couple of days to cross the Drake Passage (named after Sir Francis), which has some of the roughest seas in the world. Luckily for us it was very calm on the way over, not quite like the Med but certainly not what could be termed as angry seas. More like midly displeased. There were a few people who suffered from sea sickness, including Phillippa, and there really is no respite for the 2 days it takes to get near to the South Shetlands, where the water is calmer. There is nothing to look at for 2 days, so there was a lot of sitting around playing cards and backgammon.

In the afternoon of day 3 we had our first landing. Although the sea looked quite calm from the safety of a medium sized ship, once settled in a small Zodiac landing craft it appears slightly different. The weather was grey, strong winds, a light but horizontal rain. By the time we got to the beach we were all pretty wet, then stepping off into water that was deeper than the wellies we had been given ensured one cold wet foot, which then started to become painfully cold over the next 45 minutes. We got soaked on the way back too and it was looking like this would be a regular feature of the 2 daily landings. They told us to bring waterproofs, but the type of stuff you would wear for trekking in the rain is not quite up to having bucketfuls of cold water poured over you. Proper sea-going wet weather gear is needed. But it was too late for that discovery to be useful.

Weather
Generally cloudy, cold (between 0ºC and 3ºC), windy, occasional rain and sometimes heavy snow that didn`t really fall so much as move horizontally. No sunshine or blue sky, but perhaps that is not to be expected near to one of the most desolate and Godforsaken places on earth.

So what wildlife did we see?

• Lots of penguins (Adelie, chinstrap and Gentoo but sadly no king or emperor).
• Quite a few seals (Weddell, fur, elephant)
• A variety of other bird life (different types of albatrosses, petrels, gulls)
• Grass. Actually more interesting than it sounds. There are only two plants that live in Antarctica, this one being related to oats
• Minke whales, though not many and from a distance
• Orcas, briefly

P..p..p..pick up a penguin
The groups of penguins were huge. Thousands of them. I`ve seen penguins here in Argentina, in the Galapagos and near to Cape Town, but somehow it seem more authentic in Antarctica, in a blizzard with those facing you blending in to the background snow. Everywhere you look the slopes were crowded with colonies. It is nesting season so many are lying down to incubate eggs. We´ve seen lots of different types of behaviour: picking up stones to offer to potential mates (often stolen from the next door neighbour); building nests; calling out for mates, neck outstretched up to the sky; waddling along in lines along their "paths", like obedient school children on an outing; struggling up quite steep slopes and sliding back down on their tummies; fishing in the sea, often leaping out of the water, and with their black and white colouring they look like smaller versions of the dolphins we saw a month ago. Fascinating creatures that you can never tire of watching. Just as in the Galapagos, they are not too bothered by the presence of humans. Showing some signs of curiosity but then they quickly decided that we were not interesting enough to be bothered about. We were priviledged to see a group of about 12 walk right past us as we waited patiently for them. Another National Geographic documentary moment.

In many ways the scenery and geography of the region is more interesting than the wildlife. It is incredibly bleak and inhospitable. The South Shetland islands (just off the north tip of the peninsula) are part of the same string of mountains as the Andes, as is South Georgia. Black volcanic beaches and hills are partly covered by now. Very dramatic.

A dip in the Antarctic sea
Some of the islands are volcanic and one, Deception Island, is an active volcano. The remnants of a Norwegian whaling station, abandoned in the 1930s, can be seen all along the beach, including about 7 huge tanks used for boiling up the blubber. It then became a British base, and was finally abandoned in the late 60s after 2 eruptions destroyed lots of the area. A further erupton and mud slide buried lots of the buildings that had remained to that point. But the active (though dormant) nature of the volcano means that the groud is warm. Not on the surface where the weather makes sure that the beach is still cold, though with some steam rising form puddles, but dig down a bit and it is quite hot. So the staff dug a shallow hole, the sea filled it and then we were ready for a bath.

Apparently it feels warmer if you plunge into the sea first. So after stripping down I ran into the sea (about 2ºCentigrade), plunged in, a quick splash around and then headed back to the beach to get in the warm water. About 10 seconds is more than enough. I`m not sure how long you would last in water that cold, without protective gear but it can`t be very long. Very invigorating. Getting in was easy, but getting out and drying off when the air temperature is near to zero plus a strong wind is more of a problem.

Huge Icebergs
After a day of sailing we passed one or two icebergs. Much much bgger than those we had seen in the glaciar national parks. These were like small buildings. Over the next few days, as we headed further south, we saw bergs the size of very large office blocks. An amazing sight. Whilst making progress down the west side of the peninsula we saw more and more, everywhere you looked were huge masses of pale azure ice. We couldn`t land on the continent where we had planned to due to ice conditions. Not bergs but smaller flat pieces, often no more than a few metres across and maybe 0.5-1 metre deep. The wind had blown all these into ice flows. To start with there were clear gaps where the sea was still visible, but the further we progressed the more dense the ice became, until we had to turn back. At this point is seemed unlikely that we would manage to get onto the mainland itself, this was hugely disapponting.

So we had to go North again, and went through a channel at the very north of the peninsula. Here there were icebergs everywhere, a tough navigation, but very beautiful. I hadn`t expected to see quite ths density of icebergs. This took us towards the Weddell sea, where we saw pieces of the Ronne ice shelf that had broken off. We passed some real monsters, once was over a mile wide and about 80m high. It is almost too big to take in, and I`m sure the photos will not do it justice.

We did eventually get on to the peninsula, mainland Antarctica, at an Argentine base in Hope Bay. This base is not a hot-bed of scientific research, it has mainly political purposes. Should Antarctica ever be divided up, after the current treaty expires, various countries have varioues claims on the land. The peninsula is subject to claims from Argentina, Chile & the UK. For some reason the Argies believe that if the land is ever apportioned then having had 40 people (including children) living there somehow increases the strength of their claim. They aparently even flew in a woman who was 7 months pregnant so that she could give birth on Antarctica, (which would be quite cool to have on your passport as place of birth). It was very interesting to have a tour of their facilities and speak to the locals. The kids in the school were particularly friendly, it must be a fairly odd existence for them. Though the house we went into had a PC linked to the web, a playstation and TV/video, so when very long winter nights prevent them from playing outside they are entertained. In just the same way that, at home, the current crop of lazy kids slouch in front of their computer games, doing little more than waiting for the onset of childhhod diabetes.

It was a great trip overall. The highs in Antarctica were probably more memorable than those we experienced in Galapagos, in particular the massive icebergs, ice flows and the penguins. But overall I still think that the Galapagos remains the most amazing part of the trip so far.

Today, 29 Nov, is our last full day in South America, for tomorrow we are off to the US. It has been a fantastic 7 months and it is a shame to be leaving. But all good things come to an end and there are still many exciting places left to visit.

From the Centre of the Earth to the End of the World

Location: Ushuaia, Tierra del Fuego, Argentina

We are nearing the end of the South American part of the Odyssey. Having very near to the southern mosdt part of continental South America (Punta Arenas, Chile) last week, we are no in the southern most city in the world, Ushuaia. So now that the trip south has come to an inevitable impasse, where do we go from here? Answers below...

After the trek in Torres del Paine we had a day or two doing very little in the small town of Puerto Natales, situated by fjords with mountains behind. Very attractive. We then swapped that for Punta Arenas, overlooking the Magellan Straits, the water that separates the continent from the islands to the south. Not a great place to spend any length of time. One interesting museum on the indigenous culture and heritage of the region, and many stuffed animals from Patagonia, but the town itself presents no compelling reason for a visit.

It was a long day from there to Ushuaia. Have a look on your atlas. It doesn´t look that far does it? But with a very slow border crossing and the bus company´s penchant for stopping for coffee breaks at almost every available opportunity it was a very long day: about 12.5 hours to reach the most austral city in the world. There is a town on the other side of the Beagle Channel, (named after Darwin´s ship, or really Robert Fitz Roy´s ship since he was the captain), a small Chilean settlement, but it is too small to lay claim to any title.

Although it is the most southern city it is not actually as far south as you may have thought, about the same south as Northern England is north. But since it is spring that means it is getting dark around 10pm, light at 5am, and it has even been about 20°C on a couple of days this week. So how is the weather in London?

One day was spent in the National Park, sadly it was a grey drizzly day (even worse was that the day each side was glorious sunshine), so the views were limited. Getting fairly wet for a few hours is also never much fun, even had it been good weather it would not have compared favourably to the other places we have been walking in recent weeks (but almost nowhere would).

There is one excellent museum in Ushuaia, housed in the old prison. Only a small section on the Falkland´s conflict though, which is surprising since the town has close associations with the war of 1982. There are a couple of monuments on the waterfront, including one that proclaims (Terminator fashion) "we will back". It is not clear whether they mean with the Navy or with diplomats. Quite a few cars and hostals have stickers from 2002 commemorating the 20 year anniversary, "Malvinas: Tierra del Fuego is waiting for you!". Interestingly the 2004 equivalent sticker does not say that they are still waiting.

So where are we going next? Well, we are going to continue to head south. Next stop is Antarctica for a 10 day expedition (18-28 Nov). We just hope that that Drake´s Passage, the 1,000km of sea between here and the Antarctic peninsula is not too rough, since it is known to be some of the roughest seas in the world. But we´ve just been to the chemist to stock up on sea sickness pills, so fingers crossed all will be fine, or at least bearable.

So check back here in about 2 weeks time (very end of Nov) to find out all about this very exciting side trip. It was not on the original itinerary, but this is far too good an opportunity to miss, so we have pushed back some of our flights by a bit to accomodate it. Also, once we return from Antarctica, details of where we are going once we leave South America, which will be in early December.

Heading for home

Location: Puerto Natales, Southern Chile

Heading for home indeed, though only in the sense that we have just passed the 6 month mark and so are nearer to Heathrow arrivals than we are to the departure gate. So although we have turned the corner and are now on the back 9, as it were, there are still a lot of interesting places yet to come.

We´ve been walking again, this time in Torres del Paine, just over the border from the Argentinian National Parks featured in the last post. The huge granite towers here are similar to those that can be seen in Fitz Roy. But we didn´t see them in Fitz Roy, due to bad weather. When we crossed the border into Chile the weather turned from sunshine to heavy rain and black skies.

Luckily by the time we got to the Park the following day it was sunny and, out of the shade, quite warm. We trekked for 5 days, every day we had minimal cloud, glorious sunshine and perfect views. (The day we got back to town it tanked down with rain again, so we were extremely fortunate with the conditions.)

There are 2 main treks, a W circuit, up 3 valleys, and a circular walk. The round trek cannot be done without lugging all your own stuff with you, and being slightly half-hearted about this camping lark, this was not for us. The W is the more common trek since there are refugios on the way round, providing decent shelter and food. To compromise between the full on camping, carry all the food and stoves, and the deluxe version involving staying in beds in rooms, we camped, but hired everything at each point. Meaning we didn´t have to lug it around all day.

Chile is a bit more expensive than most of its neighbours, but the cost for a tent, 2 mats and 2 sleeping bags was about US$35-40 between us. Much more than any hotel we have stayed in during the last 6 months! But the locations here are incomparable.

Over the course of 5 days we walked for 30 hours, including one long day of about 9.5hrs. Not as challenging as the Huayhuash trek in July, and the only other people we saw were tourists! But a fairly hard few days nonetheless.

The scenery verges on indescribable, especially when it is untainted by cloud or rain. The Torres themselves were mightily impressive, imperiously dwarfing the surrounding region. We saw a few more glaciars, the most readily visible being the Grey Glaciar, though none compare to the Perito Moreno. We walked in forests, besides glacial lakes, through flat grassy meadows, over huge boulders and moraine. Very varied really.

It is certainly a great time to be here in the South of Patagonia, spring is definitely in the air. Budding trees robed in new, bright green spring colours. A host of birds chirruping from the sidelines as we walked. Mating pairs of geese quietly courting. Hopefully the photos will do justice to the vivid greens against the backdrop of bright blue sky with white snow-capped mountains, with bright red flowering trees in the foreground. But I don´t want too much talk of spring to depress those of you who are heading into winter, having just put the clocks back!

It was certainly one of the best walks we have done, but that was due in a large part to the sunshine. Had it been wet and rainy, with poor views, then we would cetainly not have enjoyed it as much! It was pretty windy on a few days, one in particular was probably the strongest winds I have ever been in. And we were camping in it! We also met some great people, in particular a retired Headmaster of a primary school in Tower Hamlets, an Aussie couple, and a couple of very affable Swedes, who, of course, spoke better English than most people who live near our flat in London.

Just before finishing the W-circuit we heard a rumour that Dubya had won the election, though it was not clear if that was an outright victory or before any legal challenges by the Kerry team Only when we got back to town did we have confirmation of the result. Oh well.