Top 10 memories of Antarctica

Top 10 memories of Antarctica

My first iceberg

Setting foot on Antarctica @ Almirante Brown (Paradise Bay)

Night camping on Antarctica snow at Almirante Brown!

Zodiac cruising among icebergs around Cuverville Island with Yar Petryszyn

Soft Polar Plunge in Deception Islands

Hard Polar Plunge at Damoy Point (near Port Lockroy)

Bum slide on Neko Harbor

Kayaking in Deception Islands with Shanks

Shopping in Port Lockroy

Wandering among the icebergs. Sumeet & Smita Cabin No. 426

22Dec 64'40"S, 62'40"W. Today must count as one of the 'Best Days of our
Lives'. Seeing not 1, not 2 but countless icebergs up, close and
personal was something I had only dreamt of! They come in all shapes,
sizes and their shades of blue range from the mundane to the azure. We
saw a humpback whale too! The past few days, we spent at Yankee Harbor,
Half Moon Bay and Deception Islands - all fabulous sub-antarctic
islands. Look them up on the map. More Later! Frm Under Down Under.

The Power of One Big Idea: Fin Del Mundo

Everything in Ushuaia is defined by one Big Idea - Fin Del Mundo (End of World). The train is tren del fin del mundo, restaurants are ristorante del fin del mundo, the lake is lago del fin del mundo, there´s even a toilette del fin del mundo!! Anything and everything here appropriates this idea as a suffix to their name. Its refreshing to see one Idea integrating every conscious realm of a people.

How good it would be if everything in India could integrate under the Idea of Land of Himalayan Bounty´ or under the Idea of Land of 3 seasons´. Even if a city such as Mumbai could come together as the ´City of Equal Opportunity´ - it can do wonders for the collective spirit of the city.

In the simplicity of a Big Idea and a single minded execution that ties everything to that Idea lie some solutions to our problems of division.

Ushuaia - fin del mundo

Sunday, 17th Dec, Los Nires Hotel, Ushuaia. Post 2
Its crazy to be staring at sun rays at 9pm. Its even crazier to be woken up by sunrise at 3am. This place is disorienting us - used to as we are, to 7am sunrise and 7pm sunsets through the year in Singapore.

Ushuaia in summer seems to be on a revenge mission to get all the sunlight it missed out during the winters. Days are 19 hrs long with night just making a cameo appearance.

Dinner was zuppa asparagos or Asparagus soup, salad and wine. We - esp the 3 veggies have had enough bread and pasta for the past 5 days. We will drive to Lake Fugnano tomorrow in a Hertz car and that should be fun.

More Later
Frm Under Down Under
Ps: This couplet came up today in our chat-
ragon mein daurtay firney ke hum nahi kayal,
Jo aankh se hi na utra, woh lahu kya hai
(We're not enamoured by that which merely runs through the veins,
What's blood's worth if it doesn't show in your eyes) - a revolutionary's call to stand up and fight.
--------------------------
Sent from my BlackBerry Wireless Handheld

The southernmost city in the world!

Sunday, 17th Dec, Ushuaia, Argentina
Ushuaia is everything that the southernmost city in the world should be and more. Although Aerolineas Argentinas made us wait 2 odd hours before we could board our flight from Buenos Aires, the turbulent ride indicated that getting to the Ushuaia will be special.

Our plane seemed to strain to touch the ground as if the convexity of earth at its southernmost point was making it hard for the protruding tyres to make contact. Finally, we landed with a thud and as we stepped out of the shed that passes off as airport terminal, we were greeted by a barren landscape that did full justice to being the last frontier of civilization on earth.

Los Nires is a delightful hotel. Its got a wonderful view of the Beagle Channel one one side and of brown mountains with a smattering of snow on the other. The rooms are cozy and spacious and the people are very helpful.

We spent yesterday walking the San Martin street in Ushuaia town. The town itself is a delight - stuck between snow capped mountains and a colorful port. The weather was cold, a bit windy with a slight drizzle.

Today, we went to Martial Glacier via a chairlift. The chairlift takes you to about a 1000 meters above sea level and then its a couple of kms to the glacier. It was fun to walk on the snow and we met Ashok, Rajendran and Rupel - people who would be with us on the Antarctic cruise. They were amazing fit for their age and actually walked down all the way while we took the chair lift back!

The Train at the end of the world - Tren del fin del mundo - is immensely avoidable. Like a lot of touristy stuff, it was a lot of fluff wiht no substance. Imagine being in a 60cm gauge train that moves at the speed of 10-15km per hour through territory that is nothing special save for a wide expanse of tree stumps and you would know what I´m talking about. And all this for 80 Pesos (abt 27USD) and 2 hours!! Never ever take the tren del fin del mundo even to save your life!

We have hired a car to drive around Ushuaia - there are a couple of good spots in a 100km radius around towm. Will let you know tomorrow how it goes
More later!
Frm Under Down Under

Under Down Under III

15th Dec. 11.10am. Howard Johnson hotel, Florida St. BA
Yesterday was our full fledged day of holidaying - we scanned Buenos Aires like nobody´s business!

Went to the cemetery at Recolleta - where Eva Peron lies among other dignitaries of Argentinian history. This was followed by an extended lazing session at Plaza San Martin. We then went to La Boca - Maradona´s home suburb. Saw the colorful houses that are a hallmark of this area, experienced the neighborhood where he played - Boca Juniors stadium was close by. Were accosted by Maradona himself - it was only on close inspection did we realise that he was a look alike!! We rounded off the day at Michelangelo with a Argentine Tango performance. Michelangelo is a real high end place and a good lesson on how to package your culture for the tourist dollar. Given the food, drinks and performances it was dollars worth spent :-)

Buenos Aires for most part is strinkingly similar to a lot of cities we are familiar with. In its weather its a bit like Sydney. In its traffic, its a bit like Manila. In its culture richness, its like Italian cities minus the attitude. In its people, its like Mumbai - very pleasant and forthcoming in help. In its food, it has a bit of all of the above. If I blindfold you, bring you here and open your eyes here, you´ll have trouble figuring out where you are.

Today we are planning to go to Tigre. Dont know much about the place save for the fact that there is a lot of greenery, around a body of water (or the other way around)

More Later
Frm Under Down Under

Under Down Under II

Thursday, 6am, Buenos Aires.
Today, I woke up to dull pink curtains, pale yellow wall paper and a low brooding ceiling. This is Howard Johnson Hotel in Buenos Aires, #04-01.

Buenos Aires airport reminds one of Mumbai. The only difference are the pretty immigration officers and the wide highway leading out of it. Otherwise, the crowds, chaos and confusion re-assured me that India is not alone in tourism anarchy.

The stop over yesterday (wednesday, 13th) in Cape Town was interesting. First, we almost choked on our Lattes (Shanks on his breezer) at the announcement to evacuate the terminal building due to security concerns. This gave rise to some confusion when the couple on the next table kept ordering more beer nonchalantly. It was only when they told us that the announcement was for Terminal 1 ( we were in 2) that we resumed our pursuit of a hindi movie dvd. Our infallible logic was that Gandhi's popularity would have had a halo on bollywood's in South Africa - can't argue with that!

Second, Cape Town became the 5th airport where yours truly's name has been announced to goad me towards the plane. This time though, there was comfort in numbers :-).

We've slept for 13 hours and at 6.30 are ready for a shower, breakfast and exploring Buenos Aires. I'm also hoping to catch a live soccer game here.
More later!
Frm Under Down Under
--------------------------
Sent from my BlackBerry Wireless Handheld

Under Down Under 1

So I left office early today for last minute packing up and generally to get into the mood for my vacation. This is something I have planned for a long time and finally I'm leaving for Antarctica tonight!

 

There's Shanks, Shalini, Smita and me - 4 of us going on this trip which'll take us to KL - J'burg - Capetown - Buenos Aires - Ushuaia - Antarctica & back with a detour to Iguazu Falls thrown in. For Smita and me, this was one of the 10 things we wanted to do before we had kids (the other few being going to Everest Base Camp, climbing Mt. Kinnabalu, Conducting a Summer Camp for kids, taking a sabbatical from work etc.)

 

There are 3 things I'm looking forward to as the time to board the flight comes closer -

1. Vast, uninterrupted, undulating, imposing Snow all around. I love the purity and stark beauty of Snow and hope there is no place better than Antarctica to see this in all its glory

2. Life on an expedition ship. These are Ice breakers or Ice strengthened ships brought down from the erstwhile Soviet Union for carrying curious passengers like us to Antarctica. If you've read Ernest Shackelton, you'd know that getting to this southern most continent takes a lot of cutting through ice packs and it was always fraught with dangers. But with these ships, its now easier and more manageable. I hope we don't get caught in stubborn ice packs and are able to get to and get back from Antarctica!

3. Setting foot on Antarctica. This has to be special. To be actually standing on the last frontier of landmass on Earth, take a whiff of pure air and look up at the gaping Ozone hole should be one amazing experience.

 

 

There are also 2 things that are running at the back of my mind:

1. Sea sickness. Don't know whether I'm prone to it or not. Don't know whether any of us will get it or not. But I just hope that the Ocean and us are long lost friends - we take to each other with nothing but joy. Shalini is going to get some patches to ensure we stay normal but hope we dont need them much beyond the torrid Drake Passage.

2. The Cold. Ya, we are carrying layers and layers of clothing. Am sure the parka provided by Quark expedition would be great, but I want to be able to move about my arms freely, be able to maneuver my Canon 400D without the hassle of two layers of gloves.

 

The icing on the cake promises to be the detour to Iguazu Falls and the stop over at Cape Town on our way back.

 

I'll be writing regularly to keep my travelogue updated. Do post any questions about the place and I'll try my best to answer via words and pics.

Cheers to Under Down Under!