Wednesday, 27 January 2010
Monday, 25 January 2010
Back from Wonderland
Here I am back on dry land. After 26 days on board ship, I found my bed and breakfast room gently rocking for while. Anyhow I am rested up and got my next stage sorted ... at least the bus ticket - not got anywhere to stay yet!
So...I really don't know where to start. It has been the most wonderful trip. The sheer enormity of the ocean, the variety of birds, the closeness to such wonderful creatures:penguins, seals, albatrosses and whales, has been magical. And then the scenery was magnificent - particularly once we arrived in South Georgia and we saw great glaciers sweeping down to the sea and felt the cold wind blowing off them. Then once we arrived further south to the South Shetlands, the Weddell sea and the antarctic peninsular the scenery was breathtaking .. with ice and icebergs, mountains and glaciers everywhere. So much to tell. I will try and get oome photos up to give a taste of it. And slowly I will try and say a bit more about each aspect of the voyage... got paragraphs to tell you about penguins!!
On the lifestyle front, living with 94 other passengers was much better than I expected. I had a delightful room mate called Maryellen, a doctor, who was as good at losing various things in a small place as me and very easy going. Life was go, go, go from the start even when we had days at sea: lectures on how to deal with seasickness, the breeding cycle of penguins, how to take good photos, how to adjust them in photoshop, the background to the Faulkland war ... you name it they did it. We had pretty early starts and a three full meals a day plus cookies at tea time and permanant access sto tea, coffee and hot chocolate. Disastrous for my figure!
So now my land advenure starts. It has been great to catch up with friends and family at length thanks to Skype and have a general sort out in preparation for the next leg of my journey. Sent most of my cold weather gear back home but keeping long johns and down jacket for hikes on the glaciers at Torres del Paine in Chile where I am off to by bus tomorrow.
I realise that all of you in UK have been having your own snowy adventures - hope all is well with your pipes and central heating. My Brill Guardian Angels have been checking on mine and all is faring well I understand.
Hasta Luego amigos y amigas ... starting to get to grips with speaking spanish .. the locals are very kind and helpful as I struggle for words.
So...I really don't know where to start. It has been the most wonderful trip. The sheer enormity of the ocean, the variety of birds, the closeness to such wonderful creatures:penguins, seals, albatrosses and whales, has been magical. And then the scenery was magnificent - particularly once we arrived in South Georgia and we saw great glaciers sweeping down to the sea and felt the cold wind blowing off them. Then once we arrived further south to the South Shetlands, the Weddell sea and the antarctic peninsular the scenery was breathtaking .. with ice and icebergs, mountains and glaciers everywhere. So much to tell. I will try and get oome photos up to give a taste of it. And slowly I will try and say a bit more about each aspect of the voyage... got paragraphs to tell you about penguins!!
On the lifestyle front, living with 94 other passengers was much better than I expected. I had a delightful room mate called Maryellen, a doctor, who was as good at losing various things in a small place as me and very easy going. Life was go, go, go from the start even when we had days at sea: lectures on how to deal with seasickness, the breeding cycle of penguins, how to take good photos, how to adjust them in photoshop, the background to the Faulkland war ... you name it they did it. We had pretty early starts and a three full meals a day plus cookies at tea time and permanant access sto tea, coffee and hot chocolate. Disastrous for my figure!
So now my land advenure starts. It has been great to catch up with friends and family at length thanks to Skype and have a general sort out in preparation for the next leg of my journey. Sent most of my cold weather gear back home but keeping long johns and down jacket for hikes on the glaciers at Torres del Paine in Chile where I am off to by bus tomorrow.
I realise that all of you in UK have been having your own snowy adventures - hope all is well with your pipes and central heating. My Brill Guardian Angels have been checking on mine and all is faring well I understand.
Hasta Luego amigos y amigas ... starting to get to grips with speaking spanish .. the locals are very kind and helpful as I struggle for words.
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