Camping in the ice and snow...BRRRRR...

The Camping Experience. Which we paid EXTRA for. The crew laughed!! After dinner one night, the conditions were deemed suitable for camping. I think about 60 of us crazy people got rugged up in lots of layers, and headed to shore at Damoy Point. There was a little hut there, an Argentinean 'refugio' which is like an emergency hut, but you are not allowed inside unless it is an emergency.

Sadly, this was not an emergency, so we had to pitch tents (one tent per 2 people) and that was hilarious. First we had to find some level ground, then stomp out a little area for our tent, then take stuff out of the tent bag, while hanging on to everything, as the wind picked up and blew things away! (one of our sleeping bags started to blow down the hill towards the water and needed to be crash-tackled). Plus, wearing gloves means your fingers don't work as well as they do without gloves, only when you take off your gloves, your fingers freeze. So. A conundrum for sure.

But, we finally got our tent up, spread out our little mats and sleeping bags, and then were so cold that we had to call it a night. It was only around 10pm. The sun goes down at 11pm, and rises again around 3am. not much darkness in between, so being in the tent was yes, warmer than being in the wind outside, but also very light and not really conducive to sleeping much!! Plus, at first I had my camera backpack in my sleeping bag with me, trying to keep my camera warm all night...but i gave that up pretty quick, it took up too much space. It was a very cold and uncomfortable night. but it was FUN!! Well. maybe not fun with capital letters...but it was an experience.

You are not allowed to bring food or drinks ashore. And you are not allowed to pee in the snow outside your tent, so the crew and some of us volunteers had to dig little areas where portable makeshift toilets could be put. Hilarious.

Polar Plunge - what was i thinking!!????

Well. The title of this post about says it all. What WAS I thinking!! it was a good idea in theory. Throw off all your clothes, run into the sub-zero water, hurl your body in, and then run out, grab a towel, get dressed, and head back to the ship for either a sauna or a hot shower. Neat and tidy, done and dusted.

So we arrived at Pendulum Cove, Deception Island. This is a volcanic caldera and kind of like a semi circle. For further detail, you will have to research as I cannot remember too much. Well except for small facts like, the shore is warm due to the volcanic activity, and there is like one centimetre of warm water on the surface right at the shoreline. But anyway, the wind was blowing 60 knots when we got there and we could not safely land. So we went to another location, Whalers Bay. This was an old whaling station, still with old buildings and whale blubber boilers, and gravesites. Kind of spooky and moody and WINDY!! VERY WINDY!! blowing snow and freezing.

Anyway, I was there for a swim. So after taking a couple of pics around the place, I was surrounded by other crazy people who for some reason were taking TOO LONG to get ready for the plunge (example, 'oh...should I take off my jacket first? or my boots? BLAH!). So in the end, it was me and another girl, and we ran as fast as we could into the water. Apparently it was -.5C and yes i can tell you, fricking cold. I threw myself in as fast as I could, and then instantly lost all sensation in my fingers and toes, and feet, and arms. I was concerned that I might lose my bikini top (as does happen to me strangely very often while swimming) but could barely think. I thought my head was going to explode.

Ran back to the beach, tried in vain to pull on my trackies and boots and socks and jacket...bleh too much to think about! Hopped into a waiting Zodiac (thank god) and a short trip back to the ship, where I hobbled to the cabin and stood in a hot shower for oh, about an hour I think from memory. What a horrible experience. But oddly...glad I did it!!

Antarctica - FAQs

So the main question people usually ask is, 'are there polar bears in Antarctica?' and the answer is, NO!!! They are NOT found in Antarctica. They are found in the north - like the Arctic, for example.

On our Antarctic trip we saw:
Gentoo penguins
Adelie penguins
Chinstrap penguins
Leucistic (white) penguins

We also saw crabeater seals, Weddell seals, leopard seals, elephant seals.
In the whale family we spotted minke whales, humpback whales, and orcas (which are actually part of the dolphin family, not the whale family). And of course...plenty of birds, most of which I cannot remember the names of, but albatrosses, shags, petrels and others.

The temperature was not that cold!! It ranged from -2C up to around +10C most days. The ship was warm inside (yes, this is a question people ask me!) and we had temperature-controlled cabins. We were lucky with the weather and had mostly sunny days - but the weather can turn really nasty, really quickly. Winds got up to 60 knots and we could not do shore landings a few times (but that's okay, the Captain usually had a Plan B, and a Plan C just in case).

Life on board the MS Expedition was surprisingly comfortable. No, it was not like a P&O cruise to the South Pacific. We did not get 'shows' or bingo, or Zumba lessons. We did, however, get talks and lectures about the environment, the South Pole, the explorers, the birds, the whaling history, slide shows, and once, they even showed 'Happy Feet' one evening in the lounge (with popcorn!). We had a 'black and white' night where some passengers got really inventive by wearing their bedsheets and towels haha funny.....

You run a tab on the ship - so extras like drinks, souvenirs from the gift shop mainly go on the tab. At the end of the trip you are expected to throw a tip into a giant tip kitty for the crew - only the ship's officers do not participate in this. The expected tip is US$12/day/person and they work hard for it, and deserve every penny.

On the ship they have a no-locked doors policy. When you are inside your own cabin, you can lock the door, but when you leave your cabin, it is unlocked. I never heard of any issues with anyone having things stolen from their cabins. It is a nice, intimate atmosphere with 120 passengers.

Plenty of people brought their own alcohol aboard, and there were no rules against this. You are not allowed to bring your drinks into public areas though, so be discreet if you want to drink your own alcohol. I did not find drinks very expensive - US$6 for a Bacardi and Coke (US$4 at happy hour) did not break the bank as I don't drink that much. They did sell Cokes and other soft drinks...but I never had one so cannot comment about the price.

Antarctica - the Zodiak experience

So...we didn't kayak *all* the time on the expedition cruise. We actually got into the Zodiacs a few times as well. The Zodiaks are fantastic things, they fit 5 people on each side, sitting on the edges. They are quite hardy, crunching through ice chunks, driving onto shore landings sometimes onto a pebbly rocky beach, other times, up onto an iceberg. We saw lots of great stuff from the Zodiacs - leopard seals and such, but I would not usually want to pick them over the kayaks. I prefer non-engine type boats like kayaks any day!

(Although having said that...after my polar plunge I was stoked to get into a Zodiac and quickly get whisked away back to the ship and a hot shower. But more about that in my next post! )

One feels quite safe in a Zodiac, however one of the expedition crew told me that once, his Zodiac (no passengers) actually flipped right over in the rugged windy Antarctic conditions, and he flew into the freezing water. Hmm. Anyway, not a problem on our trip!

Antarctic sea kayak bootcamp

Well. Bootcamp was a name that the other Expedition passengers gave to our group. Only 20 people could book to have the sea kayak experience. On our first night aboard the ship, we met our Kayak Master and had a meeting to discuss the program, and learn about the hazards and pitfalls of doing this. 4 people dropped out straight away! I was glad we had done some lessons before leaving home (paddling techniques, capsizing, self-rescue etc) but even with that, we felt a sort of nervous apprehension. It was suddenly very real, and a little bit scary.

So the idea is that we hope to get at least ONE kayak session, but it's all weather/condition dependent, so nothing is guaranteed. Antarctic conditions can change in an instant from calm and serene to blowing wind and sleet and big waves. Also, if we kayak then we will surely miss out on a Zodiac cruise and/or a shore landing. But it's all up to us, we will be having regular meetings and can make up our minds each time.

We worked out sizes and tried on drysuits, lifejackets, spray skirts, and got fitted into our double kayaks. The first session was quite exciting. This was our first view from the Mud Room. We had to manoeuvre the kayaks out the door onto the loading platform, and then down next to a Zodiac in the water. The crew helped steady the kayak so we could get in, they made sure we had our spray skirts on properly, and then....OFF WE WENT into the unknown....well actually, we all waited in a group until our leader was ready, and THEN off we went, paddling away, crunching through ice, navigating through ice chunks, bergy bits and icebergs. The scenery was AMAZING - I cried on that first paddle, I was so overcome with emotion. The rugged landscape...the freezing water...the snow, the ice, the huge icebergs, the penguins! Just the most incredible experience I have ever had.

Anyway, it all got crazy after that. We ended up having 7 options to paddle - we went five times in total (on one paddle we decided to do a Zodiac shore landing instead, and another time were just too tired!). The reason for the 'bootcamp' tag was that we had very little time to get ready. Some days we would be enjoying our nice lunch in the dining room and over the PA system...' all kayakers please meet in the library in five minutes'....we would have a quick meeting and discuss conditions, and make sure everyone had a partner for the double kayak, and then basically have 10 minutes in which to get geared up and ready to go...very crazy. But fun! some days we saw minke whales, or penguins swimming ('porpoising' they call it), or leopard seals on an iceberg. The longest paddle was 18 kms - 4.5hours of paddling......you can imagine, we slept well!

MS Expedition: a big red ship

The first couple of days on the ship were great. The crew offered plenty of lectures on various topics: the history of whaling, Antarctic explorers, birds, geology, you name it. We all had to learn, 'one hand for you, one hand on the ship' when the ship was rolling. Plenty of handrails around the place.

The ship was previously used as a ferry, and had undergone a major re-fit a couple of years ago. I was pleasantly surprised to see the lovely big cabin we got - twin cabin with window. Quite a large cabin, plenty of wardrobe space, boxes of tissues, a hairdryer, comfortable beds, a desk and chair.....perfect. It was so nice to unpack after 2 weeks of rushing around South America. And nice that they had non-slip mats on the bedside tables and desk, it really helped keep stuff stable. The bathroom was quite tiny but it did the job. and we had Raquel, our Filipino cabin steward, who visited our cabin about 5 times a day to clean, tidy, make the beds, clean the bathroom.

Food was really great - big buffet for breakfast with bacon, eggs, pancakes, hashbrowns, cereal, yoghurt, fruit, toast, pastries, you name it. Lunch was also a buffet style, crispy salads, herbed salad dressings, things like madras chicken, or quiches, or meat pies, lamb and so on. Plenty of choice, soup included as well. Dinner was usually a 4-course meal, there were 2 options for appetizer, main meal and dessert, as well as a vegetarian option. The Filipino wait staff did a great job.

Not only were the meals big, the 'extras' were lovely too. 24-hour coffee/tea/water/hot chocolate/biscuits available. Popcorn served during a movie. Pretzels and peanuts at happy hour. We never went hungry!

The expedition crew on the ship was experienced, informed, friendly, and all had their own specialty of knowledge. it was a pleasure to get to know them all.

We awoke to find snow on deck, very exciting. The temperature had dropped as well, around zero or minus one or two. ....

So from this post you can gather that i ENJOYED MYSELF....well it was more than that. The experience on the ship matched our experiences on the kayaks and on the shore landings. I rate it more than 10 out of 10.

Drake Passage: storm in a teacup?

So.....what can I say about Ushuaia except, it is a departure point for Antarctic cruises? (I'm trying to be nice here!). In my imagination, I saw a rough and ready frontier town, full of character and buzz. What I saw when I got there was....dust, dirt, broken-down cars, lack of vibe, no excitement. And still, I'm trying to be nice. Never mind, let's get to the good stuff.

Boarding the MS Expedition with just a little bit of excitement and thrill....Antarctica was going to be a trip-of-a-lifetime for me, it was expensive, it was a long way to go, and I had high hopes. I was worried, however, about the notorious Drake Passage. It is the narrowest part of the easterly flowing Antarctic Circumpolar Current, the only place where it is squeezed between land. Yikes! Just google it on Youtube and you can see some of the horror 2-day crossings people have had to endure....

The ship's crew had plans in place. They told us to get ready in our cabins, 'there are only 2 types of things in your cabin. Things that are on the floor, and things that are going to be on the floor'. They handed out free seasickness tablets. The Doc was on hand 24/7 to dispense seasickness patches (not available in Australia anymore due to wide side effects) and give injections. Frankly....we had an easy crossing. Yes, the ship rolled. Yes, things fell off the tables. Yes, people were seasick for a couple of days. I had taken 2 tablets as a precaution, but they made me sluggish, dopey, and dry-mouthed. No thanks. It was, by all standards, a fairly easy crossing. A little disappointing!!

We spent that night getting familiarized with the awesome ship and eating a fabulous 4-course dinner served in the dining room. At only 120 passengers, it doesn't take long to make new friends and figure out who to avoid (kidding!).

Santa Marta favela, Rio de Janeiro

Wow, the favelas are amazing. They are shanty towns, slums, which began when people needed to go to work in the city, but could not afford accommodation. There are hundreds of favelas in Rio, on the hills surrounding the city. We went to Santa Marta today. It has been made somewhat famous by Michael Jackson's visit to make his video Don't Care About Us, or something like that. Anyway, I was a bit wary and fearful of guns, drugs, crime, and robbery...but it was fine. You are not supposed to go in there without a guide, so we did that. Now i have to say, walking around the favela, it is filthy, dog shit everywhere, garbage, rotting wood, dodgy concrete steps, scary scaffolding. However peeking into some people's 'homes', they had sparkling white tile floors, and tidy, neat, just lovely homes. There were barber shops, hair salons, sandwich bars, grocery shops, drinks shops, a children's soccer school, churches, martial arts clubs....just like a real city. The people we ran into were lovely. I said hello, a lot, and smiled, and got friendly responses. Just goes to show you, just because people are poor and have nothing, they are still PEOPLE. Loved it. Of course, Rio has been on a campaign to clean up the city and its favelas, ready for the onslaught of the upcoming World Cup and Olympics. And good on them. There is a fairly noticeable police presence, and although I would not wander about there at night, it was a great experience.

Rio de Janeiro, Brazil

Well. First can I say that we were a bit amazed with Buenos Aires, so Rio seemed like a little disappointing. What is missing....the vibe? the excitement? the awesome architecture? I can't really pinpoint it. We did have a great sightseeing day, the Christ the Redeemer statue is quite amazing and beautiful. The zillion tourists swarming all over was not that great. The weather was a bit cloudy and rainy, so I don't think we saw the beach 'at its best' shall we say...however the beaches are clean, and the promenades are well done, and i LOVE the biking track beside the beach. Lots of people out and about: running, rollerblading, walking, biking, skateboarding. Copacabana Beach is fun: lots of kiosks selling drinks and food, people doing sand sculptures, buskers making money by doing amazing acrobatic capoeira stuff ( i love watching that), muscle boys strutting in their tiny shorts, doing dips and chin-ups on the fitness stations dotted here and there.

I do love the amount of beach volleyball nets, soccer goalposts, drag queens doing dreadlocks for people, and such an array of skin colours, white to black and everything in between. I feel safe enough here, but wary. Walking around with as little as possible is really great and there's lots to look at.

Tonight we watched someone park their car in a seemingly-impossible spot between 2 other cars. He did like 25 manoeuvres, crunching into the car in front and behind more than once. But..in the end, he did it! I was told that most people leave their parking brakes off in their cars for that very reason. I would have never believed it until I saw it with my own eyes.

The food here is fabulous. Yesterday we had lunch and a churrascaria. You have a plate. You get salad, rice, and heaps of other food and then sit down and there is an onslaught of MEAT brought to the table on giant skewers. You get tiny tongs, and hold a bit of meat when they slice it with a huge knife (think machete) onto your place. so much meat and so delicious. We have also eaten at a weigh-your-plate place. You help yourself to whatever, then they weigh your plate, and you pay per 100g. Lunch today for both of us, plus 2 Cokes, was less than $16. Love it.

Traffic is absolute chaos. There are lines painted on the road...but i have no idea why. No-one follows in their lanes, they change without indicating, and they tend to drive wherever they like. I have had my eyes closed on more than one car ride!

Sugarloaf Mountain.....cable car....again, heaps of tourists but fantastic views. Halfway up the mountain you change cable cars and there are restaurants and even a disco on that level. People were partying hard in there at only 2pm!

People here are fairly friendly but not a lot of English spoken, so be warned! learn a bit of Portugese before you visit. They are getting ready for the Olympics and the World Cup, I have no idea how people will get around then, they are just crazy about football (soccer) here. 

Travel Babbling 2.0 - tips!

So when I went to Kenya and Tanzania, I tried out a new method of packing. I left my suitcases at home, and just took one carry-on size backpack, and a daypack. It was amazingly FREE and unencumbered. Plus, not waiting for luggage at the carrousel.

Of course, things have changed since then. Now you can't have liquids over 100ml in carry-on bags. Now i travel with a large bag with a million pockets, and I check a backpack. When I went to Morocco I met an annoying woman with a daypack, a large backpack, another large bag and....yes, a YOGA MAT. I am not kidding. she could not possibly carry all that herself so was endlessly needing porters and people to help her. How many clothes do you really need?

I think I am travelling with too much stuff. Still. But I have discovered merino wool, what an amazing fabric. Cool in the hot weather, warm in cold weather, is very light and easy to pack, dries quickly when you wash it in your tiny hotel sink at the end of each day...and seriously, I could wear one merino t-shirt for a week before I washed it, the fabric isn't like synthetics which retain um, sweaty smells shall we say? On this trip, being in the tropics and then in Antarctica, I have 3 merino tshirts, one pair of lightweight shorts with zipoff legs, 2 long sleeve merino shirts, 3 prs of merino undies, and a couple pairs of socks, plus a fleecy jumper, a merino jumper, and a gore-tex jacket. Done.

As for washing clothes...when i jump in the shower at the end of the day, I take whatever needs washing and do it in the shower usually. Hotel laundries: expensive. Local laundries: RISKY! i used to have a gorgeous white travel shirt...it is now a pale shade of blue (thanks, Morocco) after handing my stuff over the some locals.

Unfortunately I am into technology...this requires universal adaptors, card readers, external drive, netbook, iPhone, cameras+chargers etc etc....This is all heavy AND it takes up a whole lot of space. Of course, the reason for a holiday is to get away from it all, but I prefer to have some contact with home and family, check my banking statements online, and check weather conditions or things to do in different places.

At the end of the day my backpack weighs around 13kgs, well below the usual 20 or 22kg weight limits for air travel.

So back to people watching. At night in Rio, we sit by our window, having a beer and watching the world go by. And i keep seeing this lovely old lady, walking slowly down the street, guiding her blind husband. They are adorable. AND adventurous! I wish I could speak with them and find out where they are from. They are just amazing.

Travel Babbling

So I have plenty of time while waiting for planes, waiting for queues, waiting for guide, and waiting in general to ponder the wonderful world of travel. And people-watch, of course.

I love to speculate about people I see - where are they going? who are they travelling with? I always talk to people wherever I go. I met the most lovely couple years ago in Arusha. They were in their 70s, kitted out in travel clothing and hiking boots. They had been trekking in Ethiopia and loved it. I had never known you could trek in Ethiopia, they have mountains!

Today I met a couple of young girls from Dominican Republic. They now live in New York and thought that Rio was going to offer them samba music, bright lights and excitement. They were quite disappointed in Rio, it fell short of their expectations. Also met 2 couples from England, travelling through Brazil and the Amazon. I get great travel ideas from people I meet randomly.

As for language...it's always fun and frustrating to try and communicate in another language. Luckily I have studied Spanish for years, and it's coming in handy in South America. Even though I'm not fluent, I can read and understand a lot, and I get by quite well. Being in Rio, however, is another story. Some of the words are similar to Spanish but mostly....not at all. Going to the supermarket is a challenge - i wanted to buy some yummy looking french style baguettes. I just waited until another guy filled up his bag from the basket, and weighed it on a scale, and off he went. I wondered...did he write down the weight? Did he remember what the price was? Anyway, I put my bag on the scale, and lo and behold, it spit out a sticky tag with the price on it. Nice one, as the cashier spoke not a word of English. She asked me a few questions and after I smiled and said, 'Obrigado' (thank you) she laughed out loud and we sorted things out quite nicely. In a restaurant they wrote the amount of the bill down for me instead of telling me the amount.

Even if you don't speak the language, you can smile, a LOT. And learn just a few words! I have said 'obrigado' about a hundred times now and each time it elicits a friendly smile. I certainly don't expect everyone to speak English. It frustrates me to hear travellers complaining that 'they don't even speak English'. Well of course not!!

Iguazu Falls, Puerto Iguazu: Argentina and Brazil

Wowza what a big waterfall, it is almost 3 kilometres wide and there are 2 sides, the first we saw was from the Brazil side. I can't believe how well done the walkways and trails are. In this pic you get quite wet from the spray walking to the end. it's a little chaotic with people clambering to take photos and video. We asked a guy to take our pic and he fiddled around for ages before he sorted it out...and yet, not a single pic of us on the Nikon Coolpix! haha i love travelling....... the next day we toured the Argentine side, much bigger area and lots of walking. Every vantage point imaginable. I think we have enough pics and video to last a lifetime, how many pics does one need of the same waterfall?? We also did a fun boat tour.....took us under the spray and totally soaked us, and then travelled downriver where we hopped on a jungle truck to go through the rainforest. I was not expecting to see wildlife but in fact there was giant catfish in the Iguazu River, monkeys in the trees, raccoons (coates) which have quite different faces than the North American raccoons I have seen, much more of an 'anteater' kind of snout. Since dumbass tourists feed them, they can be quite aggressive and annoying, not at all scared of people. What a great day, and luckily we had a private guide, who organised it so that we missed the huge crowds of tour buses with German and French tourists.

Graffitimundo/Bike Buenos Aires

So, i chose this combo tour because it was mainly about the amazing street art and artists of Buenos Aires - but also, it involved cycling around some of the BA suburbs as well, which we both love to do. Cycle, that is. We started off at the gates of the Botanical Gardens (pretty average gardens with biting buggy things) and hopped on blue bikes with baskets for our stuff and water bottles. Off we went with Cecilia from graffitimundo, cycling away from the busy traffic on tree-lined suburbs was just lovely. We ditched our helmets as most other people did, quite soon after starting our tour. The street art is really great, we started to recognise the style of different artists, some doing stencil work, some painting with paint, others with spray paint, others with chalk. Very relaxing and although my man was bored with learning about artists and art in general, i loved it! If we had more time i would love to do another bike tour as it was quite safe, well organised and there was always someone to stay with the bikes while we went off looking around.

Buenos Aires, Argentina

Driving through the outskirts of Buenos Aires, we notice lots of things: there must have been a lot of rain recently, all the outlying ares were flooded, but even so, random cars stop under trees, open up their car boots and have picnics. Everyone playing soccer! BA is huge, heaps of apartment blocks, some quite dodgy looking, all with clothes drying, hanging off balconies. We are staying in Centro, the CBD of BA. Narrow streets, gorgeous buildings, lots of garbage and the smell of garbage and pee. Mmmmmmm. But it's also so European, so French. Little street cafes and coffee shops, pizza restaurants and steak places. This morning we went out around 7am and they certainly don't get up early here.....waiters out on the street, hosing down the pavement, garbage collectors doing their thing. Nightclubs still booming their music! It's hard to differentiate 'ladies of the evening' with regular girls - short skirts, high high heels and lots of makeup. There's something about BA - fascinating, great artwork on buildings, murals, bright lights, tango shows. This afternoon we are off on a bicycle street art tour...can't wait! For breakfast we had medialunas (croissants) with dulce de leche (caramel sauce)......so much for paleo eating on this trip!