From Mindy, dated 29 December (we had some email sync problems - Ed.):
Glacier off Argentina. (Click to enlarge)
Today we depart for our expedition. Up bright and early to catch an 8am flight to Mount Pleasant in the Falkland Islands (the only flight each week). Along the way we get to fly across South America and see volcanoes and glaciers when the clouds allow. We did end up seeing one volcano that was letting off smoke and steam. Not violently, but a calm off-gas that was drifting in the wind. The glacier we saw was the ?? (Google Earth suggests this was the Piedras Blancas in Argentina - Ed.) It was very striking from the air and had large lakes past its snout (end or tip).
Port Stanley Street (click to enlarge)
Once in the Falkland Islands (Malvinas to the Argentines), there were no photos at the airfield - it is a British military base. Our bus was escorted to the front gate and we drove to the port at Stanley. The whole population of the islands is under 3000 (including temporary residents), and the military base has the only movie theatre and bowling alley (for diplomatic relations, we hear that things like the Harry Potter screening are turned into events where non-military residents can be bused in).
Our "tour guide" on the short bus trip was a crack-up! He told us a bit of local legend, stories of the culture and economy, and let us stop at two places to see interesting geology.
Frying Pan Quarry (click to enlarge)
Our first stop was a rock quarry called the Frying Pan quarry. Not sure about the name - previous experience with things called frying pan are that they are really hot (Frying Pan Gulch near Dillon, Montana), but this place was cool and rainy.
Falkland Islands Road (click to enlarge)
Very neat rocks (Fitzroy Tillite that corresponds to the Dwyka in South Africa) used for gravel roads. The road here are all gravel - too expensive to pave - with the exception of a few segments that ice over too badly (each paved section is no more than half-mile or so).
Diddle Dee Berries (click to enlarge)
Most residents use peat for fuel. To live on 100% peat, it takes about 120 cubic meters per year per household. One cubic meter is about 1 ton. The peat here is less smoky-burning than the peat in Europe. There is a resin in the peat from the Diddle Dee bush that is similar to tree resin and burns well. The Diddle Dee bush has berries that locals make jam out of also. The traditional separation of labor is for the man to cut the peat (yes, they just dig right into the ground to about shoulder height), and for the woman to "rickle" the peat (stack it into small pyramids). Stealing another man's peat is second only to adultery here, but our tour guide tells us there is a simple solution for this. You put a bullet inside a block of peat, and when the thief burns the peat the bullet cooks off and puts a hole in the peat stove... a new peat stove costs about 15 thousand pounds, so this expense is discipline enough!
Stone Runs (click to enlarge)
Our second stop is to a patch of stone runs (described by Darwin). Scientists still dispute the cause of the runs, but they are basically long stripes of rock fields (blocky quartzite boulders) all about the same height and size. Likely the cause is a combination of solifluction and frost-heaving (I have no idea what this means either - Ed.) My favorite geologist Dr. Richard Alley used a fun way to describe it (think of the glacier rumbling as it moves...the melting ice lubricates the rocks and mud to allow them to sort vertically and laterally, and the rumbling shakes the large boulders to the top like when you open a bag of kitty litter and all the large chunks are at the top).
The economy here is mostly from fishing licenses, wool, and tourism. Electricity is 40% wind (6 turbines on island with plans to build 3 more for the military base).
Boarding Ship (click to enlarge)
Our Ship (click to enlarge)
Finally we boarded the ship and got settled in. First item of business, getting our rooms, dinner, and then a lifeboat drill. Then some sleep!
Lifeboat Drill (click to enlarge)
My Room (click to enlarge)
The Daily Schedule (click to enlarge)
In the morning, we do zodiac training and then our first landing on Sea Lion Island at the southeast tip of the Falkland Islands. I can't wait!!!
Left Los Angeles on Thursday afternoon, arrived in Santiago by way of Lima, Peru at 6am Friday. It's been a while since I've flown that long. The first leg was near 8 hours, we stopped to refuel in Lima (but couldnt get off the plane), then continued on for another 6 hours to Santiago. The only bad part was that my audio on the in-flight entertainment didn't work. But, ah well, I just took advantage of the rare down time and drifted back and forth between sleep and reading a book. There were about 25 of us on the flight from this trip, so I got a head start on learning a bit about my fellow passengers.
We have students, teachers (and professors), professional geologists, retired couples, photojournalists, artists, etc. And that's just who I've met so far. I hear we have people from Canada, Australia, United Kingdom, China, and even Saudi Arabia!
More than half of the passengers arrived a full day before me and had some free time (and rest) here in Santiago. As soon as we landed, we all had some adventure bouncing from line to line in the airport... Fill out a customs form, go back to another line because we didn't pay the reciprocal fee on another floor of the airport... Back to the passport line... Get the bags and go through customs... Nothing to declare... Walk across the street to the airport... Wait in line to check in, drop bags, grab a cup of tea, and head to a bus for an all-day bird watching tour of the Chilean coastline.
As tired as I was, the bird watching was great. We stretched our legs on hikes, got lots of sun and fresh air, and learned a lot about central Chile's ecosystems. On the drive out to the coast we went through terrain that looked very much like northern California in summer... Golden rolling hills, a savanna type climate, acacia trees, but also some interesting cactus plants that reminded me do the Sonoran desert in Arizona. We were told this range of mountains is an east-west range called the Chacapuco.
Chilean Palms (click to enlarge)
At La Campana National Park we saw some of the oldest palm trees in the world. They are Chilean Palms and can be as old as 800-1000 years old! We saw some neat birds, too... Finches, mockingbirds, woodpeckers, etc.
Peruvian pelicans (click to enlarge)
Next we stopped at a small river ecosystem. The mouth of the Aconcagua river in the region of ConCon. There we saw gulls that migrate from north America, white-backed stilts, black skimmers, and Peruvian pelicans.
Finally we made it to the coastline. The fresh salty air was nice, but right next to the beach was a huge industrial complex making lots of haze... A coal plant, a cement factory, maybe a steel factory, etc. if you kept your eyes towards the ocean, you could almost forget the plants were there. It was pretty good bird watching, though.
Penguins and cactus! (click to enlarge)
Starfish (click to enlarge)
Here we spotted our first penguins. They were on a small rock island just about 100 meters off do the rocky beach. Close enough to get a few photos. There were cactus plants growing on the rock island, so I made sure to get a pictures of a penguin next to a cactus. In some of the tide pools we saw starfish, muscles, kelp beds, and zebra snails.
At the end of the day we had dinner at a little cafe in downtown Santiago, and finally got back to the hotel to take a hard-earned shower. The real adventures start on Saturday, the 29th of December when we fly to the Falkland Islands to eventually board our ship and start the expedition. We have a great group of folks and I can't wait to meet the rest of our group.
(With thanks to lyricsfreak.com, and apologies to John Denver. But not to Ben Affleck.)
All her bags are packed she's ready to go We're standin' here outside the car I hate to send her off and say goodbye But it's the LA rush and the cars are stacked The airport cop is acting wack Already I'm so lonesome I could die
So kiss me and smile for me Hug an emperor penguin for me Hold me like you'll never let me go Cause she's leavin' on a jet plane Three weeks 'til she'll be back again Oh babe, it's time to go
Now the time has come to leave you One more time let me kiss you I'll close my eyes and you'll be on your way Dream about the days to be A shipboard sauna and the rolling sea Antarctic sun and the taste of salty spray
So kiss me and smile for me Surf on an ice floe for me Hold me like you'll never let me go Cause she's leavin' on a jet plane Three weeks 'til she'll be back again Oh babe, it's time to go
One of the benefits of this expedition is that it comes with a majority shareholder's stake in REI. At least, that's the only explanation I can come up with for why our house is suddenly deluged with all kinds of stuff from The Great North. Once again, Mindy has shown her ability to turn even the most remote trek into a shopping spree.
These boots are, in fact, made for walkin' ... in subzero temperatures, over harsh terrain, while keeping one's toes warm and dry. All the fashionable penguin models will be wearing these next season.
To paraphrase the immortal words of Shrek, Antarctic explorers are like onions - they have many, many layers, and their presence often brings you to tears. Lest you doubt, at some point in the trip, Mindy WILL be wearing every single one of these. In related news, she has accepted a cast role in the retelling of "A Christmas Story."
Sustenance. We all need it, and we all get it in different forms. For Mindy, it takes the form of granola bars (because sometimes the treehugger jokes write themselves), Motrin (because we ain't as young as we once was), and the Apple power cable (because no one has figured out yet how to permanently affix a solar panel to an iPhone).
Finally, you have to have something to carry all this stuff in. And because REAL Antarctic explorers don't use wheels, that means a variation on the classic duffel bag. The smaller bag is NOT a fanny pack, but some kind of ruggedized clutch purse (yes, I know what a clutch purse is - you can pry my Man Card from my cold, dead, manicured hands).
And, of course, lots of film equipment and lenses. For those of you wondering, yes, it IS possible to find lens adapters for a 35mm digital camera at 6 pm on Friday in Bakersfield.
Yep! Mindy is going to the land of ice and snow. And penguins.
Um, why?
Because it's there? No? OK. She's going as part of a Geological Society of America expedition to Antarctica.
But doesn't Mindy hate cold?
If by "hate cold", you mean desperately seeks a mean temperature at or above 80 degrees, then yes. Hence the witty URL. But hey, it's summer in Antarctica, so no problem!
How long will she be gone?
Long enough for me to blog about it without it getting old.
How is she getting there?
A converted Russian scientific vessel that now does eco-tourism. Seems legit, right? On the plus side, the ship has a sauna. You can read more about the ship in the links.
So how do you blog from Antarctica?
Ah, you've found the flaw in our cunning plan. Since Verizon has yet to come up with ice floe-mounted cell towers, everything has to go via satellite phone. So Mindy will write text emails and send them to me, and I'll post them here.
Can we send replies to Mindy?
Not at $2 an email. Sorry. But you can post comments here, and I'll roll them into a daily email to her.
I found this blog through a random Internet search. Who is Mindy and who are you?
You clearly have too much time on your hands. We're both doctoral students - Mindy does sustainability, and I do learning technologies. Hence, she's the one saving the world and I'm the one running the blog.
