Quark Expedition- The White Continent!

Iceberg sculpture with blue glacier ice

More iceberg sculpture

Water and wind make beautiful sculpture of the snow and ice

Pristine beauty!

Land ahead!

Here are two chinstrap penguins

I wonder what the penguins think of this yellow creature!

After 2 days on the Drake Passage, even though it was mild, I am ready for land! No sailor am I!! After all, I am a Taurus, earth sign through and through. We have seen great iceberg sculptures on our way and throughout the water going to the South Shetland Islands.

Our first landing, on Zodiacs in groups of 10, is to an Island on the archipelago closest to Argentina. It is not really on the mainland of Antarctica proper but is considered part of Antarctica- the South Shetland Islands.

Here we see chinstrap penguins. The chinstrap penguin is a small species of penguin which is found inhabiting the rocky land and islands of the Antarctic Ocean. The chinstrap penguins name derives from the narrow black band under their heads.

Chinstrap penguins are one of the most easily identifiable of all of the penguin species, mainly due to the marking on their chins. Chinstrap penguins are also known to congregate together in their millions on small Antarctic islands. There are believed to be more than 7 million breeding pairs of chinstrap penguins.

Chinstrap penguins spend their lives hunting for krill and small fish and crustaceans in the surrounding waters, coming onto land to breed, rest and to escape the large ocean predators. Chinstrap penguins are carnivorous birds, and catch numerous species of fish,, crabs, shrimp, squid and krill in their strong beaks. Parents hunt for food in the ocean to take back to their chicks on the land.

Due to the fact that there are few large animals inhabiting the frozen South Pole, the chinstrap penguin has few natural predators. Leopard seals, killer whales whales and the occasional passing shark are the main predators of the chinstrap penguin.

Female chinstrap penguins lay 2 eggs in a nest made out of stones on one of the rocky Antarctic islands in November or December. The male chinstrap penguin and the female chinstrap penguin both take it in turns to keep the eggs warm, with the eggs hatching after about a month. The chicks stay in the nest until they are about a month old and are fed by both the female and male penguins.
We see many rookeries on the landings, more photos later.

Quark Expedition- Day 1- Sunnies Skies & Quiet Sea

Our ship the Ocean Diamond

Ushuaia, Argentina, the southern most city in the world

Along the Beagle Channel

Iceberg in the Drake Passage

On the first two days of the trip to Antarctica, you have to cross the dreaded Drake Passage, whose rough seas are legendary. Drake Passage is the body of water between the southern tip of South America at Cape Horn, Chile and the South Shetland Islands of Antarctica. It connects the southwestern part of the Atlantic Ocean with the southeastern part of the Pacific Ocean and extends into the Southern Ocean. The passage receives its English language name from the 16th century English privateer Sir Francis Drake. Drake's only remaining ship, after having passed through the Strait of Magellan, was blown far South in September 1578. This incident implied an open connection between the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans.

The 800 kilometres (500 mi) wide passage between Cape Horn and Livingston Island is the shortest crossing from Antarctica to the rest of the world's land. The boundary between the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans is sometimes taken to be a line drawn from Cape Horn to Snow Island 130 kilometres (81 mi) north of mainland Antarctica). Alternatively the meridian that passes through Cape Horn may be taken as the boundary. Both boundaries lie entirely within the Drake Passage.
The other two passages around Cape Horn, Magellan Strait and Beagle Channel, are very narrow, leaving little room for a ship, particularly a sailing ship, to maneuver. They can also become icebound, and sometimes the wind blows so strongly no sailing vessel can make headway against it. Hence most sailing ships preferred the Drake Passage, which is open water for hundreds of miles, despite very rough conditions. The very small Diego Ramírez Islands lie about 50 kilometres (31 mi) south of Cape Horn.

There is no significant land anywhere around the world at the latitudes of the Drake Passage, which is important to the unimpeded flow of the Antarctic Circumpolar Current which carries a huge volume of water (about 600 times the flow of the Amazon River) through the Passage and around Antarctica.
Ships in the passage are often good platforms for the sighting of whales, dolphins and plentiful seabirds including giant petrels, other petrels, albatrosses and penguins.

On the two days we crossed, we were luck to have calm seas!! I was prepared with Dramamine and other devices but had no problems! We had sunny skies and quiet waters.

Weekend in Buenos Aires, Argentina

Entry to Evita Museum

Portrait of Evita Peron

Collection of Hats in Museum

Central Hall in Opera House

Main Reception Room

Main Floor and Balconies of Opera House

On Friday, we took a tour of the Evita Museum,  the Opera House (Theatre Colon) and MALBA Museum. They were all fascinating visits. The MALBA Museum was great and a repeat for us. What was so great was the visiting artists were Jose Roca guest curating Oscar Munoz's fabulous show! Remember they were here in Philadelphia for Philagrafika2010 which I was also a part of!  In fact, Jose Roca was the curator of the entire event! Buenos Aires is a happening place. this is our third visit and we are always happy to return to the city.

We spent a lovely Sabbath with the Oppenheimers. He is the Chief Rabbi of Buenos Aires. Early Sunday morning we are off to Ushuaia, the most southern city in the world in Tierra del Fuego, Argentina.

First Stop- Punta del Este, Uruguay

Suitcase broken by airline!

Hugo and Norman on patio of Hotel La Bluette

Hotel La Bluette entry

Beach right in front of our hotel

Bikini Beach and rocks

Clean beaches and beautiful scenery

Just what the doctor ordered! Sunshine, a happy host and a beach-front hotel! Finally after a rocky start, we arrive in Punta del Esta, Uruguay, resort town par excellence! We are staying with Hugo at Hotel La Bluette, a boutique across the street from Bikini Beach.

Half our luggage arrives broken and the other half doesn't arrive so Hugo takes me shopping to buy a few things in the town. The luggage actually arrives the day before we leave but I survive on a bathing suit, underwear and a few things. Very low key for me, but Hugo says people go dancing and dress up and stay up very late. He serves breakfast until 1 PM! We are not the late dancers, but I do meet a few younger folks who are.

The beaches are pretty, the waves okay for body surfing which is Norman's passion. He has to go down a few beaches to find better ones. At night we go into several art galleries to find where the artists are. One, Mercedes Lasarte, had also been showing her work in Barcelona, Spain, when we were there last year!

After 4 nights, we moved on to our next stop, Buenos Aires, Argentina!

Ditto New Vigor of the Mind

This is the post from my other blog too old to die young. I wanted to share it here since it is about my trip. I will start blogging here about the specifics of the trip, about the wild White Continent, incredible Antarctica, about glorious Chile which I love and about exciting Peru which was all new to me.

NEW VIGOR OF THE MIND

"I just got back from a terrific 6+ week travel/vacation to South America and Antarctica. How wonderful it was to focus on nature- seeing new and exciting sites, meeting people from all over the world, experiencing things new everyday, learning about flora, fauna and history, culture and life style, getting out of my comfort zone and living in the moment. It was an adventure everyday!

We saw mountains- the Andes in Chile and Peru! We saw deserts in northern Peru and the Atacama in Chile. We saw beautiful scenery in Chiloe, Chile and the Sacred Valley in Peru. We saw magic in Machu Picchu and the Amazon River in Peru. We lolled on beaches in Punta del Estes, Uruguay and Mancora, Peru at the beginning and end of our trip- perfect bookends for this long vacation.

And the crowing glory of our trip was the 10 day cruise to Antarctica where we took zodiacs out to the great White Continent to visit the penguins, seals and whales who inhabit it. We visited them, learning about where they live, observing the beauty and stillness of ice, sculpted by nature.

It was a pleasure to get away from doctors, treatments, and appointments- from the past and future and just be in the moment! To enjoy each day which was new, filled with new adventures- new places to go, new people to met and often, new places to stay. We stayed in incredible hotels in some awesome places.  I am already dreaming about going back- once is not enough to visit Chiloe, Chile, for example. Refugia is so special. It must be visited again! Same for DCO Suites in Macora, Peru or tierra atacama in the Atacama Desert in Chile. The places and the hotel stays were exceptional!! I felt so relaxed and in tune with the places and times there.

Not that cancer doesn't always come with me. It does. I am always aware. I take a pill every day to keep the cancer away!! I notice the different texture of the right breast. I notice the ache and pull of the muscle under my arm from the scar from the lymph nodes  and the still discolored skin, but getting paler and less noticeable. But being away made such a difference and gave me such a break from the whole cancer experience- diagnosis- biopsy, surgery, radiation treatment. I did not see or think about doctors for over 6 weeks.

Now that I am back, I have to schedule my first mammogram since surgery for April and then see the surgeon, Dr Dahlia Sataloff. I am overdue for my next appointment with the medical oncologist, Dr David Mintzer, which was supposed to be in January but I was away. I am calling today for an appointment soon. I also will see my radio-oncologist, Dr Marisa Weiss, early this summer. My cancer team consists of these 3 doctors. Luckily,  I have a crackerjack team! Cannot say that I missed them while I was away though. But I come back, ready to deal refreshed and renewed.

      Travel and change of place impart new vigor to the mind.  ~Seneca"

Village Life Around Bagan, Myanmar

A local eccentric shopper

Children playing

Cows in front of a house

A teenager getting a haircut in a barber shop

Our guide Mu Mu on right with a friend

When we told our guide Mu Mu that we wanted to see how people lived and we did not really want to see more temples nor go on an ox cart ride (too Disneyland for us), she graciously designed a wonderful few days where we went on a boat trip up the river to see how people really lived in villages where her family had lived- grandparents and parents- before they moved, or in some cases were told to move by the government.

She took us to the marketplace, to dusty villages, to see children playing and people living their lives. It was so much better than the tourist track! People were very gracious to us and we walked around their small villages. Most of the men were at work. The women were working too. Making things to sell- rice patties, handicrafts, cooking for their families, watching the small children.

More in the next post... so much to see and share!!

Bagan, Myanmar- Along the Irrawaddy River

Doing laundry along the river

Taking off cargo from the boats along the river

Flying the flag

Using the river for transportation

We took a boat ride down the Irrawaddy River which is a significant part of everyday life for  the people in Bagan. We saw women pounding laundry on rocks, old boats churning the muddy waters, fishermen catching their livelihood. The Irrawaddy River is key to many people in the city.

Next post will describe our visit to some of the small villages along the river!