Antarctica

For my 50th birthday The Brit truly surprised me. At a wonderful party thrown by two very dear friends he gave me a beautiful wrapped box. When I opened it I was astounded to see a small penguin with a note on it telling me I was going to see the real thing! I had dreamed of going to Antarctica for ages and my dream was about to come true. As The Brit was very busy at work and had no desire to see ice ( he worked in the Canadian Arctic for years!) he had arranged for me to go with my great friend Jamie. He knew she wanted to go as much as I did and we would have a blast. We began our trip in Ushuia. When we were in the bar that night (where else would we be?) and they played Shania Twain we knew this was all going to be fantastic. We were in Ushuia listening to Shania and the next day we were going to the playa in Tierra Del Fuego National Park. What could be better? We were soon to find out!

After a two day crossing of the Drake passage we arrived at the Antarctic peninsula. Our ship, The Clipper Adventurer, that you see above was very comfortable. We had a lovely triple cabin with a big window where we could watch the world go by. It was not unusual in the space of a few hours to see whales and albatross from the comfort of our cabin. At our first landing we saw penguins. They are cute as you think they are going to be and they were EVERYWHERE!!


Our mode of transportation to the sights of the peninsula was by Zodiak. I have named this picture "Zodiak Slushee" It is amazing when you are in the middle of nowhere and all you can see is water, ice and snowy mountains. You realize just how small you are in the grand scheme of things. One of the most memorable things we saw was a pod of Orca whales coming out of the icy waters. One of the funniest things we heard was one of our boat mates saying that they felt they were in a giant frozen Margarita.


This is the entrance to the Lemaire Channel. If it looks narrow up ahead it is because it was! When we were in the center of the channel we had high ice cliff on either side of us. It was breathtakingly beautiful.

The ice in Antarctica was every shade of blue you can imagine. It went from deep, dark navy blue to the brightest shades of turquoise. We were lucky enough to see green ice as well.




This is Jamie and I on a sunny Antarctic day. It was so perfect that we did two special things. First of all we earned certificates for the "polar plunge" This is when you put on your bathing suit and jump off the Zodiak deck into the freezing cold water. The workers who are in full cold weather gear put a harness on you before they let you jump! When you hit the water it is quite a shock but worth it for the bragging rights. You are greeted by the staff with a warm towel and a shot of vodka to help get your circulation going. Once we were all dressed we had to discuss our bravery at length. We did that at a BarBQ on the deck of the ship with the sun shinning on us all evening.

Antarctica is a very special place that I hope to return to one day. Majestic ice, thousands of penguins, whales and birds. I have never seen anything like it!!

Everyday life in B.A. these days.

Here in the southern hemisphere it is summer. We spent Christmas day with friends and while we ate traditional food the activities were far from it. Though I grew up in Los Angeles I spent 12 years in Canada. In Calgary at Christmas time we tended to go for a walk in the snow or ice skating. Here in Argentina we watched the children of our friends swim in their pool and sat on the patio having a cocktail. There is a lot to be said for avoiding winter altogether. I know that last winter in Buenos Aires was warmer that summer in Calgary!

We have been lucky this year to have one of our 2 sons with us for the holidays. The "oldest" has been living in Nova Scotia for the last few years and heads for the eastern US this spring. This is after spending New Year with his friends in Lima Peru where he graduated from high school. The "youngest" is in Mumbai India visiting his friends after graduating from high school in that city. He will head back to Montreal this spring.

This coming Monday we will be what we consider normal in our house..........4 people, 4 counties! I will be in Buenos Aires Argentina. The Brit will be in either Santiago Chile or Quito Ecuador (TBA) The Oldest will be in Lima Peru and the Youngest will be in Mumbai India. How can this possibly be normal?

Where it all began..........

I am new to the world of blogging but it seems that everyone is doing it! I am hopeful that it will help me remember the adventures that we have had and will continue to have. I have been living in Buenos Aires for the last 3 and a half years with my husband of almost 29 years. I will refer to him as "The Brit" The Brit and I met nearly 30 years ago in the bar of a boat between England and Norway. I should have know right away that I was embarking on an extraordinary rather than ordinary life!! 10 countries and 2 children later. I know for sure that i was correct.