January 2nd 2008
At sea en-route to Puerto Madryn, Argentina. Neha and I are feeling a little under the weather but it is nothing to be concerned about.It feels like we have been on this ship forever.
Thursday, January 3, 2008
Day 12
January 1st 2008
After partying late into this morning, neither of us wanted to wake up, but we did. Stanley, the capital of the Falkland Islands (an overseas territory of Britain) was our next stop; home of world famous sheep wool and mutton (delicious sheep meat for those of you unaware).
Falkland Islands, originally discovered by the Spanish (where have they not been?), then taken by the French, then handed over to the British, then forcefully taken by Argentina (at the height of minimalistic British armed presence), and subsequently reclaimed by the British again, is a charming place with only about 1500 people, of which 500 are armed personnel. Our tour guide, a humorous old British chap with a long wispy beard, tells us all about the war of 1982 while we pass acres of minefields and burnt out wrecks of Argentinean Chinook helicopters. Yes, there are still minefields in the Falklands. Why? Well because mines are generally difficult to remove under any circumstances and the nature of the land here (peat and rock) make it difficult to remove. All the minefields have been carefully documented by the authorities and fenced off. Phil (our tour guide) tells us that there are occasions when one of the many sheep or cows stray into these fields sometimes and end up with three legs, at which point the animal has to be shot and left there. It is too dangerous to go in there and remove the animal without facing casualties.
We travelled an hour north of Stanley by bus along dusty roads (because the government sees no need to pave these roads) to arrive at the Long Island farm run by a British family. We disembark the bus, dust ourselves and hear barking and bleating in the distance. We are invited into their house and are welcomed with a hot cup of English tea and homemade cookies and tarts. I don’t pay any attention to that as my eyes are immediately drawn to several dogs in the sheep pen that resemble Luka (our dog) to the “T”. These dogs are Border Collies, meant for the farm, and used for sheep herding. The dogs give us a riveting display of their herding skills and Neha and I fondly recall how Luka tends to herd us when we take him out for walks. We both miss him very much.
After playing with the farm dogs for a bit, we head over to the peat bogs close to the farm where we are given the opportunity to shovel peat straight out of the ground in blocks used for fuel. Jim (one of the farm hands) shows us how to dig peat. He apparently holds the record at 6 tons in one day. Neha does a very good job of honing her peat extracting skills and shows of for the camera to several people. My mind is still on the dogs. After this terrific display of peat extraction by Neha, we head over to the sheep shearing house at the east end of the farm and Jim explains to us the process of sheep shearing and how the wool market has been declining steadily over the years due to the advent of newer fabrics and materials. Farming and agriculture is not an option for them due to the nature of the land here as vegetation is unable to grow in the rocky soil. Therefore they have to rely mainly on mutton and wool exports with tourism becoming a fast growing industry. Jim proceeds to crank up the shear motor then grabs one of the sheep in the holding pens before gently proceeding to shear wool off every inch of its body. The sheep, which was surprisingly obedient, looks like a little naked lamb after it has been sheared. I have a great movie of the entire shearing process. Apparently the wool is devalued if it is not sheared in one continuous piece, but Pat does an excellent job.
We spent the rest of the afternoon with the horses and dogs on the farm and conversing with the family. The Falklands is an unusual place to settle down. Jim explains how they are looking at alternative income sources such as licensing fishing vessels within the Falklands fishing boundaries, providing their land to alternative energy researchers for wind farms and the very good prospect of oil wells close their territories. They explain to us that the land is useless because of its peri-glacial features. Apparently during the formation of this land, conditions were perfect for glacier formations, but due to its location, they were just outside the climate zone and instead of snow and ice forming like they should for glaciers, the waters eroded the land out from lack of frozen accumulation and exposed all the sub-surface rocks. This resulted in what we saw today – rivers of rocks alongside the road and down the mountain sides. They were spectacular scenes – where they should have been water (or ice), there was rocks – tons of them. These rocks can’t even be used for building or cleared because they are one of the hardest materials on the earth. Splitting them into blocks is close to impossible.
We bid goodbye to the family at the Long Island farm at around 4pm and head back to Stanley to board the ship. Back at Stanley, we realize that there is still plenty of time left to peruse through downtown. Neha gets a “friendly” (read frisky) New Years greeting from one of the local British guys after he sees me wearing a Manchester United shirt (he was an Aston Villa fan) at the local pub. The local fish and chips is nothing to write home about, but we were starving. It is now time to get back to the ship and we get on the last tender boat.
Not a bad day to start the New Year off with.
Day 11
December 31st 2007
The last day of the year. We were abruptly woken up at 6am by announcements telling us that we were rounding Cape Horn. Looking out of our cabin window, all I saw was a gloomy sky, incessant rain, excessively rough seas (so much so that the ship was tilting up to 25-30 degrees at times) and two large rocks with the Chilean flag on them. That was Cape Horn. Geographically speaking, Cape Horn is also where the Atlantic, Pacific and Antarctic oceans meet – and therefore the rough seas. There have been a lot of ships that have gone down in this region and navigating these waters are extremely tough, but thankfully we made it through safely.
All of today was spent at sea on our way to the historic Falkland Islands.
Neha and I had a raucous dinner with Matt and Artie while welcoming in the New Year with champagne, wine, music and lots of loud noises. I haven’t made any New Year’s resolutions because I don’t keep them.
Happy New Year!!
Day 10
December 30th 2007
The southernmost city in the world, Ushuaia’s setting is spectacular. We arrived into port at around 2pm, greeted by a view of brightly colored houses set against a backdrop of vast jagged mountains and a port dotted with small Argentinean navy craft. Opposite are peaks of Isla De Navarino, and between flows the stunning green Beagle Channel. Even though this is the furthest reaches of man, the town seems quite well established with no real management in the way houses have sprawled across the hillside. This is also the only place on the planet where one can ski down slopes with full view of the ocean. Ushuaia is also the gateway to Antarctica, with 90% of traffic leaving for Antarctica making this city its point of origin.
Our plan today was to navigate the Beagle Channel en-route to a sea lion and cormorant colony. We boarded a catamaran from the same port we had docked at and once in the middle of the Beagle Channel, realized how choppy and rough the waters can be. There were 5-10 waves on this particular day and photographing off the front of the catamaran hull resulted in getting soaked repeatedly. It was quite gratifying as long as you held on tight. Neha decided to capture videos from inside instead; probably a wise decision. Our catamaran took us to the small islands southeast of Ushuaia, passing next to the sea lion colony at the at Isla de los Lobos, Isla de los Pajaros and the lighthouse at Les Eclaireurs; the last lighthouse before the next one at Antarctica’s St. George Island a 1000 kilometers away.
The sea lions at Los Lobos were about a dozen or so in number coexisting with fellow cormorants (sea birds) and seemed to appreciate our arrival, instantly putting on a display of various poses for all of us that were click-happy with our cameras. I was surprised at how big sea lions were in real life and that they came in all different shades…….of brown. There was one special sea lion at Los Pajaros that hooted, clapped and waddled at our arrival. It then proceeded to parade around and literally walked all over the other sea lions (who weren’t too happy) before jumping into the water to show off its swimming skills before returning back to its rocky resting grounds, climbing the slimy and jagged 10-15 foot slope with much more ease than any human could, despite their tactile limitations.
We then proceeded to Argentina’s remotest national park. Tierra Del Fuego is a literal translation from Land of Fire, so named due to the large fires that the Patagonians built to keep themselves warm in the harsh climates of this region. This is about a 63000 hectare park, manned by only 9 park officers, and most of the park is closed to humans for conservation purposes. The one place that we were able to explore was close to the mountain Cerro Guanaco, of which Argentina owns most of besides the peak, which is claimed by Chile. The park is actually very close to the Chilean border and this was made even more evident when we camped at Lago Roca (Lake Roca) only to find that the same lake about a kilometer up the road was called Lago Fagnano. Apparently there was a very diplomatic accord signed between Chile and Argentina back in the day that divided up parts of Tierra Del Fuego and thus the river that ran through the park was named by either side accordingly. We saw several different kinds of fauna at the national park including Magellanic woodpeckers, lots of geese, torrent ducks and something I found hard to believe; a million rabbits, everywhere! All along our path, there were rabbit holes, like houses packed together in some heavily populated areas of Calcutta. It was unbelievable. Apparently the Spanish brought rabbits with them as an alternative source of food, after which the white “rodents” flourished like rabbits do and now the landscape is filled with their presence. Another amazing site was fields of rotting trees. Another alternative source of food, beavers were brought in from Canada by immigrants who then conveniently dismissed their meat. The badgers did what badgers do – multiplied and built grand dams everywhere they could to protect themselves from predators. I am still trying to figure out how these beavers, which can grow up to 100 pounds in size, can uproot trees multiple times their size and weight and lay them across river beds to flood land behind them. This flooding is what causes the still intact trees to rot. Neha was also able to locate a special type of fungus that looked like mini-pumpkins (no bigger than a coin), called Indian’s Bread, as they were utilized by the Patagonians as a food source. I bit into one when she wasn’t looking and found out that they were surprisingly tangy, although I don’t think it was a wise idea to do that – I’m still alive aren’t I?
On the way back to our ship, there were several rainbows that popped up here and there including one that looked like it was ending at the ship itself. I tried convincing Neha to go looking for that pot of gold when we got back, but she wouldn’t have any of it. We were also informed on the way back that a ship had met its tragic end on its way to Antarctica the day before after colliding with an iceberg. There hadn’t been any word of survivors and a number of rescue boats had gone out from Ushuaia for search and rescue operations. There apparently had been a relatively large oil spill as well due to the collision and eventual sinking. I don’t understand how modern vessels with their high tech navigational instrumentation can still manage to collide with icebergs in this day and age. Either way, I hope all is well with those on board the vessel.
Rough seas marked our exit out of Ushuaia that night and it was quite funny to watch the elderly on the ship trying to keep their balance.
The end of the world wasn’t what I had expected it to be. I had expected more remoteness and less civilization, but I guess there is too many of us to expect anything like that in this day and age.
Day 9
December 29th 2007
Docked at Punta Arenas at around 6am today. While waiting to go ashore, we saw the weather change dramatically several times over within the span of 45 minutes; from sunshine to hail to freezing winds and back again to warm sunny weather. Neha and I were having a rough time switching between different layers of clothing to stay in some sort of comfort zone.
Punta Arenas (meaning “Sandy Point”) is the southernmost city in Chile, different in many ways to any other place in the country especially in its architecture. Punta Arenas is also the only city in Chile where the sun rises over the sea and sets over land. The graveyard in the city is quite unique with its neatly trimmed trees that resemble giant green golf balls. Littered with gravestones in many languages, the presence of a rather cosmopolitan provenance of Patagonian pioneers along with those from shipping disasters is quite evident in these scenic resting grounds.
Arriving at the central plaza (Plaza de Armas) with Neha and her out of control umbrella in tow, we were greeted by a giant statue of Magellan with a mermaid and two Fuegian Indians at his feet. Legend has it that if one were to kiss the big toe of one of the Indians, they would end up returning to Punta Arenas at life’s end. Neither of us did such a thing; not that we didn’t like the place, but I don’t think we really belong here.
We transported ourselves to another port at the northern end of the city and boarded a chartered ferry that would traverse the Straits of Magellan 2 hours north to Isla Magdalena; home of the Magellanic penguins. Ever since this cruise started, Neha and I were looking forward to this part of the trip the most. Crossing the straits on a front-propelled hardy ferry, we spotted dolphins and penguins racing our ferry – they beat us quite soundly! We finally saw Isla Magdallena in the distance; a small lump of rock in the middle of a larger rocky outcrop that encircled the island, with one lighthouse peeking out from behind high ground. Every year penguins from Brazil, Uruguay and the Falkland Islands make the long trek in late September/early October to meet, greet and breed on the rocky grounds of Isla Magdallena. They don’t go to any of the other islands in the area, they don’t get lost along the way over miles and miles of ocean and they don’t bring any other species of penguins with them. Every year, they seek out this one tiny piece of land to extend their kind. It is an amazing concept to grasp. Neha thinks it is because of the lone lighthouse in the area that the penguins can easily locate their grounds to which they return without fail year after year! Magdalena receives about 150,000 penguins every year and this was one of the islands that Captain Drake and his men visited when they were traversing the straits, and where they killed about 3000 penguins for food.
This is the first time both of us have ever seen penguins up close in their natural habitat. They were curious creatures with lots of character. The young in their burrows are born blind and we were advised not to use flash photography while taking pictures up close. December is usually when adult penguins shed their coats (molting) and along with their young grow out new shiny layers ready for their trek back to their homes in late February. Most of the young, in their grey fuzz, followed their parents around in search of food or lay low in their burrows away from the cold wind. We saw other adults clasping seaweed and other debris in their beaks, trying to fortify their burrows to protect their young. Neha had an especially good time with one of the penguins that was half out of its burrow. Every time Neha would walk by, this particular penguin would strain its neck almost 360 degrees to watch her go by. Neha went back and forth several times and I was able to catch some funny footage of this penguin following her with close attention – left to right, right to left, over and over again. Not at any point during this performance did the penguin want to position itself in a more comfortable manner. Whilst amongst these penguins for about an hour, we also saw seagulls sharing these breeding grounds, not as predators, but as parents with their little chicks. The tide started to get low and we were hurried back to our ferry. Being front-propelled, there have been many times in the past when ferries have gotten grounded with the tide suddenly retreating. Having safely boarded the ferry, we bid good bye to the Magellanic penguins who seemed to carry on with their simple lives without a care in the world.
Once back in Punta Arena, Neha and I concluded our visit to this historic city with some shopping and adventurous taxi rides without the aid of our Spanish phrasebook (which we lost in Valparaiso I think) and without knowledge of the region. With a couple of hours to spare we were on a mission to find some Havana’s for a friend who could not get off the ship because it was Shabbat. Our quest led us to Zona Franca and the one store that sold them was closed. We hung around for about 30 minutes (till 3:45 pm) before we concluded that it may not necessarily be a case of siesta but it might just be closed since it was a Saturday. We got back and shopped at Rama – a local handicraft store for tapestries and gifts. We walked around a bit more before heading out back to the ship.
This is our last port in Chile before we leave for Ushuaia, Argentina – the end of the world.
Day 8
December 28th 2007
At sea today as well. We entered the Straits of Magellan (Estrecho de Magellanes) early this morning and weaved in and out of the famed Chilean fjords throughout the day. Our ship’s navigation systems are quite advanced and getting through these fjords is a much easier task nowadays than it was when they were first traversed. We were expecting most of the fjords to be covered in snow, but given the time of year (it is almost summer here), very few are snow capped. The surrounding mountains however are covered with snow year-round. Lining the Straits of Magellan en-route to Punta Arenas which lies further south are five magnificent glaciers. This stretch of glaciers is called the International Glacier Passage. They are Glacier Espana (Spain), Glacier Romanchik (only one to be named after an explorer), German Glacier, Glacier Italia and Glacier Franca (French). With the exception of Glacier Espana, every other one was spectacular and mammoth in size. It was fascinating to see some of the massive expanses of ice stretching down from the top of the mountain all the way to the straits. There was also a clear differentiation between the colors where the fresh waters from these glaciers mixed with the salt water of the straits.
While taking pictures of these glaciers, the captain announced that we had a visitor at the front of the ship – a blue whale was guiding our ship into Argentinean waters. I sprinted out to the bow just in time to see a massive head emerge, spray a large column of water and dive back down with a full show of its barnacle covered tail. Unfortunately I wasn’t able to get any pictures as I was fumbling with my camera while trying to keep my eyes on the whale. I managed to get some video footage of the sinkhole that the whale created while diving under. My first ever whale sighting!!
Dinner was spent with fellow passengers playing a Murder Mystery game. Neha played the role of the Ship Hospitality Director who just got fired by the captain (who was murdered) and was also having an affair with the Ship’s First Mate (who turned out to be the murderer). I played the role of an undercover KGB agent assigned to eliminate a Russian defector and the captain (a CIA informant). Most of us correctly guessed who the murderer was and I had the opportunity to perfect my Russian accent.
Do-zavtra
Friday, December 28, 2007
Day 7
December 27th 2007
At sea today. Slept in late and then played Scrabble and a Russian card game called “Durak” (meaning “stupid”) with Matt and Artie.
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