Sarah's Travel Blog
Friday, January 23, 2009
This trip has been absolutely phenomenal. I cannot describe in words
or pictures or even video the vast wildlife paradise I have been
traversing over the last month. It is a seriously hopeful thing to see
pods of whales swimming around feeding, the whole ocean teeming with
life, and every rock covered in downy baby birds of every variety. I am
heading back into the real world of South America, but I feel there is
nothing that can compare to what I have experienced.
Friday, January 02, 2009
Tomorrow we are going to land on Steeple Jason and then we're
off to South Georgia for a while. Please feel free to write and send me
messages (to Ben's address) and let me know how everything in the main
world is going. We have a packed itinerary most days, except for days
when if I looked at the computer screen I would barf on the
keyboard...but I will try to post again soon. Maybe if I barf on the
keyboard I won't have to wait for computer access. One computer, 100
people.
The next day, we went to West Point island and hiked over it to
an even larger albatross colony which was tucked away in the hillside.
This one had all kinds of features...a freshwater stream where penguins
were taking baths, a large colony of Albatross and penguins together,
and big grasses to hide behind to get nice close shots. I tried not to
take 20398476 baby penguin photos, and failed miserably. The caretakers
of the island provided a proper British tea for us at the end, and in
their honeysuckle bush I found a large spider with a big green abdomen
and had to do acrobatics to get a decent photo. Later that day, we went
to Carcass Island, where we landed on a sandy beach full of penguins and
geese. The geese looked like herds of livestock covering the hillsides.
I went out with a group of botanists and found some really cool
probably endemic plants to photograph, then went snipe hunting and shot
two (with a camera of course. When we got to the beach on the far side
of the island, it looked like a typical tourist beach with some playing
in the waves, others swimming, some lying on the beach, and some taking
walks up and down, except there were no people ONLY penguins! It was
like the Cozumel of the penguin world. It was kind of like the opposite
of a nude beach in that it was so formal, there were no swimsuits, but
everyone was wearing a tux. We watched penguins slip and slide down the
sand dunes which was hugely entertaining.
I can't believe someone would have a war over these
islands...although the penguins ARE cute.
We landed in zodiacs and hiked to a place where there was a canyon that
led down to the sea. Perched on all the rocks were Rockhopper penguins
and a constant flow of penguin groups going down to and coming up from
the sea. All the penguins going down were filthy and muddy, and the
ones coming back up were brilliantly white. It looked like penguins
were taking themselves to be dry cleaned. There is almost nothing cuter
than a baby penguin...except maybe a baby albatross. I was sitting on a
cliff taking the 4690873th photo of baby albatrosses and penguins when I
heard a slap slap slap and looked over to find a huge albatross right
next to me staring me in the face! I froze and it walked around me in
circles checking me out and twisting its head side to side to get a
better view. Then it walked down the hill and annoyed at least 40
penguins before finding its mate and chick and barfing up squid for the
chick.
All I wanted for Christmas was a decent pair of sea legs/It's
not easy feeling green.
We got on the boat and took off for the Falkland Islands. The sea was
much rougher than expected, and for two days I didn't dare let my eyes
leave the horizon. I have never been sea sick before, but I've also
only been on small boats where you are not enclosed. The boat rocked so
hard that two large men who were not holding on, crashed into each other
and rolled together like a bowling ball into a group of women who fell
like pins. Fortunately, no one got hurt. I half listened to all the
lectures on digital photography, Birds of the Argentine Shelf, and more,
while trying not to barf. In the end, it was fruitless, and I went to
bed after taking sea sickness medication.
Tierra del Fuego National Park
The next day, we all boarded buses and went to Tierra del Fuego National
Park. I joined the birding group. It was a typical birder bus ride
where every five minutes someone yelled "STOP" or "PARE" because
they had spotted something and all we did was annoy the driver. There
were a few spouses of people that were really annoyed too, and they were
all wishing they had gone with a different group. We saw a lot of birds
in the morning, and I got some nice photos of the Andean Condors. It
made me miss the California Condors that would be flying over my house
right now if people were not such idiots. I spotted the Magellanic
Oystercatcher. In the afternoon, we went to another part of the park to
find a unique woodpecker. It was windy, and I could tell that we were
probably not going to see a woodpecker, so I ventured off into the
forest and took pictures of orchids and bryophytes and fungi. Note: I
am super pleased with the macro setting on my new little point and shoot
digital!
Ushuaia is the farthest city south in Argentina. We landed there to
catch the boat. The whole town is kind of an Argentinian Whistler, or
giant ski lodge, where you can buy an overpriced fleece, a stuffed
penguin, or have an overpriced steak. Flooded with tourists, this
southern port brings in major cruise ships full of thousands of people
who want to go see a little island with a few penguins on it. Just
outside the town itself reminded me of places in the Alps where the
plants are low-growing and the air is always cold. The first day there
it snowed -- and this is the height of summer! The best part of Ushuaia
was that the hotel had a hot tub, and we got to see a local fire-fighter
get married. At first it looked like a giant accident...horns blaring,
siren wailing...but then we caught up to the front and noticed there was
a bride and groom in the cab, and the firetruck was decorated with
ribbons. The first day, we drove over a gorgeous snowy pass to get to
Tierra del Fuego Island. After an excruciating two hour bus ride with
beautiful scenery, we arrived at Esteban's sheep farm. We saw wild
guanacos along the way (like a llama but not) and ibises and a beaver
lodge. The place where the beaver lived looked EXACTLY like Dagoba
where Luke goes to find Yoda in Star Wars. I was half expecting Esteban
to use the force to raise a giant aircraft out of the murk, but no such
luck. The hillsides were covered with wildflowers and I spotted a few
orchids off in the woods. Esteban's house looked like something out of
the sound of music with flowers all around and cute little lace
curtains. They then gave us a sheep dog herding and sheep shearing
demonstrations. One of the dogs was exactly like the yucky puppy in
Mexico with dirty nasty dreads and long mangy hair. Everyone kept
saying how cute it was and asking me to translate what kind of dog it
was to the owner who only spoke Spanish. I wanted to say, It's a
"Yucky puppy". But instead I kept translating "Mutt" over and over
again. The dog ran down to the river, got all wet, and then rolled in a
giant pile of sheep crap. One of the women on the trip decided this was
a prime chance to get all lovie with it and stuck her face down put her
arms around it. I wanted to suggest to Esteban that we not let her back
onto the bus. Loving dogs is one thing. Making out with a dog that
just rolled in a pile of crap is another.
When we got back to the hotel that night, the whole group had come in,
and we started to get to know all the people that were going to be on
the ship with us. I had dinner with a fantastic Scottish nurse who
lived in Saudi Arabia and went to bed early even though there was no
sleeping later -- apparently I cannot sleep if there is no cat, yet I
criticize dog people.
