January 05, 2004

what lies ahead

We're back. My next challenge will be to figure out how to tell about the trip; I
had thought of just typing out my trip journal, but since it runs to 48 pages,
that's out. Carpal tunnel syndrome is not one of my great life ambitions. And
anyway, it's quite possible no one wants to read about every single bay and island
we saw (there are a lot of bays and islands on the Antarctic
Peninsula.

If I get much time typing at home with my journal to hand,
I will include excerpts, and I'll try to at least answer the questions, "Why would
anyone want to go there?" and "If I did want to go there, should I sign up
for the same trip?"

Besides, my voice seems to have left me (maybe it
stayed back with the penguins) so communicating by print is easier anyway.

How ironic is it that we got all the way back from the end of the
earth, from a polar zone known for frighteningly low temperatures and the regions
of the seas (the Drake Passage is in the "screaming fifties", right below the
"roaring forties") known for spectacular weather, only to get caught by snow in
Chicago on the very last leg of our trip?

Posted by dichroic at January 5, 2004 05:29 PM