Post for the sake of posting

Yes, I'm still down here in Punta Arenas, Chile. I've been attempting to make the dull interesting, but the reality of it is, there just isn't much for someone who can only count to 29, ask for 2 beers, or for the check, or inquire as to the location of a bathroom in Spanish, to do. I'll admit that I'm doing a lot better in Spanish that I had thought I would. I understand much more than I can speak though. I guess immersion in a language will do that to you. Its a matter of remembering the words I understand and making a sentence out of them.

The food is still mostly mediocre here. So far my previous experience at the Puerto Viejo has been the best meal I've had here as a whole. There's another restaurant called Remezon that has some amazing Garlic Soup (Soupe de Ajo). I've had garlic soup at another local restaurant, but Remezon is hands down the best so far. I also had Beaver (yes, the furry animal with a flat tail) for dinner as well last night. Its a very dark, pretty greasy, meat, which was really tender. Though the staff said they cooked it for 10+ hours, so I hope it would be. It had surprisingly little flavor, but it did seem unique and not much like anything else I've had. I'll probably not ever have it again. It wasn't bad, but nothing to write home about, other than to say I've had it. I mostly got it just so I can say I've eaten it. Some of the folks on the ship warned me that its not great. I have to agree.

On another note, I don't think I've talked much about the Boat ride North from Antarctica. There really wasn't much to it I guess. It was rough, but not as rough as the southbound trip. The highlight was the morning we left. It's tradition for Station Staff to jump into the bay after the ship leaves. Nuts if you ask me. I've got a bunch of pictures of that too. Just haven't converted from RAW yet. I'm not very happy with the tools provided in linux to process RAW images.

After that, we headed North through the Neumayer Channel. The beauty it presents is like nothing I have ever seen, even on a cloudy day. I can't imagine what its like to see in person, on a clear day. There are pictures all over the web, but they probably don't do it justice. Here's one of the better pics I took of some of the scenery there.


I converted it to Black and White as I thought it might be a little more interesting that way. The original pictures was pretty monochrome in and of itself, mostly grey and white, with a hint of blue in the water and ice. There would be an occasional seal on pieces of ice around the channel, but I was not able to get any great shots from them. Later on outside the channel we saw some Whales too.

Less than a week left here. I'll be really happy to sleep in my own bed again. Hopefully with the upcoming work on the NBP, when it gets into dock, the week should go by faster.