Antarctica, The Final Frontier

Paso de la Oveja

Before getting on the cruise, Jen and I spent 3 days backpacking in the Tierra del Fuego National Park just north of Ushuaia. The trip involved 2 days of muddy rainy swamp hopping and one spectacular day walking over the "Sheep´s Pass."

We bought a semi-fancy $50 tent in Ushuaia, finding it more economical than continually renting gear. Fortunately, we didn't opt for the $13 supermarket tent special, since we ended up spending 2 nights in steady wind and rain and would have been soaked. In fact, the rain was so bad that our campsite on the second night was completely blocked off by a raging stream. We had to make do on a crummy waterlogged spot further up the hill.


The only other really notable point of this trip was breakfast on the last morning - hot polenta with cocoa powder and peach jam. I can't recommend this dish, as you can see from Jen's face. It had the color and consistency of baby poo, and tasted, um, disgusting. But it kept us warm going over the pass and held us for several hours before lunch.

Aboard the Marco Polo

I'll let Jen fill you in on the details of the trip. Suffice to say that I've seen enough penguins for a lifetime, ate more food than humanly possible (including some good pinoy food last night - thanks to the all pinoy crew), watched six crappy movies on cable (three in a row yesterday), spied five humpback whales *right* off the ship's bow (and many more from a distance), improved my table tennis game, and witnessed some truly incredible landscapes. The photos don't capture the feeling of a glassy pale blue ocean, studded with twisty icebergs and glaciers all the way to the horizon. Definitely worth the trip. However, I am psyched to be back on land and ready to end the sloth.

Now we're headed north to Bariloche, a ski town in the Lake District, where we'll do more trekking.

Cruise Thoughts

I had a pretty good time on the cruise. I really appreciated the luxury of a cabin with clean sheets and a private bath, especially since the day before Simon and I got on the boat, we did a three day backpacking trip through mud, rain and hail in the mountains of Ushuaia (but I must say the two days of rain, were definitely worth it for the third day, when we walked out along the side of this amazing valley). So after sleeping in a wet sleeping bag, I was really psyched to be on the Aloha Deck.

My parents are huge fans of of cruises, but I always poo pooed them. While I had a pretty good time on our trip, it was mainly because we traveled with other backpackers we had met before, not because of the buffets, dinner shows and casino. In fact, we skipped the dinner shows and casino, leaving us plenty of time to goof off on the boat, whale watch, and drink in our cabins. There were also a bunch of lectures so you could be edjumacated on Antarctica properly. Simon and I fell asleep at all of them.

Other Passengers

The demographic of the rest of boat was very much old and white. And while our fellow passengers were really friendly and sweet (one man, Wayne, even paid for our wine at dinner because he took pity on the poor backpackers and admired what we were doing), it wasn´t exactly the crowd who´d get down to Usher at the "Charleston Club."

The Scandal of the Cheap Tickets (this entry is now hijacked by Simon)

During the cruise, a rumor got out among the other passengers that a bunch of young people had scored $680 tickets. This sparked a minor uprising at the reception desk, where people insisted on room upgrades. A sign saying "No upgrades are possible due to a full ship" appeared at the desk the next morning. Clearly something was going around. During a landing, one of the ship´s naturalists turned away from the penguins, sidled up to Alan and whispered, "So how much did you get the tickets for?"

The rumor continues to evolve throughout the cruise - an older woman approached Alix, one of our group, and asked her if she was one of those "Australian backpackers who had traveled to Ushuaia on a truck." Being neither Australian nor a trucker, and knowing nobody on board who fit that description, Alix had to say no. "Oh. You know they´re the young people with smiles on their faces," the lady said.

To add to the intrigue, we later learned that the Miami Lady who sold us the tickets no longer worked at Norwegian Cruise Lines. We have no idea why, but you have to wonder. She did sell a whole bunch of them at the last minute.

Our crew of backpackers, all of whom bought tickets from Miami Lady, included:

Alan and Janine - our friends from the Inca Trail. Alan went on to win two Marco Polo ping pong championships, taking home a duffel bag and insulated beer bag as prizes. He beat up on an old Japanese woman and a 60-year old American man in the finals. Janine suffered from seasickness both coming and going across the Drake Passage, but managed to recover and have a great time. She turned 33 on board.

Holger - the German guy who started it all when he told Alan about the 1000 euro online deal. When he saw our price he called Miami Lady and got another ticket. He just had to find one more person to share the cabin with him - they wouldn´t sell him a private room at that price. After reviewing applications from eager backpackers, he found Alix (see below). Holger meticulously recorded every aspect of the cruise on his three cameras, including penguins, whales, and waiters parading around the Baked Alaska at dinner to the tune of "In the Navy." (This was one of the more gay moments of the cruise, followed closely by all the waiters singing "So Long, Farewell" on the last night. Another campy bit was the nightly announcement for dinner playing "Don´t Cry for Me Argentina" on a xylophone.)

Alix - we spent New Years with Alix in Buenos Aires. We got along really well with her (an exception when it comes to other travellers) and were plesantly suprised to see Holger had chosen her as a cabin mate. We didn´t even know she was in Ushuaia. Being able to do the cruise with her was an unexpected benefit of missing the ship the previous week. Alix´s drive to see wildlife was unparalleled. She got up at 6am every morning to stand in the cold on the bow, hoping to catch a glimpse of a humpback, orca, or minke whale.

Yossi - a young Israeli who heard about the tickets through the grapevine and scored the last berth on the ship. In fact, he bought the ticket so close to the deadline that the crew was still using his cabin as a storage room when he got on board. When we got back to Ushuaia, Yossi found that he had become quite famous among the Israeli backpacker network (which is enormous, by the way). Other Israelis would spot his complimentary Marco Polo expedition jacket and say, "So you´re the guy who went to Antarctica for $680!"

Marcus and Alexandra - A Swiss father-daughter team traveling through Argentina together. Marcus was the only one of us who actually had a proper suit to wear to the formal dinners on board. He arrived in Ushuaia from Switzerland after Alexandra bought the tickets, so was able to bring clothes from home. The rest of us guys borrowed navy blue blazers and shiny polyester black pants from the crew and wore hiking boots as our formal shoes. My blazer smelled like an armpit.

(blog unhijacked, back to Louie)

The Food? - eh

As for the provisions, I must say I was terribly disappointed. Maybe food on other cruise lines is better, but the Marco Polo served mass produced conference fare that had been overcooked so that it was barely edible. No need to publish any food porn here. (One exception - For afternoon tea, they made these great meringue cookies with a chocolate ganache of some kind.) Despite the unremarkable food, we still managed to stuff ourselves sick. It was hard to turn down free eats after watching our budget for the last couple of months.

Penguins and Their Poo

I was thrilled by my first step onto Antarctica and first penguin sighting. I got greedier as the time went by and I found myself wanting more and more. I LOVED the penguins. I could watch them for hours, even though they´re pretty filthy animals and their colonies stunk of penguin poo. (At every landing, before getting back on board, a team of men would scrub the guano off our boots. I´m not sure who was more humiliated, them or us.) Sadly, our landings were very limited in scope. We were always fenced into an area that was just a couple of city blocks long. While I was glad to see that they were limiting the environmental impact on the continent, it was frustrating to see such a small bit of it. I definitely wouldn´t consider Antartica "done."

okay, now after seven days of luxury, we´re heading to bariloche to do more camping!

Now in Patagonia

New Year´s in BA

After leaving Rio we spent a couple of days in Buenos Aires, including a very chill New Year´s. Our evening consisted of hanging on the hostel roof deck, drinking with travelers and eating an obscene amount of grilled meat (see the photo) - a classic Argentinean asado. Fireworks were few and far between (unlike Manila, which becomes a warzone) and nobody really left their homes before 2am (like Manila, where people hang with their families though midnight).

The morning after we checked out the BA Chinatown, the only place with open shops. It´s about two blocks worth of so-so restaurants and one super expensive Asian supermarket. Instant ramen for $1/pack. The noodles at the restaurant really made Jen´s day, though.

BA Impressions

We took a 4-hour guided bicycle tour around town, seeing the neighborhoods on big orange beach cruisers. In addition, we made the obligatory pilgrimage to Evita´s tomb, and spent some time in the shopping districts, which are really cheap. Like Jen said, we also ate a ton of ice cream, which kicks ass here. Homemade shops offer two scoops for $0.75 to $1.50. The ice cream is smooth, creamy, and rich - more like gelato than the American stuff.



I´d heard how gorgeous BA was, Paris of South America etc. etc. But honestly, I didn´t think it was all that. Definitely way more European than any other South American city we´d seen, but it lacks the unique beauty of Barcelona or (I imagine) Paris. It reminded me of Madrid, which I never thought that much of. Also, it was hot and the parks had become dusty and dry with the lack of rain. The piles of dogshit on the sidewalks don´t help, either. Somehow professional dog walking has emerged as a major industry here, but laws regarding dog crap are regularly ignored.

Patagonia

After the dry heat of BA, we were relieved to find cool weather in El Calafate, a hub for trekking the Patagonian Andes. The once tiny town has blown up, thanks to the new airport, completed only three years ago. Now El Calafate looks like a little ski resort, with tons of stores selling cheezy sweatshirts, fancy mate gourds, and outdoor gear. Everything is way more expensive than BA, partly because it serves tourists, but also because it´s pretty tough to ship goods there.

Most folks come to see the enormous 70-meter tall Perito Moreno Glacier, actually 1.5 hours away. But we decided to skip it and hopped a bus for El Chaltén, a much smaller town (only dirt roads) at the base of the Fitzroy range in el Parque Nacional de los Glaciares. We spent the next 8 days backpacking in some of the most spectacular spots I´ve ever seen. The Fitzroy area is remarkably accessible - we could hike out from any point in the park in half a day. Unfortunately, this means the park is swamped with day trippers. On the plus side, though, this meant a mellow intro to fully loaded backpacking for Jen. Important because we lacked good gear, it was cold and rainy, and Jen´s ankles crumple if you give them a mean look. It also let me walk into town to resupply after 3 nights.

We loved the camping. In contrast to the constant decision making of traveling, all we had to think about for 8 days was eating, keeping warm, and appreciating the view. Admittedly, it was a long time to go without a shower. Jen´s ability to stay in the same tent as me was more likely a testament to her poor sense of smell than her love. But we did pretty well.



Top 5 Things on the Fitzroy Trek

1) Lunch all alone by a milky blue lake and hanging glacier.

2) Drinking pure glacier water straight from the streams. No need for pumps or iodine.

3) Hot powdered baby food for breakfast, surprisingly good with syrup and jam. Argentines eat a piece of toast and coffee in the mornings, so I couldn´t find instant oatmeal anywhere.

4) Warming up in the ranger´s tent for a couple of hours passing around the mate gourd. He gave us a little tutorial on mate customs.

5) Eating a huge plate of steak, fried eggs, salad, and french fries right after getting back into town.

Ushuaia, Southermost Town in the World

We got here three days ago. OK, it´s kind of lame, and looks like Fisherman´s Wharf. Apparently, Ushuaia is a major rookery for fuzzy stuffed penguins. But the town is a nice size - not too big or small, and we´ve hooked up with Alan and Janine, our friends who got engaged on the Inca Trail. The first night we joined them on a beaver "hunt" (insert beaver joke here). Apparently the animals were introduced from Canada in the 1940s in the hopes of starting a beaver pelt industry. But the entrepreneurs quickly found that Ushuaia´s milder temperatures led to pretty poor coats. So now the beasties are all over the place, busily flooding areas with their dams. And with no natural predators here the creatures can reach 50 kilos. (Twice the maximum load for a Inca Trail porter, by the way, so you´d have a tough time bringing your beaver on the Trail.) The trip was surprisingly fun; we got really close to them and warmed up afterwards in the cabin with cheese, bread, sausage, wine, and tea.

Antarctica or Bust

We used the entire next day tracking a rumor of cheap boat tickets to Antarctica. Alan had heard of some for 1000 euros the night before, not bad considering the "cheap" cruises usually go for 3000 euros. Janine and I weren´t convinced we wanted to spend that money or a week on an ocean liner, Antarctica be damned, but Jen seemed intrigued. Alan quickly seized her interest, sparking a 6 hour epic quest across downtown Ushuaia.

The Marco Polo left that night, so the four of us hurried through a dozen travel agents, shipping offices, and tourist information centers, and twice tried to sneak through port security to speak to someone on the ship, docked only a few meters away. One false lead led to another. Throughout this search we argued the merits of the trip and discussed the possibility of supernatural "signs" telling us to go to Antarctica. (Alan was convinced of them.) I eventually realized there was no way I could ditch the voyage if we actually located these mythical tickets.

Finally, one agent gave us the number of a Buenos Aires travel agent who *supposedly* sold last minute fares. At this point, the passengers had boarded the ship, and I doubted the agent´s claim after so many false leads. I began to look into a half-day penguin tour, instead. Janine was done for. For god´s sake, the ship was scheduled to depart in 2.5 hours. But Alan and Jen, the Antarctica champions, doggedly ran to a phone booth and called Buenos Aires.

To make a long story short (the phone calling continued for another hour or so), Alan ended up talking to a lady in Miami who managed to locate four tickets for the unheard of price of $678. Understand this includes the works - luxury cruise, jacuzzi, food, etc. for 7 days - and was way less than we had hoped for. Alan pumped his fist, the onlookers in the hostel lobby gawked jealously, and all thoughts of abandoning the trip evaporated. It was now 6:45 and the ship left at 8pm. Jen and I ran back to our hostel to stuff our packs and we all hopped a taxi for the port, arriving, breathless, at 7:10.

That´s when we noticed that - wait for it, wait for it - the ship had departed. Port security said it had been gone for a couple of hours, in fact. Apparently, the captain, not having received the message that some flithy backpackers had scored last minute tickets, decided to leave early.

Stunned, we rode the taxi back to the hostel and in our daze, the driver managed to get us to double pay for the cab fare, adding insult to injury.

Antarctica Epilogue

Alan and I immediately called the Miami travel agent who apologized profusely and assured us that our credit cards wouldn´t be charged. Remembering the look on Jen´s face when it became clear we wouldn´t be having captain´s cocktails that night, I asked Miami Lady if we could get a similar deal next week, when the Marco Polo would be back in town. I figured we might spend a few extra days in Ushuaia, but wouldn´t really lose much. Miami Lady assured us that yes, we could just confirm on Monday.

Alan and Janine were in a crappier position, having already cancelled their flights out of town upon booking the cruise. It´s impossible to get flights leaving Ushuaia without two weeks notice at peak season, so they were staring at the bleak possibility of another two weeks at the Southernmost Town in the World or paying for business class seats.

Anyway, Jen and I decided overnight that we wouldn´t ever get to Antarctica again at this price, so what the hell. After some painful soul searching and coin flipping, Alan and Janine decided to join us.

So in 7 days we´re off to Antarctica. While I´m appalled at being trapped on a floating hotel for a week (on-board casino, 24-hour buffets, and duty free shopping), it could actually be fun with Alan and Janine, and - hell, it´s Antarctica.