criplomats

We arrived in San Pedro de Atacama — the high desert — yesterday afternoon via Santiago. It is beautiful. The Andres are in sight and the landscapes are unbelievable. Awasi Hotel is amazing. This morning our guide drove us an hour or so away to see the salt flats and flamingoes – so beautiful, and we also enjoyed seeing the avocets. We pulled over on the side of the road to see burrowing owls (!) and feral donkeys (there’s a lot of them wandering around). On the way home, we stopped to let a lot of sheep and goats cross the highway.

Last Monday was a holiday and I spent the day getting clothes and other things ready to be packed and sent to Hot Springs. My car also started its journey home as well:

John and I have been enjoying “The Residence” on tv. I finished “Playworld,” by Adam Ross and am reading “A Well-Trained Wife,” by Tia Levings.

John and I drove a couple of hours outside of town to visit San Antonio de Areco, known to be in the heart of gaucho territory and a lot of estancias. We had a fun time walking around the square and visiting two small but neat museums: Museo Gauchesco Ricardo Guidaldes and Museo Las Lilas de Areco. It was great to be out of the city with no agenda! And it let us burn off gas in my car (I accidentally filled it up, without thinking that I’d be shipping it soon and you can’t have more than 1/4 tankful of gas!).

Last Sunday I had a great catch-up chat with Nomi in Pakistan, then John and I had lunch at the cute Bodegón Tia Zelmira, a short walk from our apartment. Thursday, I went to a happy hour at Rachel’s apartment, along with Lea and Good Rachel. Otherwise, it was a regular busy week; one of my deputies is on leave.

Today was a great rainy day and John and I were happy to stay in to organize my shipment to Hot Springs, which will be coming up fast! We have a lot of work to do to get ready for our move to Guyana!

John and I thoroughly enjoyed watching “C.B. Strike” and finished season four this week. We started “Ludwig,” and are liking it, too. I’m reading “Playworld,” by Adam Ross and trying to finish it before my digital loan expires (thank goodness for my two libraries’ ebooks!).

I still haven’t processed my Antarctica photos from my camera, but I’ll post a couple from my phone – including the one above with the penguins and beautiful iceberg. This was from our first landing, south of the Circle.

The week was spent just getting back into the groove of work. We’ve now begun the true countdown to leaving here, and I worked this week to get the paperwork in order to ship my car home. There’s a lot for us to sort out with shipments going here and there.

I had lunch with Lea last Sunday to catch up. We also had lunch with Rachel on Friday at a sushi place, and then Lea and I had lunch again after our hair appointments yesterday in San Telmo (and celebrated her birthday).

I started reading “Playworld,” by Adam Ross. John and I have been watching “Matlock,” the American version of “HIP,” and “CB Strike” – all fun!

We continued heading north, and saw more whales and penguins along the way. Sunday night we had dinner outside (brrrr) which was chilly but fun. Monday we found ourselves in a Zodiac surrounding by 12 humpbacks (three groups of four) as they lazed around eating and diving – really beautiful to see. In the afternoon, we were in a Zodiac with Annette taking water samples, collecting phytoplankton, and measuring salinity and zooplankton— and we made a brief continental landing.

Tuesday we were in the South Shetland Islands – it was a gorgeous sunny day. We saw a lot of molting elephant seals and penguins on our two landings. Wednesday we were back in the Drake Passage, but this time it was very calm. We woke up in Ushuaia, and spent the day disembarking, killing time in Ushuaia, and finally boarding our flight home in the early evening. It was good to see Flavia again and sleep in our own bed!

What a fantastic trip!

We had a fun dinner at Casa de los Mariscos in Ushuaia on our last night there, then a catamaran ride around the Beagle Channel before we boarded the Greg Mortimer on Monday afternoon to begin our Antarctic adventure 2.0 – this time with the goal of crossing the Antarctic Circle. We did that on Friday, getting to 66°51 degrees!

To be honest, I’ve lost track of time a bit. The Drake Passage on day one was quite rough and lots of folks stuck to their rooms, me included. I started feeling better the second day of the Passage, thanks to a bit of medication and slightly calmer seas.

We’ve seen lots and lots of whales – and penguins (Adelie and gentoo), crabeater seals, and leopard seals. We had our first shore excursion on Thursday, plus an afternoon Zodiac ride. Friday we went through a lot of ice and the weather was gorgeous – and again, a lot of whales seen from the observation deck. Yesterday, our trusty Zodiac popped us up on a floating bit of sea ice so we could walk around on it – fun!

Today, though, was just magical – while in the Zodiacs, we were in a bay with five or six humpbacks plus a Minke – they were just slowly making their way around the bay, eating, blowing, diving and showing off their flukes. This afternoon, John and I opted for another Zodiac ride rather than walking among the gentoo penguins on shore. The ice is just incredible – as are the mountains and glaciers. It’s hard to know what direction to look, it’s all so beautiful.

I’ll do better later about the islands and bays where we’ve been – it’s just too overwhelming at the moment to think straight!