Hello from the End of the World!

Except
for the Inca ruins in Peru, I haven´t had the sense of history here in
South America that one gets traveling through Europe. That is until I
reached this southern tip of the Continent. The Straights of Magellan,
the Drake Passage, the Beagle Channel (named after Charles Darwin´s
ship) immediately invoke images of the first adventurers to explore our
world and circumnavigate the globe. This adventurous spirit is
infectious and makes me yearn for the lands beyond - the island of
Tierra del Fuego and the Antarctica Continent. This yearning builds on
my childhood dream of stepping on each of the Earth´s seven continents.
Ever since I first turned a globe upside down, I´ve imagined myself
traveling to this distant point of land and jumping the straights to the
¨land of fire¨, then crossing the Drake Passage to the frozen ice cap
at the bottom of the world. And now, here it is, like a giant snow cone
machine just across a busy street on a hot summer day. So close, yet still a challenge to reach.

Today,
I take my destiny in my own hands. Doug and I part ways - Doug
continued on to Ushuaia, and I booked a flight to Antarctica, the last
unspoiled frontier on the planet. The itinerary includes sea elephants,
penguin colonies, and antarctic research stations but we´ve been told
that everything is subject to change as the weather is very
unpredictable and take off and landing times can change instantly. The
guide for the trip is a gnarly, Nordic/Viking looking man with a weather
beaten face and a long elfin beard and, for some reason, this look
inspires my confidence in the trip. As of now, all signs are a ¨go¨ for a
9:00am take off tomorrow. We will get an update tonight at 8:00pm and
another first thing in the morning. I´m excited about to this trip to
what I´m sure will be an alien world and will write again when I return
from the land of ice and snow!

Punta Arenas, Chile - Pretty Damn Far from Anywhere