Letters from Lisa

3:30 pm back on Eastern Time (in Bogota)

My nerves are quite frayed but I’m slowly recovering. I had to go through immigration and customs and then - most ridiculous of all - had to exit the airport and walk back in, only to find that I’m stuck dragging my suitcase around until 7. After incoherently asking for help in a few places (everyone is too busy to help) I found my way up to the 2nd floor where there are restaurants (well - is McDonald’s a restaurant?) and I called my parents from a phone booth, got some pesos, and now I’m drinking Dunkin’ Donuts. Looking around, there are a lot of people here with suitcases. I feel better already, just seeing that I am not alone. I have to admit, I got pretty panicked when I had to leave the airport and came back in and when I was told to wait for 4 hours but I had no idea where to go. There are a lot of police patrolling around. As well as some airline personnel. I am really ready to be off this roller coaster. It’s very warm and humid in the building - adding to my general feeling of misery. I’m already in the lightest clothing I own. I feel like taking 7 showers in a row.

Amazing how the Antarctic already feels so distant. And in geographical terms, it is. I’ve traveled the length of South America in the past day. Tonight I’ll travel half a continent more. It almost doesn’t feel real. I feel a bit trapped, like I’ve been here for the entire trip and never anywhere else. Of course that is just from being tired and traveling a very long way.

I can’t believe the money system here. Some of the numbers on the bills are astronomical. I have a bill in my pouch that says 20,000 pesos. I guess the currency must be very devalued. Pesos in Argentina were about 2.5-3 for the dollar.

about 4 pm I can’t believe how quickly I am running out of pages. Well, all I’ve had to do recently is write - all this waiting, waiting, waiting.

It’s too hard to shop with my bags in tow. I gave up after two bookstores and one souvenir stand. Now I’m at a pizza place having - what meal would this be considered? Lunch I suppose. I don’t even know. Afternoon tea.

It makes me sad to think about Antarctica right now. The ship was a very comfortable and safe place. You always felt there were people looking out for you. It’s corny to say it feels like a family, but it sort of does. Or barring that, a camp or school group. I really enjoyed it. I had people around when I wanted them, and time alone when I wasn’t feeling social (or well). There was always something new and beautiful to look at. I’ll really remember it fondly.

School must have begun again today. Tomorrow is Laura’s last day covering my classes for me. I’m really glad that it all worked out.

Just a little while longer until I can check in. I’m feeling better now that I have eaten some real food - not a croissant, chocolate, or bag of pretzels, but actual cooked food. It feels cooler back here as well. It’s amazing how simple things can make you feel human again.

It’s quite gray and looks like a storm is brewing outside. They must get a lot of rain here.

I am in no hurry to get up though I am done with my meal. I hate lugging my things around. I hate having so much stuff. And all things considered, I actually packed pretty light. I was able even to get my jacket inside my carry on bag. I’ll need it when we land in New York.

When I’m in airports I often look around at the people and wonder about them. What are their stories? Where are they off to? Do we have anything in common aside from being in the same place at the same time? I like to watch, and listen if I can.

The Ioffe should be in the Drake Passage now - deep in. They probably entered late last night, probably while I was arriving in Buenos Aires or transferring between airports. I am so, so thankful that I did not have these hassles with my flights coming down. I had pretty good luck. I really couldn’t have asked for better. I’m frazzled and irritated today, but I really am grateful for the way my trip worked out in general. I’m quite looking forward to getting my photos and videos sorted when I get home.

4:50 pm Man is this dragging. Maybe I need a change of scenery. I could pay the bill here and go get a coffee from somewhere else. I just feel the need to move.

a few minutes later I’m in a little cafe trying to relax and spend some time. My next stop is downstairs to check in and get this show on the road. I would like to see who else is on my flight, if there is anyone to talk to.

For my next trip I would like to travel somewhere that is English speaking. Perhaps the Canadian Arctic? Or New Zealand? It’s just so tiring to process a foreign language, esp. when you yourself are tired and stressed. It’s amazing how much my Spanish deteriorated when I got sleep deprived. And emotional as well. Plus people speak so fast. Why? What is the rush? On the ship things went at a gentle pace. I really liked that. And I liked being free of the Internet, the TV news, the input always coming in. When you are on vacation you should be focused on the moment, what is right in front of you. Not what is going on thousands of miles away.

later Finally, FINALLY checked in. Shall I count the number of security lines I’ve had to stand in? First, through immigration. Then through gate security - which was a very extensive search lasting several minutes. Then another search in the same hallway. And now, when my gate opens, yet another. I think that is just a tad excessive. It just makes me feel like this is a dangerous place. It’s such a hassle to arrive or leave here. Who would ever come willingly? I feel the same about Buenos Aires. Nothing I’ve seen or experienced would make me want to come back. As far as I’m concerned, I’ve done with South America now. I have seen more than enough of it and it’s a total hassle to be here. If I ever go back to Antarctica, I’ll go some other way! I wouldn’t want to just repeat the itinerary I just did (or an approximation of it) - I would want to see something different.

I feel like I’ve run an ultramarathon. Only now is the end in sight.

waiting to board flight from Buenos Aires –> Bogota

Aerolineas Argentinas is the stupidest and most incompetent airline I think I’ve ever flown. Far worse than even American Airlines in the Caribbean. I don’t understand what their problem is. The left hand not only doesn’t know what the right hand is doing, it doesn’t even know what its fingers are doing.

What has been happening for the past few hours? Comedy central. They started to board us at Gate 13 (an hour and some minutes late to begin with). Then the flight attendant gets on the loudspeaker and says something rapid-fire. She passes by me and says it again. My comprehension totally fails me. I see other people starting to gather their things and head for the door. I do likewise. We get back to Gate 13 and are handed a white plastic strip labeled “Transito” since our tickets have already been ripped. We sit back down. We wait. People ask questions - I hover near the desk to try to overhear. From what I can gather, something set off an alarm on the plane. People start to panic about connecting flights. They’re told, not very nicely, that they can go with other airlines but of course their luggage is still on board the original aircraft. The crew exits, neat black wheelie suitcases in tow. We wait some more. I start digging into my chocolate stash. They announce that we are moving down to Gate 12, where there is a new plane parked. The crowd alights en masse and reassembles in a scraggly line at Gate 12.

The crew arrives and disappears down the ramp and behind the curtains. One lone flight attendant gets stuck on our side of the locked glass doors and can’t figure out how to open them. She tries the set around the corner. Another woman comes back down to assist, and finds it’s locked from the inside as well. They start walkie-talkie-ing and cell-phoning. People in official looking clothes stroll by in varying degrees of purposefulness. Eventually, Thing 1 and Thing 2 from our original gate appear and start their rounds of chatting on the beige phone, chatting on the walkie talkie, wandering off on missions unknown (chatting with various people in the increasingly diffuse crowd) and snapping at any passenger who asks a question that in any way resembles a complaint. I start popping chocolates like, well, candy.

The lady next to me keeps grumbling about how she had to get to the airport at 5 this morning. People stand up, sit down, wandering into the duty free shops. An official looking person in a captain’s uniform comes over and pops a little switch on the top of the door that allows it to open for the poor trapped flight attendants, then ceremoniously locks it once the stray attendant has flown. People mill about. The phone rings, but neither Frick nor Frack are at the desk to answer it.

Suddenly the captain notices a shopping bag at the desk, left unattended. He asks the 30 of us who happen to be standing around if it’s any of ours, then wanders away. A few minutes later, he’s back with a security guard, who asks the same 30 or so of us the exact same question, to which she receives the same answer. She and El Capitain exchange looks. She gingerly picks it up. Nothing explodes, so she takes it to a nearby machine and runs it through. Still no exploding. She leaves it on top of the machine as some kind of trophy to security.

Meanwhile, a blond fembot has joined Mo and Curly at the desk, ostensibly to help check us in. Right about then, a passenger decides he’s had enough, and he, his arty stubble and his ponytail all start haranguing the desk staff re: the injustice of it all. They snap back at him and threaten to remove him from the flight (oh, I’m sorry, was there a flight scheduled? I thought this was the Aimless Mucking About Room - no no, you want 12A next door) but his impassioned speech is clearly resonating with the crowd. Friends! Romans! Passengers! A mob begins to gather, with others firing out one liners or simply talking over the wanna-be Marx.

The blond fembot starts arguing back, and they drown each other out in true Jerry Springer fashion (minus the chairs) for several minutes. A couple of folks come down the ramp and open one of the doors - hey! We’re ready to board! Then another agitator starts in, joined by Karl Marx’s girlfriend who criticizes the lack of a system for calling people to board, and then it turns out that so many people’s seat numbers have changed that they need to call them up about 17 at a time so that the muddled passengers can wave their defunct boarding passes at the desk.

People start pushing and nudging and swarming around the desk. I’m out of chocolate. I’m also realizing I am hanging on by a bare thread and I really don’t feel confident in my ability to understand fast Spanish after, I don’t know, 0 hours of sleep, and someone elbows me in their quest to reach the Airline Counter of Doom and I start crying. They call the folks with the Transito passes and - wonder of wonder, miracle of miracles! - I have one. The kind people who pushed me aside now graciously push their neighbors aside so I can slide through. I’m still crying when I get to my seat. No matter - I’m on board. Slowly, and with less urgency than would have been suggested by the frenzied carrying on and aggreived faces seen out in the gate, people board.

I see the first English of the day - Welcome Aboard. Really, I don’t know that we are. I think this airline would do tons better if there weren’t all these pesky passengers milling around and demanding things. Though we are smarter than we’re given credit for - after watching the captain once, any one of us could have advised all the other airline workers how to unlock that door - because none of them knew.

Why are we listening to a techno remix of Madonna as we’re taking off. I cannot wait to get out of this country and off this misbegotten, Pythonesque (except not funny) sorry excuse for an airline.

(as if to prove it, the flight attendant just said, “Although the fasten seatbelt sign has been turned off…” Um, we’re still ascending, and the seatbelt sign is still ON.)

1. Thou shalt utilize the flat screen TVs to deliver timely and accurate flight information, including gate numbers. Thou shalt NOT broadcast advertisements and other inanities on endless repeat at the expense of providing information to passengers.

2. Thou shalt configure thy facility to accommodate one long line, or several shorter lines. Thou shalt NOT create three or more consecutive long lines that cause passengers undue lateness.

3. Thou shalt not route passengers through a long hallway designated as the “smoking area” en route to their gates.

4. Thou shalt not cause passengers to walk past more than one perfume or duty free shop en route to their gates. Stores shalt not take precedence over departing aircraft unless thou intendeth to convert said aircraft into mall shuttle buses.

5. Thou shalt control the climate uniformly throughout thy airport. There shalt not be distinct climactic zones requiring a change in dress.

6. Thou shalt board flights in an organized, sequential fashion, preferably by seat number or some other mechanism to speed thy process.

7. Thou shalt check the passports and travel documents of passengers approaching the aircraft. Or, thou shalt abolish such documents as unnecessary, if thou shalt not look at them.

8. Thou shalt not stock English language books unless thou dost guarantee that at least 10% of them are not crappy romance novels.

9. Thou shalt post a sign at the gate announcing the next flight leaving from it, and approximate time of departure.

10. Thou shalt not cause any passenger to wonder what drugs thou hast ingested during they airport building process.

3:06 am Buenos Aires local time

I really think that Jorge Newbery must be one of the stupidest airports I’ve ever been in. They made us disembark right on the runways and get on buses. In the pouring rain. Then they load the bags onto one tiny little carousel and you have to elbow people aside just to be able to see the bags. Much less get yours! Anyway, many minutes later, I was able to collect my things and find my transfer person, who drove me for nearly an hour in perfect silence as I got the Buenos Aires seedy drive-by tour. Honestly, it could have been San Jose or Lima or Quito or any other of those cities - they all start to look alike after a while. The glitzy high rise part of the city was glimpsed from above - but not far enough above - during our turbulent landing. The last 15 minutes of the flight really almost made a religious person out of me. I wish there were another way to get to and from Antarctica without having to deal with all of this in the middle.

So, I’m here at my 2nd airport in Buenos Aires, in readiness for Flight #2 to Bogota. I can’t check in for at least 2 more hours. The drink machines only take exact change, which I do not have, and the kiosks that are open only sell little but chocolates, ice cream and cigarettes. (It’s really hot in the airport - so ice cream won out over chocolate.)

The dinner served on board was so indescribably awful that Diana, her seatmate and I all ate bags of pretzels instead. It was like a spam byproduct wrapped in a Twinkie. The lady next to me ate the whole thing. Which is why, I imagine, she spent the next two hours continuously yammering away in a semi-hostile tone with the guy next to her. They talked heatedly for just about the entire flight. I was getting pretty irritated but didn’t know a polite way of saying, “Shut UP, you are the only two yahoos shouting on the entire aircraft!” in Spanish.

Seems to be a torrential downpour outside. I wonder about the flights getting ready to take off. First of all, it’s absolutely bizarre to have a 3:30 am flight to anywhere. Secondly, how is there absolutely nowhere but a vending machine that sells cold drinks? That is ridiculous that you can find a place to buy cigarettes, but not water.

I have to say, I’m getting pretty tired of all this. It’s a huge hassle to have this many flights, each with its own improbably long layover. If my next flight had not been changed, I could have been at a hotel sleeping by now. I just do not think I can sleep in an airport. Besides its utter unsuitability for falling and staying asleep, I’d be too nervous about sleeping through the boarding calls or having my luggage stolen. There is one person who until just moments ago was huddled in the corner with a luggage cart parked in front of her. Asleep on the floor. I think that breaks several travel rules all at once.

The terminal’s cleared out a bit. The next Aerolineas Argentinas flight isn’t until 6:10, so perhaps it will get busier in an hour or so. I don’t mind it being quieter. I can rest (but NOT sleep).

During the hottest part of the day, it topped 100 degrees here. I certainly have gone as far to the opposite climate from Antarctica as I possibly can. Luckily it’s cooled off a bit now, but I am still rather warm.

The rain sounds absolutely torrential outside. I can’t imagine allowing flights to take off in these conditions. I hope this does not throw off the flights for the entire day. Not that I don’t have a monster layover in Bogota as backup. Wow - the board is saying that one recent flight actually did take off. There are two others that were boarding - I want to see if they will take off too.

I wonder when the breakfast places will start to open. I would love a glass of juice or water before I overdose on caffeine again. Considering I just had ice cream at 2:30 am, I’d say it’s likely that I will become completely dysregulated from the next group of flights. The timing really did not work out well. But, I would much rather sit at the airport and wait than have to race through the terminal and worry about missing the flight.

I’m tired of sitting. If I weren’t dragging all my luggage around, I’d get up and walk someplace. I hope they can check my red bag through to New York so that I don’t have to drag it through the Bogota airport as well. Then again it’s two different airlines - though when I checked my reservation on the Avianca website, the earlier flight did pop up. So maybe they cooperate or codeshare or something. The last time I went through Bogota, I was funneled right into international transfers. There was no place to pick up baggage. Maybe that will be the same this time.

4:14 am One thing I neglected to mention earlier was that we had a medical emergency on board. Nothing too major - they got on over the loudspeaker and asked if there was a doctor on board, and luckily there was. For a brief time I feared that we would have to turn back towards Ushuaia, but we pushed on. How likely is it that the medical emergency patient had been aboard the Fram? That would be sort of hilarious.

A nice cool breeze is blowing through the airport. Feels great after being so overheated. Still - I’d prefer a cold drink to prevent dehydration. And what I’d prefer even more is being able to check my suitcase. About 40 more minutes.

6:32 am This whole situation is starting to get to me. I just stood on line for over an hour to check my bag and I’ve paid the airport tax. Now I’m getting breakfast and I’m feeling like one more little thing is going to push me over the edge. The waitress asked me a question in Spanish that I didn’t understand and when I was confused, she gave her friend at the counter a nice sarcastic smile. Contrast that with the airline person who asked me if I wanted to check my bags all the way through to New York. And in a really gentle way that I appreciated. I’ve been up for 24 hours and i first have to get on a flight this morning - I’m not exactly at my sharpest or most patient. I’m trying, I really am. Who knows when I’ll even be able to check in for my next flight. But, at least 2 out of 3 will be over with.

7:45 am I take it back. Jorge Newbery is only the 2nd stupidest airport I’ve ever been in. This place is definitely first. I’m so mystified by what passes for security and service around here and to top everything off, my flight is delayed for an hour and a half. Which, in the scheme of the day, is really not bad in and of itself. What I resent is having to run down all these corridors and wait on so many lines just to be told that the flight is delayed. This airport also has some of the rudest staff at its shops. That is part of the reason I’m parked here at the gate rather than wandering around shopping now. Not that I really want to drag my carry on around anymore. I took some things out, but they were more bulky than heavy. I just didn’t want to risk putting certain things in my packed luggage on the chance that something happened to it.

I will be very glad when this is all done with. To take a real bath and get into a real bed.

I hear an airplane outside the window. Probably ours, since this gate is way out in the boondocks. But I’m sure they have to disembark the passengers and clean before we board.

almost 11 am - We’ve been off the boat for a few hrs. and I’ve been around Ushuaia - first at the internet cafe, then wandering around a bit aimlessly. I’ve nearly burst into tears several times this morning and I’m really fighting the urge to feel very sorry for myself. Trying not to think about flying too much. Or the trip for that matter. So that leaves… not much of anything. This can’t go on. I have to pull it together. It may be difficult that it’s all ending, but I have a lot waiting for me back home, too. I’ve been anticipating this trip for a long time and I had a lot of anxiety about it. I should be relieved that it’s all gone well. The flying home shouldn’t be too bad. It’s not too much longer than what it took to get down here - just more layovers. Which is actually good, because then I won’t worry about making my connections. I’ve been in all these airports before and they were fine - I don’t feel too worried about that per se. I do think I am a bit untrusting that my flights have all worked out, since one has already changed. That is the benefit of booking through a travel agent. She was able to change my flight and get knowledge of it to me. In a little while I am going to call the Adventure Life number and make sure everything is still smooth.

I have to readjust now to being on my own. For the past two weeks I’ve had a lot of company, a lot of friendly people to talk to. I’ve seen quite a few of them around town, killing time before their flights as well. A small number of people are on my flight later tonight. That’s sort of comforting. I’m feeling a bit better already now that I’m eating and having my first good coffee in many days. I had despaired of the coffee on board towards the beginning, and switched to tea. And I don’t know if I’ll stay here for lunch - maybe I should just order another cafe con crema and stay put. There really isn’t much reason to get moving again. I’m getting picked up in the parking lot at 7 to go to the airport. I have plenty of time before then. I’ll probably go back to the internet cafe for a while and perhaps read all the Bank St emails that I didn’t read the last time around. I could even try to upload some of my photos. But all in good time.

I’m thrilled, overall, with how the trip has gone. The staff on the ship did an absolutely super job, and Antarctica itself was as stark and beautiful as I’d imagined it to be. I have a very good selection of photos and video clips to share. Once I’m back home and settled, I’ll put together my own movie, like the one that James made but with my own footage. I was even thinking I could compose some background music to go with it. I’d probably have to compile all the footage first and then record the music second. I don’t anticipate doing a full-on presentation immediately upon my return. I might post a new photo every day on my computer monitor, then do the presentation when I’m really ready. We still need to finish up the solar system with Cluster B.

I’ve been thinking about the kids a lot while on board the ship. Especially b/c of one passenger in particular - Peter. Peter is maybe 11 or 12 and is clearly, clearly one of “our” kids. I felt pretty sorry for him because he was getting into so much trouble and rubbing everyone the wrong way just about from the word Go. It was interesting to watch how everyone reacted to him. Some people were pretty snippy with him, while others were quite sympathetic and felt he was acting inappropriately because of his attention problems and also the signals he was getting from the parent. I ended up spending a bit of time with him, but the staff really took him on. First Graham, then Sean. One great thing about Peter is that he stayed perpetually upbeat - no matter who spoke crossly to him, and no matter how much trouble he got into. Though of course that is a trait brought on by the attention issues - oblivousness. By the end people seemed to have made their peace about him one way or another. I kept on thinking about all the kids I know and traits that reminded me of one child or another. However, I don’t kow any child who would have had quite that effect in public. I don’t think the parent knew how to handle him in that situation. Apparently he’s been on other cruises before and does better on bigger boats where there is more action. This voyage had too many rules and boundaries, procedures to follow, people and environmental factors to be considerate of. Even some adults had difficulty with it. So what would you expect from a very immature child with attention problems?

I really marveled at some of the younger kids on the voyage. If you do this at 13, 14, even 18, what is left for you as you get older? Where do you go from here? I can’t imagine. I’m satisfied to stay at home for a while after the enormity of this experience. I can’t imagine being a kid and doing this. It’s anti-climactic to go anywhere else.

Eventually, of course, I will travel again. Probably with an Earthwatch project. I think having a project to work on makes a big difference. I came back to Ushuaia with a large number of emails from my Peru crew - wasn’t it cool to email them all back from Ushuaia!

Lucy, Josh and Abby must be back at the airport by now. Their pick up was at 11:00. They had to fly to Buenos Aires and then get a 15-hr flight back to London. I was so fortunate to meet them at the airport and hotel. They really made me feel welcome during the whole trip - less alone. Josh is 18 and about to graduate - he wants to study geography, which as far as I know isn’t even a concentration in the US anymore. Abby is 15 and at a girls’ boarding school. She has significant hearing loss, thoguh gets on pretty well. In fact the last time I saw the family, they were searching for a replacement battery for her hearing aid.

My roommate from the ship, Diana, is on my flight this evening. She is moving on to a kayaking trip in Chile - another few weeks of traveling before heading home to Canada.

I think I am going to finish my second cup of coffee (!) and get moving. Find another internet spot where I can hook up my camera and get some pictures up. It cost $6 US at the last place. That seemed overpriced but who knows - I have not checked around for other prices.

I’m watching people come & go - crossing the street, sitting down to lunch.

Lucy, Abby and Josh just popped in to say goodbye. That was really lovely. I’m getting so sad all over again! I guess they must be the 1:00 pickup, otherwise they are late!

As I was saying, I’m enjoying watching the bustle around here. Many tourists - about 100 of whom are going to be getting on the Ioffe this afternoon. Others will be getting on other vessels, or visiting the National Park.

No matter where I go over the next few days, I doubt I’ll be very much alone. I’m sure there will be others in my situation, or similar. Others will be on my flights. In transit. Staying over at the airport. Wanting to get home. I should keep my eye out for people to be near to. And I do have my phone with me if I need to use it. Last time I was in the Bogota airport, my cell didn’t work - but it might this time, and if not, I’ll have time in the airport to go online or find a phone service. I was asked if I was going to tour the city of Bogota at all - emphatically not. I do not want to leave the airport. I want to have access to information in case of any unexpected problems. I don’t want to risk it.

I can’t believe it’s gotten to this point, where I am really looking at going home. It’s so radical a difference from being on board. My time there was so relaxed and happy, no hassle at all. You left your door wide open or at least unlocked. You needed no money. You got a wake up call via the PA system and an announcement with updates or whenever you needed to be somewhere. I loved going up to the bridge to look at the radar, the charts, the weather report. I loved the hustling in and out of doors when there were icebergs or whales or anything else to be seen. I loved the honor system of listing your name for sodas or items from the minibar. I didn’t love the dark presentation room but did like the presentations within. I also loved the hours of lying in bed and listening to my audiobooks or napping the time away while in between excursions.

I did NOT miss TV or the internet whatsoever. Not even a little bit. This represented a total break from absolutely everything, and it was wonderful. Now that I’m back to “civilization” (very loosely defined) I suppose I’ll have to catch up.

And I have to say - I will not miss having to don so many layers just to go outdoors. Especially the waterproofing layers. Though in another month and a half I’ll be skiing - so clothing-wise I am quite prepared. I have a feeling I’ll be able to wear just a compression shirt and my new jacket - those shirts kept me very warm. The Polartec was actually more comfortable than insulating - but fine. I’m actually wearing it now.

later - about 5:30 pm  Having a pretty pleasant afternoon window shopping with Diana. As it gets closer to 7:00 I’m feeling more and more fluttery. I’ve slowly made the transition to being back in Ushuaia, again just in time to have everything mixed up again. I’m nervous about the flight that was changed because when I went to Avianca’s website to look at the flights again, my reservation pulled right up, but with the old flight time listed. In a way it doesn’t make a difference - what it affects is how much time I’ll spend waiting at the various airports. I really can’t worry about it. As long as I’m ON the flight, it will work. I was finally able to get into my voicemail, but it was a message from my parents saying Happy New Year, not Adventure Life or the travel agent. Still - maybe I should call Joyce just to make sure. I hope that if anything were to happen with the flights, I would have received a voicemail or email by now. Of course, something could happen at any time. I really do not want to get stuck anywhere. I really want to get home. I wish I could be a more easygoing person about these things and keep it all in good perspective. But it’s hard. I’m anxious for all to go well. I had the same anxieties coming down here. It’s very easy to let the imagination run wild.

Well, everything happens in its due time. No matter how interminable the wait might feel, the hour always arrives. Things go as planned, or not. What gets me is the unpredictability of it. All I can do is be prepared and show up. That’s it. I can’t control the airlines. I do feel fortunate in regard to everything else about this trip - my biggest fear was missing the boat, and of course that was not the case. I didn’t allow myself to consider the possibility of the boat going down or having a significant issue - and of course that could easily happen, as evidenced by the Fram’s misfortunes. What a different story THAT would have been. I feel for the people whose vacation was ruined - of course not quite as much for the people on the Explorer, which actually did warrant an evacuation into lifeboats. That is an adventure, yes, but not the adventure you’d want. Knowing how cold it could feel in the Zodiacs - and wet - I can really sympathize. How scary that must have been. Well - that is why there is travel insurance.

Honestly, everything in life involves risk. You can’t avoid it. It’s the terror of not knowing - of unpredictability.

I know I have long days and nights ahead. I’m probably dreading that more than anything else. I need to try to put on the most positive spin I can. It’s just time - it can be used well, even if I’m not where I would prefer to be. I can still make the best use of it.

One thing I haven’t thought about until just now - the fact that it’s a new year. We celebrated on board, but I was too preoccupied with my own fragility to really take notice. I really have not thought much about it. My real “new year” is in June, anyway (or September, I guess). This doesn’t feel like a new year at all, particularly since I’ve been away and I’m not yet back home.

It’s about 6 pm. We’re being picked up in an hour. Time has passed during this day in Ushuaia and it hasn’t felt too bad. (Maybe I’m jittery because I’ve been drinking so much caffeine all day. I think it’s time to lay off!) Perhaps the Ioffe has boarded its new passengers, or is getting ready to board them tomorrow.

later- We’ve boarded from Gate 4 and are just waiting to finish boarding and take off, hopefully close to on time. I was able to get my boarding pass for the next flight as well, which eliminates some anxiety, though if we take off anywhere close to our scheduled departure time, it will definitely not be an issue. It was so hot inside the airport that I had to change into my lighter pair of pants and stuff my sweatshirt and jacket into my carry on. It’s supposed to be almost 100 degrees in Buenos Aires but hopefully I’ll be out of there well before the hottest part of the day.

Seems like we’ve just about done with boarding. I’ll call my parents when I’ve gotten into the car to go to Ezeiza and again when I actually get there.

Oddly enough, there was another flight also boarding to fly to Buenos Aires at the gate right next door. We saw Jacques and one of the American families. Apparently their flight “didn’t exist” and they were on standby for several flights prior to the one they actually got on. Meanwhile, they were only finishing boarding when our flight was called. I think we may be the last flight for the evening.

There are a few other people from the Ioffe on this flight. Diana is across the aisle from me in the window seat. I’m in the aisle. I think I am going to miss traveling with people I know. It quells a lot of the anxiety to be with people who can also be vigilant, watch your bags, comment on what’s happening, plan in case something happens. It’s totally fine to go on your own, but you do it all yourself. And if some problem does occur, you are on your own to fix it. I think after this, I am going to take a break from traveling alone.

The intercom makes this horrible high pitched whine that is way louder than the person’s voice who is speaking. It’s down to a drone now - hope I can tune it out.

As we were being driven to the airport, we saw the Ioffe pulling back out. That was sort of a neat way to mentally say goodbye. They are heading off on a 10 day cruise, rather than 13 days like us. For a cruise like this, where you lose 4 whole days to the Drake Passage, I’d say get the most out of it and stay as long as is feasible. I thought my 13 days was, for me, the right amount. I would have gotten tired had we gone on any longer. (I also chose this particular cruise for the way it fit into my schedule.)

We are just about ready to pull out. I think we are waiting for another plane to clear the runway. (The drone still has not gone away!)

later - Safely, mercifully in the air. The sun is shining brightly still - in the Northern Hemisphere it would have been fully dark hours ago. I’m feeling very hungry, just realizing I never had any dinner - just a bottle of water and a bag of pretzels at the airport. I wonder if they are going to serve anything. This is only a 3 hour flight. On coming down I flew business class, so I have no idea what was done in coach. Plus, that was an early afternoon flight - while this one is landing after midnight.

We seem to be flying through the beginnings of a sunset. I like this. It’s a gentle transition away from the South. I haven’t seen it actually BE nighttime since - probably since the night before I left. I flew overnight b/w Colombia and Buenos Aires - I guess that was my last nighttime. Since then I have seen some sunsets and twilights, but no actual nights. That’s pretty neat. I’m so glad to have missed the shortest days of the year.

They are serving a meal! Very good. I was about to break into another bag of pretzels.

What if I go north next summer? Finish off a polar year? If I went, it would NOT be on a ship. I have no need to get to the Pole. Maybe just the Arctic Circle.

What am I saying? I can’t travel again for a while. I need to replenish my bank account!

As a curriculum coordinator, I look at a lot of books. Some of them are for me, to learn more about the subject matter that various classes are studying, and some of them are texts for the teachers to share with children. And before I launch my diatribe, I do have to say that for a society that purportedly doesn’t read and doesn’t know or care anything about other countries, there are a lot of great resources out there about history and culture. Sure, it helps to be studying medieval castles or Egyptian mummies or pirates (three subjects that, if archaeologists ever excavate the children’s section of a bookstore, they will think formed the basis of our state religion, possibly along with dragons and wizards) but there are materials out there about many things. I’ve been moderately successful in tracking down books about the great so-called “New World” civilizations - the Maya, Aztecs, and Incas. This isn’t nearly as popular a topic as it should be (aside from Mel Gibson’s movie, which is about the Maya in about the same way that the Da Vinci Code is about Christianity) but still, there are books.

What they have to say is a different story.

We’re past the days in which you would find quaint-sounding, overtly biased text about Indians in children’s books. I’ve seen older series about explorers that talk about the “accomplishments” of murderers like Francisco Pizarro, Hernan Cortes, and everyone’s favorite politically incorrect antihero, Christopher Columbus. But these days, that’s becoming rare too. Not that it doesn’t take determination, guts, quick thinking, and great faith to sail across a huge ocean into the great unknown and rob and enslave thousands of people for your own personal financial gain. But I digress.

No, the issue that I have with many of these children’s books is the subtler biases, stuff that most people, and certainly most children, wouldn’t pick up on consciously. In a way, that’s worse. Take the passage I happened across today, from a story about Hiram Bingham, who “discovered” the “lost city” of Machu Picchu (with the help of native guides who knew it was there all along). It went something like this: “Obviously the people who built this magical city above the clouds were master craftsmen. But how did they do it? They didn’t have modern tools or technology. They hadn’t even discovered the wheel.”

That one line - “They hadn’t even discovered the wheel” - was like a slap in the face. In six words, the author has managed to belittle Inca technology and make them sound like cavemen, and in the guise of expressing appreciation for the achievement. I’m sure it wasn’t purposefully done, but it manages to sound condescending without even trying. No, the Incas didn’t have wheels. Even if they’d had them, who knows if they would have used them. It doesn’t make any sense to use wheels up in the mountains. One wrong step, and they go rolling back down taking your huge stone with them, probably crushing you and your entire work crew in the process.

In any case, they didn’t have wheels. They also didn’t have written language, iron tools, or other things that we generally assume are needed in order to engineer the sort of amazing things that they were very obviously capable of. This probably says more about our own limited imaginations than about anything else. We’re like the kids today who can’t imagine a time when people lived without cell phones or email. There’s a line in our theater script, spoken by a father: “When I was your age, we didn’t even have computers!” The girl who says that line recently asked me if that was really true, if people really didn’t have computers “back then”. It’s natural to experience a gulf between one’s own experience and that of previous generations - especially where technological development is involved.

But in the case of other civilizations, we are not only dealing with time and technology bias, but with racial and ethnic bias as well. For too long, other civilizations, conquered civilizations, have been dismissed as primitive, godless, unknowing, needing to be enlightened. And that’s why “They didn’t even discover the wheel” sounds so wrong. It’s the incredulousness of it, and the way it compares one civilization to another. “This may look like a cool stone city, engineered perfectly high up in the mountains,” it seems to say, “but at least WE figured out how to use wheels.”

Many sources about Mesoamerican and South American civilizations mention the differences in technology, communication, and so on without sounding condescending or biased in any way. In this case, I think the problem is that the language has been oversimplified so that children can read it. It’s hard to write historical text that is conversational enough for school-age children without sounding silly, redundant, simplistic or outright biased.

Historical reality is messy. It’s mired down in personal perspective and political posturing, often going back for centuries. In the case of a conquered civilization like the Incas, on the one hand we have almost disbelief that a European power could have even conquered them - hence a sort of self-congratulatory wonder in some of the accounts of the conquest, and an emphasis on the richness of the plunder so that others will commit to the same cause - but on the other hand it would obviously look bad to murder and pillage a great civilization, hence there are ways to make them sound savage. Even the chroniclers who were sympathetic to them were there to convert them. No observer is a blank slate. There are countless decisions made - what to include in the books, what to leave out, what to emphasize or de-emphasize, what not to even notice because it doesn’t make sense according to our own expectations.

And as a school, we make these decisions too. We make decisions all the time about what to discuss, what to show pictures of, what’s not age appropriate, what’s on topic and what’s a tangent. How to give kids the essence of something without getting completely bogged down? It’s complicated stuff, what we’re asking them to learn about. And complicated is fine. It’s what allows people to spend their whole lives studying history and culture, and why there are thousands of books about the same topics. I like to conceptualize history as gossip - people whispering to each other about who did what to whom, who’s in and who’s out of favor, who’s following the latest fashion, who’s the real power behind the power…

Some of the better sources for kids capture this feeling, and emphasize the way that the information was gathered rather than “just the facts”, which are rarely “just” anything. It’s really too bad that so many sources for kids make everything sound so simplistic. I think things are changing, but slowly. Children’s books need to make a major change if they’re going to really do it right. It’s almost as though they have to go back and… reinvent the wheel.

This past summer I spent several weeks in Peru on an archaeological dig. Here’s a short article about my expedition. I wasn’t the one who found the trophy skull though. The skulls in my area of the dig were small, fragile, and unadorned.

Today’s valuable lesson: on the Internet, nothing ever dies. Ever.

This afternoon I received an email from good ol’ Earthwatch - they periodically publish updates and promos for their volunteer projects. This month they chose to highlight several projects that I am familiar with, since I have volunteered with them at one time or another. First up, my most recent expedition in Peru, Archaeology of Peru’s Wari Empire. You may remember that one from this summer’s posts. (I never finished writing about that experience, by the way… expect an update on that shortly.)

Next up was Hawksbill Turtles of the Great Barrier Reef, which was the focus of my Australia trip in 2005. My mother was standing nearby as I excitedly shouted, “Hey, that was my project too!” only to then scroll down a bit more, and discover something even better.

“Hey! That’s ME!!”

There it was, glistening white words in a bright orange box - “Solo traveler Lisa Fischler” and a link to my article about the volunteer experience.

There’s nothing like unexpectedly finding yourself online. Good thing it was something I’m actually proud of, like saving endangered species, and not an incriminating video or photo of my hair in 7th grade. Not that such things exist, especially not photos of my nasty strung out perm (cough).

After returning from my trip this summer, I filled out a survey from my tour company letting them know how I felt about the arrangements they had set up for me. I was complimentary but honest - there were parts that went smoothly, and a few things that didn’t. I don’t think I sounded negative - but certainly less than glowing.

Today I got a huge heavy package from them, containing a very pretty hardcover coffee table book about Peru and a letter detailing how they followed up on my comments and apologizing for the aspects of the trip that I found less than ideal, etc. etc.

So now I am feeling really guilty.

Which I know is a weird reaction. I gave the feedback I did because
a) I was asked for it, and
b) I thought it would behoove them to know what a customer experienced, given that others might be in the same position as myself

Given those motives, it made me uncomfortable to get such a nice gift from them. I didn’t want an apology or a resolution to what I experienced - it was simply part of the trip. It sounds like they were worried that I wouldn’t recommend them to others or might even be sour on some of the places I visited, which is certainly not the case. My attempts to be honest and straightforward registered as displeasure. And that displeasure was apparently communicated to the people who accommodated me and tried to take care of me during the trip. I’m really uncomfortable with that.

There’s an appropriate Monty Python sketch for every moment -
Continue Reading »

This evening I finally went to CVS to print out my digital photos from the trip. I did the Galapagos Islands memory card first, then moved on to my Peru and Costa Rica photos. As I was continuing to fight with the digital photo machine, I overheard this:

CVS employee: Man! That is a big-a** turtle! That is the biggest turtle I’ve ever seen! Yo, look at this… That is one big-a** turtle!

I’ve never had one of my trips summarized in quite that way before. But, it fits.

One might conclude that I no longer have anything interesting to say, now that I’m (temporarily) done posting photos of South America travels and have not posted here about anything else. I won’t offer any excuses or any judgments, other than that I’m trying to get back into a normal routine and simultaneously enjoy all of the things about home that I missed when I was away.

For example, my bathtub. I have always appreciated it, but it compares especially favorably to the bathrooms I encountered on my trip (and yes, the bathtub alone is larger than my entire bathroom on board my Galapagos boat). I don’t need to wear flipflops to take a shower, and I don’t have to worry about the water being laden with unfamiliar bacteria that might make me sick. And sorry to be gross for a moment, but I can actually flush toilet paper down the toilet here. That was an aspect of visiting South America that I won’t much miss.

Other things I am now appreciating: periodicals and books in my native language, safe public transportation (no need to constantly hop in and out of taxis), decent coffee, internet access that I can use in my pajamas, and the ability to walk out of doors without enveloping myself in a cloud of DEET first.

Yes, it is time I wrote a chronicle of my trip. Probably won’t happen this weekend (I’m giving Christine’s wedding shower) but I’m optimistic about the next.

Oh, and here’s one obligatory photo - me with an enormous kapok tree in Ecuador:

Click on the picture to go to my Sacha Lodge album!

The photos are sorted by island of origin. If you’re interested in sea lions, or birds, or crabs, you can pick just about any island - but if you want giant tortoises, try Santa Cruz.

The Galapagos Photos Home Page

I can’t claim to have flown any great distances or switched dozens of time zones after my visit to South America. I was, at the most, two hours behind East Coast time, and my total flying time in my six weeks of traveling added up to less than the flight time it took me to get from New York to Sydney last year. (Waiting in the airports… that’s another story.) So I won’t say I am jet lagged, exactly. My fatigue stems from another source.

I arrived home on Monday evening, scattering myself and my belongings all over the apartment, and now, Saturday, I’m still feeling pretty scattered. I’m fairly organized at work (I went back Tuesday) but here I’m in a bit of disarray. Of course it’s the good kind - souvenirs cluttering the dining room table, late postcards to be mailed, photos to be sorted, piled up magazines and newspaper to be read - but it can have the effect of making one want to take a bath and an early bedtime and ignore it all.

I’ve decided to tackle the photos first, as you might have surmised from recent posts. I’ve been posting and captioning my Galapagos photos all morning. I just got back my printed photos from the developer, but they were mostly inferior to my digital photos, so I won’t have too many to scan. I really think this may be the end of my film-buying. I may need a few waterproof cameras here and there, but my digital - old as it is - performed so admirably, and with so many hundreds of perfectly serviceable photos, I can’t imagine the need to go back to film.

A lot of people, particularly in the Galapagos, have amazing cameras. I was quite jealous. Some of them promised to send me photos - I’m hoping they do. When my finances have recovered a bit, I think I would like to upgrade my own camera - something with a better zoom.

I have other items on my agenda, of course. There’s a bridal shower to organize, a musical to write, a sweater to knit… It’s shaping up to be a busy August.

Pisac Festival of Virgen del Carmen
This is a yearly festival held in villages throughout the Andes, but Pisac is one of the major centers. We had gone to see the ruins the same day and were tired and just about ready to go home - but even our driver wanted to stop and watch the procession. It was pretty cool, I just wish I had a video camera.

Moray
Moray is a lesser known, and much less-visited, Inca site. It happens to be one of my favorites, almost rivaling Machu Picchu (almost). The concentric circles have inspired some wild theories about aliens and energy portholes, but one reasonable theory is that they took advantage of a natural formation in the mountains and made terraces for agricultural experimentation. You may not be able to tell from the photos, but the bottom layers of the terraces are still in agricultural use today.

Camelid Co-Op
This was a stop in the Sacred Valley on the way to Machu Picchu. They keep the animals (it’s a bit of a petting zoo as well as instructional site) and encourage the people to continue their traditional dyeing and weaving techniques. I was rather hoping they’d sell raw materials there (I have never met a yarn store I couldn’t shop in) but they only had finished products.

Here’s a collection, almost complete, of photos from the excavation of Ccotocotuyoc, a Wari site about 45 minutes outside of Cusco, in the Huaro Valley.

A few highlights:

View of the site from a nearby mountain.

Here I am, getting our little unit ready to be photographed. The white sign gives all the important details. The white thing around my neck is a dust mask - very much needed by the way.

This is my absolute favorite thing. We dug it up ourselves! It’s a perfect little pot that fits into the palm of your hand.

We had a LOT of bones in our unit - most not as easily identifiable as in this particular photo.

This is Ccoto, the puppy who became pretty much the mascot of the site. (His name cames from the name of the site - a ccoto is a pile of stones.) At least he was, until he jumped right into our unit on top of all the bones.

This is Guapo, an adorable but very skinny dog who adopted the researchers as his people. He technically has owners, but I would have taken him home if I’d been able. So sweet!

Go see the rest - particularly if you like human anatomy.

… I’m back.

Oh, fine. If that isn’t satisfactory, then here.

More soon. Promise.

In the meantime, I’ve been up since 3:30 am. So, goodnight.

Pausing to catch my breath in between my various travels…

I arrived back in Quito late this afternoon - a bit later than I intended - from my weeklong cruise in the Galapagos Islands. I won´t begin to summarize 8 fantastic days in one little entry, especially when there are hundreds of photos I have to sort through that would eventually accompany such an entry. But suffice it to say that I am thoroughly satisfied with the experience, and despite some seasickness, I would recommend this sort of trip to anyone who is serious about wildlife. You can´t get this close to animals even in most zoos. It was truly incredible.

Tomorrow morning after breakfast I am off to the Ecuadorian rainforest, staying at Sacha Lodge. It is supposed to be beautiful and offer more closeup experiences with wildlife. I´ll post all about it probably when I get home, which will be August 14th. Until then I probably won´t have regular internet access or sufficient time. But it´s all in the pipeline, I promise.

cheers!

Greetings from unexpectedly rainy Quito, Ecuador. I arrived successfully and have spent the past two hours or so uploading my first photos onto Webshots… these are the digital photos I took in Costa Rica.

Costa Rica July 2006

I have several rolls of disposable camera film to develop from Costa Rica as well, so clearly this is not complete. A lot are random nature photos. I´ll try to get some Peru photos up perhaps later or tomorrow.

I’m most of the way to Quito - actually in the midst of transferring at the Lima airport. To get an idea of how efficient the bureacracy here is in Peru, here I will present all of the steps involved in getting from my original destination (Cusco) to my new destination (Quito)…

1. Check in at the Cusco airport, handing over my two checked bags
2. Pay the domestic departure tax, approximately 5 dollars
3. Fly to Lima
4. Collect my checked bags
5. Hand in the tag on my boarding pass that proves that I own the two bags
6. Drag said bags out to the main checkin terminal
7. Pass bags through security, again
8. Check bags in and get a new tag on my new boarding pass
9. Pay the international departure tax of approximately $30
10. Put my carryon bags through another security checkpoint
11. Fly to Quito

(Yes, for all of you Spinal Tap fans, this morning has gone to 11)

I am on step 9 at the moment… just pausing on my way to the cafeteria area. I was in this airport a few weeks ago and remember there being a little souvenir shop and a Dunkin’ Donuts. I have enough souvenirs to fill a market stall in Cusco, but one can never get enough Dunkin’ Donuts. I’ll get on line for the departure tax when it gets a little closer to boarding time, because once you go through there, you can’t come back out.

Happy to be on my way, but I’ll be happier after I have checked into my hotel in Ecuador and taken a hot shower.

Cheers!

Today was our last day out in the field. The Earthwatch portion of this trip has flown by incredibly fast. Taking two days off in the middle to go to the Sacred Valley and Machu Picchu certainly had something to do with that.

I´m checking out of my hostal tomorrow morning and then checking into a hotel for a night. Then I´m flying out of Peru on Saturday and landing in Quito, Ecuador. I´ll be in Quito for a few days, then I´ll be off on a cruise of the Galapagos Islands.

Pictures to follow, I promise. I have not found an internet cafe where I can upload them. So it might have to wait until I´m home. Apologies for the delay.