Letters from Lisa

We are officially out in open water winding our way through the Drake Passage. I had exceptionally poor sleep last night - I felt dirty from not showering, plus the room was hot. As a consequence I have massive circles under my eyes. Right now I’m in the lounge having coffee - they won’t be serving breakfast until 8 and my guess is it’s newly 7. So here I am. The waves don’t feel too fierce - it isn’t unlike the other boats I’ve been on. I was a little concerned about the seasickness patch dislodging while in the shower, but it seems to still be stuck on.

So this is it - we are on our way. I’m suddenly feeling like I could go back to bed! Maybe I’ll do that. I’m very tired and this is going to be an uninterrupted day of sailing - so it’s not like I’ll miss anything. Tomorrow, either.

later - I’ve spent most of the morning sleeping - I think it’s a combination of lack of lseep last night, the seasickness patch, and the tossing and turning of the boat itself. Last night they joked with us that this can be either the “Drake Shake” or “Drake Lake”. Luckily so far it seems to be the Lake. Still - I have to get used to it.

I’ve been outside a few times this morning. It feels good to be out in the fresh air, but there isn’t a lot to see now. So I came into the lounge and I’m having watery hot chocolate and cookies. Lunch is around 1 and then there are more presentations. I skipped the one on birds because as it was I was fighting to stay awake during the whale one. It’s very hard to get used to being on board.

This morning I took a shower, which was a feat in itself. You just close the curtain around yourself and huddle underneath the jet of water, trying not to have the wet curtain plaster itself against you. Every time the ship lurches a bit, the water rushes across the floor, eventually to slide dwon a circular grate underneath the sink. And I spent the whole time worrying that my clothes would fall to the floor of the bathroom, and then I’d have soaking wet clothes to put on.

My bed is fairly comfortable. It has a curtain that can be pulled closed around it too! There’s also a 2nd bed above me that is not pulled out, since the sofa converts into a bed at night (they come into our room and do that while we’re at dinner). It’s quite warm especially under the covers, and I have two pillows. There is also a drawer that pulls out from under the bed with blankets, but I really doubt we will need them.

The lounge & bar are at one end of the 3rd floor. Some people are watching a video about Shackleton, but I am studiously ignoring it - this is not a good story to watch while you’re heading for Antarctica. Why not just put on “Titanic” already?

It already feels like I’ve been on the boat for ages, although we only just got on and we haven’t been sailing for even 24 hrs yet. All of that flying, the hotel room, walking in Ushuaia - that seems very far away now.

almost 3 pm - I took another brief walk on the upper decks after lunch and took my binoculars this time to see if I could see anything else - but not much. A lot of waves and a very few birds. They opened the gift shop, warning us that there wasn’t much clothing inventory. I still managed to snag a t-shirt and a sweatshirt.

4:45 pm They offered “afternoon tea” in the lounge just now with chocolate chip cookies. In a few minutes there is (yet another) presentation, the last of today. The Drake Passage continues to feel relatively smooth, but of cousre we have the rest of tonight and all of tomorrow. I can’t sit or lie in my bed anymore - it will prevent me from sleeping tonight. I’ve been struggling to stay alert and it does feel better when I’m laying down. I am pretty convinced that this is the fault of the seasickness patch, making me drowsy. Still, better that than seasickness!

6:00 pm Just got out of the presentation - which was one of the expedition guides doing a powerpoint about his journey into the Antarctic for the Australian gov’t in 1963-4. I ended up clicking the Powerpoint slides for him. Colorful guy. Now I’m back in my room wondering what to do with myself…

I decided on coming down to the lounge, just for a change of scenery. There’s someone sitting right by the piano, de facto guarding it, otherwise I’d sit down to play a bit. [Note - I did, a little later.] All during my walks in Ushuaia I was trying to work out the last song for our show. Sometimes you just can’t help having work thoughts sink in.

and still later I am going to try to make this an early night. All today I was very tired and i can’t blame all that on the seasickness patch. Some of it must also fall on my own poor sleepihg habits.

We are going to cross 60 degrees latitude by tomorrow morning. That is when we’ll officially “be in Antarctica”.

4:43 pm Here on the ship in Room 406! The room is cozy and so far everything’s going great. They took us through the checkpoint where our bags were x-rayed (the sign read “do not bring guns, do not bring explosives, do not bring radioactive material”) and then piled us back on the bus to go to the actual ship - which was funny because the ship was not 200 feet away. We boarded and handed in our passports, then went right up to the rooms. I haven’t really unpacked - I figure I can always do that later if I find that my things are not accessible enough.

10:36 pm First night sleeping aboard and so far I love being here. Everyone is very friendly. I have a nice roommate named Diane, from Canada, who was originally going on the ship that unfortunately sank a while back. I have also been sitting with Lucy and her kids Abby and Josh. They’re from London. We were picked up from the same flight in Ushuaia and all stayed at the same hotel. And on the bus I met a professor who used to work at Brown.

Here I just got into bed thinking I was going to catch up on writing and go to sleep but they have just announced that they are dropping off the boat pilot and I think I want to tape that for the kids. THEN I’ll go to sleep. Breakfast is at 8 tomorrow and they’re waking up up at 7:30, but I might get up earlier and take a shower.

about 11 OK, the pilot is officially on his way back to Ushuaia and I am officially back in bed!

Tonight we are entering the Drake Passage, and it could get a little (or a lot) rough. Hopefully it won’t.

Ship decks:

• 6 - outermost - good view
• 5 - bridge (I went in earlier), library
• 4 - my room
• 3 dining hall, lounge
• 2 & 1 - have not been down there yet!

Earlier today we had a buffet afternoon snack to welcome us to the boat, and then after watching us take off, we had a lifeboat drill. They encouraged us to dress as though it were the real thing, and take anything with us that we would need, like medication. Climbing into the lifeboat was optional, but of course I did it. I took some pictures of the inside of the boat (as well as of the instruments on the bridge). I love all the little warning signs and little notices as you walk around. I am trying to keep track of all those little details, to present the realistic picture when I get back. It’s amazing how much has happened when we have only been on board for a few hours!

I’m so thankful for how everything has gone so far. I was so tense trying to make sure I connected all the dots. Now I can relax. Finally!

morning about 8:15, Friday the 21st (of December 2007)

I’m ridiculously thirsty despite the enormous bottle of water I began to guzzle last night…

HAB 22 - CHOQUEAR CORREO

This note was waiting for me at the front desk when I checked in yesterday. They had to re-do one of my flights and so now when I get into Buenos Aires on the night of the 2nd/morning of the 3rd, I won’t go to a hotel but right to the international airport. Then I get into Colombia rather earlier. Which - I guess that’s neither here nor there. The airport seemed pretty safe considering there were police swarming around checking everything.

So I’ve decided not to take the hike after all today. I woke up so tired and wanting to relax that I think it’s best not to push. I’ll take my time this morning and perhaps catch up on writing and even a little reading or drawing. I’d like to describe things a bit better.

And maybe I’ll go into town and mail a postcard or two. One to school and one to home? In a way I’d rather not mail them. It takes so long and is more expensive. On the other hand, when you do receive it, it’s neat to have the proof that the person was really there. Well, in this case, there’s no other way to get one of these postcards so it’s sufficient that I have them. They were 2 pesos each. I ended up changing probably about $60 altogether into pesos. I paid for breakfast at AEP Jorge Newbury [domestic airport in Buenos Aires] and dinner last night at the little mall in Ushuaia. Starting today, it’s back to dollars. The ship uses US dollars as its currency.

Did it ever get completely dark last night? I couldn’t say. When I peeked out of the curtains about 10:30 it was only twilight. When I opened them again at 7:45 this morning the sun was already full in the sky. What a contrast from the wintery shroud of night found back home. Actually I just remembered - today’s the 21st, the solstice. The longest day of the year here.

So today is the last half day before vacation at school. I checked my school email yesterday and saw that a growing number of kids and staff have been attritioning out. Like me. My morning class may be a bit underpopulated today. They had already lost several early in the week. I hope everything is going well there. I felt a bit guilty asking Laura to cover everything alone.

Only a little, though.

I’m alone in the breakfast room quite enjoying the quiet sunlit peacefulness. The room is warm and friendly with classical music floating in the background.

11:45 am I’m getting shaky again. Nervous about the ship. Getting my luggage, for one thing - any time people are picking up your bags and moving them for you, and you don’t personally watch it happen, that is unnerving. Also, the seasickness patch. I know I do need it - I just wish I didn’t. I don’t like side effects and I don’t like not knowing what it is doing to my body.

I’m eating lunch at a nice little place that has sandwiches and coffee. I wish I’d known this was here yesterday because I much prefer it to the mall food I had yesterday.

I’m not anxious to be on the move again. It started to rain. I’m not sorry I skipped the hike. It’s just too much all in one day. As it is I’m tired and grateful to be taking a break from walking. I walked all the way into the shopping area from the hotel - probably a few miles. Then I walked through the shops. Part of me could have just sat at the hotel all morning. But I was getting restless. I wanted to be closer to where I eventually needed to be.

What’s amazing to me about this little section of the city is the balance it strikes between tourist and regular shopper. A refreshing number of the shops are not tourist oriented. As a consequence, you see plenty of normal people walking around, not just folks with backpacks (of which I am one - though I am not carrying it on my back, since I need to be able to see where my valuables are at all times)

2:03 pm Continued my little stroll and found where all the souvenir shops had been hiding. All concentrated near the port (of course) as well as the restaurants. I got postcards, a few magnets, a hat for myself with earflaps and a drawstring closure, and a map. Now we’re down to the last few hours and I am going to apply the seasickness patch. Then I’ll walk down to the pier and take some photographs before it’s time to board. (Also, figure out where the meeting place even is!)

I’m feeling nervous, more out of not knowing what is going to happen than fearing what might go wrong. You would think I’d never traveled before! I am probably riling myself up - focusing too much on my own anxiety. So I’ll stop. I’ll focus on something else. Of course, being here, there isn’t anything else naturally presenting itself. Everything here is geared to tourism. It’s all “Fin del Mundo” and “Pinguins” and “Antartida” in every store and on every sign.

Maybe this is my problem - all this “end of the world” stuff. Feels very biblical.

It’s fun to look around and guess who’s going to be on the boat. My ship was one of 6 or 7 parked at the dock, but I don’t know what was leaving or returning or hanging out for a day. There are about 100 people walking around this little town who will be on the boat with me. You can tell some people easier by the boots, waterproof pants, etc. I didn’t wear my “real” gear today figuring we were only going to be boarding and setting sail at night. We aren’t really going to be doing anything yet. Probably just the safety drill and getting settled in. And then there are some days at sea. I will have time to ease in.

3:45 pm I’ve loaded onto the bus in the parking lot by the pier, had my name checked off, and handed in my flight itinerary so they can reconfirm the flights. I’m not sure if this is the effects of the patch, but I’m definitely feeling a little sleepy. Maybe I’m only imagining it because of the psychosomatic effects of reading the packaging…

One of the coolest websites I’ve seen in a long time is dipity.com. You can create an interactive timeline by inputing your own events and (the genuis part) adding feeds from blogs or websites. You can include google maps, images, and video links to go along with what you’ve added.

Just to play around, I created one for myself:
http://www.dipity.com/user/lfischler/timeline/Lisa_F/list