Ascuncion

Its hot and humid. Arrival at the airport came with its customary attack of the taxi drivers wanting my custom as I left immigration. Looking for a cash machine and finding none I could get to work I went for the money exchange instead - closed, a boy tagged onto me at this point and took me to a money exchange that was open. I changed some dollars into Guruani - He waited, I had found my new local guide.
A taxi to town was going to be expensive so I asked him to take me to the bus stop, he got me on a bus to the city and in return got a tip of about $4 and went on his way (the taxi was going to cost about $20 so we were both happy, plus the bus only cost 20pence.
The bus driver was a fan of the accelerator and brake in equal messure. Embarking or disembarking this bus was all about timing and split second reactions.
I was going to throw the scrap of a ticket the driver had given me away - lucky I didnt - it was checked twice on the short trip into town, they really dont like fare dodgers.

I wasnt entirely convinced I was on the right bus until I passed a landmark that was shown on my map. The Plasa de Uraguay, a green park the size of a city block - one of the largest in Ascuncion, and it seemed, home to the down and outs and vagrants on the city. It resembled a refugee camp with shelters made of sticks and plastic leaning against the trees. Entire families appear to be living there, cooking, sleeping, eating, existing, all in the park.

Thinking I might be getting close to my hostel I got off the bus, I was facing a sign saying 'Black Cat Hostel', I had arrived

Evacuation

Although I have been in South America for a couple of weeks now and have just finished trekking in Torres del Paine national park, due to rather strange and interesting circumstances I am going to have to start at the end rather than the beginning.

Right now I am in Santiago a few days earlier than expected so I am staying in the city waiting for my flight to Paraguay. This has come about because at the end of my trip in Torres I discovered that there was a strike on in the area so no busses were running – in fact there was no road transport whatsoever as roadblocks were in place around all the towns as part of the protest over fuel price increases by the government. Anyway, this meant that I was stuck in Torres for a couple of extra days until a bus was allowed through by the protesters to evacuate the tourists from the park (food was running a bit short so the authorities were eager to get rid of us). This got me back to Puerto Natales where I was once again trapped due to the roadblocks. The Red Cross had set up in the local school and were organizing buses to the boarder with Argentina (some folk chose to walk the 24km) and had linked up with the Chilean airforce who were putting on flights to Punta Arenas airport. There were hundreds of tourists in the town by this point some sleeping in the school and being fed by the Red Cross; who seemed to be very twitchy about getting foreigners out of the area. I managed to find a hostel but did have free lunch in the refugee camp served by the local scout group – all good fun. It was the most affluent and multicultural refugee camp you are likely to see, with most of the ´refugee backpackers´ sat around using iphones, blackberrys, laptops, etc. Some had been stuck there for over a week.

So I had a couple of nights in Puerto Natales, checking in with the red cross each day to get myself a flight (free by the way!) to Punta. On the morning of the third day I made my way to the Red Cross only to find the place almost deserted, the last few tourists were being ushered onto on of the last buses to the airport, so, like the fall of Saigon I grabbed my backpack and ran for the last bus from the besieged town lest I be left behind. At the airport the Chilean airforce took over and a military plane flew me to Punta Arenas airport which was also surrounded by roadblocks so nobody could get to the town about 30km away without walking. The airforce had put on a soup kitchen and somewhere to bed down for the trapped tourists. I did consider walking to town but I was able to get my ticket brought forwards by a few days and so get out of that mess and to Santiago – which by the way is not suffering from any protests. Unfortunately I got here at 4am and so had to spend a great many of the early hours walking the deserted streets looking for a hostel. I got quite a nice place in the end and so I am sorted for the next few days.

I’ll have to get around to writing about the Torres trip later.

Escape from Rothera

Rothera in winter snow

Well I have now escaped the confines of Rothera and left Antarctica far behind me on my journey into the wider world. I am currently in Punta Arenas (4th Jan) and am heading to Puerto Natales this afternoon. From there I should be going to Torres del Paine national park for about a week before heading back to Puerto Natales and then to Punta for the 21st Jan for my flight to Paraguay. I am planning to be in Paraguay for about 6 weeks so hopefully I will have a chance to add to the blog more once I am there.

Competition winner

I won! With a last minute entry taken on my winter trip this photo won the competition. No fixing or bribery required on this occasion.

After storm pitching the pyramid tent Bruce prepares camp – a windy day on the ice.

I must admit I am quite pleased with this photo, just a quick snap of pitching camp has captured the scene pretty well. The blowing snow, silhouetted campsite, and dark heavy sky make for a moody shot.

With the kudos of taking the winning picture comes the job of making a frame for it, so that should keep me busy in the chippy shop for a couple of evenings.

Photo Competition

 

Each year the wintering team here at Rothera holds a photo competition for everyone with a camera and a little skill to show off their best pictures from the year. The winner has the honour of having their picture framed and hung on the wall with the growing collection of winning photographs from previous winters.

The categories for the competition are pretty varied and include; Landscapes, People, Wildlife, and Base Life.

I am submitting some of the pictures below as these are my best of the season so far.

Dive team and arched berg

 

   Hazy sunrise

 

    Sun Pillar

 

    Dive Team and Sea Ice

 

    Mirrored Berg

 

    Met mast and Star Trails

 

   Moonlit Bay

 

    Tern in Flight

 

   Weddell Seal

 

   Tabular Bergs

 

Incinerator at night

 

Star trails over Ryder Bay

  Sunrise

Sun Halo

Justin with new magazines

 

  Aurora and Star Trails

Antarctic 48 hour film competition

The Antarctic 48 hour film competition is an annual challenge set by the Americans on McMurdo station and is open to all wintering Antarctic stations of every nationality.

The challenge is simple; on Friday evening all competing bases are emailed a set of elements which must be incorporated into the film. This year these were;

• Character: A grumpy diesel mechanic
• Line of Dialogue: Has anybody seen my chicken?
• Sound Effect: Sound of a siren
• Prop: Mop
• Prop: Bottle of mouthwash

Random I know!

Each base then must film and edit their movie in the next 48 hours. These elements ensure that filming only takes place during the weekend of the competition.

All the films are then submitted and compiled online for each base to download and vote on their favourites. The link to all the movies in this years competition is;

http://cid-143586e833b2f7ce.office.live.com/browse.aspx/2010%20Winter%20Film%20Festival

There are some really great movies in there which look incredibly professional, especially when you consider that all the filming, editing, sound, and music was done in only two days.

My favourites and ones you should really watch are;

• KEP; Mission Unmoppable
• Davis; Fitness Month
• McMurdo; Who’s in the Galley
• Scott Base; Big Brother
• and of course: Rothera; From Rothera with Love

All the votes should be in in a few days so we will see how Rothera has faired in the competition.

I’ll try and get a few of the best movies on this blog so you can watch them direct – I cant at the moment as a few have copy write music on them so they get removed :/

Enjoy the movies!

Midwinter

This next blog is one which I have written for the' ‘web-diaries’ of the British Antarctic Survey website. The link to these web pages to see  other diaries from Rothera and the rest of the BAS bases is;

http://www.antarctica.ac.uk/living_and_working/diaries/index.php

June – Midwinter

The month of June is one of great celebration in the Antarctic; it is the month when the days are at their shortest and the sun remains below the horizon. During this month we celebrate the Midwinter solstice, with a weeklong holiday on base centred around Midwinter’s day, the shortest day of the year and one which is full of tradition for Antarctic winterers all over the continent.

Rothera in June

For us at Rothera, June continued where May had left off, with strong winds and drifting snow. This combined with the short daylight meant that outdoor activities were heavily curtailed and some of the more active base members were beginning to get cabin fever. Most folk though were still being kept busy with other tasks, namely completing their winter gifts ready for Midwinter’s day. For myself and several others we were kept especially active by taking part in ‘Race Antarctica’, a challenge within BAS to travel the equivalent distance from the tip of the Antarctic Peninsula to the opposite side of the continent; a journey of 6000km, to be covered as teams of six by running, cycling, rowing, skiing, etc. So throughout June the gym got a lot of use as the miles were racked up.

There were also four birthdays celebrated this month, those of Bruce Maltman, Mike Stainer (AKA Smiler), Jon James (JJ), and Ben Tibbetts.

Creative birthday cakes

On the 10^th June we marked the point at which the sun had set below the horizon (although we had lost sight of the sun several weeks earlier behind the mountains that surround the base). We congregated at the flagpole for Alan (our oldest base member) to lower the flag. This was by now rather worn and tattered (the flag that is not Alan), and back in the canteen, with a cup of tea to warm up again, it was raffled off. Mike our comms man won the flag and it is now his to keep as a memento of the winter.

Flagdown

With Midwinter imminent, plans were made for midwinter’s week and production was stepped up a gear to complete winter presents. All too soon for many, who were still putting on last coats of varnish and polish to their gifts, midwinter arrived and the day began with the illustrious Base Commander (me) delivering breakfast in bed to the folk of Rothera.

After digesting their breakfasts many folk emerged from their beds an hour or two later just in time for brunch. Never known to miss an opportunity to eat, the team sat down and powered through another helping of bacon, egg, sausage, beans, and tomatoes.

Their appetites finally sated it was time to move on to the next task on the agenda; the long standing tradition of watching ’The Thing’, probably one of the finest pieces of cinematic genius ever created, and a true representation of life in the Antarctic. Obviously we no longer have the dogs down here but I am glad to say that the flamethrowers, cupboards packed with explosives, and battling alien foes, are still a daily part of life in this barren wilderness.

At 4pm the evening’s festivities began in the bar with Champagne and canapés as we each gave our midwinter’s presents to their recipients. There were some fantastic and beautifully crafted presents to be seen; I received a framed, hand drawn panorama of the Ellsworth Mountains, a great reminder of my time spent down there. Other presents included an electric powered model skidoo, a handmade quilt, and potentially the oddest present was a framed set of fishing flies, each one made using the hair from each one of the winterers – strange but very nice.

The Midwinter presents

With the Champagne drunk and the presents given it was time for dinner – a lavish affair laid on by Justin our chef, it consisted of eight courses. After the starting courses we had a break from eating in order to head over to the comms tower where we could listen to an HF broadcast by the BBC World Service with a song of our choice (we chose Times Like These by the Foo Fighters) as well as messages from friends and family back home and even a special message from Rolf Harris saying hello to all us Antarctic winterers on the BAS bases.

Then it was back to the dining room for the main course of Marinated Ostrich Steaks with Red Wine Lentils (it really is tough out here in the wilderness). Dinner stretched on for several hours, what with deserts, cheeses, port, coffee, and more wine.

Justin at work and the first course

Midwinter’s Day dinner

The winter Olympics was organised by the GA’s during midwinter’s week and included such events as ski and snowboard slalom, ice climbing, javelin (using bog chisels), skidoo time trails, and box stacking.

Winter Olympics; Ice climbing and Box stacking

Midwinter’s week was also the first outing for the new Rothera band called ‘Snow Rhythm’. Despite the band name they certainly did have rhythm and performed some great covers.

Colette, Alan, and Justin

Snow Rhythm; the Rothera Band

The last big event of midwinter’s week was the pub crawl, when all over base bars spring up for one night only and the tour takes us from the Bonner Lab to Fuchs House and from the Electricians workshop to the Food Bays, each bar with its own theme, which this year included a casino bar, Texas penitentiary, and the bungee bar.

Bar Bungee – attached to the wall by a giant rubber band

For me another winter is passing its halfway point and again I am wishing there was more time left. This is a very special place and each winter team shares a great experience, I am lucky enough to be wintering with a fantastic group of people whom I look at as being much more than just friends and workmates.

Rothera Midwinter postcard

Dickie Hall