From Polar Bears to Penguins – Driving North to South across the Americas
Posted in Argentina, Picture of the Day on Apr 9th, 2009
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Working Hard at Kaiken |
The Material World – On the shores of Fagnano – Daring the weather (Map this!)
Both Neena and I are big fans of the book Material World, where photographer Peter Menzel photographed people from all over the world with all their possessions. One day, while driving we had the idea to do the same with all our things.
Posted in Antarctic, Picture of the Day on Mar 20th, 2009
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On Petermann Island, Antarctic |
Specially abled – An eight dollar squish – Penguins! – Dali landscapes. (Map this!)
It takes a special person to go to Antarctica. To get on a converted Navy ship that takes you through waters so rough that you can barely stand up and lurches so violently that you pray to the God you don’t believe in to have mercy. Mercy that the steak and salmon that you had for dinner in the evening won’t come up in thick partially digested chunks and that the pills you doped up on will keep you comatose till its over. In that sense ‘special’ starts to resemble the politically correct description ‘specially abled’. But our fellow passengers were quite delightful and turned out be a part of the charm of Antarctica, better by far than any other companions we have had on our other previous packaged holidays.
Posted in Argentina, Picture of the Day on Mar 3rd, 2009
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At Onelli |
Perito Moreno – Other glaciers – Calafate. (Map this!)
The Los Glaciares National Park has two sections, El Chalten, in the North, with the famous peak of Fitzroy and Calafate in the South. From here, you can access the famous Perito Moreno glacier, the arrow headed expanse of ice that tumbles into Lago Argentina. Seeing Perito Moreno is quite a sight, huge pieces of ice crash into the lake with a deafening CRACK!. The glacier creaks and groans almost continuously. Various companies offer “treks” on the glacier, presenting a rare opportunity to study glacial crevasses, moraines and lakes.
Posted in Chile, Picture of the Day, Videoblog on Feb 9th, 2009
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Chaitén |
Eruption – Destruction – Disturbance. (Map this!)
“You haven’t heard about the eruption in Chaitén? The Carretera Austral is closed.” , said the man in Temuco. That was the first time we heard about Chaitén; with relief we found that the ferry was still running and we could still do the Carretera Austral.
Posted in Chile, Picture of the Day on Jan 18th, 2009
And food for the brain.
Vinay joined us today and brought all kinds of goodies. Indian snacks, which we have missed a lot…and a seemingly inexhaustible supply of them. And books. Good books in English are hard to find (understandably so) in Central and South America. The pitiable English section in most bookstores contains bestsellers and sometimes translations of the most famous Spanish authors. Now we have a supply that will last the trip. Thanks Fred, Ada, Lakshmi and Vinay!