|
What will you do with your one wild and precious life?
Understand the true identity of places around the world
|
21 NOVEMBER 2007
To travel is to discover that everyone is wrong about other countries.
-Aldous Huxley
As I have been sitting in our pre-departure meetings, talking to our college professor and traveling cohort, and talking to family and friends about my upcoming trip, this quote from Huxley keeps flashing through my head.
When you hear the word "Antarctica" what do you think of? I imagine snow, iceburgs, glaciers, penguins and cold. Being from Lake Tahoe and having family in North Dakota I have experienced my fair share of cold weather, but I imagine Antarctica to surpass any cold I have ever experienced. I'm thinking extreme "March of the Penguins" and ship-crushing-ice cold.
I was talking to the kids I work with at Big Brothers, Big Sisters about Antarctica and my expectations when they decided I needed a quick geography refresher. The students reminded me of this little thing called the Earth's Rotational Tilt. Why is this relevant to my visions of snow? While everyone up here in the States will suffering through winter, Patagonia and Antarctica will experiencing the glories of summer. I'm not talking about Cabo during spring break summer weather, but it won't be 129-below-zero either.
Am I going to be disappointed by this vision I have held of Antarctica since first grade? I was almost expecting a winter wonderland, but now I am beginning to realize that I should expect to encounter a moderate Tahoe type winter, complete with sun, mild snow and penguins . . . not that Tahoe has penguins, but you get the idea.
What about my visions of Argentina and Chile? While talking to different people about the Patagonia portion of the trip, I have been amazed by some of the ideas about foreign countries. There is this recurring idea that the people in South American all live in little grass shacks, eat stale bread, and walk 4 miles to get drinking water that is most likely contaminated. On the contrary, Argentina has telephones, television, internet, airports, and one of the top fútbol teams in the world. Enough said. I cannot wait to document my experience in Patagonia and come back to educate everyone.
Who's excited?
Me. Absolutely me.
When you hear the word "Antarctica" what do you think of? I imagine snow, iceburgs, glaciers, penguins and cold. Being from Lake Tahoe and having family in North Dakota I have experienced my fair share of cold weather, but I imagine Antarctica to surpass any cold I have ever experienced. I'm thinking extreme "March of the Penguins" and ship-crushing-ice cold.
I was talking to the kids I work with at Big Brothers, Big Sisters about Antarctica and my expectations when they decided I needed a quick geography refresher. The students reminded me of this little thing called the Earth's Rotational Tilt. Why is this relevant to my visions of snow? While everyone up here in the States will suffering through winter, Patagonia and Antarctica will experiencing the glories of summer. I'm not talking about Cabo during spring break summer weather, but it won't be 129-below-zero either.
Am I going to be disappointed by this vision I have held of Antarctica since first grade? I was almost expecting a winter wonderland, but now I am beginning to realize that I should expect to encounter a moderate Tahoe type winter, complete with sun, mild snow and penguins . . . not that Tahoe has penguins, but you get the idea.
What about my visions of Argentina and Chile? While talking to different people about the Patagonia portion of the trip, I have been amazed by some of the ideas about foreign countries. There is this recurring idea that the people in South American all live in little grass shacks, eat stale bread, and walk 4 miles to get drinking water that is most likely contaminated. On the contrary, Argentina has telephones, television, internet, airports, and one of the top fútbol teams in the world. Enough said. I cannot wait to document my experience in Patagonia and come back to educate everyone.
Who's excited?
Me. Absolutely me.