05.12. Day 1 Punta Arenas: 2 days till departure

So, day one or maybe day two, but really day -2 to departure.

After 18 hours flight and 12 hours layover in Santiago I arrived in Punta Arenas on Monday 5th Dec at 1 am. Amazing setting for Santiago clustered between the Andes and the sea; but not as attractive as other South American cities; eg Buenos Aires. Punta Arenas on the other hand is a classic Patagonian city on Strait of Magellan, wind swept, cold sea, “thoroughly glacial”, birds, the occasional pinguin. It has a couple of nice early twenty century buildings though, on the traditional Plaza des Armas ( there’s one such plaza in every Chilean town). And some nice gardens on Avenida Cristobal Colon, another local!

Anyway we’re here for two days. Final presentations before the flight to Antarctica. I did a bit of work in the morning; went for a walk on the waterfront; and finally at 5pm went for the briefing and to meet the team….! There’s Rowena the dentist from Leeds; and Steve from York (who climbed with Nims); there’s Saray the African record holder; two nice Australians and then Kenton and Rob.

Apart from me and the Australians, they are all Everest “summitters” if the word exists. Most are going to stay the whole month and do both Vinson and the pole. We all enjoyed a nice dinner together (paid from ALE). I made friends with the Australians but the group seems to gel together nicely. Our contact here is Alberto. A nice young guy with very long hair. Tomorrow our Antarctica luggage gets collected and then we wait…. for the plane!!!!