Hola from Santiago, Chile

Good Morning Friends

We are in Santiago, Chile - the last leg of our journey home. We have had such an amazing adventure and we hate to see it end. Thank you so much for coming along with us -- for reading our postings and for commenting. And to the ex-frammies: Your buddies Ian and Anya really earned their keep on this trip. They and the rest of the crew worked so hard to keep us "afloat" and not "adrift" in all senses of those words. Interesting note - We are actually getting a cash rebate back from Hurtigruten because we missed some landings and returned a day early.

Antarctica --- Would we go back? Who should go? Here are some of my impressions:

It is truly a great wilderness. It takes days to get there and a crossing of treacherous waters. That is what makes it so special. It feels uncharted and there are lots of hazards along the way --- rough waters, many icebergs, extremely changeable weather conditions. If you get sick as two of our passengers did (by the way - the stroke guy is fine and the appendix was a false alarm -- just a bad tummy ache) there is no medical care and evacuation of a patient is almost impossible. (You can buy the medi-vac insurance but it doesn´´t help much if there is no way to get you out.) In the case of our stroke victim -- it was three days before a plane could fly in and and before we could rendezvous with that plane. However, our captain put the care of our sick passengers ahead of the expedition and our priortity was to get them the care they needed. (No Catherine, Marc did not have to perform surgery on board ... but almost!!!)

It is not a journey for the casual traveler. It´s not about sightseeing -- it is truly an expedition and is about exploration. There are no guarantees of what you will see nor is there a guarantee of a set itinerary. You have to put your trust in the hands of the captain and crew and trust that they will give you the best adventure posssible.

We experienced and saw far more than I ever could have expected. The penguins were adorable and funny and more plentiful than ants at a picnic! I will post a few more pictures later today for your enjoyment. The lectures were fastinating and informative.

We loved our ship - The Fram. It is a wonder of engineering and built to navigate the iceberg strewn waters. And, for some still unknown reason, the engine cut off at a very unopportune time. The ability of the Fram to move laterally got us disloged from the glacier. The ship was delightfully comfortable and homey. We would definitely sail on the Fram again.

I definitely recommend this trip for adventure travelers. If you go, be flexible, relax and have the confidence that your expedition team will take you on the adventure of a lifetime. Bring medications. Bring a really good camera with a telephoto lens. Bring a laptop computer to manage your photography and blog to your friends.

On the other hand -- this trip is not for young children and is only for people in good health.

Would we go again? You bet!!!

I will try to post some more penguin shots later.

Late night flight tonight back to New York.