The Expedition has truly begun. We are here in Punta Arenas, the southernmost city in the world and our next stop is Antarctica. Punta Arenas lies on the shores of the Strait of Magellan, named after the explorer who sailed these waters in 1520. Today, it is the commercial center of southern Chile, although still closely tied to the legend of the great explorer. Local custom says that those who rub the foot of the Magellan statue in the central Plaza de Armas will have good luck — and return once again; we rubbed the foot in 2005 and are now back once again!
Everyone is excited and for the next few days we have lots to do.
We have confirmed with Sue, who is operations manager for Antarctic Logistics, that our expedition gear has arrived, is awaiting clearance through customs and won’t be released until Monday. This is a frustrating delay for us, as we’ll have to wait till then to check our three shipments – of over 4000 pieces of equipment and food! We would have loved to have finalised packing over the weekend.
Two and half years in the planning and our journey to the Pole has arrived. I’m very nervous now and will be until we are landed on the ice with all of our gear. I won’t relax until we have unpacked and checked every single piece of equipment and food and completed our final packing for the last leg of the journey South.
Tomorrow we meet up with Mike Sharp, Sue and Mark from Antarctic logistics.
