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Antarctica Voyage on Ocean Nova and Patagonia journey

By : Sergey Semenchinskiy
Trip Begins December 3, 2010
Trip Ends December 30, 2010

We had an unbelievable vacation this winter. We made a 20 thousand mile trip across half of the world. We had 15 stops in 27 days in Argentina, Chile and at several Antarctic Islands. We crossed all three natural passages between Atlantic and Pacific oceans including the Magellan Channel, Beagle Channel and Drake Passage, and washed our hands in waters of each of them. We landed at Cape Horn and saw two oceans simultaneously. We saw many beautiful lakes, rivers, waterfalls and glaciers in the National Parks, a lot of wild animals and birds on islands and roads, and magical Patagonian sunsets. But the strongest impression of the trip was Antarctica. It was a very heavy trip. We came back home just before New Years, and slept for several days. Fortunately, it was on New Year's holiday. We are still now under the impression of these amazing travels. But we are already thinking about a new trip.
See my photos : Antarctica Voyage on Ocean Nova and Patagonia journey

Want to go? Ocean Nova Air Cruises: Antarctica Express Air Cruise

I went to: Argentina, Ushuaia, Cape Horn, Antarctica, Drake Passage, South Shetland Islands, King George Island, Chile, Punta Arenas, South America, Antarctic Polar Circle, Antarctic Peninsula, Buenos Aires, Puerto Williams, Puerto Natales, El Calafate, El Chalten, Bariloche
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December 3, 2010
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Introduction

Moscow

The idea for this trip came to us at the end of 2009. That year we had a very interesting trip through North India and the Himalayas. When we came back, my wife Natasha asked me if I had an idea about a next point to see. I said that Cape Horn would be a nice place to go after the Himalayas. I expected she would say that it is impossible, but I was not right. She agreed immediately, and we started to prepare this incredible travel.

But it was not so easy. Having read in the Internet a lot of guides and blogs, I learned that there are no regular passenger boat lines to that cape. The most convenient way I found was to use an Antarctic cruise ship if it has a stop at the cape. The choice was not hard. I chose the Ocean Nova ship. This ship had a stop with a landing at Cape Horn once during the season, on the way from Ushuaia, Argentina to the Antarctic South Shetland Islands.

I asked numerous Russian travel agencies about this tour, but they had no information about it. They offered many other cruises with Ocean Nova, but all of them were very far away from our target.

Fortunately, I found the Adventure Life website. They had all that I wanted, and I booked a five day Antarctic cruise immediately one year in advance. The cruise would start in Ushuaia, Argentina and finish in Punta Arenas, Chile. We have never been before to South America, and wanted to use the chance to see it while we were there.

We spent a whole year finding all the interesting places that were possible to visit on the way, choosing hotels, contacting transport companies, phoning to the other world's end, learning the Spanish phrase book and purchasing the most necessary things. As a result we prepared a grandiose four week travel of 21 thousand miles long, including 1000 km by boat to Antarctica and 2000 km through Patagonia by bus.

The year has passed very quickly, and the day of departure has come. Our adventures began.

December 4, 2010
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Long way to Argentina

Buenos Aires, Argentina

We flew to Buenos Aires from Moscow with flight change at London, and with an additional stop in San Paulo, Brazil. We started from Moscow Domodedovo airport exactly at time, and reached Heathrow, London well. Fortunately our plane to Buenos Aires was not delayed, and we boarded on time also. We had already prepared for launch, but the captain said we need to wait for a processing against icing. We had been waiting about forty minutes, and another twenty minutes were taken by the process. After that the captain said that the line to departure was very long, and we had to wait again. We were sitting in the plane and watching the runway. Planes were going up and down very often. Suddenly all stopped. Nothing moved in the airport. After a few minutes the captain informed us that the tower had lost control because the radio system was broken, and... of course, we have to wait. It took two hours to fix it. At last it was repaired and we flew away.

The night flight above the Atlantic was heavy. It was 12 hours long, and we have already been sitting in our armchairs for a good three hours before it started. We hoped to walk a little bit in San Paulo, but the stewardess disappointed us. She said, that this stop would be very short and we could not leave the plane.

Our plane reached San Paulo with a three and half hour delay. It was very hot there, and maybe that was the reason people were very slow. We spent two hours instead of the twenty minutes scheduled, watching strange operations with containers. And the whole time we were sitting in the plane.

But all things have an end. We landed in Buenos Aires after this 20 hour flight. We paid only for 15 hours, so additional five were a free present from British Airlines. But we were not happy. We reached our hotel at 5 pm local time, 34 hours after we left our home. Our hotel was small and nice, but the best thing we found there were a shower and bed. Nevertheless, we found the strength to go out and walk until the evening to adapt to local time.

December 5, 2010
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First day in Buenos Aires

Buenos Aires, Argentina

At morning we had waked up very early, well before a breakfast. The reason was a bird, which celebrated sunrise at our window. It was about 4 am local time, but my inner clocks showed 10 am Moscow time. My body needed for relaxing, but I couldn't sleep more. I made some exercises and waited for a breakfast, reading guidebooks.

Our hotel was placed in Palermo, a green region of Buenos Aires. We were very tired after yesterday, and decided to spend all day here, visiting parks and gardens. We had got good map of city, but it was difficult to recognize right directions, because of the wrong sun moving. I needed some time to understand that east is now from the right side of the sun, not from left, as usual.

The city was nice! It was late spring here. All trees were green and blossoming. Houses were picturesque, very different one from another. Beautiful flowers were seen in each window and on balconies.

The first our target was Japanese garden, and we found it inside a large park. This garden was created by Japanese community of Buenos Aires, and is a really peaceful place! Here is a large pond surrounded with trees, with some small waterfalls. Multi-colored fishes swam in the pond, and many interesting birds placed around it. We spent here a lot of time, sitting on benches, walking through picturesque bridges and enjoying by the fine morning. We visited here very interesting Japanese art exhibition, and, certainly, a Japanese restaurant. They have English version of the menu, so we managed to found a reasonable meals there. After Japanese garden we had attended a nice Zoo nearby therefrom and some other places. Buenos Aires was pleasant to us.

December 6, 2010
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How do we get some meals here?

Buenos Aires, Argentina

This day we investigated the center of city, saw the monument, the widest street in the world, Ricoletto church and other well-known sights of Buenos Aires. After that we decided to return to the hotel on foot. According my gps navigator we were about three kilometers from it. On the way we had seen a small cozy restaurant and realized we are hungry. We came in and sat down. The waiter gave us a menu, but it was in Spanish. She also didn't speak English, and our Spanish was restricted by a few words. This situation reminded me of an old joke about foreigners in a Spanish restaurant. They wanted to get some milk, but couldn't explain it. At last one of them drew a cow. The waiter understood and he brought them tickets to a bullfight.

We were more happy, because we found a picture of salad on the menu. I also remembered the word ''pescado'', and my wife said something, which was close enough to ''bread'' in Spanish. As a result we got a lot of bread and two big and tasty salads from fresh vegetables with a good fish.

I need to say here a few words about the sky. It had a special color, not the same as in Europe, and the clouds were very interesting. We watched those two days, and they showed us many different pictures. At last they create an arrow, directed to the south. It was a sign for us to move there.

December 7, 2010
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Fin del Mundo

Ushuaia, Argentina

We got up at 5 am to be in the airport in time to catch our flight to Ushuaia. The flight south took about four hours and was unremarkable, until the landing. The airport, as well as Ushuaia itself, are surrounded by mountains. The only way for the plane to approach the airport is to follow the Beagle channel between mountain ranges. Through the plane windows we saw beautiful glaciers and mountain lakes. The mountains were so close, that sometimes it seemed like the plane was going to touch the white peaks by its wings.

The first surprise in Ushuaia met us in airport. Our entire luggage was checked for fresh fruits, because it is forbidden to bring them here from the continent. An officer tried to take out our apple, but allowed us to eat it before a line. Fortunately we already finished all our oranges and bananas in plane.

The taxi brought us to the hotel, Candelas de Ushuaia, at the cross of Luna and Tolkeyen Street. Looking back, I can say, that it was definitely the best place we stayed for the entire time of the journey! Absolutely amazing, clean, two-story house, with kitchen, barbecue area and anything else you needed. Francisco who runs it is an amazing guy, willing to help every time. We dropped off our luggage and went to town.

Ushuaia is placed along Beagle Channel - the strait between the Atlantic and Pacific oceans. Long ago it was a rich port on the main world's trade way, but its business was killed by the Panama Canal. Nevertheless, Ushuaia is filling well now as a tourism center. Main attractions here are wildlife on the islands and national park. The Port of Ushuaia is only in a few days sailing from Antarctica, and numerous Antarctica cruises start from here.

The city motto is ''the world's end'' (Fin del Mundo). You can read it anywhere. In most shops you can buy postcards with very different pictures, but the same words. They can also put a stamp with the same words on a card, in your passport, or any other place you would choose. You can buy post stamps and send cards anywhere directly from the shop for only two dollars each. We certainly did it and sent a lot of cards to our friends in different countries.

P.S. After two months I need to make one note. The price to send the cards seems to me now a little bit high, because it maybe did not include delivering of the card, but only the post stamp and drop in the mailbox. I think this is the reason no one has received our cards till now.

P.P.S. Today (March 28th) the first postcards have come! That service is not very fast, but it works!

December 8, 2010
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By boat through Beagle Channel

Ushuaia, Argentina

As I had already said, the main touristic attraction here is a trip to the Beagle Channel islands. Certainly we wanted to make it. Yesterday we found several boat tour booking desks at the sea port. There are many possibilities here: boat tours to a lighthouse, Puerto Williams, bird islands and sea-lion or penguin colonies, with landings and without. All were very interesting, but we needed to choose the only one. We rejected Puerto Williams, because it was scheduled during our Antarctic cruise. We also hoped to see many penguins in Antarctica, so we rejected penguins also. Boats were also very different. After some hesitation we had chosen a smallest boat and a half a day excursion to lighthouse, bird islands and sea-lion colonies. A short landing was also promised to us.

I believe our chose was the best! There were only twenty passengers in our ship, and our guide was excellent! She was speaking English well, and told us many interesting things about Beagle Channel, its history, navigation, aborigines and wildlife.

Our boat was small enough to approach very close to the rocks. We could watch seals and cormorants closer than it is usually possible in zoo. Life on the rocks is very active. Everything is moving, flying, jumping screaming, and certainly smelling. We could see all the details of it with the open upper deck of our boat as a good viewpoint, like the balcony in a theater.

We passed also very close to the lighthouse Faro del Fin del Mundo. You can see it in any set of Ushuaia's pictures. Somebody says that it is the world's southernmost lighthouse, but that isn't right because of the Cape Horn lighthouse. May be Faro del Fin del Mundo was built before any more southern lighthouses and was the southernmost one in the past? I don't know.

Our amazing excursion was finished by a walk at one rather large island, where we saw some interesting plants and even a possible site of an ancient Aboriginal village. After that we returned in Ushuaia.

December 9, 2010
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National Park Tierro del Fuego

Ushuaia, Argentina

This morning was very warm and sunny. In our windows we saw blazing snow on mountain peaks and people walking without jackets. It was the best weather for our plans this day. It was reserved for visiting the National nature park Tierro del Fuego.

Our hotel was placed halfway between the city center and the park, so we took a taxi to get there. The taxi dropped us at the ticket office and left. We bought tickets and got a park map.

The park was unexpectedly large. The nearest path was to a Beagle Channel beach, and began at about three kilometers from the tickets office. We walked there cheerfully.

Then the weather changed. Clouds covered the sky, and the wind became very strong. We just saw the water ahead when the rain began. When we reached the coast, everything but the water surface and beach was covered with mist. A family of Magellan Gooses stood near the beginning of the path, waiting for us. Nobody was around, but fortunately the trailhead was marked, and we stepped on it, starting a long 8 km walk to Alakush hostel.

After a few minutes we had reached a wild forest. We hesitated a little bit, wondering if we were going the right way, but met two people, going in the opposite direction. After a hundred meters we had caught up with a group of Americans. Our mood improved, the rain had stopped, and the fog dissipated slightly.

The tail had been washed away by the rain so we went slowly. The weather changes all the time and we were tested by the rain, snow, wind and sun. We saw some birds and nice landscapes. There were many trees, interesting and unusual for us. Some of them were covered by fungus, which looked like yellow golf balls. These balls are named llao-llao, or Indian Bread. It is edible! Unfortunately (or may be fortunately?) we learned about it only later.

It took us about 5 hours to reach Alakush, instead of 3 hours like we expected. We were dirty, wet and cold. Not to make a big point of it! We were very happy, when we entered inside a warm and dry house.

December 10, 2010
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Farewell Ushuaia, good evening, Puerto Williams!

Puerto Williams, Chile

Today was our last morning in Ushuaia. Our arms and legs were not as our own after yesterday's adventure. Nevertheless we got up, made our morning gymnastics and packed our backpacks. After a breakfast we left our luggage for Francisco to watch after and went on one last walk through Ushuaia. We wanted to buy some souvenirs and a lens cover, because I lost mine in the wild forest yesterday.

After shopping we ate lunch. It was not difficult, because the waiters in Ushuaia speak English, and understand, if you point by your finger to another table and say ''the same''.

The seaport in Ushuaia can be seen from downtown because downtown is above the port. It was about two o'clock, when we saw a new blue and white ship at the pier, and recognized our Ocean Nova. It meant that the time to go for our luggage and say goodbye to Francesco had come.

When we came to the pier, the Ocean Nova was the best one of all four ships standing there. We loved our vessel at a glance. At the welcome cocktail the captain said that she is not luxury, but strong and reliable. It's right. There aren't any swimming pools there, but there are cozy salons and large cabins. The library has a good set of books on geography, the Antarctic and Arctic expeditions, wildlife and others. As we could attest later, the restaurant was excellent. And, the main, all international staff here is friendly and very professional.

At about 5pm our ship embarked. All the passengers, about sixty total, were called for a meeting in salon so that we could meet each other. Many countries were represented here. We recognized at least four Indian, one Italian, several Chilean and many Americans. It was surprising for us, but there were 18 Russians. I thought we would be alone here. To add to that, our captain was also Russian! I asked him if Russians are usually on board, and he said he remembered only a team of scuba divers about seven years before and two girls in 2008. So, our cruise was a special one for him also!

The first stop was the Chilean port, Puerto Williams. Our ship moored to a pier at sunset, in a beautiful harbor, surrounded by picturesque mountains. We had a long time to admire it because the boarder and custom procedures were only just finished at midnight.

Here we had our first landing. A bus was standing by to drive us to the Mayor's welcome cocktail party. A local guide told us that Port Williams is a real city with its own Mayor and government, and it is the southern most city of world. It is the real Fin del Mundo, not Ushuaia. He told us that the population of the city is 2,000 people, and apologized for the small bus, because the second bus of the city was busy. He showed us the main points of city like the school, hospital and navy base. The most interesting thing there, in my opinion, is the memorial of a ship, the rescued Shackleton expedition, which belonged to this navy base.

The highlight of the cocktail party was when they passed out waterproof shoes in bright blue bags.

December 11, 2010
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The true Fin del Mundo

Cape Horn, Chile

We awoke at 5 am this morning and went up to the open deck. The sea was rough and wind was very strong. We saw land nearby, but barely because of the mist. During the night we had entered the Atlantic, and were now approaching the Hermite Islands. After an hour, our ship came into a narrow strait between Decet and Freycient Islands. We were in 25 km from Cape Horn. The Captain promised us yesterday a landing at Cape Horn if the weather was good enough. But in my opinion the weather was not good at all. I was worrying about it when the announcer called us for a 'Mandatory Zodiac Briefing'. At that moment we had already stopped and dropped anchor. We were in the harbor of Horn Island. The famous lighthouse was seen a mile from us.

This was our first experience in disembarkation with the zodiacs. The stairway moved up and down for a good meter because of the waves. The zodiacs did the same, but in the opposite direction. One moment it placed a meter below my feet, and few seconds later it was already at my breast. It was a little bit difficult to catch the right moment and step into the zodiac. But three crew members were helping us, and no one was lost.

Our zodiac moored along the black stones of the beach near the bottom of the long wooden stairs. After hiking a bit, we appeared at the flat top of a hill. There were only two objects here. To the left of us there was a lighthouse, and on the right - an albatross, a monument to ships, which were lost here. No trees, no bushes - only grass, surf sound and birds. And infinite ocean surface around.

Strange feelings are arising here inside you. It is unexplainable by words. There are few places all over the world with a strong mystical aura, perceived by anyone. Each of these places has it's own aura, and your feelings are vary in these different places. But anyone understands the power of the place very clearly. I am sure we already had visited at least one such place. It was in Himalayas, at Gange source. And now I felt such power again.

We examined a monument, visited a lighthouse and had bought some souvenirs in a shop. The seller told to us, that the world's edge - Fin del Mundo - is here. It was our third Fin del Mundo in the last 24 hours. I think this one was the true edge. Only an ocean and Antarctica waited us ahead.

December 12, 2010
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Inside a shaker

Drake Passage, Antarctica

I said yesterday that the sea was rough in the morning. I was not right. It was calm compared to the real gall that began at noon when we left Cape Horn. We went south across the Drake Passage. The currents of two oceans meeting here and there's always a strong wind blowing.

The height of the waves had grown, and their forms changed. Now they looked like water pyramids, moving in different directions. The wind became much stronger and all around became grey: The grey sky, grey water, and grey foam on it. Adding to the picture were black and grey birds tirelessly turning over the water.

Our ship was rolled and pitched simultaneously. Loose objects were flying around in the cabins. Our only wish was to lay down. But I understood, that if I lay, I would never get up. So I stood on a open deck with my camera and tried to shoot the birds.

Many of the birds followed our ship. There were at least two gigantic south petrels, several different albatrosses, cape petrels and others. All of them had joined us in Ushuaia and they had been sleeping this night on our fifth deck, between the zodiac boats stored there. Now they were flying very fast, in unpredictable directions because of a strong wind. The deck I was standing on was also moving and it was difficult to catch a bird in the viewfinder, and definitely not enough time for focusing and taking a good picture. But I was happy to concentrated on this business, and not the seasickness.

Our doctor told us yesterday about seasickness. He said that the best medicine against it is to wash your hands often and to have only light meals. From our experience, I can add that it is much better not to sit inside, but to watch the waves. My wife was not feeling well before she began to do this. She said that she was feeling good looking at the waves, joining yourself with them and dissolving there. From my experience, I can also advise to chew ginger. Fortunately we had a good piece of a ginger root.

All the salons became empty. In the library, I met only our doctor. He was sad and green. Even dinner in the restaurant could only collect about one third of people. Knives and glasses of wine were flying everywhere, and the announcer asked everyone to hold onto the tables, not to neighbors.

This afternoon the weather became calmer. The water regained its natural green and blue colors, and the sun was even seen a few times through the clouds. We attended two very interesting lectures about Antarctica and a briefing about our schedule for tomorrow. There we learned two exciting pieces of information. We should approach our first Antarctic island tomorrow in the early morning instead of the afternoon, as it was planned before. And we were invited to a wedding, which would take place in Antarctica tomorrow.

December 13, 2010
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Snowstorms, penguins, and wedding in ices

South Shetland Islands, Antarctica

Today was a very long day. We were woken up by an unusual loud noise at 5am. It was an ice blocks gnashing onto the ship's hull. Our ship was passing through a field of ice floes. I put my jacket on and rushed from the cabin. The starboard door was closed, and I tried to open it. But my force was not enough. One big and strong man with a huge photo camera tried to help me. All was in vain! After a few minutes we understood that we were trying to overcome the wind resistance and it was impossible. I crossed a corridor and opened a port side door. On the deck was a thick layer of mixed snow, ice and water. The guardrail was also covered by ice and icicles were hanging from the top. The horizon was closed by a snowstorm, but I could see land through it. We had come to Antarctica! I thought it would be impossible to land today under such conditions. Fortunately the captain had made another decision.

We passed between Livingston and Greenwich islands of the South Shetland group, and dropped anchor near the south side of the last one. After breakfast everybody was called together for a special meeting about our first Antarctic landing. The main rules here are easy. You may not leave anything there as well as take from there, must keep yourself five meters away from any wildlife and don't step on the grass, because it is also a rarity here. Upon leaving the ship, we washed our shoes in a special bath to kill all microbes and other contaminants.

The ceremony of the Antarctic landing includes not only shoe-washing. A crew with several members goes to land with the first boat to explore the cost and mark tracks. After, when we land too, they watch us and help us if we needed it. They also bring with them several ''emergency boxes'', and take them back to the ship only after every last tourist is back on board. Fortunately, there was no cause during our landing to see what is inside of the emergency boxes.

Our zodiac moored at a narrow spit in Yankee harbor, and I made my first step on the land of Antarctica. It was pebbly and covered by snow. The wind was extremely strong, and it was difficult to stay on your feet. The captain had said before that its speed was 60 knots, or about 100 km per hour. There was also a snowstorm, and snow flew in a horizontal direction at high speed. Our sunglasses here were very useful. They protected our eyes not against the sun, but blowing snow and ice. A few meters from our zodiac we saw a colony of about a dozen of skuas. Some of them tried to fly up, but the wind was so strong that they couldn't make it. There we found also a lot of penguins: chinstraps, also called Antarctic penguins. They paid no attention to the nasty weather and were busy with their own lives.

While we had a rest after a first Antarctic landing, our ship changed her position and approached Aitcho Island. After lunch we had a second landing in its beautiful beach. The weather was much better: no wind, no snow. It was a picturesque island, not just pebbles but rocks, earth and even grass. It was much more populated. In addition to chinstrap penguins and skuas, here were gentoos penguins, gulls, and other birds. It was very interesting to watch them, especially the penguins who were awfully funny! But the penguins were not the main attraction here. Most of the people gathered around two sleeping families of sea elephants. They are not the same as their relatives the sea lions. The lions are endlessly moving where as elephants were absolutely motionless.

We returned onboard. Our ship lifted anchor and moved on to another harbor. Our next stop was a wedding ceremony in Antarctic ice.

Here I should add some explanation. One American couple, as it seems to me, from Denver, had decided to get married during our cruise. They had persuaded our captain to make a marriage ceremony. I am sure it was improvisation, because Natasha and I saw preparations for it. We had been sitting in a salon and speaking with one American lady, when a crew member asked her to write a script of ceremony and what the captain should say. This was an hour after our landing on Aitcho Island and she wrote it on a paper napkin.

The wedding ceremony was performed in the late afternoon, on a shore of Greenwich Island, not far away from the Chilean Antarctic base. All the guests and groom landed first. The weather was good for Antarctica and the temperature was near zero Celsius. All of us were dressed in warm jackets and special trousers. Only the happy young man waited for his love in a nice shirt and tie, but with a flower in his shirt pocket.

At last a boat with the captain and bride arrived. The Captain was in his full uniform, but the girl shocked us by her white low-neck dress with open shoulders and a bunch of white flowers on her breast. The ceremony took not more than fifteen minutes. After that they signed all the papers and drank tequila, which is a good change from champagne in Antarctica.

After that we had a nice dinner - not an ordinary one either. It was our last dinner aboard the Ocean Nova and a wedding dinner at the same time. Our restaurant team showed us all that they could do, including their best cakes and songs. Everyone was celebrating together!

We congratulated the newly married couple, left the party and came to the open deck. The evening was incredibly beautiful and our ship was resting in a nice, calm harbor. The sky was nearly clear, and a red Antarctic sun came out of the clouds to take a look at us. We stood on deck a very long time and watched the Antarctic sunset. The colors around us varied as time went on. The glaciers around our harbor were blue, white, yellow and became red at last. Everything became red - clouds, rocks and water. We were dressed in red jackets and our faces were red also. This long unforgettable red evening was our first evening in Antarctica and the last one. It may have been the best one during our journey. We were alone - the only two in boundless Antarctica.

December 14, 2010
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Goodbye, Antarctica

King George Island, South Shetland Islands

After breakfast we had to leave our lovely ship sadly. We all became friends here, both tourists and crew, and now already had to leave.

We were put ashore on King George Island, near the Chilean and Russian Antarctic stations. Spring was in the air. The streams were running, the sun shone and it was warm. Beautiful blue icebergs floated in the bay.

We visited both the Russian and Chilean stations. At the Russian station we received ''Antarctica'' stamp in our passports, and at the Chilean station - a cup of coffee. There was also the world's southern most souvenir shop, where each of us bought something. And then we waited for the plane, throwing snowballs and looking one last time at the Antarctic landscape and our Ocean Nova in a harbor.

The plane brought us over the Drake Passage and Tierro del Fuego to Punto Arenas, Chile. After taking a room in the hotel we took a short walk through the town, but quickly became tired and returned to the hotel to sleep.

December 15, 2010
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At the threshold of Patagonia

Punta Arenas, Chile

Punta Arenas is not a very large town compared to European standards, but it is the biggest one in Chilean Patagonia. It is the capital of the southernmost region of Chile, Magallanes and Antartica Chilena. It sits on the Magellan Straight.

The weather was rather warm, but with cool gusts - may be from the Antarctic, or from any of the nearest oceans. We found the town pure and green. Here there aren't many tourist signs, and the main one is a monument to Magellan in the center of town. Nearby is the cathedral of Punta Arenas and the grand cathedral of Maiden Maria Auxiliadora is not so far from it. We also visited an extremely interesting museum of Patagonia.

Thus our first step in Patagonia was made and our way back to the north began.

December 16, 2010
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Town of backpackers

Puerto Natales, Chile

We left Punta Arenas by bus in the afternoon. Our next stop was Puerto Natales and then onto Torres del Paine Park and the cave of Cueva del Milodon. Puerto Natales is about 250 km north, on the shore of a Pacific Ocean bay. After three hours of driving we arrived there and found our hotel. It was not very easy because of wrong GPS information on the hotel's website. But finally we managed to find it. After that we set up a day bus excursion in Torres del Paine with an English speaking guide and went to buy tickets for the bus tomorrow. According our plan, Puerto Natales would be our last stop in Chile. After it we planned to return in Argentina.

We took a walk through town after it. The town is really small and it's main industry is tourism. It is a gateway to national park Torres del Paine. Every minute we met here groups of backpackers. Every other house we saw was a hostel or restaurant. The weather was cool and windy, and we were hungry. For this reason our walk was finished by a lazy supper in a warm restaurant. The waiter there spoke English very well.

December 17, 2010
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Torres Del Paine and Cueva del Milodon

Puerto Natales, Chile

Our official departure time for the national park bus was 8 am, but we were told that is the time the bus actually leaves town. A bus would take us from the hotel before this and we needed to be ready at 7 am. We did exactly that and were waiting outside our hotel at 7 am. Several buses came and went through our street to stop at other hotels, but not our bus. It finally came at 9 am!

After many professional and interesting lectures about Antarctica while we were aboard the Ocean Nova, our expectations were high for a guide on this tour. For this reason we asked for an English-speaking guide. Unfortunately, our ''English speaking guide'' told us nothing. After her first ''welcome'' the bus radio broke down, and she informed that she could not speak without it.

Even so, without a guide our excursion in the Park was very fascinating. The first stop we made was Cueva del Milodon Natural Monument. As we learned from its description at the park entrance, it was comprised of several caves. However, we had time for only one. I think it was one of the larger caves, because it was unbelievably huge. A hundred years ago in this cave were found remains of the Milodon, a large animal, similar to a big bear. Milodons used to live here about 10,000 years ago. A live replica of it is standing in the cave and is much larger than contemporary bears - about three meters tall.

After the cave, we moved to the Chilean National Park Torres Del Paine. The park covers 180,000 hectares. It is interesting that until 1959 this area was sheep pasture. Now it is recognized by UNESCO as a Biosphere Reserve. ''Paine' is an Indian word meaning blue, and torres means towers in Spanish. This is the name for the three spectacular granite peaks in the middle of the park. In reality they appeared a little bit violet. Glaciers are covering the mountain slopes, and blue icebergs are floating in the numerous beautiful lakes surrounding them. Rivers of the purest waters were running between the lakes. Some of them were running very fast with picturesque waterfalls. As for the wildlife, we saw here guanacos (a kind of llamas), flamingos and many other birds.

We had our first stop after ten minutes of walking to the lake named Gray. While going back to the bus, on the trail we met a Chilean couple from the Ocean Nova cruise. All four of us were glad to see each other, as if meeting some old friend! The Chileans said that they had rented a car and wanted to visit this park on the way home. Can you imagine the possibility of this meeting! We parted three days before several hundreds kilometers from here and there are hundreds of trail in Torres Del Paine!

We spent total about five hours in the park, but felt it was not enough and were envying the people staying here for a few days. It would be a real pleasure to wake up in the camp here and hike around for the entire day! If we have chance to come here again, we would definitely do it!

December 18, 2010
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Back to Argentina. Illegal meals and a full day of Spanish

El Calafate, Argentina

We left Puerto Natales by bus in the morning, and after half an hour reached the border between Chile and Argentina. We passed the Chilean checkpoint quickly, but the Argentinian side was not so easy. All our luggage was taken out and guards checked it with dogs. I thought they found drugs or explosives. The dog flagged one bag that was immediately opened and all its contents taken out and searched. In the end, there was nothing interesting found by the guards. The careful checking took about an hour. At last they finished and we entered into Argentina.

Our first target here was the Perito Moreno Glacier inside Los Glacieres National Park . It is in about 80 km from the town of El Calafate. We reached the town at about 1 pm, checked in to our hotel and asked for a taxi to glacier. While waiting, we took some food from our backpacks and sat to eat. We had fresh fruits, boiled potatoes, eggs and cheese. The hotel's owner asked us, where we had purchased it? We said, that we had bought all of it in Puerto Natales. ''That's impossible!'' said she. ''It is strongly forbidden to bring any foreign food into Argentina, especially fresh fruits!'' Because of her, we now understood what the dogs at the checkpoint were looking for!

The taxi had come, and we met our driver. He was a nice man, but didn't speak a word of English. However, in contrast to yesterday's ''English-speaking guide'', he really liked his work, his town and Patagonia. We realized that language is not a barrier if you have something to say and therefore were able to interpret a lot of information from him. He had got many books in his car including some in English about the glacier, wildlife, geography and history of Patagonia. He spoke to us the entire time in Spanish, but surprisingly we understood him.

We saw the glacier soon after our car entered the park. We were still far away from it, but even from a distance the blue wall across the large gray lake looked spectacular! At that time it was ten minutes before three, and he told us that there was a boat service to look at the glacier from the water, but it only ran until 3 pm. He recommended that we go to the pier first, and we arrived there at ten minutes past three. There was no one on the pier, but some activity on one of the ships gave us a hope. Our driver rushed out from the car, waved a hand at one officer, grabbed a ticket collector girl and returned with two tickets. Then we ran to the boat. It was an extra boat, rented by an excursion group, and the last boat for the day.

From the water the glacier looks mystically. It's edge is a vertical wall of pure ice. The color of the ice changed from opaque white on top to deep blue inside slots. The wall is 70 meters high and moves down by two meters per day. The moving causes a loud nose, and large chunks of ice fall every few minutes into the water. Usually they are crushed into small pieces, but some remain intact and float in water as icebergs.

Our driver met us after the boat trip and continued his tour. He was certainly sent to us by heaven! He showed us the glacier from different points, and in just two hours we saw more than we could see ourselves in an entire day.

We were in awe after viewing Perito Moreno Glacier and traveled in silence on the way back to town. Our driver looked sad, possibly because it was difficult for him not to be talking for such a long time. I tried to find a new subject to talk with him about but failed. Fortunately Natasha broke the silence, when she found a packet of contraband sweets. So we started to speak about Chilean sweets, after that about domestic life and we parted as best friends near our hotel.

December 19, 2010
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The magic of Fitz Roy

El Chalten, Argentina

We were on the bus again going to El Chalten. This town is placed on the other side of the same Los Glaciers National Park we visited yesterday. However, the park is large and the bus ride was three hours to reach it. We were going there to see Fitz Roy Mountain. Our guidebook said that most of the time it is covered by clouds and invisible, but I was hoping we would be lucky.

I saw Fitz Roy immediately when our bus left Road 40 and turned onto a local road along the beautiful Viedma Lake. The weather was nice, and even Viedma Glacier could be seen on the distant side of the lake. Only Fitz Roy was partly covered by clouds, but it was still visible! It dominated above the plains and lake. Its black rocks inside the black clouds looked menacing. There was something magical about it, but I wasn't be sure if it was a white magic. No doubt, it was a real Lord of this land.

We arrived at El Chalten, dropped our backpacks at the hotel and went to the mountains. We didn't want to lose time when the weather was so good. We chose a trail to Lago Torre, because it was the nearest one. The sun was shining, the sky was clear, and all around there was green. It was very warm here, but we were dressed for Antarctica. After a few kilometers of walking we were left with only t-shirts and light trousers on. We came soon to a small but beautiful lake. Unfortunately we hadn't brought our swimsuits with us but we resolved to bring them tomorrow!

After about eight kilometers we reached the upper point of the trail and saw a Lake Blanko and its glacier, which came down from the mountain into the water. We saw also Fitz Roy and the other mountains surrounding it. A few rivers ran from down from the hills, and we heard waterfalls in the distance. Here it was summer, and the weather was hot. It was strange for us after being in the Antarctic snow only a few days ago.

We were back at the hotel after six hours of walking. Fitz Roy stood straight opposite our window and was clear. We admired it for a few hours until the skies became dark. The mountain had been playing with the light, white clouds. Fitz Roy felt our attention and tried to show us all its royal beauty. At last all the clouds disappeared until only one stood above the mountain. It looked like the visible white energy of Fitz Roy, or may be its nimbus or crown. It was magical. And, no doubt, its magic was white.

We said to Fitz Roy ''see you tomorrow'' and went to bed. At the last moment I remembered about the swimsuits and put them along with our towels in a small backpack for tomorrow's sunbathing and swimming.

December 20, 2010
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Rain, rain...

El Chalten, Argentina

Raging wind shakes our ship. Something is squeaking on a deck and the snowstorm knocks on the window. I woke up in the hotel room. No ship, no decks. It was a dream. But the gale-force wind was real, our roof thundered and our house was near to fly out in search for happiness. The rain beat against the windows. No, it wasn't rain. It was a downpour, a wall of water. Nothing could be seen outside. No mountains, no hills, no landscape. Only water. It was impossible even to think about walking outdoors. And we stood in our room, and waited for the weather to change.

We had been sitting in our room until noon, reading about Sir FitzRoy, Charles Darwin and Francisco (Perito) Moreno on the Internet, and learned a lot of interesting things about them. The rain hadn't finished, but became weaker, and we decided to go out. We took all the waterproof clothes we had and went outdoors. We made a circle through town, and crossed a river by bridge. There was a plain track, and we went by it along a river.

In spite of rain and wind, we liked this walk. In any case it was better than sitting in the room. After some time I understood that our ''waterproof'' clothes are not enough waterproof for this rain. I got drenched to the skin, and Natasha said she was the same. We turned back. On the bridge we were met by wind, but we overcame it. At last we came to our room. We were absolutely soaked.

After a half an hour we luxuriated in the lobby of our hotel drinking coffee. We were dressed in dry clothes and firewood was burning in the fireplace. Here was warm and cozy. Only the landscape behind the windows was not the same as yesterday. No hills, no sky, and no Fitz Roy.

December 21, 2010
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Wildlife at National Road and Las Manos Cave

Road 40

We were on-the-way again. It was a long way. We made it today about 600 km by bus via National Road 40. What is Road 40? Why, it is in a list of main touristic attractions of Argentina in our Lonely Planet Guidebook. It was very interesting for us. This reason was enough to buy bus tickets to the north and test it ourselves.

The morning was overcast, but without rain. We left our room #13 at the hotel and changed it for a bus with a big red number 13 on the door.

We didn't want to pass through whole Ruta 40. It would be an very long way - this road is a longest in the world. Our goal was to reach the city of San Carlo de Bariloche on the north side of Patagonia, and it should take two days. Today we were running through open space of south Patagonia. From the West side we saw silhouettes of big mountains, and from the other, Atlantic side - infinite hills and steppes - pampa. Vegetation was poor, mostly grass and rarely a few trees.

The ground here is a mix of pebbles with sand. The first researchers of Patagonia had already said that it was an ocean bottom not so long ago. It is easy to find old cockleshells here.

Inside Santa Cruz province Ruta 40 is covered by pebbles. Many parts of the road are under construction, and we needed to detour them. The road was heavy, and we were moving slowly. It was empty - for a full day we met not more than ten cars. The landscape was the same during a day, and only once we saw a lake and had to crossed a big river. No people, no villages, no services. If something were happen here, there would be no hope for quick help. For the first day of travel we had two stops - at noon at the only gas station we saw, and at a small food shop in late afternoon.

The most interesting thing here are animals, which are often seen near the road. The large herds of sheep are grazed here. It was ridiculously to see, how the clever senior ram drove the herd off the road, having seen our bus. We saw also groups of guanacos. They are nice animals with reddish wool. Guanacos didn't run from us, but stopped in one's path and stood on the lookout with their beautiful eyes. We met also herds of horses, probably, wild, and many ostriches. We saw a lot of others birds here, especially on the water. It was the beginning of summer, and they were busy training the baby birds. We met usually full families of them.

At last stop we had the opportunity to join an excursion to a known Las Manos Cave. A small bus brought us to a picturesque canyon at the Pinturas River. Here we had given helmets and on wooden planked footway we descended into the canyon. Our guide Valeria had pointed to a bus standing at the other side of the huge canyon and told us we were going to this car that was waiting for us. It was a good joke, and all laughed amicably.

The planked footway led us to a large cave, but its entry was closed. No matter for all the interesting rocks covered by prints of human hands were on the outside. It looked as if someone put one hand on a stone and sprayed paint from a tube. There are hundreds, if not thousands of such prints, and some pictures of animals - mostly guanacos, but also trees, circles, prints of ostrich's paws and even a white moon. According Valeria's explanations, the oldest pictures there were animals and hunt scenes, about ten thousand years old and hand prints about two thousand years old. It is very strange, but no human remains were found here. The picture rocks are fenced off from the track by a metal grid to prevent new paintings.

We had been looking at these miracles for about an hour. After that we had reached the end of footway, and one man collected our helmets and brought them back to entry, but Valeria didn't follow. At that moment I became afraid that Valeria's talk about the car was not a joke.

Valeria told us to follow her and went over the handrail. We followed her and went straight down a slope. The canyon had about two hundred meters depth, and small cows peered up at us surprised from its bottom. A not so small river was waiting us there.

Gradually all had gone down and were stopped by river. Then Valeria showed us what we should do. She had taken off her shoes, rolled up trousers and entered into water. We followed and the river was shallow and warm, the water pure and transparent. When we came to the other bank, we walked about a hundred meters barefoot and climbed up a hill of volcanic ash. The ash was warm and soft and it was pleasant for our bare feet.

After putting our shoes on, we had only to rise two hundred meters up towards our goal. The rock before us was almost vertical, but we knew with Valeria we could overcome anything. She led us via imperceptible paths and we went out of canyon in the sunset, an unbelievable and magnificent sunset. I had never seen anything like it. The clouds were as a flame - red and yellow, and the entire heavens were enveloped in flames.

It was very beautiful, but alas we got tired. Our main desire now was to reach the hotel and lie down to sleep. However, this desire was executed only at midnight that night.

December 22, 2010
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Arriving to a starry night

Road 40

Second day on Ruta 40: the road was the same, as yesterday, but now mostly hard-surfaced and we were running faster. Th landscape changed only in late afternoon, about a hundred kilometers before Bariloche: many beautiful lakes, pine forests, and flowers. The road passed close to big mountains that looked like Switzerland, not so much Patagonia.

At about 8 pm we came to Bariloche and reached our hotel. Our backpacks were dusty after Ruta 40, and we were tired. The hotel seemed for us as paradise after two days inside a bus. It was placed above downtown and had an excellent view of the lake.

In the evening we watched the stars. It was a first our starry night in the southern hemisphere. It was all so unusual with the stars big and bright. We saw many new constellations in the sky, like the Southern Cross or Carina. Orion was straight in front of our eyes and even the stars of Pleiades were to be seen, but there was some strangeness in the sky. Pleiades were on the left from Orion, not on the right, as at home. Orion was turned over, as well as other constellations we recognized. The reason was understandable. All the stars were set as usual. There were no any changes in the Universe, but we were standing with our heads down.

December 23, 2010
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First day at Bariloche

Bariloche

Bariloche is a large city by Argentinean standards. It is a resort city inside a lake region, near a Chilean border. After the deserted south it seemed cramped and noisy to us. After Ruta 40 traffic was awful!

This morning we explored Bariloche and found it nice. Of course, it is different from towns in the extreme south of Argentina, which are reachable only for a special contingent of tourists - Adventurers. Bariloche is a typical resort town, for ordinary travelers. We had chosen it to spend our Christmas days. It was a last our stop in Argentina before returning to Moscow.

We spent a full day, looking for interesting souvenirs and walking slowly across town in the direction of the cable road. We wanted to look at the city from above. Unfortunately, the cable road had closed just before we reached it. We left cable road for a future day and returned back to the hotel. By the evening, we already missed our adventures and ordered two excursions in the city vicinity for the next two days.

December 24, 2010
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Black noisy ice and Christmas dinner

Tronador

Today we had a tour to see Tronador mountain. This mount is known by its black glacier. When I read about it in our touristic booklet, I had thought that ''black'' is only the name of the glacier because maybe there are some black rocks there or something like that. However, I was notified that the ice of the glacier is really black. We had never seen a black glacier so I chose this tour.

Tronador mountain is about 90 km away from Bariloche, inside the Nahuel Huapi National Park. We went there by bus, passing lakes, crossing rivers and forest. It was already the fourth National Park in South America for us but certainly not the same as the others. We saw beautiful lakes, rivers and mountains like before, but there were two things I should comment on especially. The first we met on the turn from Road 40 (we drove there along Ruta 40 again!) to the Park. It was a wooden board, which marked a watershed between the Atlantic and Pacific oceans. This watershed is named officially as a main watershed of the Earth, and it was surprising for us to reach it inside Argentina. The second point was Tronador itself.

The name Tronador means Thundering in English. The mountain is covered by a huge glacier, which is constantly moving and making loud noises. Everything else is the same as Perito Moreno Glacier, but Tronador is rounded by mountains and the echo increases the sound. As a result, its noise is similar to a thunder. The color of the ice is also different from the blue Perito Moreno ice. Tronador is a dormant volcano, and not as clean as the mountains around Perito Moreno. The upper side of glacier has natural white and light blue colors. Moving downwards, the ice collects volcanic ashes and other impurities so that the lowest part of the glacier is really black! The water at the bottom of the Tronador Glacier is not transparent and named glacial milk with black ice floes floating in it.

While returning home we remembered that it was Christmas Eve. I asked our guide to drop us not at the hotel, but at nearest supermarket to buy something for Christmas dinner. He asked me what shop I prefer - the nearest one or an open one. I chose the open one. It was a late afternoon, and all the shops were already closed. At last we had found one in downtown.

We had a good kitchen in our small hotel and cooked ourselves a full dinner including fresh salad, soup and chicken. We took our best dress clothes from our backpacks, where they had been waiting for nearly a month. Natasha put on a festive skirt for the first time from home and I had put on lavish white trousers.

Our small family Christmas party started exactly at midnight European time, not local. We sat against a large picture window. Our meal was delicious, the wine was good, our clothes were clean and beautiful, and Huapi Lake was the background for us.

December 25, 2010
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Puerto Blest and Los Cantaros cascade

Puerto Blest

Today we had an wonderful trip by boat on lake Namuel Huapi to Port Blest. There was excellent weather and we saw many gulls flying over our boat.

Port Blest is a small landing stage inside a beautiful forest. We separated from our group and walked alone along tracks in the mountain jungle, rising two hundred meters along the Los Cantaros cascade of waterfalls to a beautiful mountain lake.

We had been sitting for a long time and looking at the water in this peaceful place. We were dissolved in the beauty and felt ourselves as a part of nature. We wouldn't return into civilization, but knew that our journey was ending.

December 26, 2010
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Teleferico

Bariloche

On our last full day in Bariloche we wanted a final look at the city from above and used the cable road, named the ''teleferico'', to go up to the top. So as not to lose our way, we memorized this word by heart. I had known that we needed to use bus number 50 to go there and we caught it! We bought from the driver''dos biletos a teleferico'' and paid him six pesos. We enjoyed the landscape from the bus windows on the drive there.

The bus was almost empty. Gradually, the houses out the window were replaced by woods and the mountains became much closer. I began to doubt where we were going. I had asked the driver about ''teleferico''. He waved by hand behind his head to show that it was already well behind us. We stepped off the bus and found ourselves in a quiet place. We were near a small lake and only a few houses were standing there. The water in the lake was transparent. The weather was nice, but once again we didn't have our swimming suits.

After fifteen minutes the bus had came back - same bus with the same driver. We entered and told him again - ''teleferico''. He had the gall to take from us six peso again!

This time we were on the alert, attentively looked out the window. I asked the driver about teleferico each five minutes. We were not missing it this time! The driver stopped the bus and loudly said ''teleferico''. Thank you very much.

We bought one way cable road tickets in order to enjoy the nice view and walk down on foot. It was not our first hike in the mountains. We discovered it was not a trail but a regular dusty dirt road. After some time we found a small trail down and left the road. The trail passed was winding and passed through the bushes. After a few hundred meters it became sheer vertical drop and discovered that it was not a trail but a dry stream bed. It was too late to go back so we continued our way down. As I remember, it was a very difficult descent and I heard many interesting words come out of Natasha mouth. At last we reached the bottom and found ourselves on a city street not very far away from our hotel. We understood pure happiness then!

December 27, 2010
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Back to civilization

Buenos Aires, Argentina

Farewell, Patagonia! Hello, Civilization! We met you again at Bariloche airport! How nice it was on road 40! We had no other choices - one bus, one road, one person, one hundred kilometers! And we had many flights, but all of them delayed. Thus, as usual, we had to wait!

We reached Buenos Aires at night. As I wrote before, Bariloche seemed busy to us. But now we realized, it was very quiet in comparison with this Buenos Aires! Everything was shiny, flashing, and noisy. Traffic jams were everywhere on the roads. General unrest was in the city and bonfires burned in some streets. The police on motorcycles with sirens rushed up and down the city streets. Our driver hardly found the roundabout road to our hotel. It was in dark because of problems with electricity.

Unfortunately, all comes to pass with time. Today we left a kingdom of nature where we spent three wonderful weeks, and returned to civilization - into the kingdom of the bulldozer and concrete mixer.

December 28, 2010
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Lazy day

Buenos Aires, Argentina

Today we had a lazy day. We slept very long and only went out of the hotel at noon. It was very hot and we managed to find the only nice place around, a botanical garden. We sat in pleasure for several hours in its shadows. After that we arranged a farewell dinner with fresh cherries, melons and other fruits. We were returning to a Moscow winter after tomorrow, we would reminiscence about this warmth as if it was a dream.

December 29, 2010
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Way to home

Buenos Aires, Argentina

Farewell Argentina! We left South America. Our way home was not as long as our trip to Argentina. It happened as it was scheduled, and we reach Moscow at 4pm on the 30th of December, only 20 hours after departure from Buenos Aires.

December 30, 2010
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Epilogue

Moscow

(From Natasha)

Two months have passed already since our journey. Our feelings became calm and we are able to look backwards and analyze our trip. We asked ourselves many questions.

We are surprised how easy it was to go so far away from our home, to the other end of world. It was as though an angel carried us on his wings all thirty four thousands kilometers and said us to ''look here'' and put our attention there. Our journey was a very extreme one. During our Road 40 trip we had been thinking about these extreme conditions. What is that? Extreme isn't a normal walk somewhere and returning home if something went wrong, to leave it for sometime in future.

We took off in planes nine times and landed nine times. We sailed via awfully rough seas. We tasted strong winds as we had never tasted at home. We went along a road in a middle of South America and saw neither a habitation nor car there. We understood what an extreme situation is (time, place or conditions) which you can't leave even if you wish. You must go ahead to the finish. You have to change yourself - change your mind and emotions. You should relax your body, remove any fear and trust in the rudiment of the world, which leads you in the moment of life.

We have met many excellent and friendly people. Some of them were living there, others were traveling. They, as well as we, brought heartfelt love into that corner of the world. And we, all travelers, are serving Earth, to our Mother, to our Home in Space. We give her our love, our admiration, our thanks and our thoughts, and she give us a power, health and joy.

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