Politicians and Penguins

My level of love for animals is mostly restricted to our two little fluff-balls at home, whose vet and kibble bills top the GDP of several small nations. Mrs. Dalai, however, LOVES animals, especially penguins. And so, when deciding where to go for our next big trip, she was quite clear on where she wanted to go. Antarctica!When Mrs. Dalai speaks, I listen. And so, we are presently on a ship traversing the Drake Passage, and will indeed reach Antarctica by tomorrow morning.Yes, it ' s getting colder...Supposedly the temperatures on the Antarctic Peninsula itself will be in the low 30 ' s Fahrenheit, not quite as bad as I expected. We started the cruise in Valparaiso, Chile, heading down the west coast of South America, stopping at various ports in Chile, and then Ushuaia, Argentina, the southern-most city in the world. From Puerto Montt, we bussed to the Pertohue Falls:On the island of Chiloe ' , we visited a number of wooden churches, designated UNESCO World Heritage sites, and thesepalafitos, houses on stilts, in the city of Castro. From Punta Arenas, we took a speedboat to Magdalena Island, and finally saw penguins! There are a number of penguin species, and these are Magellenic, also known as Jack Ass Penguins. There are a number of glaciers this far south, including this one in the Chilean Fjords:And tomorrow, we reach our first adventure stop, Half Moon Island, in the South Shetlands just off the coast of Antarctica. We ' ll be here for a week, with ...
Source: Dalai's PACS Blog - Category: Radiology Source Type: blogs