htu

Showing posts with label A beauty. Show all posts
Showing posts with label A beauty. Show all posts

"You can't miss Antarctica!" said Fred, while discussing my "Around the World" plans, just less than a year ago. "That way you will hit all of the seven continents."

Fred you are a genius! I will do just that, I went home researched the trip, and it didn't take much to sell the idea to Iza. We booked the lower class price tag of $4,300, on the bottom level "D" deck, without windows and with a shared bathroom. All of our travels in North-Central and South America depended on the November 13th date, from north to south all the way down south.

The day came quicker than we expected, excited with adrenaline rushing we got ready to board the ship. We talked about it, we dreamed about it and now we are finally doing it!

When we arrive to the boarding area, we got escorted by a lovely lady who took us to our cabin. Confusion set in when we started to walk up the stairs, instead of down towards the level "D" deck.

"Agnieszka Czerska and Izabela Kobylarz, welcome aboard, this is your cabin for the next 10 days" she said smiling and closed the door.

"DUDE!!!! What?! I am pretty sure we've paid for the bottom "D" deck, without windows, bunk beds and shared bathroom."

Instead we were sitting confused in a cabin with two twin beds, huge window, and a private bathroom with a blow-dryer. A blow-dryer, yes you read it right, a freaking blow dryer we have not used one in 9 months. Alleluia! So we sat there on our fancy beds, for a good 30 minutes waiting for them to realize that we were in the wrong cabin.

Since no one came we unpacked, and happily laughed about the situation. "This is the happiest day of my life, now all we need is Brian and Ryan and we are set" Iza said with a smile.

Aha yes, let me introduce you to our imaginary Brian and Ryan from New Jersey, who we are going to meet preferably on this voyage. Ryan is a fit handsome guy with curly hair, who will arrive on a brown horse, and sweep Iza away. Brian, with his flowing wavy hair and white linen shirt will appear on his unicorn and take Aga away.

Why from New Jersey? Because it´s funny!

Shortly after we unpacked, we heard an announcement on the speaker to join everybody for a welcome toast by the main bar. Great, lets go have a drink! We sat down next to a younger crowd, immediately got approached by a guy who introduced himself and the rest. Paul was his name, and he was from Australia.

"Thank god there are some backpackers, we are not alone"

We toast and mingled, eventually I started talking to a guy who was sitting next to me, after a short conversation he introduced himself "So, my name is Brian, what is yours?" Hi Bria... Brian? Your name is what?? Brian? I laughed and said "Nice to meet you." I looked at Iza and I just burst out laughing, we couldn't compose ourselves. Didn't we just finished talking about this.

Hilarious!

"Half done, all we need is Ryan now" she said.

Next day. "This is the worst day of my life!" I said while feeling dizzy from sea sickness. We are passing through the Drake Passage, one of the most dangerous waters in the world. During the winter, storms can happen every other day while in the summer less frequent once a week. Some can get really crazy, where the waves might reach 25 meters height. Ushuaia the ship has experience them on their very first voyage to Antarctica. Average waves are about 5 meters height, I would say that on our Drake Passage to Antarctica we had about 5 meter waves, quite normal but even then everything was swaying.

So we have 2.5 days crossing the Drake Passage to Antarctica, 4 days exploring Antarctica and 3 days coming back to Ushuaia.

If we were not puking, and had some energy the crew was really good at keeping us busy with educational workshops, where we learned about the different type of penguins, birds, ice and our motherly ozone layer. For example as you might already know there is a huge hole in the ozone layer, mainly over Antarctica, which adds to the melting ice and wild life changes. The Adelie penguins are moving to cooler places as they are the true Antarctic water lovers, and they love the cold.

In the evening, while the boat continued to sway, some of the more brave ones chilled in the lounge area and sipped on Seman Extra, minty vodka that Travis brought at the duty free, the cheapest one with the name that kept the conversation going. ”You want some more Seman? How much? Which cup? ” and it kept on going “Do you like the way it tastes? A bit minty, no?” ha ha ha… these guys were funny. Iza decided to stay in the room and slowly kill herself with motion sickness.

That night was definitely a night Brian, Ashley and I won’t forget as Ashley, the Canadian, came back from the bathroom with blood gushing out of her thumb. She was white, pale white. The fireproof bathroom door swung hard and smashed her thumb; it was the killer Drake Passage that made it even more powerful. Brian the ballsy one was exposed to our naked Russian Doc who he had to wake up. My motherly instinct hit in and I went with Ashley, and kept her mind of the gushing blood while he stitched the baby up. I killed the pain, I like to think, but she was buzzed so, so note to self no buzzing while the boat is swinging side to side. I need my fingers.

During the day we chilled on the outside decks observing flying things like the Wandering Albatross, the world's biggest albatross. It's also the bird with the biggest wingspan of any living bird. Measured from tip to tip, its wings can reach up to 3.5 meters across (11.5 feet)! They can glide for several hours without moving their wings. And my favorite, they can spend weeks at a time over the open seas without ever reaching land.1 “Some biologists believe that they have the capability of sleeping with one side of the brain while the other still functions” said Susan, the on board biologist. And I say, only if humans would have that power, I can only imagine how much more shit China would produce. MORE crocks, anybody?

After finally arriving into the Aitcho Island, we got a kick of energy when the ship stopped waving and we entered into calmer waters. Shortly after we heard the speaker announcement informing us that the weather is perfect and we will make our first landing on Aitcho Island, an island occupied by colonies of Gentoo penguins.

"YES!! Finally we are going to step our foot on land. We have been waiting for this impatiently!"

The afternoon’s dimmed sunlight gave an amazing view of the Gentoo penguins and their habitats. We saw, hundredths of penguin colonies living life, looking for love, mating and creating nests. They did not care or even noticed that 65 or so humans just landed on their territory. Since they don't have any land predators they are not afraid. If anything they are more concerned that another penguin might steal their rock from the nest. In water is where they are more alert, since they are more likely to be attacked. But with their camouflage design, bellies white so no predator will see them from underneath and black backs so no predators will notice from above they are smart, cute, and funny looking.

"I can´t believe that we are actually here."

Antarctica was not always at the South-est tip of the earth, scientist believe that it was once part of Gondwanaland, adjacent to what is now known as Asia, Africa and Australia, it broke off and it took around 180 million years to migrate to its current position. The climate was not always cold as scientist have discovered dinosaur remains and believe that in fact the climate was tropical.

It’s a bit of a different story now days, as Antarctica is the coldest, windiest, driest continent on earth, during winter the temperatures can reach up to -80C (-112F). That my friends, is freaking cold, perfect condition to store your beers before the game, or kill off all the blood sucking bed bugs.





From Antarctica

Day 1 out of 4, exploring Antarctica.
"Good morning "Antarcticans", the weather is sweet 2.6C, zero wind, perfect day for our first zodiac cruise around the Foyn Harbour. Breakfast will be served at 7:30 and we will begin boarding at 9:00" we woke up to Agustin, our guide singing with happiness.

He wasn't kidding when he said beautiful morning. It was magical. Crisp reflection of the Antarctic waters with mountains and icebergs on the horizon. Early morning’s light made it perfect for surreal shots, probably some of my favorites. We hopped on to the zodiacs and cruised around a world of icebergs covered with snow and icicles. The sun´s rays helped the crystal deep navy water to shine and allowed us to see the massive iceberg´s root. What we see on the outside is usually only quarter of it, most of it is under water. Does Titanic ring a bell?? They crashed into the lonely floating iceberg, which made a great movie out of it!

We were really luckily with the weather; apparently the crew has not seen weather like this in few years. It is rare that you will have, sun, zero wind and comfortable temperatures in Antarctica. It was amazing, 8 people on the zodiac with Agustin, a head guide who was super patient if we wanted to take a picture.

Additional to the amazing cruise through the icebergs, we also passed by a wreck, which was once used as a ship and factory for whales. In the early 1900´s Antarctica was very popular for whales, Elephant and Arctic Fur seals. They caught thousands of whales and Fur seals, to make oil and other things out of them. China learned how to plug the Fur seal´s hair as it was high valued. Thousands of innocent animals were slathered, today only 5% of the whale population remains in the Antarctic waters. As a result of the busy times in the 1900´s lots of wrecks and sunken ships can be found, the one we saw houses many Arctic Terns. When protecting their nest they will get wild and can bomb-dive you.

Second expedition of the day we landed on Brown Station, a burned down Argentinian station which is partially renovated and occupied by the Gentoo penguins. Just few hours later and the weather was totally different, rain, snow and cold wind. I couldn’t feel my toes, Iza looked like her face partially froze, but it was an amazing sight, to see penguins again, occupying human houses. It is mating season, so we also saw lots of penguin action, left and right they were getting it on. “How can you tell if it’s a female penguin? asked Agustin. “Female penguins have little foot prints on their back” ha ha ha ha hilarious!

The day ended with a nice dinner, where everybody continued to get to know each other. Our table seemed to start forming with the regular crowd. Romina, the girl from Switzerland, Ashley the Canadian, Brian, Mat and Mark from UK, Travis, Chris, Paul and Mr. B (Beauden) from Australia. We call Beauden Mr. B as we had a really hard time remembering his name. Mainly backpackers, that booked their voyage at last minute price. Hence, why we are on the upper class cabins, apparently not all were sold, so first come first served. We were staying in a cabin that probably in a high season costs twice as much.

A bit of advice to my friends who are planning to go to Antarctica, get to Ushuaia at the beginning or end of the summer season and you will find last minute deals to Antarctica for much cheaper. When we arrived to Ushuaia we saw several last minute options displaying everywhere, 10 day voyages for $3,500.

At dinner, we cracked about almost everything; laughs kept overtaking the entire dining area. My favorite is when we joked about an Argentinian guy, who was on the ship and kept trying to hook up with every girl. He tried with Iza, Ashley, Romina and me, plus all other chicks on the ship. We called him Mr. Bumbastic!


From Antarctica



Day 2 out of 4, exploring Antarctica.
Before we got ready to board the zodiac heading to Vernadsky station, a Ukrainian station that researches mainly the ozone layer, we jumped into our daily routine of getting ready. First we got dressed like an onion, two pair of pants, under shirt, shirt, fleece, five pair of socks, jacket, plus a waterproof jacket, hat, gloves, rubber boots, life jackets, and backpack. Right before we left the ship we soaked our rubber boots in solution, it is very important not to bring any foreign soil into Antarctica and vs. only then we were ready to head to the station.

The weather conditions were terrible, snowing, raining, windy dark, and cold, just like I imagined Antarctica to be, but perfect time to visit the Ukrainian station. They gave us a tour of the station and then brought us to their bar. We all had a shot of the Ukrainian vodka, talked a bit, and returned to the ship.

Ahhh, vodka it was good to drink you again. It’s been a while as we mainly drink what is local on our travels, rum, rum and more rum. "This is the South-est point on earth that I have a drink." said Iza with a boozed smile.

The second trip of the day we hit up Peterman Island, where we saw different type of penguins like Chinstrap and Adelie. Chinstrap is the second most abundant penguins in the world. Its total breeding population is estimated to be 7.5 million pairs, the majority of which are in the South Sandwich Islands. Penguins have the densest feather arrangement of any bird family, a penguin´s biggest problem isn´t the cold, it is overheating. Heat can escape only from bare areas on their feet, the base of their bill, and from the underside of their flippers. There are 17 species of penguins in the world. We’ve seen only 4 so far.5

We trekked a bit on the white fluffy snow with the gray clouds covering mountains giving off snow, rain and then brightness came out. No sun just lots of UV rays which were harsh on the eyes. It was a remarkable sight of true Antarctic world and beauty, super natural and yet so unreal, a different planet.

Our day ended with a bit extra as we had a bonus zodiac cruise, through dark gray, deep blue hues of icebergs, where we have seen seals chilling on icebergs and heard water dripping from icicles giving off a rare melody.

The highlight of the cruise was when our zodiac driver turned off the engine; we were alone in the middle of icebergs looking at an adult Fur seal. I closed my eyes and just absorbed the melody which changed its beat to breaking ice, moving water and arctic birds, unexplainable feeling.




Day 3 out of 4, exploring Antarctica
This day could not have been described better, than our on board biologist, Susan Adie, who was also in charge of writing the everyday blog.

Here are her words of this remarkable day.

“There is too much ice to get the ship and Zodiacs close to shore to make a landing today. So we are Zodiac cruising in the ice. On a day like today – I wish I was a landscape painter. I would choose Paine’s Gray to paint Antarctica. Not a dreary gray but a magical gray! The gray I am seeing has light and movement in it. It has so many values and hues that it can be silver gray, mercurial gray, blue gray, gray going towards black and pale light thin soft gray. Does that color exist or I am hallucinating? The dense cloud covering is in wisps of countless shades of gray in a translucent veil that covers the sun. You only get the impression that the sun is there! You cannot really see it – you only see its veiled image. The sea, when there is no wind, is mercurial gray – like quick silver. When an all white Snow Petrel flies in lazy circles over that gray sea, its reflection is gray-white. The sea looks like a thick liquid as it moves like a slow motion bubble escaping a boil from underneath, which is actually the black bodies of penguins quietly coming to the surface. Gentoos with their black, white and orange of the beak are reflected in gray tones.

But of course you could not paint Antarctica without black gray. Mountain peaks or sheer cliffs are the darkest hue of gray surrounded by massive areas of white. But the white is gray too! Variations of gray tones are infinite and like a watercolorist fine strokes change across the paper, so do the colors across the icescape on land. Obviously, today in Andvord Bay, one of my favorite bays by the way – it is overcast. Overcast not in a gloomy way but in an enchanting gray way.

I do not know how to describe the softness of this landscape. We sit in silence, engines off contemplating this supernatural world, when out of all the tones of gray a glistening black spear 5 or 6 foot tall breaks the surface. BULL ORCA! AGAIN???!!!! Then we see other dorsal fins scattered among the ice floes. WOW – in one trip, two unique Orca sightings. There is a group of 5 or 6. They are hunting in the pack ice that we are Zodiac cruising in… they are bringing their massive heads above water slowly looking for seals on the ice. These are clearly the black and white orca – hunters of sea mammals. We do not see much of them except when they break the surface to check for feeding opportunities. Then they are gone. We sit for many minutes looking – hoping to get another chance to see them. But they have disappeared in the dense pack ice.” 2

Additional to the wildlife and the beauty, we also had fun!

Our zodiac driver was Mr. Seba, funny, good looking Argentinian, who was easily convinced to attack other zodiacs with a snow ball fight. It was 8 of us including Carolina, the crazy girl who came up with the idea to having a snowball fight, through icebergs, in Antarctica. Why!? Hmmm maybe cus she was already board looking at icebergs, or maybe because she is crazy. So, who else to bombard first, if not Agustin's zodiac. We started the fight and then end up being attacked by all other zodiacs later on. Now, who can say that they had a snowball fight on Antarctic waters using snow from icebergs? You go Hot Toddies! Now if we could only have a Hot Toddy after words.

Ok maybe not a Hot Toddy but what about an outside BBQ on the deck?? Ohh man... when we got back on the ship, the afternoon´s sun was out, the smell of BBQ filled the air. Hungry, exhausted people were fed Chorizos on a bun. The rest of the Parilla (BBQ) was served for dinner. Amazing!!! First, the natural beauty, then the snowball fight, and then the BBQ surrounded by icebergs, beautiful mountains and jumping penguins.

Are you convinced yet that you must absolutely go and experience Antarctica? No? ohh wait it gets better.



Day 4 out of 4, exploring Antarctica
Whalers Bay (Deception Island), in 1906, a Norwegian-Chilean whaling company started using Whalers Bay as a base for a factory ship, the Gobernador Bories. Other whaling operations followed suit, and by 1914 there were 13 factory ships based there. The station did not actually process whale blubber, which was done on the ships, but instead took the carcasses and boiled them down to extract additional whale oil, using large iron boilers, and storing the results in iron tanks.3 Now only the remains are left standing, and it is used as a tour for the tourists, but I will remember this place for the active volcano, where the shore´s sand is nice and warm.

AND

This is also where most expeditions come so the crew can have a laugh and observe the crazy tourists. Apparently it is cool to go swimming in the Arctic waters. Do people wake up one day and say before I die I must swim in Antarctica???

"The weather is perfect, no winds, nice and warm so if you would like to dip into these warm volcanic waters go ahead." said Agustin. Most of the people started to undress, the smarter ones stood there with their video cameras, and the crew just lined up and observed. The crew is mainly made up of guys, so they totally were waiting for all the chics to undress and get into the cold water where "nipple-flytest" was awaiting them.

"Aga, get undressed, we are going in. Come on… let’s go, we can´t be here and not go into the water" Iza was convincing me, while I stood there and contemplated whether I was crazy or not.

So I do just as Iza says, I undressed. I am already freezing before I even take my shirt off. She screams at me to hurry up, it’s already cold. So I try to hurry up. Then eventually we run, we run for the water, boobs flying, ass shacking, we run faster then I ran the triathlon. My feet touched the water, ok kind of warm, so I continue to push my body, and then a fucking thermal shocker. COLD COLD COLD, Nipple-flytesss at its maximum, video cameras are rolling and I don´t know what, when and why they fuck did I just did that. So we run out even faster as we ran in and jetted back to my clothes, pushed the old man on the way, and screamed at Iza “You Crazy Bitch!” Dirt everywhere, we get dressed and head back to the ship. WTF?? was I thinking.

We can officially say that we swam in the Antarctic waters!

After returning on the ship, we got showered and had a warm soup, where some people came up to us and said that they have a video of us running into the water. GREAT! Including Mr. Bumbastic “If he takes one more freaking picture of me, I am going to kill him”

"You know, we still have not got really bad weather, I mean it has been cold but not like a storm or a blizzard yet." Iza said, prior to our next and last landing in Antarctica. Jinxed!!! We barely made it onto the zodiacs, as the weather was crazy, raining, snowing, strong wind, waves were getting rougher and we landed on the Half Moon Island. At this point I was exhausted, cold and I just did the robot move and followed everybody while looking last time at penguins realizing that they are my favorite birds!



Drake Passage back to Ushuaia.
"This is the scariest day of my life" I whisper, as I go upstairs and pack all my necessary things for an emergency evacuation.

"10! A perfect 10! OK – there is never perfection – but it is still a 10. On the Beaufort scale that means a storm. The wind is steady to 50 knots from the NW with gusts to 70k. With very little effort the winds could build into a Beaufort 11, which is a step down from hurricane force winds. The sea state is 10 meter seas from NW also. We have altered course away from Cape Horn and are now steering a more easterly course. This ship was built as a research vessel to withstand the most horrific seas – so I feel completely at east as we roll from 25 to 45 degrees. Even on the 3rd floor above sea level our windows darken as we drop into the troughs of the steep waves. White streamers run off the wave crests."2 Susan's view of the storm.

Susan was calm, but I was shitting in my pants. I guess the only thing that was keeping me sedated where the sea sickness pills, from the Russian doc. They were so strong that at one point in the midst of all the commotion, the entire lounge area was filled with sleeping humans, including Iza and I.

I am sure we rolled to a 45 degree angle, when the Brazilian guy who was sleeping opposite, flew right at me including his couch and coffee table. That’s when I saw my life flash before my eyes, I prayed to god, and I thought of all the people that I knew.

The storm was way above average, and I know it, everything was flying and breaking. All the bars glasses were breaking, chairs where upside down and people where walking at a 40 degree angle.

When the captain announced on the speaker that we entered calmer waters, and we will be protected from the waves by land, I was so relieved.


Movie by Mark Blackburn


"We Survived!!!! I will see you again"

The night ended with captain’s dinner, a certificate ceremony and lots of wine, followed by underground crew’s party.

"ohh no Aga, look it´s a full moon, we should not go down to the party, crazy things happen when we go out when there is a full moon" Iza said with a concern look.

“Ohh come on, it is our last night, we need to celebrate with all the amazing people we became friends with, with who we had great dinners together and who became part of this expedition.”

So we joined the rest of the backpackers and celebrated our survival and the amazing experience we just had in the past 10 days. We mingled with the entire crew from the ship including: cooks, waiters, zodiac drivers, guides and everybody who is in charge of this giant ship.

Dancing, drinking, flirting and all happiness were escaping the ship´s lower deck. One thing for sure, everybody was drunk. So drunk, that most people didn’t get back to their cabins till late, or even maybe very late.

This was a perfect opportunity to get to know some people on higher levels. Since it was mating season, everybody was successful at finding their partners. Except Mr. Bumbastic as he kept roaming the ship freely and peeping in. Let’s just hope no nest building will be required. Brian found Romina, Ashley found Mat, Iza found Mr. B and I? Well let’s just say apparently I am into freckles.

Brian didn’t appear on his unicorn and Ryan still remains unfound.

This was one of the best adventures we had!


click on the slide show to view all of Antarctica photos

References: 1. wikipidia description 2. Blog by Susan Adie http://www.antarpply.com/eng/blog_archive6.php 3. wikipidia description

10 Day Expedition to Antarctica


"You can't miss Antarctica!" said Fred, while discussing my "Around the World" plans, just less than a year ago. "That way you will hit all of the seven continents."

Fred you are a genius! I will do just that, I went home researched the trip, and it didn't take much to sell the idea to Iza. We booked the lower class price tag of $4,300, on the bottom level "D" deck, without windows and with a shared bathroom. All of our travels in North-Central and South America depended on the November 13th date, from north to south all the way down south.

The day came quicker than we expected, excited with adrenaline rushing we got ready to board the ship. We talked about it, we dreamed about it and now we are finally doing it!

When we arrive to the boarding area, we got escorted by a lovely lady who took us to our cabin. Confusion set in when we started to walk up the stairs, instead of down towards the level "D" deck.

"Agnieszka Czerska and Izabela Kobylarz, welcome aboard, this is your cabin for the next 10 days" she said smiling and closed the door.

"DUDE!!!! What?! I am pretty sure we've paid for the bottom "D" deck, without windows, bunk beds and shared bathroom."

Instead we were sitting confused in a cabin with two twin beds, huge window, and a private bathroom with a blow-dryer. A blow-dryer, yes you read it right, a freaking blow dryer we have not used one in 9 months. Alleluia! So we sat there on our fancy beds, for a good 30 minutes waiting for them to realize that we were in the wrong cabin.

Since no one came we unpacked, and happily laughed about the situation. "This is the happiest day of my life, now all we need is Brian and Ryan and we are set" Iza said with a smile.

Aha yes, let me introduce you to our imaginary Brian and Ryan from New Jersey, who we are going to meet preferably on this voyage. Ryan is a fit handsome guy with curly hair, who will arrive on a brown horse, and sweep Iza away. Brian, with his flowing wavy hair and white linen shirt will appear on his unicorn and take Aga away.

Why from New Jersey? Because it´s funny!

Shortly after we unpacked, we heard an announcement on the speaker to join everybody for a welcome toast by the main bar. Great, lets go have a drink! We sat down next to a younger crowd, immediately got approached by a guy who introduced himself and the rest. Paul was his name, and he was from Australia.

"Thank god there are some backpackers, we are not alone"

We toast and mingled, eventually I started talking to a guy who was sitting next to me, after a short conversation he introduced himself "So, my name is Brian, what is yours?" Hi Bria... Brian? Your name is what?? Brian? I laughed and said "Nice to meet you." I looked at Iza and I just burst out laughing, we couldn't compose ourselves. Didn't we just finished talking about this.

Hilarious!

"Half done, all we need is Ryan now" she said.

Next day. "This is the worst day of my life!" I said while feeling dizzy from sea sickness. We are passing through the Drake Passage, one of the most dangerous waters in the world. During the winter, storms can happen every other day while in the summer less frequent once a week. Some can get really crazy, where the waves might reach 25 meters height. Ushuaia the ship has experience them on their very first voyage to Antarctica. Average waves are about 5 meters height, I would say that on our Drake Passage to Antarctica we had about 5 meter waves, quite normal but even then everything was swaying.

So we have 2.5 days crossing the Drake Passage to Antarctica, 4 days exploring Antarctica and 3 days coming back to Ushuaia.

If we were not puking, and had some energy the crew was really good at keeping us busy with educational workshops, where we learned about the different type of penguins, birds, ice and our motherly ozone layer. For example as you might already know there is a huge hole in the ozone layer, mainly over Antarctica, which adds to the melting ice and wild life changes. The Adelie penguins are moving to cooler places as they are the true Antarctic water lovers, and they love the cold.

In the evening, while the boat continued to sway, some of the more brave ones chilled in the lounge area and sipped on Seman Extra, minty vodka that Travis brought at the duty free, the cheapest one with the name that kept the conversation going. ”You want some more Seman? How much? Which cup? ” and it kept on going “Do you like the way it tastes? A bit minty, no?” ha ha ha… these guys were funny. Iza decided to stay in the room and slowly kill herself with motion sickness.

That night was definitely a night Brian, Ashley and I won’t forget as Ashley, the Canadian, came back from the bathroom with blood gushing out of her thumb. She was white, pale white. The fireproof bathroom door swung hard and smashed her thumb; it was the killer Drake Passage that made it even more powerful. Brian the ballsy one was exposed to our naked Russian Doc who he had to wake up. My motherly instinct hit in and I went with Ashley, and kept her mind of the gushing blood while he stitched the baby up. I killed the pain, I like to think, but she was buzzed so, so note to self no buzzing while the boat is swinging side to side. I need my fingers.

During the day we chilled on the outside decks observing flying things like the Wandering Albatross, the world's biggest albatross. It's also the bird with the biggest wingspan of any living bird. Measured from tip to tip, its wings can reach up to 3.5 meters across (11.5 feet)! They can glide for several hours without moving their wings. And my favorite, they can spend weeks at a time over the open seas without ever reaching land.1 “Some biologists believe that they have the capability of sleeping with one side of the brain while the other still functions” said Susan, the on board biologist. And I say, only if humans would have that power, I can only imagine how much more shit China would produce. MORE crocks, anybody?

After finally arriving into the Aitcho Island, we got a kick of energy when the ship stopped waving and we entered into calmer waters. Shortly after we heard the speaker announcement informing us that the weather is perfect and we will make our first landing on Aitcho Island, an island occupied by colonies of Gentoo penguins.

"YES!! Finally we are going to step our foot on land. We have been waiting for this impatiently!"

The afternoon’s dimmed sunlight gave an amazing view of the Gentoo penguins and their habitats. We saw, hundredths of penguin colonies living life, looking for love, mating and creating nests. They did not care or even noticed that 65 or so humans just landed on their territory. Since they don't have any land predators they are not afraid. If anything they are more concerned that another penguin might steal their rock from the nest. In water is where they are more alert, since they are more likely to be attacked. But with their camouflage design, bellies white so no predator will see them from underneath and black backs so no predators will notice from above they are smart, cute, and funny looking.

"I can´t believe that we are actually here."

Antarctica was not always at the South-est tip of the earth, scientist believe that it was once part of Gondwanaland, adjacent to what is now known as Asia, Africa and Australia, it broke off and it took around 180 million years to migrate to its current position. The climate was not always cold as scientist have discovered dinosaur remains and believe that in fact the climate was tropical.

It’s a bit of a different story now days, as Antarctica is the coldest, windiest, driest continent on earth, during winter the temperatures can reach up to -80C (-112F). That my friends, is freaking cold, perfect condition to store your beers before the game, or kill off all the blood sucking bed bugs.





From Antarctica

Day 1 out of 4, exploring Antarctica.
"Good morning "Antarcticans", the weather is sweet 2.6C, zero wind, perfect day for our first zodiac cruise around the Foyn Harbour. Breakfast will be served at 7:30 and we will begin boarding at 9:00" we woke up to Agustin, our guide singing with happiness.

He wasn't kidding when he said beautiful morning. It was magical. Crisp reflection of the Antarctic waters with mountains and icebergs on the horizon. Early morning’s light made it perfect for surreal shots, probably some of my favorites. We hopped on to the zodiacs and cruised around a world of icebergs covered with snow and icicles. The sun´s rays helped the crystal deep navy water to shine and allowed us to see the massive iceberg´s root. What we see on the outside is usually only quarter of it, most of it is under water. Does Titanic ring a bell?? They crashed into the lonely floating iceberg, which made a great movie out of it!

We were really luckily with the weather; apparently the crew has not seen weather like this in few years. It is rare that you will have, sun, zero wind and comfortable temperatures in Antarctica. It was amazing, 8 people on the zodiac with Agustin, a head guide who was super patient if we wanted to take a picture.

Additional to the amazing cruise through the icebergs, we also passed by a wreck, which was once used as a ship and factory for whales. In the early 1900´s Antarctica was very popular for whales, Elephant and Arctic Fur seals. They caught thousands of whales and Fur seals, to make oil and other things out of them. China learned how to plug the Fur seal´s hair as it was high valued. Thousands of innocent animals were slathered, today only 5% of the whale population remains in the Antarctic waters. As a result of the busy times in the 1900´s lots of wrecks and sunken ships can be found, the one we saw houses many Arctic Terns. When protecting their nest they will get wild and can bomb-dive you.

Second expedition of the day we landed on Brown Station, a burned down Argentinian station which is partially renovated and occupied by the Gentoo penguins. Just few hours later and the weather was totally different, rain, snow and cold wind. I couldn’t feel my toes, Iza looked like her face partially froze, but it was an amazing sight, to see penguins again, occupying human houses. It is mating season, so we also saw lots of penguin action, left and right they were getting it on. “How can you tell if it’s a female penguin? asked Agustin. “Female penguins have little foot prints on their back” ha ha ha ha hilarious!

The day ended with a nice dinner, where everybody continued to get to know each other. Our table seemed to start forming with the regular crowd. Romina, the girl from Switzerland, Ashley the Canadian, Brian, Mat and Mark from UK, Travis, Chris, Paul and Mr. B (Beauden) from Australia. We call Beauden Mr. B as we had a really hard time remembering his name. Mainly backpackers, that booked their voyage at last minute price. Hence, why we are on the upper class cabins, apparently not all were sold, so first come first served. We were staying in a cabin that probably in a high season costs twice as much.

A bit of advice to my friends who are planning to go to Antarctica, get to Ushuaia at the beginning or end of the summer season and you will find last minute deals to Antarctica for much cheaper. When we arrived to Ushuaia we saw several last minute options displaying everywhere, 10 day voyages for $3,500.

At dinner, we cracked about almost everything; laughs kept overtaking the entire dining area. My favorite is when we joked about an Argentinian guy, who was on the ship and kept trying to hook up with every girl. He tried with Iza, Ashley, Romina and me, plus all other chicks on the ship. We called him Mr. Bumbastic!


From Antarctica



Day 2 out of 4, exploring Antarctica.
Before we got ready to board the zodiac heading to Vernadsky station, a Ukrainian station that researches mainly the ozone layer, we jumped into our daily routine of getting ready. First we got dressed like an onion, two pair of pants, under shirt, shirt, fleece, five pair of socks, jacket, plus a waterproof jacket, hat, gloves, rubber boots, life jackets, and backpack. Right before we left the ship we soaked our rubber boots in solution, it is very important not to bring any foreign soil into Antarctica and vs. only then we were ready to head to the station.

The weather conditions were terrible, snowing, raining, windy dark, and cold, just like I imagined Antarctica to be, but perfect time to visit the Ukrainian station. They gave us a tour of the station and then brought us to their bar. We all had a shot of the Ukrainian vodka, talked a bit, and returned to the ship.

Ahhh, vodka it was good to drink you again. It’s been a while as we mainly drink what is local on our travels, rum, rum and more rum. "This is the South-est point on earth that I have a drink." said Iza with a boozed smile.

The second trip of the day we hit up Peterman Island, where we saw different type of penguins like Chinstrap and Adelie. Chinstrap is the second most abundant penguins in the world. Its total breeding population is estimated to be 7.5 million pairs, the majority of which are in the South Sandwich Islands. Penguins have the densest feather arrangement of any bird family, a penguin´s biggest problem isn´t the cold, it is overheating. Heat can escape only from bare areas on their feet, the base of their bill, and from the underside of their flippers. There are 17 species of penguins in the world. We’ve seen only 4 so far.5

We trekked a bit on the white fluffy snow with the gray clouds covering mountains giving off snow, rain and then brightness came out. No sun just lots of UV rays which were harsh on the eyes. It was a remarkable sight of true Antarctic world and beauty, super natural and yet so unreal, a different planet.

Our day ended with a bit extra as we had a bonus zodiac cruise, through dark gray, deep blue hues of icebergs, where we have seen seals chilling on icebergs and heard water dripping from icicles giving off a rare melody.

The highlight of the cruise was when our zodiac driver turned off the engine; we were alone in the middle of icebergs looking at an adult Fur seal. I closed my eyes and just absorbed the melody which changed its beat to breaking ice, moving water and arctic birds, unexplainable feeling.




Day 3 out of 4, exploring Antarctica
This day could not have been described better, than our on board biologist, Susan Adie, who was also in charge of writing the everyday blog.

Here are her words of this remarkable day.

“There is too much ice to get the ship and Zodiacs close to shore to make a landing today. So we are Zodiac cruising in the ice. On a day like today – I wish I was a landscape painter. I would choose Paine’s Gray to paint Antarctica. Not a dreary gray but a magical gray! The gray I am seeing has light and movement in it. It has so many values and hues that it can be silver gray, mercurial gray, blue gray, gray going towards black and pale light thin soft gray. Does that color exist or I am hallucinating? The dense cloud covering is in wisps of countless shades of gray in a translucent veil that covers the sun. You only get the impression that the sun is there! You cannot really see it – you only see its veiled image. The sea, when there is no wind, is mercurial gray – like quick silver. When an all white Snow Petrel flies in lazy circles over that gray sea, its reflection is gray-white. The sea looks like a thick liquid as it moves like a slow motion bubble escaping a boil from underneath, which is actually the black bodies of penguins quietly coming to the surface. Gentoos with their black, white and orange of the beak are reflected in gray tones.

But of course you could not paint Antarctica without black gray. Mountain peaks or sheer cliffs are the darkest hue of gray surrounded by massive areas of white. But the white is gray too! Variations of gray tones are infinite and like a watercolorist fine strokes change across the paper, so do the colors across the icescape on land. Obviously, today in Andvord Bay, one of my favorite bays by the way – it is overcast. Overcast not in a gloomy way but in an enchanting gray way.

I do not know how to describe the softness of this landscape. We sit in silence, engines off contemplating this supernatural world, when out of all the tones of gray a glistening black spear 5 or 6 foot tall breaks the surface. BULL ORCA! AGAIN???!!!! Then we see other dorsal fins scattered among the ice floes. WOW – in one trip, two unique Orca sightings. There is a group of 5 or 6. They are hunting in the pack ice that we are Zodiac cruising in… they are bringing their massive heads above water slowly looking for seals on the ice. These are clearly the black and white orca – hunters of sea mammals. We do not see much of them except when they break the surface to check for feeding opportunities. Then they are gone. We sit for many minutes looking – hoping to get another chance to see them. But they have disappeared in the dense pack ice.” 2

Additional to the wildlife and the beauty, we also had fun!

Our zodiac driver was Mr. Seba, funny, good looking Argentinian, who was easily convinced to attack other zodiacs with a snow ball fight. It was 8 of us including Carolina, the crazy girl who came up with the idea to having a snowball fight, through icebergs, in Antarctica. Why!? Hmmm maybe cus she was already board looking at icebergs, or maybe because she is crazy. So, who else to bombard first, if not Agustin's zodiac. We started the fight and then end up being attacked by all other zodiacs later on. Now, who can say that they had a snowball fight on Antarctic waters using snow from icebergs? You go Hot Toddies! Now if we could only have a Hot Toddy after words.

Ok maybe not a Hot Toddy but what about an outside BBQ on the deck?? Ohh man... when we got back on the ship, the afternoon´s sun was out, the smell of BBQ filled the air. Hungry, exhausted people were fed Chorizos on a bun. The rest of the Parilla (BBQ) was served for dinner. Amazing!!! First, the natural beauty, then the snowball fight, and then the BBQ surrounded by icebergs, beautiful mountains and jumping penguins.

Are you convinced yet that you must absolutely go and experience Antarctica? No? ohh wait it gets better.



Day 4 out of 4, exploring Antarctica
Whalers Bay (Deception Island), in 1906, a Norwegian-Chilean whaling company started using Whalers Bay as a base for a factory ship, the Gobernador Bories. Other whaling operations followed suit, and by 1914 there were 13 factory ships based there. The station did not actually process whale blubber, which was done on the ships, but instead took the carcasses and boiled them down to extract additional whale oil, using large iron boilers, and storing the results in iron tanks.3 Now only the remains are left standing, and it is used as a tour for the tourists, but I will remember this place for the active volcano, where the shore´s sand is nice and warm.

AND

This is also where most expeditions come so the crew can have a laugh and observe the crazy tourists. Apparently it is cool to go swimming in the Arctic waters. Do people wake up one day and say before I die I must swim in Antarctica???

"The weather is perfect, no winds, nice and warm so if you would like to dip into these warm volcanic waters go ahead." said Agustin. Most of the people started to undress, the smarter ones stood there with their video cameras, and the crew just lined up and observed. The crew is mainly made up of guys, so they totally were waiting for all the chics to undress and get into the cold water where "nipple-flytest" was awaiting them.

"Aga, get undressed, we are going in. Come on… let’s go, we can´t be here and not go into the water" Iza was convincing me, while I stood there and contemplated whether I was crazy or not.

So I do just as Iza says, I undressed. I am already freezing before I even take my shirt off. She screams at me to hurry up, it’s already cold. So I try to hurry up. Then eventually we run, we run for the water, boobs flying, ass shacking, we run faster then I ran the triathlon. My feet touched the water, ok kind of warm, so I continue to push my body, and then a fucking thermal shocker. COLD COLD COLD, Nipple-flytesss at its maximum, video cameras are rolling and I don´t know what, when and why they fuck did I just did that. So we run out even faster as we ran in and jetted back to my clothes, pushed the old man on the way, and screamed at Iza “You Crazy Bitch!” Dirt everywhere, we get dressed and head back to the ship. WTF?? was I thinking.

We can officially say that we swam in the Antarctic waters!

After returning on the ship, we got showered and had a warm soup, where some people came up to us and said that they have a video of us running into the water. GREAT! Including Mr. Bumbastic “If he takes one more freaking picture of me, I am going to kill him”

"You know, we still have not got really bad weather, I mean it has been cold but not like a storm or a blizzard yet." Iza said, prior to our next and last landing in Antarctica. Jinxed!!! We barely made it onto the zodiacs, as the weather was crazy, raining, snowing, strong wind, waves were getting rougher and we landed on the Half Moon Island. At this point I was exhausted, cold and I just did the robot move and followed everybody while looking last time at penguins realizing that they are my favorite birds!



Drake Passage back to Ushuaia.
"This is the scariest day of my life" I whisper, as I go upstairs and pack all my necessary things for an emergency evacuation.

"10! A perfect 10! OK – there is never perfection – but it is still a 10. On the Beaufort scale that means a storm. The wind is steady to 50 knots from the NW with gusts to 70k. With very little effort the winds could build into a Beaufort 11, which is a step down from hurricane force winds. The sea state is 10 meter seas from NW also. We have altered course away from Cape Horn and are now steering a more easterly course. This ship was built as a research vessel to withstand the most horrific seas – so I feel completely at east as we roll from 25 to 45 degrees. Even on the 3rd floor above sea level our windows darken as we drop into the troughs of the steep waves. White streamers run off the wave crests."2 Susan's view of the storm.

Susan was calm, but I was shitting in my pants. I guess the only thing that was keeping me sedated where the sea sickness pills, from the Russian doc. They were so strong that at one point in the midst of all the commotion, the entire lounge area was filled with sleeping humans, including Iza and I.

I am sure we rolled to a 45 degree angle, when the Brazilian guy who was sleeping opposite, flew right at me including his couch and coffee table. That’s when I saw my life flash before my eyes, I prayed to god, and I thought of all the people that I knew.

The storm was way above average, and I know it, everything was flying and breaking. All the bars glasses were breaking, chairs where upside down and people where walking at a 40 degree angle.

When the captain announced on the speaker that we entered calmer waters, and we will be protected from the waves by land, I was so relieved.


Movie by Mark Blackburn


"We Survived!!!! I will see you again"

The night ended with captain’s dinner, a certificate ceremony and lots of wine, followed by underground crew’s party.

"ohh no Aga, look it´s a full moon, we should not go down to the party, crazy things happen when we go out when there is a full moon" Iza said with a concern look.

“Ohh come on, it is our last night, we need to celebrate with all the amazing people we became friends with, with who we had great dinners together and who became part of this expedition.”

So we joined the rest of the backpackers and celebrated our survival and the amazing experience we just had in the past 10 days. We mingled with the entire crew from the ship including: cooks, waiters, zodiac drivers, guides and everybody who is in charge of this giant ship.

Dancing, drinking, flirting and all happiness were escaping the ship´s lower deck. One thing for sure, everybody was drunk. So drunk, that most people didn’t get back to their cabins till late, or even maybe very late.

This was a perfect opportunity to get to know some people on higher levels. Since it was mating season, everybody was successful at finding their partners. Except Mr. Bumbastic as he kept roaming the ship freely and peeping in. Let’s just hope no nest building will be required. Brian found Romina, Ashley found Mat, Iza found Mr. B and I? Well let’s just say apparently I am into freckles.

Brian didn’t appear on his unicorn and Ryan still remains unfound.

This was one of the best adventures we had!


click on the slide show to view all of Antarctica photos

References: 1. wikipidia description 2. Blog by Susan Adie http://www.antarpply.com/eng/blog_archive6.php 3. wikipidia description

Miss Jenny from the bloc decided to come and join the Hot Toddies tour.

She initially booked her flight for a week, after arrival she quickly changed her mind and she will travel with the toddies till beginning of August. She did all that without the slightest idea what was awaiting her ahead.


"I am meeting up with your first groupie Jenny on Saturday, will give her all the things you wanted" part of my brothers email.

We were excited to have Jenny join us, someone we know!!! Also, she delivered some goodies from the known world.

We met in San Jose, and next day traveled down south to the pacific coast. We cruised along the Pacific coast, unfortunately we crossed a tropical storm where Jenny only saw rain, rain, more rain and occasional sun peak.

After sleeping on moist mattresses and got bitten to flesh by mosquitoes we had enough and decided to head east towards Panama. There was just one place we didn't want to miss before we cross the boarder.

The Corcovado National park. Located in the Osa Peninsula, Costa Rica. "It is widely considered the crown jewel in the extensive system of national parks and biological reserves spread across the country. The ecological variety is quite stunning. National Geographic has called it 'the most biologically intense place on Earth'. The park conserves the largest primary forest on the American Pacific coastline and one of the few remaining sizeable areas of lowland tropical rainforests in the world"

It sounded quite impressive and we just had to check it out. We made our way to Puerto Jimenez, a small fishing town near the entrance to the park. Here is where we signed up for adventure full of surprises.

"You need at least three days for the park. One day to hike to Sirena, a station in the park, one day to hike around in the park, and one day to hike back from the park. The Sirena station is 18km from Carate, you need at least 7 hrs to hike there." Panama informed us, a guy at the Internet café who is also a tour guide.

We purchase a permit, $10 per day per person in the park, $4 per person per day for camping they didn't have beds available. And we rented a tent for 3 people for $8 per day.

It wasn't until we were renting a tent from a local tourist shop, that we found out, that on our 18 km hike we will have to pass a river with crocodiles and bull sharks during high tide.

"Bull sharks!?!?! What!!! Bull shit! No way. I am not going"

The girl at the shop told us when she was crossing the river it was all the way to her chest, and she barely made it through with her bag.

This is when panic entered, and we were concern how in the world we were going to make it over with sharks, crocodiles and us being dry. So, the girls went to a store and bought a blow-up mattress. "It's heavy but we need it."


Packed, dressed and ready to boogie. We left our hotel at 5:30 am, and headed towards a taxi collectivo. With excitement and still sleepy eyes I realized that my bag was quite heavy. Food, tent, and other essential shit there was nothing we could have left behind to make it easier. So the three of us, with backpacks weighting more or less 10kg hopped on the colectivo with a new beginning.

Two hrs in the collectivo on a bumpy road we made it to our trek start.

"wow this is just stunning" on the left was the pacific wild ocean, on the right chaotic green jungle.

Our trek started with 3km on the beach towards the entrance of the national park. Similarly to our hike in Nicaragua it was all laughs and jokes at first.

Then boom!!!! Here is our first obstacle, after 300 meters we came across water!

"ayyy already we have to take our shoes off!!"

We made it across and kept going. No shoes. It was tough, the sand not our friend and drizzles started, Ohh boy we are in for it!

Reached the official entrance station, signed the book and took off with rapid speed as we needed to beat the high tide.

"High tide is at 6, 7, try to cross the river before 4pm." said the ranger at the station.

We took off and really quickly established our places on this trek. Iza the leader, Jenny in the middle, and I in the back making sure nobody was going to be left behind, and the last to get bitten.

Few hours passed and we came across spider monkeys, squirrel monkeys, white-faced capuchin, mantled howler, coati, anteater, and shit load of birds including scarlet macaw, harpy eagle and colonies of ant traffic. Very little people, here and there a group would pass with a tour guide. Everybody seemed to have tour guides but we really didn't want one. Thanks to our last tour guide in Nicaragua, we knew to create our own speed. Plus our tour guide was Iza.



Iza, after 4 hrs, came across her first crisis. "Ok we need to stop. My back is killing me, I can't feel my neck and my legs are shaking."

Right after she said that the rain just started pouring. Our ponchos were in full effect and we kept going. We had to climb huge slippery rocks, with wind and rain drops in our faces. It was no longer fun and enjoyable it got serious. Us vs the wild nature. Belly's crying and day dreaming of peanut butter.


Half an hour passed, the rain gave in and we sat down to munch on our rice, beans, and veggies wrapped in a flour tortilla. Before we knew it, it was time to quickly wrap up and continue as the rain returned. So we put our wet backpacks on and with tons of pain everywhere we rushed to make the low tide.

Walla! Finally after few small rivers, beach, hills, green jungle and 16km later here it is. As we reached the river, there were two guys who have continuously passed us or we passed them. We reunited in front of the river and so excited and scared we allowed them to do the honers and cross first.

They look around for crocodiles and sharks, and dropped their pants. In tighty whitties they began to cross this rapid crocodile, bull shark river.
Kodak moment. Waiting for them to drop low, we observed as the water level only reached up to their shins. And that's how they made it to the other side.

"Hahahahahahaha" I couldn't stop laughing!

"ok girls!! !! I think it's time to take that mattress out and blow it up, looks like we need to transport some things!"

With our shoes soaked we didn't bother to take them off and just crossed the river. The water up to our shins and no croks and sharks in sight. We laugh crossing and stopped for a sneakers bar before continuing the rest of the way.


The rain started to come down hard and at this point nothing helped. The poncho was useless as we were completely soaked. It was raining so hard that I couldn't see ahead, my shoes felt heavy as the water in them squished from side to side. It didn't matter where we stepped puddle or no, it was one big huge stream and we were flowing with it.

Two more kilometers passed and we finally fucking made it.

The Sierra station was quite nice, dry and relaxing.

After putting together our tent, we just plunged on the wooden platform, ate a can of tuna fish and barely moved a muscle.

"holy shit girls! Guess what we have??" I ran up to Iza and Jenny with a huge smile.

"a room?, dry clothes?, dinner is included?? What what!?!?" faces lighten with question.

I laughed with excitement "WiFi"

In the middle of a jungle, there we were checking our friends updates on facebook. The computerized nature. Ahhh how I enjoy! Both worlds in eyes reach.

The rain continued to come down hard and it was a perfect lullaby to fall asleep. That evening we passed out at 8:30 pm.

Day 2.
Woke up, in the middle of the jungle, with puffy eyes. I had no idea what was going on. My eyes would move but my body was a jello.

"where am I?"

The sun peaked through the clouds, the birds were singing, howling monkeys were howling, crickets were singing, and the girls were ready to explore the jungle. Ohh shit, I so was not ready. My shoes, panties, and everything I brought was still wet. I barely moved and I only saw half way through my eyes.

"We are here to trek so lets do it." we put on our wet stuff and took off in the real jungle awaiting to see the unexpected.


After few meters, I was so ready to go back and do nothing. Then we came across another stream where we had to take off our shoes. Ohh man was I so tired of getting my feet wet. I was not enjoying it and I was showing it. Probably first time not pmsing and complaining. Thankfully it was just a shorter distance trek, crossed streams few times, some up hills and occasional pebble jumps. Before I knew it we were back at the station.

I grabbed a blue mat and just layed there without movement until I passed out and had a nice afternoon nap.

Jenny and Iza were also relaxing, had some coffee and kept cracking jokes. Man, that girl Jenny is hilarious!

In the afternoon during high tide, we went down to the beach and another river where during high tide you can see the biggest crocodiles and bull sharks.
Unfortunately we had no luck and didn't see anything except wilderness and huge waves.

At night we bumped into Panama, the guide at the Internet café. He came over and talked to us a bit, offered to take us on a night hike and see frogs and snakes. The girls didn't seem to be interested, and since he only had one pair of extra wet boots, I jumped right into them and went exploring in the search of the red eye frog.

So cool, I saw a red eye frog, bull frog, arrow frog, snake and a huge cricket. Pitch darkness, only two flashlights. I totally had an interview of my life. "how old are you, what do you like, what do you do, where are you from, who is your mother, how many brothers do you have?" and on and on.
At the end of it all, he expressed that he likes me and would love to see me again and give me a massage. Yep that is right additional to his jungle guide knowledge he was also a masseur.

"Panama, I like you!! Only if you were my type."

Right before going to sleep, while laying in the tent, Jenny had a freak out session. No more rain so we heard everything. The night animals, running by looking for food, frogs and crickets making sounds, monkey howling and humans snoring.

"shit, there is something that just ran right by our tent" Jenny screamed with panic.

We didn't really believe her till it happened again and then we all freaked out. The freaks come out at night.


Day 3. Return hike back. Where I almost died.

When we gathered our stuff, is when I realized that my quick dry underwear was gone. I only have three pairs, and I mainly wear two, the third pair is super uncomfortable and up my ass. So now, I only have one good pair. I was so upset, I almost cried. Why would anybody take my underwear?

With backpacks on, we were ready to boogie back. Don't know why but they felt just as heavy as when we were coming, and this time it was minus the food. Maybe it was plus the wet clothes.

This time the river was not a joke. High tide was at 7am and we got there at 9am. It was much more rough and higher water level. We took off our shoes, held hands and got ready to cross. The current was strong, the river rocks were sharp and the water level passed our thighs. With heavy backpacks we wiggled through some rough currents and eventually made it to the other side.

"ohh shit!!! Look! did you see it!! It was a crocodile" Jenny screamed!

Right after we crossed, there was a crocodile that just passed. What!! That was crazy.

We quickly gathered our stuff put on our shoes and ran far away from the deadly river. We continued our journey back. Passed many more obstacles where we had to maneuver through big puddles, streams and the unexpected wrong way oops.

Jenny was the rare Asian, that mosquitoes just fell in love at the first sight, and ate her alive.


"I would love to eat my moms pierogies now. Filed with cheese and potato, topped with bacon bits. What are my friends up to? How did Kara decorate our apartment? I wonder what project I would be working on if I never left Cement works. Is Michelle going to be pregnant by the time I get back? Am I really going to make it around the world?" random thoughts that were popping in while flying through different terrain.

Then with a loud noise from above, a huge huge coconut fell right in front of me. Just missed Jenny and landed right in front of me! Totally took me away from my day dream. It took me about 5 seconds to realized that a second later and I would have been knocked out by a coconut.

Not a crocodile, not a bull shark, not a poisonous snake, but a fucking coconut made the attempt to take me out!

"Next time Mr Palm Tree, safe your bullets for the jungle villains, I still have things to see"

Picked up my head and jumped right back into my day dream.

"for dinner today I am going to make brown rice with shredded carrots, black beans, fried plantains, sauté onions, and ham. Then I am going to mix it all together and put it into a wrap. Avocado on the side. I just need to get hot sauce."

I was drooling, I was hungry, ready to be done. 3km more!!!!

After we made it back, taxi colectivo and all I looked at Jenny and said,

"Jenny you are the true trooper of this trip!!! Through all of this, you fucking hiked with your hot orange crocs!"

- Posted by the Polish girl! Aga.

Costa Rica, Corcovado National Park, we are crazy


Miss Jenny from the bloc decided to come and join the Hot Toddies tour.

She initially booked her flight for a week, after arrival she quickly changed her mind and she will travel with the toddies till beginning of August. She did all that without the slightest idea what was awaiting her ahead.


"I am meeting up with your first groupie Jenny on Saturday, will give her all the things you wanted" part of my brothers email.

We were excited to have Jenny join us, someone we know!!! Also, she delivered some goodies from the known world.

We met in San Jose, and next day traveled down south to the pacific coast. We cruised along the Pacific coast, unfortunately we crossed a tropical storm where Jenny only saw rain, rain, more rain and occasional sun peak.

After sleeping on moist mattresses and got bitten to flesh by mosquitoes we had enough and decided to head east towards Panama. There was just one place we didn't want to miss before we cross the boarder.

The Corcovado National park. Located in the Osa Peninsula, Costa Rica. "It is widely considered the crown jewel in the extensive system of national parks and biological reserves spread across the country. The ecological variety is quite stunning. National Geographic has called it 'the most biologically intense place on Earth'. The park conserves the largest primary forest on the American Pacific coastline and one of the few remaining sizeable areas of lowland tropical rainforests in the world"

It sounded quite impressive and we just had to check it out. We made our way to Puerto Jimenez, a small fishing town near the entrance to the park. Here is where we signed up for adventure full of surprises.

"You need at least three days for the park. One day to hike to Sirena, a station in the park, one day to hike around in the park, and one day to hike back from the park. The Sirena station is 18km from Carate, you need at least 7 hrs to hike there." Panama informed us, a guy at the Internet café who is also a tour guide.

We purchase a permit, $10 per day per person in the park, $4 per person per day for camping they didn't have beds available. And we rented a tent for 3 people for $8 per day.

It wasn't until we were renting a tent from a local tourist shop, that we found out, that on our 18 km hike we will have to pass a river with crocodiles and bull sharks during high tide.

"Bull sharks!?!?! What!!! Bull shit! No way. I am not going"

The girl at the shop told us when she was crossing the river it was all the way to her chest, and she barely made it through with her bag.

This is when panic entered, and we were concern how in the world we were going to make it over with sharks, crocodiles and us being dry. So, the girls went to a store and bought a blow-up mattress. "It's heavy but we need it."


Packed, dressed and ready to boogie. We left our hotel at 5:30 am, and headed towards a taxi collectivo. With excitement and still sleepy eyes I realized that my bag was quite heavy. Food, tent, and other essential shit there was nothing we could have left behind to make it easier. So the three of us, with backpacks weighting more or less 10kg hopped on the colectivo with a new beginning.

Two hrs in the collectivo on a bumpy road we made it to our trek start.

"wow this is just stunning" on the left was the pacific wild ocean, on the right chaotic green jungle.

Our trek started with 3km on the beach towards the entrance of the national park. Similarly to our hike in Nicaragua it was all laughs and jokes at first.

Then boom!!!! Here is our first obstacle, after 300 meters we came across water!

"ayyy already we have to take our shoes off!!"

We made it across and kept going. No shoes. It was tough, the sand not our friend and drizzles started, Ohh boy we are in for it!

Reached the official entrance station, signed the book and took off with rapid speed as we needed to beat the high tide.

"High tide is at 6, 7, try to cross the river before 4pm." said the ranger at the station.

We took off and really quickly established our places on this trek. Iza the leader, Jenny in the middle, and I in the back making sure nobody was going to be left behind, and the last to get bitten.

Few hours passed and we came across spider monkeys, squirrel monkeys, white-faced capuchin, mantled howler, coati, anteater, and shit load of birds including scarlet macaw, harpy eagle and colonies of ant traffic. Very little people, here and there a group would pass with a tour guide. Everybody seemed to have tour guides but we really didn't want one. Thanks to our last tour guide in Nicaragua, we knew to create our own speed. Plus our tour guide was Iza.



Iza, after 4 hrs, came across her first crisis. "Ok we need to stop. My back is killing me, I can't feel my neck and my legs are shaking."

Right after she said that the rain just started pouring. Our ponchos were in full effect and we kept going. We had to climb huge slippery rocks, with wind and rain drops in our faces. It was no longer fun and enjoyable it got serious. Us vs the wild nature. Belly's crying and day dreaming of peanut butter.


Half an hour passed, the rain gave in and we sat down to munch on our rice, beans, and veggies wrapped in a flour tortilla. Before we knew it, it was time to quickly wrap up and continue as the rain returned. So we put our wet backpacks on and with tons of pain everywhere we rushed to make the low tide.

Walla! Finally after few small rivers, beach, hills, green jungle and 16km later here it is. As we reached the river, there were two guys who have continuously passed us or we passed them. We reunited in front of the river and so excited and scared we allowed them to do the honers and cross first.

They look around for crocodiles and sharks, and dropped their pants. In tighty whitties they began to cross this rapid crocodile, bull shark river.
Kodak moment. Waiting for them to drop low, we observed as the water level only reached up to their shins. And that's how they made it to the other side.

"Hahahahahahaha" I couldn't stop laughing!

"ok girls!! !! I think it's time to take that mattress out and blow it up, looks like we need to transport some things!"

With our shoes soaked we didn't bother to take them off and just crossed the river. The water up to our shins and no croks and sharks in sight. We laugh crossing and stopped for a sneakers bar before continuing the rest of the way.


The rain started to come down hard and at this point nothing helped. The poncho was useless as we were completely soaked. It was raining so hard that I couldn't see ahead, my shoes felt heavy as the water in them squished from side to side. It didn't matter where we stepped puddle or no, it was one big huge stream and we were flowing with it.

Two more kilometers passed and we finally fucking made it.

The Sierra station was quite nice, dry and relaxing.

After putting together our tent, we just plunged on the wooden platform, ate a can of tuna fish and barely moved a muscle.

"holy shit girls! Guess what we have??" I ran up to Iza and Jenny with a huge smile.

"a room?, dry clothes?, dinner is included?? What what!?!?" faces lighten with question.

I laughed with excitement "WiFi"

In the middle of a jungle, there we were checking our friends updates on facebook. The computerized nature. Ahhh how I enjoy! Both worlds in eyes reach.

The rain continued to come down hard and it was a perfect lullaby to fall asleep. That evening we passed out at 8:30 pm.

Day 2.
Woke up, in the middle of the jungle, with puffy eyes. I had no idea what was going on. My eyes would move but my body was a jello.

"where am I?"

The sun peaked through the clouds, the birds were singing, howling monkeys were howling, crickets were singing, and the girls were ready to explore the jungle. Ohh shit, I so was not ready. My shoes, panties, and everything I brought was still wet. I barely moved and I only saw half way through my eyes.

"We are here to trek so lets do it." we put on our wet stuff and took off in the real jungle awaiting to see the unexpected.


After few meters, I was so ready to go back and do nothing. Then we came across another stream where we had to take off our shoes. Ohh man was I so tired of getting my feet wet. I was not enjoying it and I was showing it. Probably first time not pmsing and complaining. Thankfully it was just a shorter distance trek, crossed streams few times, some up hills and occasional pebble jumps. Before I knew it we were back at the station.

I grabbed a blue mat and just layed there without movement until I passed out and had a nice afternoon nap.

Jenny and Iza were also relaxing, had some coffee and kept cracking jokes. Man, that girl Jenny is hilarious!

In the afternoon during high tide, we went down to the beach and another river where during high tide you can see the biggest crocodiles and bull sharks.
Unfortunately we had no luck and didn't see anything except wilderness and huge waves.

At night we bumped into Panama, the guide at the Internet café. He came over and talked to us a bit, offered to take us on a night hike and see frogs and snakes. The girls didn't seem to be interested, and since he only had one pair of extra wet boots, I jumped right into them and went exploring in the search of the red eye frog.

So cool, I saw a red eye frog, bull frog, arrow frog, snake and a huge cricket. Pitch darkness, only two flashlights. I totally had an interview of my life. "how old are you, what do you like, what do you do, where are you from, who is your mother, how many brothers do you have?" and on and on.
At the end of it all, he expressed that he likes me and would love to see me again and give me a massage. Yep that is right additional to his jungle guide knowledge he was also a masseur.

"Panama, I like you!! Only if you were my type."

Right before going to sleep, while laying in the tent, Jenny had a freak out session. No more rain so we heard everything. The night animals, running by looking for food, frogs and crickets making sounds, monkey howling and humans snoring.

"shit, there is something that just ran right by our tent" Jenny screamed with panic.

We didn't really believe her till it happened again and then we all freaked out. The freaks come out at night.


Day 3. Return hike back. Where I almost died.

When we gathered our stuff, is when I realized that my quick dry underwear was gone. I only have three pairs, and I mainly wear two, the third pair is super uncomfortable and up my ass. So now, I only have one good pair. I was so upset, I almost cried. Why would anybody take my underwear?

With backpacks on, we were ready to boogie back. Don't know why but they felt just as heavy as when we were coming, and this time it was minus the food. Maybe it was plus the wet clothes.

This time the river was not a joke. High tide was at 7am and we got there at 9am. It was much more rough and higher water level. We took off our shoes, held hands and got ready to cross. The current was strong, the river rocks were sharp and the water level passed our thighs. With heavy backpacks we wiggled through some rough currents and eventually made it to the other side.

"ohh shit!!! Look! did you see it!! It was a crocodile" Jenny screamed!

Right after we crossed, there was a crocodile that just passed. What!! That was crazy.

We quickly gathered our stuff put on our shoes and ran far away from the deadly river. We continued our journey back. Passed many more obstacles where we had to maneuver through big puddles, streams and the unexpected wrong way oops.

Jenny was the rare Asian, that mosquitoes just fell in love at the first sight, and ate her alive.


"I would love to eat my moms pierogies now. Filed with cheese and potato, topped with bacon bits. What are my friends up to? How did Kara decorate our apartment? I wonder what project I would be working on if I never left Cement works. Is Michelle going to be pregnant by the time I get back? Am I really going to make it around the world?" random thoughts that were popping in while flying through different terrain.

Then with a loud noise from above, a huge huge coconut fell right in front of me. Just missed Jenny and landed right in front of me! Totally took me away from my day dream. It took me about 5 seconds to realized that a second later and I would have been knocked out by a coconut.

Not a crocodile, not a bull shark, not a poisonous snake, but a fucking coconut made the attempt to take me out!

"Next time Mr Palm Tree, safe your bullets for the jungle villains, I still have things to see"

Picked up my head and jumped right back into my day dream.

"for dinner today I am going to make brown rice with shredded carrots, black beans, fried plantains, sauté onions, and ham. Then I am going to mix it all together and put it into a wrap. Avocado on the side. I just need to get hot sauce."

I was drooling, I was hungry, ready to be done. 3km more!!!!

After we made it back, taxi colectivo and all I looked at Jenny and said,

"Jenny you are the true trooper of this trip!!! Through all of this, you fucking hiked with your hot orange crocs!"

- Posted by the Polish girl! Aga.

A SHORT STORY

Monia is faster then the speed of light! She joined us for few days and together we started to stomp through the Himalayas, where mountain peaks reach high above the clouds. She is speeding in the front, Iza balanced the middle and I landed in the end, puffing away at the altitude with racing heart.

We started a 10-day trek journey through the Himalayas with many ups and downs leading to one of earth’s most breathtaking vista, the Annapurna.

Day 1. Trekking from Nayapul (1,070m) to Tikhedhungga (1,520m) 3.5 hrs
We said goodbye to our new friends from the Splendid View guesthouse in Pokhara and hopped into a taxi going to Nayapul. Unaware of the difficulties ahead we began the trek in cheer passing through the local market, over a bridge and headed on up to the hills towards Poon Hill. 

Mudslide was the first obstacle; a giant piece of hill broke off and flooded the path with mud and stones. Shoes deep in mud walking on a slant we slowly crossed the mudslide and were greeted with a drizzle that later formed into heavy rain. —There went our cheer. The left over monsoon poured its remains.

— Guys, what is the difference going this direction or that direction? Asked Guy— pointing to a map. This way is straight to Annapurna Base Camp (ABC) and this way you can do a side-kick to Poon Hill where amazing views of snow caps will freeze your eyes.

He smiled and offered his Sneakers bar to Iza, a big smile for the chocolate lover. Shortly after trekking up with the rain we stopped for refill on energies and Guy caught up with us again. He joined us for one of my favorite fried rice with egg and cheese dishes served in Nepal. —Have you heard about the breaking science geek news? They broke the speed of light theory today!— he said. WHAT?!?!? No way, geek or not but this is some seriously cool news. I was right; Monia was faster then the speed of light.

Evening came around quicker then we though and we settled down in a random guesthouse in Tikhedhungga. Monia still jetlag fell asleep ahead of dinner and didn’t make it to our first Himalayan garlic soup.







Day 2 Tikhedhungga (1,520m) to Ghorepani (2,860m) 7.5 hrs
— Lets make it a step-master day!— We climbed over 3,600 stairs in just few hours, up, up and more up. As we were going up, hundreds of goats were running down. Mobs of stained blue and red goats were marching down from Mustang. It was their last week journey running down to the local market, where they were going to be sold as live meat for $300 a pop. It was the Hindus Dasain festival, when each household eats a goat.

Another day of drizzle and rain, our rain gear was on, off and back on again. It eventually didn’t matter and we trekked in silence as the rain kept coming. Wet, cold, and hungry we found warm shelter where we munched on Momos (Nepalese dumplings) and hot soup. After 7.5 hours of climbing up and down we made it to Gorepani, the base for Poon Hill. Exhausted, we splurged on big pasta dish, “freshly” baked apple pie, and topped it with a packaged of Pringles.

Being brave and all, we decided to do this 10 day trek by ourselves, no guide, no porter just a simple map and our own senses for navigation. There is no need to hire a guide for this trek, it’s quite popular we bumped into many other groups with guides, ear dropped on their plans and planned our next moves accordingly to the altitude. Each little village displayed a map of next village’s distance and timetables. When I say village, I mean a bunch of guest-houses geared for Himalayan trekkers. 

We overheard a guide say to wake up at 5am, look out the window and search the dark sky for stars. If there was a star then it was going to be “clare” view and to continue waking up and climbing up 450 meters to Poon Hill.


Day 3 Ghorepani (2,860m) to Poon Hill (3,210m) 45min for Morning view.
 Ghorepani (2,860m) to Chuile (2,309m) 7.5 hrs
Monia opened the curtain saw the star and screamed — It’s “clare” outside. —
Again with her fast speed energy she took off in the dark and I didn’t see her till I got to the top. —Whaaaaa… Poon Hill— a magical place best at sunrise. The Annapurna South, Annapurna I, Machapuchare (fish tail) and Dhaulagiri, shinned in deep yellow as the sunrays beamed brightness on their summits. We snapped away with three cameras deep, as the panorama was simply amazing and worth the “giga” space.

Coming back down was harder then climbing up, the knees were becoming jelly and it was only the third day and it was only 7am. Big breakfast in Ghorepani then we got back on the path to Chuile. My unbreakable Keen shoes, decided to loose the warranty and their soles. — After all the traveling we have been through, they were giving up before I was.— The terrain was overpowering their strength so I had to whip out the Crazy Glue and smack them back up. 

Our walk was becoming faster and unstoppable, as blood sucking leaches were on the hunt. Iza’s blood must be tasty, they loved her shoes and kept trying to climb up to her leg and suck her out. She was freaked out, and kept on moving fast, she passed Monia and took the lead. Monia didn’t care, as she was also furious with the blood-sucking giant maxi that escalated her estrogen levels to speechless frustration and exhaustion.

I stayed in the back, far behind the duo, snapping away, breathing heavy and admired the unfamiliar jungle, the wiggled green trees, the muddy pebbles and the sounds of gushing water. —The Himalayas, should also be known as the “waterfall wonderland”.— Said Monia, but in Polish, I agree, it was a total waterfall wonderland. 

After nearly 8 hrs of trekking we stopped for the night at Discovery guesthouse in Chuile, a spot high on the hill overlooking a valley of clouds, mudslides and falling waters. Plus a view of 15 or so donkeys, relieved from their daily jobs, and leisurely back into work by manually cutting grass with their teeth. They were so happy to be back home for the night; first time I’ve seen the donkey lay on his back on the grass and wiggle around like a dog in shit.











Day 4 Chuile (2,309m) to Bamboo (2,310m) 9hrs Climbing up and down for 400 meter. The day started early, and heavy, at 7am for breakfast the three Hot Toddies had a veggie soup and yummy friend potatoes. All eyes were on us, apparently this is not a normal breakfast for other trekkers as they sipped on Chai and enjoyed their porridge. We were set for loads of energy and ready for more trekking. 

In the morning it was all walking down, the knees were once again in stress and we practically rolled down. Brief stops for water sips and the sun finally shined. — What is the point of going all the way down to start to climb all the way back up?— I always question this, when I am trekking. Hot sun is beaming, clothes are wet from sweat and I have to trek 300 meters up. I guess this is the definition of trekking, or at least I think it should be. —Up, down, up, down.

It’s hard; I start complaining I want to quite and then boom! There it is, a surreal life and culture living in a fairy tale. Rice fields emerging from clouds, the sunrays beam through and brighten vividness of vegetation and life. I was breathless, the girls were ahead, flying to make the time, but I paused, I was frozen, didn’t even snap away I just stared and I felt as if I was high on psychedelics that enhanced my vision. And just like I came it went, the clouds came back and the grayness took over. A 5 second orgasm that was good for the rest of the day. The wetness of drizzle spread and I was satisfied.

It was a long day of 9hr trekking, a day that ended in Bamboo for dinner and an early night. The elevation was getting higher and the cold, wet mountain air kept sneaking in. No one and nothing to keep us warm we jumped under the covers and went to sleep by 7pm.


Day 5 Bamboo (2,310m) to Deurali (3,200m) 6.5 hrs.
In the past 5 days each of us woke up with a vivid dream to share, everything from back home, to work, and random dreams of crazy things kept happening. They were so vivid, and felt so real it was like dreaming of the Himalayas, but in this case it was dreaming in the Himalayas. —Dreamy.

This day was going to be easier then the past few days, it was wise for us take it easy and not over do on the altitude, to avoid the altitude sickness. Dizzy head, high fever, and fatigue are not what we wanted to remember this journey. We trekked, in silence and in peace, noticing the slight change in vegetation and surroundings. The sun was shinning and we were on the hunt. Our eyes were open, and ready to spot a yak or with bonus Mr. Yeti! So far the closest we got tasted was yak cheese.

— Oh, hello girls.— said Guy. 

Few days passed and we caught up to Guy. This time he informed us that once there was a plan to send all the garbage into the moon. But it just never happened. Imagine if it did happen, and they sent all the garbage to the moon. Looking through a telescope observing the stars, one will be disturbed with occasional Coca-cola cans, or sneakers bar rap passing slowly creating a free advertisement. It would have just added to all the daily messages we get bombarded with. Or wait, or perhaps this would serve as an archeological site for the alien who would be studying humans existence ones the sun will blow the earth into flames. 

I have a better idea, lets put magnets into all the products we consume, so if it does go into space it will create a planet full of garbage! 

Ok I went off the trek, but trekking in silence will do this, it will bring out all the thoughts, your imaginations will run wild. Mostly I think of all the good things, and all things I want. I reject negative thoughts and consume my meditation in daydreaming. Sometimes, I think of the impossible, but I kid you not, there will be a planet full of garbage.

The night ended in Deurali, where we took cold showers, in the cold climate, with purple lips and frozen fingers we played Rummikub till the sun went down. No more hot showers, no more washing hair. Hat time began.








Day 6 Deurali (3,200m) to Annapurna Base Camp (4,130m) 6hrs
It was a slow, slow climb up almost 1000 meters up to the final destination, ABC. Mother nature was a moody one this day, occasional sunray, wind blows, and drizzles were cycling as we kept climbing. The brisk cold kept the sweat chilled and gave the body chills. Vegetation changed, the surreal lighting and formations of the stones stunned us with charm. There were no trees; instead there was grass, tall, thin, hard grass in the olive shade of green. When the sunrays beamed through the smog cloud the vividness enhanced and we posed. Hundredths of goats were chewing up the olive greens, gushing streams were maneuvering around the rocks and pebbles. 

There it is, I see the base camp— Iza pointed up to a hill where a small house was visible. Few meters up, we came a cross a sign —1hr to ABC.

We made it! Yes! I was the last one but I made it. We looked around for the cheapest guesthouse and unloaded our things. It was still early on the day and we had plenty of time, what to do in a cloud with nothing to see and being cold?, Rummikub! We played few rounds and I ventured out. 

The locals are “loco” many guides were playing a volleyball game on 4,130 meters. WOW these guys really have good hearts. None of the trekkers dared to even compete, two jumps and the third might have been their last. It was definitely a good way to keep warm. We went to bed, and prayed that the morning was going to be once again “clare”.












Day 7 Annapurna Base Camp (4,130m) to Sinuwa (2,360m) 9hrs
We rose up early before the sun; we dressed up warm and ventured out to see what we have climbed for. 


When the sun gave warmth and moved the clouds aside, I was punched hard and tears came trickling down. I stared around at the giant, huge, massive space of pure earth. I’ve never been touched like this. A natural formation of mountains, soil made a hell of a view I’ve never seen before. (and I’ve seen many things) The earthy colors shined with warm morning light, the shadows of clouds gave perception and the Annapurna’s peek became visible. Nothing can be used to describe the space we were in, It’s a must see to feel and experience. I am glad that the three of us made it there and were able view the beauty and the beast.

It was cold, freezing cold! Monia was firing up her machine gun, shooting many bullets with her panorama Sonny SLT. She killed it!

Iza felt small, like an ant in the deepest jungle, just the hues were different, blue, white, bright, brown, and shades of grays. 

No worries, I have documented it for you right here!






Shortly after being enlightened we began to descend back down to the dusty movement. We were unstoppable and wanted to get down as far as possible. Most people usually take 3-4 days to get back down from ABC to Nayapul. It’s much harder to come down then up, the knees are not designed to walk down many stairs with heavy backpacks. We were on a mission to come back down in 2 days. Monia was flying back home and we wanted an extra day to celebrate Iza’s birthday.















So, I’ll make the long story short.
We used our walking sticks like antennas putting the stick and following it. We were quicker and faster almost managing with Monia’s speed. This time I took the lead and I was in the front, leading the group to a fast pace. My heart was easing of with the lower altitude and pumping me up with faster speed. 40 km and we did it in 2 days, long 2 days. Coming across many Chinese people and loads of steps. Fed on Dal Bhat and kept rolling. 

The taxi ride from Nayapul back to Pokhara was the last leg of exhaustion. We stunk badly, super tired, in loads of pain we were proud. Proud of making a 10 day trek into an 8 day trek with full benefits.

Did we see Yeti? 

Toddies trek to Annapurna Base Camp (4,130m) including Poon Hill. Our wonderland, Himalayas.

A SHORT STORY

Monia is faster then the speed of light! She joined us for few days and together we started to stomp through the Himalayas, where mountain peaks reach high above the clouds. She is speeding in the front, Iza balanced the middle and I landed in the end, puffing away at the altitude with racing heart.

We started a 10-day trek journey through the Himalayas with many ups and downs leading to one of earth’s most breathtaking vista, the Annapurna.

Day 1. Trekking from Nayapul (1,070m) to Tikhedhungga (1,520m) 3.5 hrs
We said goodbye to our new friends from the Splendid View guesthouse in Pokhara and hopped into a taxi going to Nayapul. Unaware of the difficulties ahead we began the trek in cheer passing through the local market, over a bridge and headed on up to the hills towards Poon Hill. 

Mudslide was the first obstacle; a giant piece of hill broke off and flooded the path with mud and stones. Shoes deep in mud walking on a slant we slowly crossed the mudslide and were greeted with a drizzle that later formed into heavy rain. —There went our cheer. The left over monsoon poured its remains.

— Guys, what is the difference going this direction or that direction? Asked Guy— pointing to a map. This way is straight to Annapurna Base Camp (ABC) and this way you can do a side-kick to Poon Hill where amazing views of snow caps will freeze your eyes.

He smiled and offered his Sneakers bar to Iza, a big smile for the chocolate lover. Shortly after trekking up with the rain we stopped for refill on energies and Guy caught up with us again. He joined us for one of my favorite fried rice with egg and cheese dishes served in Nepal. —Have you heard about the breaking science geek news? They broke the speed of light theory today!— he said. WHAT?!?!? No way, geek or not but this is some seriously cool news. I was right; Monia was faster then the speed of light.

Evening came around quicker then we though and we settled down in a random guesthouse in Tikhedhungga. Monia still jetlag fell asleep ahead of dinner and didn’t make it to our first Himalayan garlic soup.







Day 2 Tikhedhungga (1,520m) to Ghorepani (2,860m) 7.5 hrs
— Lets make it a step-master day!— We climbed over 3,600 stairs in just few hours, up, up and more up. As we were going up, hundreds of goats were running down. Mobs of stained blue and red goats were marching down from Mustang. It was their last week journey running down to the local market, where they were going to be sold as live meat for $300 a pop. It was the Hindus Dasain festival, when each household eats a goat.

Another day of drizzle and rain, our rain gear was on, off and back on again. It eventually didn’t matter and we trekked in silence as the rain kept coming. Wet, cold, and hungry we found warm shelter where we munched on Momos (Nepalese dumplings) and hot soup. After 7.5 hours of climbing up and down we made it to Gorepani, the base for Poon Hill. Exhausted, we splurged on big pasta dish, “freshly” baked apple pie, and topped it with a packaged of Pringles.

Being brave and all, we decided to do this 10 day trek by ourselves, no guide, no porter just a simple map and our own senses for navigation. There is no need to hire a guide for this trek, it’s quite popular we bumped into many other groups with guides, ear dropped on their plans and planned our next moves accordingly to the altitude. Each little village displayed a map of next village’s distance and timetables. When I say village, I mean a bunch of guest-houses geared for Himalayan trekkers. 

We overheard a guide say to wake up at 5am, look out the window and search the dark sky for stars. If there was a star then it was going to be “clare” view and to continue waking up and climbing up 450 meters to Poon Hill.


Day 3 Ghorepani (2,860m) to Poon Hill (3,210m) 45min for Morning view.
 Ghorepani (2,860m) to Chuile (2,309m) 7.5 hrs
Monia opened the curtain saw the star and screamed — It’s “clare” outside. —
Again with her fast speed energy she took off in the dark and I didn’t see her till I got to the top. —Whaaaaa… Poon Hill— a magical place best at sunrise. The Annapurna South, Annapurna I, Machapuchare (fish tail) and Dhaulagiri, shinned in deep yellow as the sunrays beamed brightness on their summits. We snapped away with three cameras deep, as the panorama was simply amazing and worth the “giga” space.

Coming back down was harder then climbing up, the knees were becoming jelly and it was only the third day and it was only 7am. Big breakfast in Ghorepani then we got back on the path to Chuile. My unbreakable Keen shoes, decided to loose the warranty and their soles. — After all the traveling we have been through, they were giving up before I was.— The terrain was overpowering their strength so I had to whip out the Crazy Glue and smack them back up. 

Our walk was becoming faster and unstoppable, as blood sucking leaches were on the hunt. Iza’s blood must be tasty, they loved her shoes and kept trying to climb up to her leg and suck her out. She was freaked out, and kept on moving fast, she passed Monia and took the lead. Monia didn’t care, as she was also furious with the blood-sucking giant maxi that escalated her estrogen levels to speechless frustration and exhaustion.

I stayed in the back, far behind the duo, snapping away, breathing heavy and admired the unfamiliar jungle, the wiggled green trees, the muddy pebbles and the sounds of gushing water. —The Himalayas, should also be known as the “waterfall wonderland”.— Said Monia, but in Polish, I agree, it was a total waterfall wonderland. 

After nearly 8 hrs of trekking we stopped for the night at Discovery guesthouse in Chuile, a spot high on the hill overlooking a valley of clouds, mudslides and falling waters. Plus a view of 15 or so donkeys, relieved from their daily jobs, and leisurely back into work by manually cutting grass with their teeth. They were so happy to be back home for the night; first time I’ve seen the donkey lay on his back on the grass and wiggle around like a dog in shit.











Day 4 Chuile (2,309m) to Bamboo (2,310m) 9hrs Climbing up and down for 400 meter. The day started early, and heavy, at 7am for breakfast the three Hot Toddies had a veggie soup and yummy friend potatoes. All eyes were on us, apparently this is not a normal breakfast for other trekkers as they sipped on Chai and enjoyed their porridge. We were set for loads of energy and ready for more trekking. 

In the morning it was all walking down, the knees were once again in stress and we practically rolled down. Brief stops for water sips and the sun finally shined. — What is the point of going all the way down to start to climb all the way back up?— I always question this, when I am trekking. Hot sun is beaming, clothes are wet from sweat and I have to trek 300 meters up. I guess this is the definition of trekking, or at least I think it should be. —Up, down, up, down.

It’s hard; I start complaining I want to quite and then boom! There it is, a surreal life and culture living in a fairy tale. Rice fields emerging from clouds, the sunrays beam through and brighten vividness of vegetation and life. I was breathless, the girls were ahead, flying to make the time, but I paused, I was frozen, didn’t even snap away I just stared and I felt as if I was high on psychedelics that enhanced my vision. And just like I came it went, the clouds came back and the grayness took over. A 5 second orgasm that was good for the rest of the day. The wetness of drizzle spread and I was satisfied.

It was a long day of 9hr trekking, a day that ended in Bamboo for dinner and an early night. The elevation was getting higher and the cold, wet mountain air kept sneaking in. No one and nothing to keep us warm we jumped under the covers and went to sleep by 7pm.


Day 5 Bamboo (2,310m) to Deurali (3,200m) 6.5 hrs.
In the past 5 days each of us woke up with a vivid dream to share, everything from back home, to work, and random dreams of crazy things kept happening. They were so vivid, and felt so real it was like dreaming of the Himalayas, but in this case it was dreaming in the Himalayas. —Dreamy.

This day was going to be easier then the past few days, it was wise for us take it easy and not over do on the altitude, to avoid the altitude sickness. Dizzy head, high fever, and fatigue are not what we wanted to remember this journey. We trekked, in silence and in peace, noticing the slight change in vegetation and surroundings. The sun was shinning and we were on the hunt. Our eyes were open, and ready to spot a yak or with bonus Mr. Yeti! So far the closest we got tasted was yak cheese.

— Oh, hello girls.— said Guy. 

Few days passed and we caught up to Guy. This time he informed us that once there was a plan to send all the garbage into the moon. But it just never happened. Imagine if it did happen, and they sent all the garbage to the moon. Looking through a telescope observing the stars, one will be disturbed with occasional Coca-cola cans, or sneakers bar rap passing slowly creating a free advertisement. It would have just added to all the daily messages we get bombarded with. Or wait, or perhaps this would serve as an archeological site for the alien who would be studying humans existence ones the sun will blow the earth into flames. 

I have a better idea, lets put magnets into all the products we consume, so if it does go into space it will create a planet full of garbage! 

Ok I went off the trek, but trekking in silence will do this, it will bring out all the thoughts, your imaginations will run wild. Mostly I think of all the good things, and all things I want. I reject negative thoughts and consume my meditation in daydreaming. Sometimes, I think of the impossible, but I kid you not, there will be a planet full of garbage.

The night ended in Deurali, where we took cold showers, in the cold climate, with purple lips and frozen fingers we played Rummikub till the sun went down. No more hot showers, no more washing hair. Hat time began.








Day 6 Deurali (3,200m) to Annapurna Base Camp (4,130m) 6hrs
It was a slow, slow climb up almost 1000 meters up to the final destination, ABC. Mother nature was a moody one this day, occasional sunray, wind blows, and drizzles were cycling as we kept climbing. The brisk cold kept the sweat chilled and gave the body chills. Vegetation changed, the surreal lighting and formations of the stones stunned us with charm. There were no trees; instead there was grass, tall, thin, hard grass in the olive shade of green. When the sunrays beamed through the smog cloud the vividness enhanced and we posed. Hundredths of goats were chewing up the olive greens, gushing streams were maneuvering around the rocks and pebbles. 

There it is, I see the base camp— Iza pointed up to a hill where a small house was visible. Few meters up, we came a cross a sign —1hr to ABC.

We made it! Yes! I was the last one but I made it. We looked around for the cheapest guesthouse and unloaded our things. It was still early on the day and we had plenty of time, what to do in a cloud with nothing to see and being cold?, Rummikub! We played few rounds and I ventured out. 

The locals are “loco” many guides were playing a volleyball game on 4,130 meters. WOW these guys really have good hearts. None of the trekkers dared to even compete, two jumps and the third might have been their last. It was definitely a good way to keep warm. We went to bed, and prayed that the morning was going to be once again “clare”.












Day 7 Annapurna Base Camp (4,130m) to Sinuwa (2,360m) 9hrs
We rose up early before the sun; we dressed up warm and ventured out to see what we have climbed for. 


When the sun gave warmth and moved the clouds aside, I was punched hard and tears came trickling down. I stared around at the giant, huge, massive space of pure earth. I’ve never been touched like this. A natural formation of mountains, soil made a hell of a view I’ve never seen before. (and I’ve seen many things) The earthy colors shined with warm morning light, the shadows of clouds gave perception and the Annapurna’s peek became visible. Nothing can be used to describe the space we were in, It’s a must see to feel and experience. I am glad that the three of us made it there and were able view the beauty and the beast.

It was cold, freezing cold! Monia was firing up her machine gun, shooting many bullets with her panorama Sonny SLT. She killed it!

Iza felt small, like an ant in the deepest jungle, just the hues were different, blue, white, bright, brown, and shades of grays. 

No worries, I have documented it for you right here!






Shortly after being enlightened we began to descend back down to the dusty movement. We were unstoppable and wanted to get down as far as possible. Most people usually take 3-4 days to get back down from ABC to Nayapul. It’s much harder to come down then up, the knees are not designed to walk down many stairs with heavy backpacks. We were on a mission to come back down in 2 days. Monia was flying back home and we wanted an extra day to celebrate Iza’s birthday.















So, I’ll make the long story short.
We used our walking sticks like antennas putting the stick and following it. We were quicker and faster almost managing with Monia’s speed. This time I took the lead and I was in the front, leading the group to a fast pace. My heart was easing of with the lower altitude and pumping me up with faster speed. 40 km and we did it in 2 days, long 2 days. Coming across many Chinese people and loads of steps. Fed on Dal Bhat and kept rolling. 

The taxi ride from Nayapul back to Pokhara was the last leg of exhaustion. We stunk badly, super tired, in loads of pain we were proud. Proud of making a 10 day trek into an 8 day trek with full benefits.

Did we see Yeti?