 |
The Antarctic Connection |
 |
Research Teams |
 |
Journal Entries |
 |
Lesson Plans |
 |
Study Sites |
 |
Science Digest |
 |
Antarctic Bestiary |
 |
 |
Frequently Asked Questions |
 |
Links to Antarctic Resources |
Current Weather Conditions for Palmer Station, Antarctica:
Journal Entries
2005-06
You will need QuickTime Player to view video clips. Please click here to download your free copy of QuickTime.
| Jump to a specific journal entry by Marianne Kaput: | ||
| August 2005 | 23 | |
| October 2005 | 31 | |
| December 2005 | 15 29 30 31 | |
| January 2006 | 1 3 4 5 7 9 10-11 12-14 15 16-17 18-19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 | |
| February 2006 | 1 2 5 6-8 10 | |
| Click here to access journal entries by Giancarlo Lopez-Martinez or Luke Sandro. | ||
December 29, 2005 - Punta Arenas, Chile (52° S Latitude)
"It’s not the destination, but the journey."Every journey begins with the first step. An adventure begins with an open mind. I think this trip will be both. Everything has gone as planned: my flight left on time, I met up with my research team in Dallas, and the flight to Santiago went well. Very well — they upgraded my seat to first class! I had a great night’s sleep on the plane and am ready for what the new day brings. And I was right; the hardest part of this journey was leaving my family.
When our plane landed in Chile we were met by the infamous "Jimmy the Great", who took excellent care of us. Jimmy works for Raytheon, the company that manages all the arrangements for the U.S. Antarctic participants. We were swept through customs like celebrities, bypassing all the lines of people waiting for their turn to go through customs. Jimmy accompanied us from the time our plane landed to the time our next flight left, making certain that our paperwork was processed quickly and efficiently.
 |
Punta Arenas is a colorful place to visit. It is located on the southernmost tip of South America. In Spanish Punta means foot and Arenas mean of sand. Makes perfect sense. It's summer here, so the grass is bright green and the deciduous trees are filled with lush green leaves. The weather was perfect for walking around, but a little "Chile" (:)). The people of Chile have a beautiful light coffee-colored skin with dark hair and even darker eyes. They wear brightly colored clothes and always appear happy. The concrete buildings are as colorful as the flowers blooming in the gated yards.
 |
Later that day we went for a walk along the beach so I could get a sand sample for my sand collection. We found much more than just sand. We saw this barnacle-covered wooden stake, some sand crabs called Serolis and lots of sea urchins. I had fun playing with the long rubbery stalks of seaweed and kelp.
 |
As is customary, we all took turns rubbing the toe of a brass sculpture of a man in the town center. The monument is a tribute to the explorer named Magellan who came to Chile around 1415.
 |
Our hotel, the Tierra del Fuego, was quite welcoming as we were completely exhausted from the 15 hours of travel. My room is the big set of windows next to the "O" in Fuego. All around town we saw restaurants and other buildings named Del Fuego. Long ago in the early 1400s the Portuguese people came to explore this area of Chile. As the Portuguese explorers came down the river toward town, the native Chileans communicated the explorers’ arrival through the use of smoke signals. In Portuguese fuego means smokeand terra means earth or ground.
 |
I would like to introduce you some of the scientists that I'll be working with. They are Mike Elnitsky, Josh Benoit and Giancarlo Lopez-Martinez — entomologists extraordinaire! Armed and ready to search for the mighty Belgica antarctica!
 |
- Marianne Kaput