Day 1 Antarctica

Because there are no flights directly to Antarctica, we took a plane to Ushuaia, Argentina and borrowed our scientist friend's plane to go to the Fossil Bluff research center. We arrived in a barren ice land. We grabbed our bags and left the plane and the badly shaken pilot, who once again reminded me of the dude in Rio and Cairo. Laura seems to have that affect on people.

When we were waiting to get picked up in Ushuaia, I Googled Antarctica. It's the southernmost continent of Earth. It is surrounded by the Southern Ocean. 98% of Antarctica is ice. It has the highest elevation of all the continents. On average, it is the driest, coldest, windiest continent. Lovely.

We made our way to the research center, walking against the whipping wind and snow. Luckily we bought super duper mega snowsuits before we got here.

Laura ran (in what looked like slow motion) to the front door. She opened it, and it creaked. We went inside.

It was warm! And dry! Laura dropped her bags on the floor, dead center, and proceeded in saying, "There's no place like home...Now where are my penguins?" The researchers sitting at their stations looked so incredibly interested in our arrival. One even managed to look up from his work.

They were all scruffy, manly men. They showed no interest in our arrival so we took it upon ourselves to figure everything out. I placed my bags in an empty corner and attempted to find Laura, who somehow escaped the building without a sound. I went outside.

She was looking for penguins.

I sat down on the snow and watched her for a few hours. It was better than cable.

We spent most of the day doing this, Laura running around barren, empty ice land shouting for her long lost whatevers and me observing. Suddenly, we heard a bell. I turned around and a dude was ringing a bell outside of the door of the center. I realized it must mean one thing. Food.

"Laaaauraaaaaa. Its diiiiiiinner time!" I called to her.

"Dinner? DINNER?" she said, darting around like an animal. 

I began to make my way through the snow towards the cabin I wondered what we were going to eat for dinner when we were in the middle of...somewhere.

Turns out, the meal was freeze-dried spaghetti and meat sauce. Well, that's what the package said. It could've been anything. As we ate, we remained in our snow-gear. It was that cold. By the time we finished, it was already dark out. I had no idea what time it was, because the researchers were shunning us. I found a place for Laura and I to sleep; a small, dark corner. We sat down and fell asleep.