Happy Feet?

You may remember an animated film that came out a couple of years ago called "Happy Feet." It was sort of riding on the "March of the Penguins" bandwagon, but this time out-and-out anthropomorphizing the penguins.

Still I'm up for talking animals and birds now and then, so I played hookie from the store one Sunday and hied myself on down to the local cineplex. I'm minding my own business, eating popcorn and watching this penguin dancing all over Antarctica and I started thinking about the Antarctica Marathon that I'd signed on for.

And I started hyperventilating a bit and had a mini-panic attack. While watching some dang cartoon fer cryin' out loud. (I was thinking, "how am I supposed to run on ICE? I'm from freakin' Carmel-by-the Sea, CALIFORNIA!")

And as it turns out, I was right to be anxious. 'Cause I was BAD at running on ice (and I have the scar on my cheek to prove it). Not that bouncing my face off a glacier is the worst thing that could have happened. Twisting my ankle or breaking a rib or getting a concussion would have been worse since it could have stopped me from finishing the race, and as much as I enjoyed the trip, I didn't want to have to go back down, WAY DOWN, to the bottom of the world to try again.



We got really lucky on marathon day...it was in the mid 30's and didn't start to get windy or rainy until later in the day. So basically we could get props from friends back home for doing something that had the equivalent weather of Central Park in February.

But with mud, rocks and a glacier.

And as I said, the glacier proved to be my undoing. I'm not trying to make any excuse about it since EVERYONE had that same obstacle. But everyone wasn't as clumsy as me. I was running pretty well and I guess I got overconfident in my footing. That was a mistake when I slipped, flipped and smacked open my face on the ice.

Luckily enough, I didn't break or pull anything and after checking in my mouth to make sure all my teeth were still there, I got up and started running again. When I fell for the last time I only ended up sliding on my butt the last 20 feet to the bottom of the glacier. Amazingly another runner reached out and grabbed me before I slid into the rocks. Now THAT was sporting of him...I hope I'd have done the same and not just jumped out of the way.

Video: Antarctica Marathon 2008...
Fellow runner/shipmate Rob Taylor shot a video of the race...
if you're not seeing it embedded below click here.

(Bonus Carnage Video: in Happy Feet there was an "action" sequence of a leopard seal chasing a penguin...if you want to see an alternate version that DIDN'T turn out well for a penguin, click here. (That Rob always had a camera handy.)

The marathon started and ended at Bellingshausen, the Russian research camp on King George Island. We ran between and around the Russian, Uraguayan, Chilean and Chinese stations with the researchers based there acting as our supporters...clapping and waving (and with a couple joining in on the running). Hopefully we were a diversion for them, not an annoyance - we kind of took over the place.

Because of the number of people participating in the races and the restrictions on how many people were allowed on land at any given time (outside King George Island), the marathoners were divided between two ships. That was the only downside to the trip for me. It meant there was an entire boatload of people down at the bottom of the world doing the same thing as my shipmates and me, but having no other shared experiences or memories in common other than the marathon, the post-race BBQ/awards ceremony and photos posted online.


Not that I'm complaining mind you about the company I got to keep for those two weeks. My shipmates on the Orlova were really a great group of people. And we "Orlovians" managed to snag a good share of the trophies from the marathon...not just the winning medals (which I'da NEVER qualified for anyway), but the ultimate souvenirs, too. The all important mile markers went to shipmates during an auction to raise money for saving the albatross from extinction.

There was a fierce battle to get those particular markers, but as I pulled my sorry butt up the glacier for the second time during the marathon I set my mind on on snagging the 'Turn Around" sign. Heck, if the glacier got my DNA, I was determined to get somethin' back.

And I did. Lucky me...it's now hanging on the wall of my office to remind me that the adventure was real.

The trip wasn't all-running-all-the-time, though. Once we'd done our mileage, the trip turned into a full-on Antarctica expedition with zodiacs zipping around icebergs, seals a-plenty and five kinds o' penguins. Now I EXPECTED that we'd see a penguin or two, but we also got to cavort with them, which wasn't something I was expecting. And I certainly didn't expect that they'd crawl all over us.


Word of warning...those beaks can really peck at ya HARD.

I also wasn't expecting that I would ever have the chance to go for a little dip in the ocean all the way down there. But that, too, was part of the trip.


And best of all, the thing I LEAST expected was that I'd meet so many people whose company I'd enjoy so much. I guess it's sort of an odd thing to actually WANT to do a marathon in Antarctica, so all of us there already shared some sort of twisted personality trait.


So, "Happy Feet" is no longer panic-inducing...just a cartoon version of a real life adventure.

Good (Hot) Air

Have you ever noticed when you travel, that sometimes places start looking alike? Maybe not the whole town, but sections, shops, restaurants?

The trouble I find as I slip closer to dementia (or at least finally acknowledging it) is that after awhile, the similarities really mess with my memory of where the heck I was when I saw, bought or ate something.

For instance, I'm pretty sure that if I wasn't blogging about the following photos, later in life I'd swear I was in:

Boston...

...or Spain.

But nope. Considering that I just got off the boat from Antarctica and I ain't Matt Lauer (as in: Where in the World Is...?) with a corporate jet, I'm back in Buenos Aires.


This was the jumping off point last week for the trip south and because of flight delays, etc. on the return I've ended up with a couple more days here than I expected. Luckily, as it was HOT HOT HOT here 10 days ago. If I ever get around to posting the Market video I shot here...and anyone ever gets around to looking at it...thanks to editing you'll see my face alternating between flushed red from heat (last week's footage), and the scarred, bloated phenomenon it's become since sliding my mug down a glacier and eating myself into a stupor (today's shots).

But then and now I've been on a mission to scour the city for something to talk about and images to film. It's been a great way to make myself feel like I'm working instead of goofing off. If nothing else, it gives me a way to kill a couple of days (though you wouldn't know it from the footage since I wear the same clothes to make it look like I'm quick on my feet and able to do all that mileage in one day). And besides, hopefully I'll find some worthwhile travel tips to help someone plan their shopping itinerary.

Buenos Aires is big and cosmopolitan with great neighborhoods filled with antiques and architecture and a main street with intersecting pedestrian malls.


And the thing about Buenos Aires that really makes it worthwhile for budget travelers with champagne tastes is that it's about the only place these days a dollar will buy you anything more than a pitied smirk.


Shopping opportunities abound (both actual and "window"), and I did my requisite "flea market"ing slash "is it time to eat yet?" shopping. All over town. Which has turned out to be a GREAT way to shop a city...


...and, as is the case in this here burg, clog my arteries.


I don't know how they eat steaks we would actually label roasts and still look as good as these people look, dang 'em. Well, maybe I do. Word has it that the locals are among the world's highest customers of plastic surgery. After eating a few of the steaks around here I can see why. Liposuction anyone?