I've been very busy with work and the hotel's Internet
access wasn't working, so I'll go back a bit. This is rough, but at least it'll fill in the gaps a bit.
4 May 2007
After a lot of running around and delays caused by the alarm
people, I arrived at the airport and was checked in by 3pm. It was the first time I have been to the
airport since I left there in Nov 2006. I had finally gotten used to going to the airport everyday and not going
anywhere so it actually felt, as strange as it may sound, odd going to the
airport to go somewhere. :) I took a few minutes to see a few friends
that I worked with at the airport in my previous life. We didn't have a lot of time to catch up on
things, but it was good to see them. I
went to the gate and my former manager stopped by to say hello and wish me a
safe journey. The 2pm flight from Denver to Dallas was really
bumpy at first, but then settled down a bit after we passed the storm that had
just gone through Denver.
nicer than it was the last time I was through there on my way to Mexico City about 8 or 9
years ago. I called Layna before the
flight to see how she, Abby, and Cora were doing. I talked to Abby for a bit, but I don't think
it had really set in yet that I was going to be gone for just over a
month. Our flight from Dallas to Santiago
left on time around 9:10pm CDT.
5 May 2007
We flew pretty much due south as the flight was nearly 10
hours and we only changed one time zone. Chilean time is currently the same as the east coast time in the US but I'm not
sure if that is always the case. We
arrived in Chile and were
greeted by Jimmy from Agunsa who is under contract to Raytheon to assist everyone
on their way to and from Antarctica as part of
the United States Antarctic Program (USAP). Jimmy was great and definitely made getting through customs and
immigration very easy. The customs
people confiscated some trail mix that I brought as dried fruit and nuts are
not allowed to be imported into Chile. No big deal, but I would have put it on my
carry on and eaten it on the way down had I know that. Agunsa has an office in the airport and that
gave us a comfortable place to rest while waiting for our next flight, which
was in a few hours. Our flight to Punta
Arenas (PA) left about 10:55am, so we had some time to get some lunch. My co-worker Chris and I stopped at a sandwich
shop and got our first, small taste of our very poor Spanish. Our food turned out good surprising our
collective understanding of maybe a couple dozen words in Spanish. Once we ate, we tried to get a good view of
the Andes from the airport, but the pollution
and haze made it difficult. Our flight
left on time and we had a good flight a head of us.
I will continue later as it is time for bed. This entry was written on 7 May 2007 at 2200
EDT.
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