January 30, 2013: What's Next?

Hello family and friends,

I just thought I should post an update to fill you in because I may not be able to get to a computer for a couple of weeks.
My season in Antarctica is coming to a close. Tomorrow I leave for WAIS (West Antarctica Internal Support) Divide. I'll be meeting Dave and a small crew of carpenters, who flew out two days earlier, to close down the camp for the winter. They told us it should take about 7-10 days to dissemble all the buildings but that, of course, is weather dependent. I hope it doesn't take much longer because we have a flight to catch.

On February 13th Dave and I redeploy--retracing our steps through Christchurch, Sydney, and back to the good ole U.S. of A. From L.A. Dave and I will be taking a ten day hiatus from each other. I'm flying home to Missoula to play in the mountains while Dave will be heading to San Diego to play in the ocean. I'll meet back up with him in Portland--where we will enjoy the north west for a week with Dave's family.

On March 1st we'll be leaving for South America. I have dreamed of visiting this continent since I was a child--ever since my father showed me his slides of mountainous Ecuador and its Galapagos Islands. On February 2nd I'll set foot in Lima, Peru--a few days shy of my twenty-seventh birthday. It's funny, I always thought South America would be my first big adventure.

So far we have no itinerary, no plan except to bus south to Patagonia--stopping at whatever town that sparks our fancy. We don't know where we'll end up, and that's how we like it. Although I do have my sites set on making it to the Galapagos Islands at some point during our travels. I'll get some pictures of those Blue-Footed Boobies for you, Dad.

I will continue to blog while traveling--although my posts might be few and far between depending on where we are. I'll do my best to keep you all informed and well supplied with pictures. I can't wait to have my camera pointed at 15,000' (plus) peaks!

Adios,

Jenna

--Sorry I had some technical difficulties with my last video blog. I'll get those videos working when I get back to the States.