Author Archives: susi

I like traveling, dancing, fly-fishing.

Tourette’s and Friends

8 January 2013

Buenos Aires Street Life

This post has nothing to do with my destinations and travel, yet has everything to do with friendship.  And, I just want to talk about this.

A local man about 25 years old screams & yells below my apartment, curses & spits… flails his arms and causes such a racket.  I peek down and look outside, just to see wtf is going on…Oh, it’s the blue-shirt man again. Yikes!  I am scared of this man.  “He is on drugs.” this was my initial thought. Not “Is he on drugs?”  Second thought:  Stay away from the crazy man…keep your distance girl, keep it safe.

Then last night, I heard blue-shirt man yelling up a storm and I looked down over my terrace.  The blue-shirt man was sitting with his friends on the curb, just hanging out enjoying the evening time.  Every once in a while, blue-shirt man would throw a screaming fit, and I saw him slap himself a few times…HARD.  His friends didn’t react. Nothing.  Zilcho.  They obviously knew something about blue-shirt man that I didn’t.

Blue-shirt man most likely has Tourette Syndrome.  When put into context of a circle of friends who didn’t care about it…or better yet understood what was going on with the screaming & flailing, it didn’t look that scary to me anymore.  He wasn’t on drugs, and he is not crazy, just has something else going on in his brain.  I was very pleased to see his circle of friends sitting with him and just being mates.  Made me like people more.

The Ice Continent: Antarctica

2 January 2013

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23 Dec 2012 – 1 January 2013

Bhooooyoooooo (seal song greeting) Farida, Carrie, Caroline, Hege, Joro and Colin (Macaroni),

I am at a loss for words on how to describe the Antarctic Expedition.  Every shade of blue, endless snowy glacial landscapes, penguins darting and escorting us everywhere, fresh fresh fresh air, sounds of minke whales surfacing around the zodiac, and the most beautiful sound for me on the trip:  The seals singing on the ice at Half-Moon Island (my ears are still trying to process that sound–half-dog howl, half-whale, half-alien?)

Antarctica would not have been as spectacular (and I am talking super-duper-fu*king SPECTACULAR!!)  if I had not shared it with such beautiful people.  The laughs and moments on and off of the Ortelius were made so memorable because of all of you! Goes down as the best trip of my life.  Best trip of my life and now my favorite spot on Earth.

The moments on our landings were so playful and fun.  We bundled up and played on glaciers, sled down snowslides, and let the mountain top views take our breath away!  Sharing the warmth in the bridge spotting icebergs & whales, porpoise, seals & penguins, albatross and petrels was the best…who knew the Southern Ocean would bless us with so much wildlife?  And watching Farida sitting in her new North Face super-coat on the bow for hours still sends cold shivers down my spine….Brrr!  Gotta love a New Yorker.

“Penguinos” or “Peingies” now will always have a special spot in my heart as do each of you.  I really enjoyed our “International Breakfast Club” circle of travel friends.

See you on the Road,

Susi

See you next time!

End of the Earth

20 December 2012

20 December 2012, Ushuaia, Tierra del Fuego, Argentina

shadow play

Shadow Play

To All who love Penguins and Cold Weather,

So here I am, at the “End of the Earth” on the “Longest day of the Year” which is also the date that is supposed to be the “Last day of the World“.  (<–funny isn’t that?)  AND who would have thunk, this is my SECOND SUMMER solstice of the year?  That is a first for me!  The sun rises at 4:30pm, and sets at around 11:30pm.  Giant lupine, and Icelandic poppies are bursting through this town, and though it was a high of only 41ºF, this height of summer makes for smiles on the faces of locals enjoying the ‘good’ weather.  Ushuaia is a cramped little polar town that boasts it is the southern most city in the world.  Chile, on the other hand begs to differ as they claim “Port Williams” is THE most southern city in the world.  I’ll let them duke it out, because I have seen both cities and I like Ushuaia better.

Penguins, sea lions and glaciers oh my!  This area has glaciers nestled in throughout the tip of the world, these Andes mountains just don’t stop!  What an amazing mountain range.  I took a nice boat cruise down the Beagle Channel and while moving toward the South Atlantic Ocean, we had Chile on one side, and Argentina on the left.  Such a nice viewpoint.  And then there were the penguins.  Gentoo and Magellanic penguins hovering in large beach colonies enjoying the good weather.  Come on now…who doesn’t LOVE penguins?  So darn cute.  (If you said you don’t love penguins, there is something seriously wrong with you….)

Love from the End of the World,

Susi