Week 2. 21:10 on Tu 13 May 2019. Parque Ambue Ari, Beni province, Bolivia For this episode of “How Clueless is Steph When it Comes to Jungle Life,” let me introduce the topic of snakes! I’ll preface this by saying that snakes are far less than my favorite creature because I never see them until I’m about to step on them; their unexpected motion gives me a heart attack and…
Week 1. 20:10 on Tr 9 May 2019. Parque Ambue Ari, Beni province, Bolivia How to put my sweat levels in the jungle into perspective? Take this line from last night’s journal entry: “I’m sweating so much that I can’t write for long. My headlamp is illuminating drops of moisture on my hand, and sweat is moistening this page.” Apart from my week-long bike trips on PALM (Pedal Across Lower…
Week 0. 13:02 on 2 May 2019. 32 km NW of San Ramon, heading toward and beyond Ascension de Guarayos, Bolivia To my untrained eye, the gray clouds of the sky look like they could drop rain through the bus window and onto my laptop at any moment. I am traveling through the rainforest, after all. Maybe the 4-year-old girl who keeps turning around to closely stare at me will…
Week 10: F 15 February 2019, 22:50. Cape Shirreff, Livingston Island, Antarctica A few years ago I caught a ride from Fairbanks to Seattle on craigslist. Due to an unusual medical condition that kept him unable from easily getting around, the driver was offering a free ride in exchange for some help with driving and assistance with getting gas. We’d spend the few nights of the drive camping in his…
Week 9: Su 3 February 2019, 8:13. Cape Shirreff, Livingston Island, Antarctica Imagine you’re sunk in a Kelty camping chair – the kind you spread open and sit in around a campfire – in a 6-man American Antarctic camp. From the coziness of your navy blue fleece sleeping bag (blankie), you’re watching “The Big Bang Theory” with your crew. Being 22:30 in late January, you didn’t need to close the…
Week 8: Su 27 January 2019, 8:13. Cape Shirreff, Livingston Island, Antarctica #1 We arrived offshore on 10 December but didn’t move on-island until 11 December because the wind and ocean’s swell were too high for safe operations. #2 We’ve been busy, and I haven’t been doing any writing, journaling, or reading. #3 When I made my first trip to the intertidal zone to poop back on December 11, there…
Penguins are my friends. Spanish is much more useful than German. Visiting Teri at her Peace Corps assignment and traveling in Mexico during January and February 2017 happened at the best time, as it gave me the chance to learn the traveler’s Spanish that I’d need in Chile that same October. I used it to travel in Chile and Argentina in March and April 2018, and I just finished up…
Friday 1 June 2018, 9:01. Aboard R/V Tiglax at sea: N 53º 52.1916 E 177º 48.2466 After pointing out and identifying another species of bird nesting on Alaska’s North Slope, my first field boss Matt said, “Steph, people pay thousands of dollars to see these birds.” My response? “Oh.” It’s not that I wasn’t excited to be seeing the birds that inhabit a remote landscape; it’s just that birds weren’t…
Su 22 April 2018, 22:24. Rooftop terrace of Windmill Hostel, Mendoza, Argentina. Considering I entered Antarctica knowing virtually nothing about fur seal or penguin biology, I learned a lot over the course of my first season at Cape Shirreff. Doug, Jesse, Sam, and Adam taught me about seals. Jefferson and Nai taught me about penguins and skuas. Because of his short stay, Mike mostly taught me about baking sourdough, which…
Su 25 March 2018, 18:30; written from in a colectivo (shared cab) in Punta Arenas … finished M 2 April 2018, 23:26; written from night bus traveling from Puerto Natales, Chile, to El Calafate, Argentina As I stood with an armload of groceries in the checkout line of Lider, it finally hit me. Searching for a smile, I looked hard at my package of TimTams as I tried to fight…