Sunrise in Ushuaia.
Then in talking to a few of the folks who are also skipping the Ushuaia marathon and are heading back on our flight today, we make a last minute decision. There is a small 4.5 K local run in downtown Ushuaia at 9:30 this morning. We decide to run that. We negotiate a 1-hour extension of our hotel checkout time to 11 am, and then catch the shuttle bus downtown. We get to the start of the race, and find we cannot officially register anymore…. Cutoff was yesterday. But who cares, we will just run it for fun anyway. About 4 or 5 of our Antarctica crowd have decided to do this, and we enjoy the experience together. At the line, waiting for the start, we see that this is a very local race indeed. We are among the very few non-natives here. I guess anyone from any distance away who is here today is running the real marathon. A couple of women stand up with microphones, and lead the crowd of runners in pre-race aerobics. They do not seem to care that the 9:30 start time has come and gone, or that we will have to beat it back to the hotel for a fast shower before catching our plane…. They just seem to enjoy their aerobics, and so does the crowd. Finally, the race starts. It is a pleasant run through the streets of the town, and down to the waterfront. We feel amazingly good in this run. It was probably a good thing to do, prior to a long day of traveling, sitting and waiting. After the race, we grab some water, take a few pictures, and then look for a cab. We have a little trouble finding one, but finally do, and are back to the hotel at 10:30. We madly shower, dress, do our final packing, and are downstairs checking out at 10:55. No sweat, a full 5 minutes to spare!
The time had been critical because the hotel was really picky about us being checked out on time. However, now we have time to kill, the perhaps 15 or 20 of us waiting in the hotel lobby. We sit, talk, play some ping pong, and pass the time. Finally, the bus picks us up at 12:30 at the hotel, and takes us to the airport. We all are traveling on the same itinerary through Buenos Aires and Miami. It will be nice to have the companionship of these fellow adventurers on this part of the trip.
And so, we begin our long journey home., chatting amongst ourselves about the adventures we have shared. Joan and I are also looking forward to a few days relaxing with Mom and Irv in Florida, but are struggling with how to describe to them and to our friends back home the experiences we’ve just had. The pictures, videos and books will help, but ultimately, even these won’t convey the full experience. And actually, the people we will talk to will know that too. The best we can hope for is to come up with, as Joe Hale put it, an effective 30 second “elevator speech”, the quick summary for all those who will ask how the trip was, but not have the 7 hours to spend to hear the full answer!
As for us, I know we will never forget this trip, but just hope that the intensity of it does not fade too quickly. Because this trip deserves to be one of those memories that will stay with us, at a feeling level, always. I hope it does.
Certificates of Completion of the Antarctica Voyage.
Here's to holding on to the intensity of the memories!
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