Back on earth... in Rio

Hi everybody,

Sorry for the long silence ... I had a pretty chaotic last day in Chile and trip to Ushuaia, missing planes, loosing bags and luggages... but all went well after all I arrived safetly on Hanse. I didn´t see the Antarctica season going by. I met beautiful and very special people, seen another world and had some of the greatest time of my life working on Hanse. Sure everyday cleaning, doing the laundry wasn´t the most fun job (especially when the boat was rolling) but I had a great team and crew, after all it´s not about the trip but about the people you sharing it with.... Four trips to Antarctica, wild nights in Ushuaia, laughs, hang overs, polar jumps, whales waving at us to cheer us up, swimming into clear water under Hanse, snow storms... new year eve party crossing the Drake "Lake" Passage... emperor pinguins, gentoo, adelie... blue iceberg, zodiacs midnight cruises surrounded by dramatic cut glaciers about to crush on us, orcas hunting for seals... ice driving, midnight sunset, snowy hills fading in the clouds.... Antarctica vodka, leopard seals... Nature rules it all in Antarctica and makes us feel humble and greatfull... so many words but not enough to be able to describe what I´ve seen and experienced... hopefully my photos will help...

Thank you to the Hanse Explorer crew for the great time spent together, to all the passengers for sharing these special trips and to Mr Harren... and to you all for following me thru my trips....

Rio, 7th march 2011
I´m back on earth since 2 days now and my life seems to be so unreal... it´s going so fast and every moment  full of feelings.... From my Antarctica experience, I met Lyn, my collegue-roomate and most of all, who became one of my best and dearest friend. I also realized one of my greattest dream, if not the ONE, buying the sailboat of my dream. I share it with Martin, the captain of Hanse. She is beautifull, just like I wanted her to be. Her name is Pangea, she is in Ventura right now where we will see her in April. The dream is to sail with her thru and around the Pacific and sharing her with our friends...

Rio is a nice city, a mix of Waikiki and New Dehli... colorfull, full of night life and so fragile at the same time, social house hanging on the mountains like these kids hanging on life in beetweens Coppacabana waves...

I bought my ticket to Bolivia today, destination Puerto Suarez... there I will figure out a way to La Paz where my friend´s family live...


Poema