Views from the End of the Road

December 16, 2007

We have all arrived in Ushuaia Argentina after 2 groups endured a 30 hour plus travel with most members experiencing 5 flights and 3 countries including the US, Chile and Argentina. The group all seem to be in high spirits and that has helped energize and uplift everyone, including the faculty. Personally, I oscillate between times of responsibility and organization, but also between times of reflection and relaxation. As one of the people behind the effort, it is great to see this project being lived out in the eyes, attitudes and behaviors of the students. We also at this point are a group of 34 people, and we were able to gain almost all of our first groups bags (18 out of 19 at this point), still missing is Sergio’s stuff. Everyone is rallying and working together to help each other in whatever products they are working upon at this time.

First days in Ushuaia

I’m Katie Noonan, a High School teacher form Oakland California. I want to say “Hi!” to all my students and invite them to will join in the discussion here (OK- EXTRA CREDIT!!!). As part of the first group of IPY-Roamers to arrive in Ushuaia, I have been busy dusting off my Spanish phrases, checking out the prison and natural history museums and sampling the fantastic centolla (that’s king crab).
I have been struck by how similar the environmental challenges are here to our own. There is a surprising amount of graffiti on all kinds of city buildings. It seems to be political and social, but not gang-related. There is a plastic problem here, too. Just as in our city streets, there are bottles, bags and wrappers along the curbs, heading toward the ocean. A lot of construction is going on here with the tourist boom, using lots of cement (a CO2 contributor)! I did see some signs of recycling going on (a newspaper collection point). The shoreline shows a telltale green scum indicating eutrophication from an outfall and city runoff.
Along the waterfront, we noticed a huge ship container lot – a mini-Port of Oakland. What is coming in and going out in these? I am researching this. Fish is an important export here, but that’s a whole lot of fish. The crowds along the streets at night seem younger than the average in the U.S. I watched an amazing demonstration of break-dancing in the city plaza. The IPY-Roam Spanish Group interviewed some of the teenagers in tonight’s podcast.
We are getting our research projects finalized in these days before we get on the ship. It is hard work, but it will pay off when we get South.

Mitzel en el fin del mundo (Mitzel at world´s end)

Hello everyone!!
Well, the rest of the group got in yesterday around 3 pm after a full day of traveling... can you say exhaustion!?!? But we´re finally here. Yesterday was a day to rest and get the initial feeling of the town. A group of us went up and down the main road here in Ushuaia looking at places to eat and just getting to know the area a bit. After that, we came back to the hotel, Cap Polonio, and rested before dinner. After dinner, we came back to the hotel and I passed out... I was sooooo tired, I even woke up a bit late this morning for our initial meeting... but I think i´m going to be ok for the rest of the time, I just had to get that out of th way...

Will now turn to some spanish for my family...

No se como explicarles la emocion que siento al estar aqui... Fue un viaje sumamente cansado pero al llegar al aeropuerto y salir de el y ver la inmensidad de montañas y la nieve que las cubria, fue placentero. Ayer tuvimos la oportunidad de conocer un poco de la ciudad y juntarme con amigos para cenar. Despues fue puro dormir, bueno al menos para mi... bueno y ya me conocen = P El dia de hoy tuvimos juntas y trabajos en grupo la mayor parte del tiempo. despues salimos a hacer una busqueda de lugares con la ayuda de frases.

Jose's Virtual Corner

Since I was going to keep a daily journal of the events encountered that day, I decided to share them with you.  This is my little corner to record my daily thoughts and events.  To view my daily thoughts click on comments and there you will see them.   Feel free to comment on them or ask questions.

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Yay, we're here!!!

Hello everyone!!!

Seventeen of us have just arrived here at the beautiful Ushuaia. Flying over the Andes was quite an extrodinary experience. We are doing this official group blog to announce that we will keep this updated. So please do check this periodically and make comments. We will post an instruction blog shortly to explain how to post a comment.

5 days to go...

All the ROAMers from UTEP went to a Bon Voyage event hosted by UTEP president Dr. Diana Natalicio. She joined us for a photo - all the ROAMers are wearing their ROAM jackets and Dr. Natalicio wore her US Antarctic Program jacket! We couldn't find a jacket to fit little Galilea!

5 days to go...