Expenews

Hola from Punta Arenas...still. Weather in Antarctica delayed our departure
this morning. Rain and wind are tempermental down here, even during the
Southern Hemisphere's summer.

The day was spent going through workshops (see the attached pictures).
Particpants learned to set up camp, cook, navigate, and leave no
trace--which developed into a 20 minute discussion on using the restroom.
We´ve also formed teams that will last for the duration of the venture.
These teams of five will hike, eat, and camp together, and each day one
participant will be selected as the "leader of the day".

Leaders of the day today were Erin Shea, Kelsey Clark, Neil Kothari, Kim
Firestone, Eric Lai Ong Teung, Adel El Sanoussi, Gayathri Subramanian, Nitin
Gupta. They were all treated to a relatively relaxing day around the hotel,
but are in for a rude awakening tomorrow, literally. The plan is to wake at
2am, leave the hotel at 3am, and depart Chile at 4:30am for King George
Island, Antarctica.

Everyone is very excited to step foot on "Terra Incognita". Akin and
Shereen were scouring Punta Arenas for a copy shop today so that they could
print out the flags of Turkey and Saudi Arabia, respectively. Etienne
claims that he will be the first person from Senegal to set foot on the
frozen continent...we´re stil trying to confirm!

As we say good bye to Chile (for a week) the vegetarians are happy to leave
behind menus full of lamb and steak, and the entire team is excited for a
terrific week. If all goes to plan, the next dispatch will come from
Antartica! We´re lucky to have 40 out of our 44 particpants, and we'll be
thinking about Joel, Jessica, Vaidas and Jennifer as we travel through
Antarctica.