Virtually rounding the Horn
I’ve been “around the Horn” this evening, and thankful for living a virtual life.
Recently, I’d looked up the map details of the world at the tip of South America, in part to put some meat on descriptions given in a book I’d been reading. Face it, unless there really are miracles, I’m not likely to be going down that way any time soon. Best to rely on new technologies and the tales of others.
I didn’t realize just how tough a dude that Magellan must have been, until this evening when the team over at Thalassa invited me aboard the trimaran Ocean Alchemist. Spectacular scenery, albeit cold. Given the temperature here for the last few days, a bit of vicarious discomfort was pleasant.
There’s wind in the southern climes. I mean, I know wind (from the point of view of a Maritime upbringing), but this is much more than a stiff breeze. Watching one of the hosts cross a footbridge, with a 40 degree inclination (the host, not the bridge) brought a clearer understanding of what wind really means.
And how about glaciers? Forget the image of a snowbank, left by a wing plow. This is wall to wall and treetop tall, as far as you can see. In particular, the Chilean glacier Pius XI is beyond impressive. Use your search engine: Flickr has some great images.
The villages “we” visited would be very familiar, transplanted to a Canadian context. If I should (miraculously) get to go down, I’ll have to work harder on learning Spanish.
