I'm writing this entry out of order but I'll straighten it out later. I'm currently in Antarctica! Well, really the Antarctica Hostel in Ushuaia, Argentina, but I'm going to count it as my sixth continent anyway! Yesterday we circled around Cape Horn (it was too rough to land because of easterly, instead of the usual westerly winds so we went around). It was less than 1000 km over open ocean to Ant. It's 2 days of rough waters going and then returning. It's just not worth the huge expense. We saw penguins, seals. Whales, sea lions - that's close enough for me!
I want to write about Mikel (Johannsen) one of our fellow passengers on our 4 day cruise. From Punta Arenas, Chile,to here. He sat at our table for a meal and Betty especially spent some chatting with him. He is in his 40s I would guess and is a truck driver in Sweden, traveling alone around SA. Tomorrow he will take a seven hour bus back to PA, spend one night there and then begin his long flight to Santiago, then to Toronto and home to Sweden.
Betty and I unloaded our stuff at the hostel this am and then took a bus out to Tierra del Fuego National Park to hike around on a gorgeous sunny day. The place is surrounded with snow-capped peaks! On our way back through town we stopped at this Irish pub for some pub grub and a be. and there was Mikel finishing up some dinner. So we asked him to join us.
We had a chance to ask him a lot of questions about Sweden. Things we learned: free health care for all, free child care and schooling through university, Free nursing home care for elderly, they actually PAY you for each child you have, I'mguessing through a tax deduction. Everyone gets 5weeks paid vacation yearly. Of course, their tax rate is pretty high!
But then he started talking about the vacations he takes! He's been twice to South Africa,Namibia, Botswana. In SA he went down in the ocean in a cage that was baited for sharks!!!! He loved it and did it another time. He'd like to get a job for awhile doing that! he also went on camping -safari trip there with a company called Nomads where they camped out!
He's been to Alaska twice, went out to see the bears like Betty and I did, drove with his brother from Seattle to Dawson City , then back down to San Francisco for a several week trip. He loves natures s wildlife and made Betty and Ifeel like slugs in comparison. He booked this 4 day boat trip at the last minute in Punta Arenas and paid half of what we did and had a cabin all to himself! So interesting what people are doing that we've run into.
All for today!
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