It’s here.

The night before I left for South America and Antarctica, I couldn’t sleep. This trip had been a year in the making. Much longer if you factor in the time I spent dreaming about it. In 2016, I was four continents in to my seven-continent goal, and South America was next. In my original plan, I saw a week in the saddle in Patagonia. So, I prepared … I took horseback riding lessons and started saving for the trip. And then, I ran across a brochure for Ecuador and the Galápagos Islands, and my plans changed. 2017 … South America … check!

Five continents down.

When I first saw a description of a trip to my sixth, Antarctica, I thought it was out of reach. Too expensive. Too physically challenging. But I never could get that trip out of my mind. It was an expedition, not a cruise. A place where you could find quiet. Camaraderie in a small group. So, the whisper of two weeks in Antarctica in a sailboat with six other guests grew to a roar. I had to find a way. I had to see my sixth continent in exactly this way.

We would depart from Punta Arenas … about a five-hour drive from Torres del Paine. The peaks of Cuernos del Paine had captivated me from the moment I saw them. So … what’s another couple of days to add to this trip of a lifetime?

I reserved my spot on the S/V Australis a full year in advance. I counted down the days, and they always sounded so far away. But tomorrow was the day. It was here.

I traveled 7,898 miles over the next 26 hours, and the trip went off without a hitch, save for one woman with an anger management problem. I really thought she may get us diverted. But she eventually calmed down, and we continued on our way.

In Santiago, loading for the next leg, I was seated in the fifth row. I looked up to see a couple I traveled with in Galápagos! The song, “It’s a Small World After All” stuck with me for a couple of hours. We shared hugs and some laughs, and then the plane pushed back. We started taxiing down the runway, but then made an abrupt u-turn back to our gate. The luggage handlers rushed over and reopened the belly of the plane to “get something out”. The cases they removed (along with a cooler), were marked “Fragile”and “Medical”. Apparently, some important vaccines were loaded into the wrong cargo hold. The vaccine story was way less interesting than the one I made up in my head (which is so often the case), where they were transporting a human heart. For a 14-year old boy, and time was running out. (My inside voice is surprisingly detailed.) At least I didn’t leap up and start shouting, “Save the boy! Save the boy!” That would have been weird.

Four legs on the trip down, and every arrival was on time. For three of the four legs, I had an empty seat next to me. The trip was off to a great start.

The Hotel del Rey Felipe was a short 20-minute ride from the airport, and as I checked in, my Galápagos buddies walked in to the lobby. “It’s a Small World After All” …

I ran into our expedition leader at breakfast the next morning, and we had a chance to get to know each other a bit. Somehow, we got on the topic of ostriches (you never know where a conversation with a naturalist will lead), and he gave me some interesting information about a similar, smaller bird in Chile called Darwin’s Rhea. As luck would have it, I spotted two just out of town! They never would have caught my attention had I not had that conversation. Fun fact: they can run up to 37 miles per hour.

Our ride to Torres del Paine was beautiful. White wildflowers and a rainbow of lupine lined the road, and sheep were plentiful in the rolling hills. We saw pops of the vibrant pink of Chilean flamingos in ponds along our route, and trees were permanently bent and caught in a frozen combover fail as they yielded to the relentless wind.

We picked up a handsome young guide in Puerto Natales, and it was there that I learned that one kiss on the cheek is customary. This may be the appropriate time to mention that I have a thing for Latin men.

Off to see more of this hermoso logar (beautiful place) today. But first, a nap. Buenas dias!