Our trip is coming to an end and we realize that we have been doing a journey in time which represents a jump of around 40 millions years. Yes, because that’s the timespam in which Antarctica has been separated from South America. Our time machine, the Fram has brought us safely from this marvelous detour into the frozen past of “terra incognita”. We have fought the waves, the cold, the ice, the rain, the solitude and the distance and now we are back after 18 days which seems to be like months. The amount of images, views, impressions and pictures we have gathered during this time seems to be a freight of sensations and feelings that can feel a whole life and last forever.
It is impossible to escape the sensation that we have been very privileged to have had the chance to live such an experience, to have enjoyed the friendship of our shipmates, to have savored the tasty meals from our chef, to have been challenged in our curiosity by the lecturers and to have experienced the permanent dedication of the crew and the expedition leader. Antarctica and this trip has given us many lessons and probably one of the most important ones is to have gained the awareness that we have benefitted as a group, the same way that Antarctica has been protected by a group of countries. None of us could have gone on his own to this great continent, this was only possible by the contribution form each one of us.
Now is time to begin to organize our belongings, to settle the first impressions and slowly to say good by to our cozy and adventurous home, the Fram, for the last weeks . While we walk through the ship and say farewell to the different decks, we noticed that we - all of us - also have filled this place with life. The Fram is finishing successfully it´s fourth season in Antarctica and we were there.
If we see the car deck now, we realize how vivid and lively it was when we were hurrying to put our mudboots because another fascinating landing was waiting for us, another island to be discovered, another penguin rookery to be seen and explored. Yes, we will miss these activities, the excitement and the anxiety of getting out to discover the new world that was waiting for us as we visited Antarctica, South Georgia and the Falkland/Malvinas Islands.THANKS VERY MUCH FOR THIS WONDERFUL TRIP TO THE END OF THE WORLD AND WE WISH YOU A GOOD JOURNEY BACK HOME.
