Welcome to INACH

The research project we are working on is a collaboration between the U.S. Antarctic Program (USAP) and the Chilean Antarctic Institute (or Instituto Antártico Chileno, INACH). There are both American and Chilean scientists working together on our research. This season, Hannah and I get to work with our Chilean collaborator, Angelica, seen here being a penguin in the INACH headquarters:

We will be living and working at a Chilean research station in Antarctica. Today, we worked with INACH to gather the rest of our gear and cargo. We like to blend in with our Chilean friends, so we happily wear both American and Chilean clothes! Here, Hannah models the INACH fashion we will use in Antarctica:

We also attended the required trainings to prepare for living and working in Antarctica. We cover safety while living at the research station and environmental protection of the Antarctic ecosystem. There are many rules we have to follow while we live and work in Antarctica!

The meeting room at INACH headquarters. On the left, you see 3 flags: the INACH flag for Antarctica, the Chilean flag, and the flag for the Magallanes Region of Chile. How good is your Spanish to read the PowerPoint slides?

We are supposed to fly to Antarctica tomorrow morning. However, the weather is not looking very good... The plane will only fly if the weather is good, not only here in Punta Arenas to take off, but also all the way across the Drake Passage and in Antarctica where we will be landing. They do not take off if they don't think we can fly and land safely! So frequently the weather doesn't cooperate, and we get delayed. If we do not get to fly tomorrow as planned, then we get an extra day in Punta Arenas and will try again on Saturday!

Gearing up

Today we spent some time in the warehouse collecting our gear to stay warm and dry while in Antarctica. The U.S. Antarctic Program stocked us up on what we call “extreme cold weather” gear, or ECW. This includes everything from warm hats and waterproof gloves to the full-body “immersion suits” hanging on the back wall, which can keep you afloat and stave off hypothermia if you fall in the water.

Hannah contemplates her ECW fashion choices. Does she want her snow pants in black, or black? Is orange the “in color” this season?

After we packed our ECW, we had some time to enjoy Punta Arenas. One of the items on the dinner menu was  guanaco. Guanacos (pronounced hwa-NA-kos) are large herbivores related to llamas and alpacas. However, guanacos are wild animals, whereas llamas and alpacas only exist in domestication. (In fact, guanacos are possibly the wild ancestor of the domesticated llama.) Guanacos are native to South America and are common down here in Patagonia. 

There are traditional dishes that use guanaco meat, and it can be found on menus at some restaurants. When you are visiting a new country, it is fun to try those unique dishes… like guanaco stew! (Don’t worry, guanacos are not endangered, so there are not concerns about over-hunting them for food.) The verdict after trying it: it tastes like tender stewed red meat.