I spent the morning packing my samples into “Thermosafe” containers to be shipped back to the US. My goodness…talk about a process! First we had to weigh the empty container and then the sample boxes separately so we had a starting weight. Next, we added bubble wrap and blue ice around the samples to keep them insulated and keep them from shifting around too much. Then we added about 15 kg of dry ice, which will be refilled as needed until the samples ship to the US (which could be this Monday or next). Once the package reaches about 65 kg (just under 150 lbs) we lightly tape it and then begin the sticker process. There are customs declarations, packing slips, and stickers that have to be placed on there. I've included pictures below so you can see...the stickers were "this side up", "keep frozen", "handle with care", and "keep dry".
Once that was over, we headed back to the ship for lunch, and then I had to go check into my hotel. I'm staying at the same place again, which I was originally bummed out about, but I got a bigger room this time and they'll let me check out for two days to go up to Torres del Paine without any problem AND they'll let me leave my luggage here. So I'm very happy about that!
I went back to the ship after I dropped off my stuff in my room because I had to get some more things accomplished. I got all of the files of mine from the trip off the computer system, and the ETs made me a data CD for all my CTD information with a sweet picture from the top of the LMG looking down at Palmer Station. I'm very excited about it, and am glad I had such great help from George and Barry. What a pair.
Last on my to-do list was to get the rest of my lab supplies packed up and offloaded. I'm only shipping three packages north, and the rest of my stuff is staying here. I got to learn how to band crates with some sort of metal with Skye - it was pretty neat. We only messed up once...but it's all good. And this makes my life way easier, because I won't have to ship as much stuff down for Tim come December. So yay for that.
After I'd finished all that, I finally left the ship and bought groceries for the week in an attempt to save money. Not sure how well that'll work, since there are lots of restaurants I want to try, but we'll see. I had the biggest urge to have a bubble bath and drink wine tonight - I can't explain it, but my hotel room has a bathtub and I'm exhausted. I was only marginally successful. My Spanish is alright, and I have no idea how to say "bubble bath", nor was I actually going to ask someone in the grocery store where it was. So I went with what I thought was safe - some baby bath (because that's always sudsy, right?). Wrong. It was like suntan lotion. Oh well. I got some much needed rest and feel much better now.
Random thing I'm remembering. I don't think I mentioned the dogs in Punta Arenas. Well, there are lots of strays in town. Like, a ton. Everywhere. Anywhere you look, there are dogs. And none of them have owners (well the ones on leashes do, but it seriously took 3 days before I saw one). I like to imagine they run in gangs, because they kinda hang out in groups. I think there's a whole society of dogs here in town. But anyways, apparently they're a real problem here and the city doesn't do anything about them, because there aren't facilities to hold them all (and it'd be kinda inhumane to kill them all). I guess they need to take a lesson from Bob Barker and start up the spays and neuters...
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