Spring Moon of the Southern Cross
51 degrees 40 minutes S 57 degrees 49 minutes W
N.B. The correct analogy, I know, is the season of Beltane on my Celtic calendar, but here I have chosen to go with the meteorological, seasonal descriptor since we’re in a Latin American country. True, there is Galicia and the Latin emphasis on bulls and bull fighting, both Celtic influences; however, in the main the larger influence is Roman Catholicism, but I no longer use Christian liturgical seasons either. So, Spring.
Having said all that I might post Beltane for today only since we have left Latin America behind today by coming to the tiny Falkland Islands (aka Malvinas) and their stoutly British population of some 2,500 souls. Two thirds of the citizenry live in Port Stanley, capitol and our present location, while the remaining 800 plus live in what the locals call the camp.
This is not a distinction without a difference. Among the many differences camp and town see between each other, an important one is that Port Stanley observes daylight savings time and the camp does not. I would be in the camp camp.
These are flat islands 1150 nautical miles from Buenos Aires. Kate and I have signed up for the exclusive, once in a lifetime opportunity, to see the elusive rockhopper penguins. If I counted up the number of once in a lifetimes we’ve done on this trip alone, I’d have to have three or four more go rounds at least.
Once in a lifetime means, in this context anyhow, this costs so much that you’ll probably be able to afford this only once in a lifetime. Besides, just because it’s a once in a lifetime opportunity doesn’t mean it’s worth doing. Visiting the Freshkills landfill in New York would be a once in a lifetime event and I don’t intend to pay anyone to take me there.
We probably won’t see rockhopper penguins (though I confess I have no idea what rockhopper penguins are, but being elusive makes them necessary to see if at all possible. Irony.) again so I suppose this is a true once in a lifetime opportunity for us. I’ll let you know if it was a worthwhile way to spend four hours.
Did I mention yesterday that we returned to the Atlantic once we left the Beagle Channel? We have, and it has been suitably gray and inclement though the Pacific, once we made our way into Peru and the cold waters of the Humboldt Current was gray and chill as well. It seems appropriate to visit a British outpost as our first port once returning to the Pond.
This morning, finally, I feel back to my pre-cold energy level though I hadn’t realized I’d gotten somewhat sluggish. Now I’m ready to hop on that 4X4 and ride out to the rockhoppers and follow them rock by rock if necessary.
Kate’s going along though the ticket says not for folks with back problems. Usually that stuff’s just hype, sort of macho marketing, I hope that’s true in this case.
