Sick ~ ugh

I'll write more when feeling better. Sorry :(

Christchurch ~ R and R ~ Second Day

Saw an amazing exhibit today. The sculptures so real you waited to see them breath, to step off their pedestal and scold you for staring. The Artist is an Australian individual who does life like sculptures but larger and smaller than life. They are so life like you can see the blue veins and sun spots on their skin. It was amazing and one of the highlights of my trip.

Warning: there is nudity.

Now these ladies were my favorite. They say body language is 90%, but the way they stood, their facial expressions, their story is way more than a thousand words. I can just hear their voices later after the exhibit is closed and the lights go off . . . boy will the gossip be good. You can bet on it.

His stuff was amazing and I could have spent all day just staring at it. What a wonderful skill this man has, and he has done tones more. I looked him up on the internet and there are tons more sculptures of astounding proportions that he had created. I feel blessed to have been able to see it. When I first landed in Christchurch way back in September I heard about his exhibit but it wasn't up yet, and was going to leave before I got back. Little did I know then that I'd actually get to see it. What a wonder. These pictures just don't even come close. Wow! And then day three came . . .

Christchurch ~ R and R ~ first day

So I left for R and R Tuesday morning, at 2am to be exact. While others were blurry eyed and grumbling, I was bubbly and wide awake, having it only be 2 in the afternoon for me. Piling into Ivan, we began the 45 minute drive out to the Pegasus Runway. As I chatted with the guy next to me, the scenery slipped by the window. Suddenly I hear "There is smoke back here!" as a billowing fog of smoke is indeed rising up around the four people sitting. Our driver stopped and radioed for help while the mechanic who had been riding along, apparently expecting this problem, jumped out to take a look. When the first rescue shuttle/van pulled up, some of us off loaded while the rest waited for the Deltas to show up. What a way to start my rest and relaxation. There is a reason we have to wear our full cold gear on these types of trips aka stranded in the middle of the permanent sea ice waiting for a ride.

Once we reached the runway more or less intact from our bumpy ride, we waited for the military C-17 to arrive and rumble us away from our island. When it did put in an appearance, loud, large and proud we watched it soar above and then glide down the runway getting giant by the second. It was amazing to see being of a non-military background. Once all the cargo had been off loaded we were allowed to board and sitting along the sides of the plane, we strapped in a waited to go. I finally got to ride my military cargo plane, both ways this time.

While waiting the sun filtered through

The Antarctica Airport waiting area, anybody seeing red?

It was a five hour, ear plugged flight inside the belly of a beast, with all the wires and tubes exposed, raw. There was no cosmetic beauty inside that plane, and it was fascinating. Everything there for all to see. Like looking into a living, breathing machine where everything is moving and you, a single cell among all the workings. This same machine was flying over frozen oceans and ice, soaring high above the clouds carrying me to a land I had not been to in three months. As the rumbling of the engines echoed among the the metal haul, everyone dozed, read or contemplated what they would do when they landed in another country, and for me, another world, long forgotten. The real world.

Stepping out into the heavy mist and rain, I drew in the smell of wet dirt, and could almost here my skin sigh with humidity. What had I missed while I was gone, didn't matter. What I was experiencing was all consuming. Getting into the hotel and dumping the bags, I walked among the streets meeting up with friends for lunch and trying to plan my three days in instant access land. Wanting to keep it simple and needing only a few things, Christchurch was to be my home base and with great distraction, but that is another day . . . .

The Trifacta

Today I got to visit the Trifacta, or the waste, power and water plants. They are located within short walking distance of each other and filled with large, loud equipment that are the heart and blood of McMurdo.

Our first stop was the waste plant, which is completely eco/green. They break down all the matter using microorganisms and everything is cleaned and purified naturally without the use of chemicals. The best way to describe it is the plant has an identical eco-system to that of a swamp land where it is a cycle of cleaning and purging.

We got to see the beginning where all the waste is broken down, purified, and then separated into different matter. We even went to the cake room, where the dry matter is boxed and shipped out.

It is high nutrient fertilizer that they used to give to farmers in the states for free until they passed a law that it was considered foreign matter and toxic (it has a toxic rating of .001% (cleaning supplies have higher ratings) and foreign because we eat produce from New Zealand ) and now it is simply dumped in a fill site in Port Hueneme, California. Does this make sense to anyone?

The waste plant has a constant temperature of 85 degrees (guess where I'll be visiting during the winter) and the hottest room on station. With a sweltering 114 degrees, the generator room is loud, hot and a beast that keeps us from trudging through our own sludge.

Our guide was great, full of information and utterly saintly with patience as we asked question after question. He even showed us the microscopic workers of waste under the microscope.

One interesting fact that I learned is that the body cannot break down tomato seeds so they pass right through and often in the "cake" boxes tomato plants sprout up. He even had one growing in his office, a sort of pet plant. It was wonderful to see something green and natural growing down here. But shhhhh, we don't want word getting out and then it suddenly disappearing.

Oh, the soil it is potted in is "cake" material, or fecal matter that has been purified, processed and stripped of most of the moisture matter so it can be shipped back to the states. Notice any difference than fertilizer?

Next stop was the power plant where our guide Chris explained about the wind turbans and how much power they generated along with the five fuel generators that we have.

Generators in the yellow room

McMurdo normally runs on three to four generators but can back up to five if needed. The system is fully computer-matic to the point that if one generator shuts down, the system will automatically start another generator while notifying the tech of the problem. We had one generator catch fire during which resulted in a station wide power outage, while the computer tried to start another generator which did not want to walk from it's slumber. The room was basically a large fuse panel with buttons that could knock out the power to individual buildings or centers.

I made the mistake of almost leaning against the wall, and he lunged at me yelling "Don't do that!" Apparently I was going to bump into the button that turned the power off to the science lab and could have killed years of testing in the press of a button. I stood statue still the rest of the tour not wanting to cause a massive black out. Leave it to me to wipe out the McMurdo population with a bump of a button. Needless to say I was releaved when we left and moved on to the water plant, and Mr. Friendly himself, Paul.

All our water comes from the ocean here and is processed, reverse osmosis style. Paul, who is a sweet wonderful man with a smile always on his face, explained how the process worked, of filling one tank of water, processing another, draining and using one.

Osmosis Filter (way larger than the one back home)

He told us about how all the excess salt that is pulled out of the water, is actually pumped back into the sea with the extra water they bring in. I asked if that effects the marine life and he told me it is such a small amount that it is hardly noticed.

The whole one and half hour tour of all three facilities really opened my eyes to the behind the scenes workings of the station and how running out of food is not as serious as back up of feces or the outage of power. Or if we were to run out of water for that matter. Everything depends on everything else, and at times like this I am glad to know I only have to depend on one thing. And he is perfect, powerful and in control of all. What a relief, and here I was worried when the power went out, or the heat shut. Oh ye of little faith, only while in Antarctica do I realize how little we can do on our on. Thank you Lord for allowing us to live here, in the harshest place on your creation. How wonderful Eden must have been if this is the polar opposite.