Re-entry.

We landed in Punta Arenas in the middle of the night. As we were entering Chile from a foreign country we were told to wait in an impound room while a customs officer could be located. I stretched out on a baggage table and fell asleep. We were allowed to proceed to our shuttles about forty minutes later, that span apparently representing the statute of limitations on customs. No officer ever did show up.

As we loaded our gear into the shuttle bays Phil and Steve were reunited with their long lost bags.  The airline had seen to it that the bags would  merge up as our incoming things were transferred from the IL-76. In the end, Phil and Steve's untested kits performed relatively well. This, no doubt, was a result of having purchased tested brands. North Face, Outdoor Research, Marmot, Mountain Hardware, Sportiva, and Gore-tex figured keenly in that selection process. Phil, being tall, was unable to find a long enough sleeping bag on short notice. He improvised by using his down parka and over-pants to keep his shoulders covered.  Steve ended up with an inferior set of crampons that spontaneously jetison a critical metal screw as he prepared to mount the final pitch. Incredibly, he and Mitchell were able to find it in the snow amidst raking winds. The unfamiliar climbing boots lent to Phil and Steve by ALE left their feet badly blistered. "I'm not complaining," Steve declared, glad the expedition moved forward and resolute, as always, to handle whatever came his way. When Phil and Steve flew home a few days later they were required to pay excess baggage to the same airline that lost there bags in order to get these items home along with the additional kit each had been forced to purchase. Nice.

Mitchell and Guy flew home immediately. Doug left the next day. Phil, Steve and I all decided to stay with our original itineraries and leave three days hence, as rebooking to an earlier departure would have incurred fees totaling the cost of all new tickets.

I have heard people use the term "re-entry" in describing the process of returning from Antarctica. The context this appears in suggests some similarity to the experience of returning Astronauts. Such a notion might not be as romanticized as one would think. Indeed, NASA has used Antarctica for components of Astronaut training and popular conspiracy theories suggest it to have been the location of the faked moon landings. In the course of our time in Antarctica there was no darkness. There was no color. There was no smell of any sort. Aside from the wind, there was no sound. For two weeks we existed together in a state of profound sensory deprivation. Upon re-entry to civilization I found myself quickly over-stimulated by the signs, lights, noises and activity around me. I wanted to hide out in my hotel room. Eventually I wandered out and hunkered down in the tiny computer room adjacent to the hotel lobby. I spent most of that first day posting blog entries I had written in Antarctica and eating chocolate. I kept my world very small.