On Assignment

One of my goals while exploring Patagonia was to bring the immersive experience of Patagonia back to my students and community. I was very aware of the fact that even though I was physically there I wanted my students, colleagues, and the larger community to get a chance to "be there" too. If you missed the previous post about this, check it out here: 🎥Immersive Experience 

From left to right 1: Practing with my Insta360 x3 camera 2. Immersive technology gear on loan from National Geographic 3. Exploring the VR headset

With all my tech gear packed, I was ready to be "on assignment" and capture all the 360 views of Patagonia. I very quickly learned that being "on assignment" is much harder than it looks. The wind in Patagonia was so intense that there were many times I thought I was going to fall over or my phone was literally going to fly out of my hand. That is NO hyperbole. The wind was really that strong. Sadly my Insta360 camera and invisible selfie stick never stood a chance. I would say about 9 out of 10 times my Insta360 camera ended up on the ground blown over by the wind. 

Left 📸: Getting 360 views of Ushuaia Middle 📸: Getting 360 views of the Aguila Glacier  Right 📸: Impact of the wind on the 360 camera at the Aguila Glacier

Despite the elements, I was able to capture some truly beautiful 360 views of this magical land. Much like the fauna, flora, and fungi of this region, I had to quickly adapt to survive the harsh elements. I become masterful at anchoring down my tripod with rocks (sometimes even boulders) and even digging small holes to keep my camera upright. 

Insta360 camera anchored down with rocks at our landing location before we hiked to the Aguila Glacier

Ultimately I am working to create a 360 immersive experience of Patagonia to be viewed through a VR headset with accompanying learning materials. Until that editing is done here are a few 360 views of magical Patagonia.

 

Expedition Crew from Middleton

While I spent my days aboard the National Geographic Explorer and exploring the remote and pristine land of Patagonia, my expedition crew from home was busy at work. In the amazing hands of Mrs. Klipfel (yes, my mom was my substitute) my students might not have physically been in Patagonia with me but they followed along for every step. Every day my exact location and pictures were added to a hallway bulletin board so all of Howe-Manning could follow along. 

Each morning students completed a daily Patagonia slide to learn about where in the world I was exploring and a little more about this faraway land. These daily Patagonia slides were not just completed in my classroom and across Howe-Manning, but also with schools and teachers I'm connected with across the United States, and even by a group of students in England. 

Click here to view daily Patagonia Slides📎

My expedition crew from home was also busy playing Explorer BINGO. Each letter of BINGO stood for a different aspect of being an explorer. B stood for "Be on the Lookout For", I was "I See", N was "Not on Land or in the Sea", G stood for "Got to See Sea Animals" and O stood was "Other Explorer Things". Before I departed, students filled in their BINGO board with different aspects of my expedition such as "ate a Calafate berry", "used 360 camera", or "saw a rockhopper penguin". This was definitely a highlight for students. 

Mrs. Klipfel even used her fancy tech skills and green-screened the students in Patagonia with me. This was a fun surprise to get one morning and see how much my students were also learning about Patagonia without even making it home yet. Many of the National Geographic and Lindblad experts were very impressed not just with students' Patagonia knowledge but with their impressive technology skills.

Yes, my expedition was phenomenal but an aspect that made it extra special was having a large expedition crew from home following along and sharing in all the wonders Patagonia had to offer. You never know, hopefully, I will be their expedition crew from home someday as they set out to explore. 

📍Puerto Natales, Chile

We docked at Puerto Natales, Chile for the evening and set out to explore the port town for a bit. We visited local shops, saw the Halloween celebration in the town square, and. enjoyed the livelihood of the town. Puerto Natales even has a statue that is a monument to the wind, something that felt very fitting after the wild wind we experienced all expedition.  

The next morning we disembarked from the National Geographic Explorer and set out to explore an estancia, which is the name for a Patagonian ranch. The ranch we visited raised horses and even had Gauchos, the name for cowboys in this region. 

Our exploration took us on a trek to the top of a mountain while enjoying stunning views of the Prat Mountain Range and Laguna Sofia. I’m telling you the Andes are stunning 😍 

With one of my Grosvenor Teacher Fellow partner Mr. Smith

We hiked to a cave that was a Patagonian panther den during the Pleistocene era. There have also been remains of a saber-toothed tiger along with other animals found in this cave. It was a stunning hike to enjoy some of our last views of Patagonia.

We sadly had to say a final farewell to Patagonia. We loaded the bus and headed to the airport to begin our long trek home. It would take me over 24 hours to make it back to Boston. I can't yet put into words this experience. Patagonia was a truly magical place ✨ I'm heading back to my classroom as a changed educator with a million stories to share, a million questions to answer, and a million ideas to bring to life.

Sad to say goodbye to our naturalist mentor Alex and my Grosvenor Teacher Fellow partners

There is a local saying “el que se apura en la Patagonia, pierde el tiempo”, which sums up everything you need to know about Patagonia: “he who rushes in Patagonia, loses time” 💛

📍Kirke Narrows, Chile🏔️

Our captain knows how to navigate! Check out these views from the Kirke Narrows that he navigated like the back of his hands. The amazement of everyone on deck was almost palpable as we sailed through this narrow passage. Two zodiac boats had to head out before we even attempted this sail to ensure conditions allowed for a successful passage. If not we would have had to wait another day as you can only pass during slack tide and during daylight. 🌊

Ferdinand Magellan navigated this same region and it took his expedition most of November 1520 to find their way through the maze-like channels that lie between the continental mainland and Tierra del Fuego to the south 🌎

 

📍Bernal Glacier, Chilean Patagonia

Yesterday we set out to explore Bernal Glacier which is only accessible by boat through the Fiordo de las Montãnas aka Montana Fjords in the Southern Chilean Fjords. 🧊 We hiked a beautiful path through pools of icy turquoise lagoons, low vegetation, boulders, sand, and gravel to finally make it to see the blue hues of the glacier up close.

Left 📸 with Alex Searle my mentor while on expedition in front of the Bernal Glacier

We were able to walk right up to this glacier and actually touch it.  This area gave a great view of the rocks and gravel left behind as a glacier moves and carves out a valley in the mountains. I also learned that this is the glacier where the Patagonia Ice Dragon lives. This stonefly has special adaptations in its blood that keep it from freezing. Scientists have actually boiled this insect and it survived. Read more about it here. 

Looking at varying photos of the Bernal glacier over the years you can sadly see its ever-diminishing size. Climate change is causing it to rapidly melt away at some of the fastest rates on the planet (about 60 meters in less than one year). I feel lucky to have the privilege to witness the beauty of this glacier while it still exists. Here’s to hoping my students and future generations are so lucky 💛

 

📍Puerto Profundo, Chile

As we continued to head north on our voyage, we headed out to explore the remote haven of Puerto Profundo, nestled within the Patagonia fjords. 🌎 We took zodiacs through the sheltered bay to explore the intricate ecosystem of isles and mini fjords. It was truly a secluded and breathtaking world. If you pretended the wind was not there it almost felt like you were in the Caribbean.

We did some birding with our naturalist Javier who is a self-proclaimed bird nerd 😆 We shut the motor of our zodiac off and even had a speaker to play bird noises and draw the birds out. We were lucky enough to spot a green-backed firecrown hummingbird. This hummingbird is the sole hummingbird found in Tierra del Fuego showing magnificent resilience in adapting to the harsh environment.

Left: Neotropical cormorant taking flight.

Right: Green-backed firecrown, a beautiful jewel of the cold Patagonian fjords.

📸 credit: Javier Cotin

During our exploration of Puerto Profundo, we stopped by a local fishing boat and saw their southern king crab catches. These fisherman will remain on their ships from July to December. A fast ship comes every 10 days to pick up their catches and deliver supplies. 

Most of these king crabs end up on dinner tables in the United States showing a new connection of home to these icy waters. Funny enough they do have Netflix and Tik-Tok on their ship. 😆

Local fishermen's boats.

📸 credit: Javier Cotin

The stories of the determined fishermen, the mesmerizing wildlife, and the untamed beauty of this land remain a testament to the undiscovered wonders of our planet.🌍

 

📍Karukinka National Park, Tierra del Fuego

Tierra del Fuego translates to “Land of Fire” and is one of Patagonia’s crown jewels. Today we had the privilege of going to Jackson Bay within the Karukinka National Park 😍 Karukinka is a private national park in Tierra del Fuego donated to the Wildlife Conservation Society by Goldman Sachs. There are no roads that lead to this part of Tierra del Fuego so the only way to access it is by water and with special permission.

View we were greeted with when we arrived on shore

When we arrived early in Jackson Bay it was littered with not only elephant seals and their pups but plastic galore (much more on that later.) The population of elephant seals here is actually lower this year due to the bird flu that is harming many animals in this region of the world. The darker ones you see in the pictures are the pups. This is when you really need audio as the noises of these elephant seals are an array of burps and farts on repeat 😂  

Middle 📸 credit: naturlaist Alex Searle

Some fun facts about elephant seals are that male elephant seals are 50% larger than females. Elephant seals have adapted to be able to hold their breath underwater for up to 2 hours! They have a higher volume of blood to store oxygen and they even slow down their heart rate from 90 beats per minute to only 3 by sleeping as they dive!

We hiked through a subantarctic forest up to a waterfall where we found guanaco bones, observed Andean condors flying over the mountains, and enjoyed lots of time on the beach observing the elephant seals.

Andean Condor flying overhead
📸Photo by naturalist Alex Searle