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Velella, a.k.a. the by-the-wind sailor, a.k.a. Velella velella. A tiny inflatable raft (it comes equipped with an internal chitinous air chamber) with a sail. Usually about 7 cm across — the smallest seaworthy vessel on the planet. A colonial hydrozoan. These little sailors are distant relatives . . . → Continue reading Tiny Sailboats of the Great Ocean
I decided to show this little flower separately as well. It really is just so cool. Tropaeolum polyphyllum. In Chile and Argentina (where it is endemic to the local mountains) it is called “soldadito grande de la cordillera” – the great little soldier of the mountains. It . . . → Continue reading Great Little Soldier of the Mountains
Since I’m practically an amphibian — and a thermophilic amphibian at that — and the weather nastiness on San José left us with a few spare days, we decided to drive around the hot springs. The ones . . . → Continue reading Andean vacation. Hot springs
Andean vacation. Volcano San Jose. Base Camp Andean vacation. Volcano San Jose. High camp Andean vacation. Volcano San Jose. Summit The snow fell for 36 hours. We lay in the tent and diligently tried to sleep. Simply to avoid going nuts. Visibility outside . . . → Continue reading Andean vacation. Volcano San Jose. Descent
Andean vacation. Volcano San Jose. Base Camp Andean vacation. Volcano San Jose. High camp January 6 the wind died down, and we moved camp up to 5100. The German-Australians had gone down, freeing their tent places, and we settled onto one of them. We . . . → Continue reading Andean vacation. Volcano San Jose. Summit
Andean vacation. Volcano San Jose. Base Camp January 1 — a day off. Sacred, obviously. Especially when acclimatization calls for it. We woke up unhurriedly, had breakfast, our companion decided to commit to rest with full seriousness, while we felt lazy — so we went . . . → Continue reading Andean vacation. Volcano San Jose. High camp
So, settling the debt from a year ago, at the end of this freshly concluded December we once again set out for Marmolejo. But not by the standard route — this time via its neighboring volcano San José, just to avoid repeating ourselves. The two stand . . . → Continue reading Andean vacation. Volcano San Jose. Base Camp
We suddenly found ourselves with a chance to once again escape the darkest time of the year to the other hemisphere. And since there’s been an outstanding debt to Marmolejo hanging over us since last year, that’s . . . → Continue reading Andean vacation |
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