The Ice Desert - An Alien Land - Antarctica

McMurdo Station is actually on Ross Island, on the edge of the Ross Ice Shelf.  Notice, magnetic south pole, is north of us!!

Antarctica has a beauty all its own.  From my office in the chapel here, I have this incredible view, looking southward over the frozen ocean, (the McMurdo Sound and Ross ice shelf) toward the Transantarctic mountains and my favorite mountain, Mt Discovery.  When you can see them, they are quite majestic, especially when the sun is out.

The weather here changes all the time, hour by hour.  There is no such thing as a “sunny day”  or a “cloudy day” here.  The sun does come out, but in an hour it will be cloudy and windy, or snowing.  Later in the day, it maybe sunny again. 

Antarctica is actually a desert, and it is extremely dry here.  It is an ice desert.  It is way more dry here than the American Southwest deserts, or the Arabian desert.  It is the driest place on earth!

You must drink water all the time.  And I mean, ALL THE TIME.  With every meal I drink 4 large glasses of water.  When I get up I drink a liter of water, and in between meals, and before I go to bed.  I must force myself to do this, as I do not get thirsty here.  Most people carry a water bottle with them everywhere they go here.

I have already learned the hard way about dehydration.  Last week I got very fatigued.  Then I got a very bad charlie horse on my back side for a whole day.  And I never get those.  I thought I was drinking enough water, but I was not.  So I upped my water intake, and now I feel better.

This place is inhospitable on all fronts.  Extreme cold, intense wind, no moisture, no plants or trees, no animals, no sounds of birds, no smells except of cold and the diesel trucks and vehicles.  The sounds here are vehicles, helicopters, heaters running, and sometimes the wind whistling and howling.

They say when you go out to the more remote areas, there is no sound at all!

The hills around McMurdo are black, volcanic hills and rock.  The hills that are not covered with snow and ice are black, and have a soot-ish look to them.  In fact, the whole place is devoid of color.  It is mainly black and white here.

The  other day I was walking up the stairs to my dorm building, and happened to look under the building.  Rocks, stones...black and dark reddish, all volcanic.  They looked like moon rocks, iron, or meteorites.  Very alien.  There are no weeds, no grass, no nothing.  No life. 

There is life though.  Right now we just can’t see it.  There is sea life under the frozen ice, and the seals and the penguins are currently in other parts of the continent.  I have not seen any of them as yet .  Sure hope I do!

Yes, this is a very alien place.... with a beauty all its own.    Remote, frozen, foreign.   But it is actually us (humans) that are the aliens here.  Everyone here.... is a foreigner.