Buenas Dias, Buenos Aires!!

We made it to Buenos Aires, but just barely. We had to run through JFK Airport in New York as fast as we could to barely make our connecting flight... but I am skipping ahead, and some good things happened before then.

First, we left Cape Cod, actually driving right OVER the bridge onto the mainland and convening at the home of the lovely Kris Hughes, who along with the lovely Karin Tremblay and the Hughes kids JoJo and Rocco presented us with custom assembled travel goodie bags. How wonderful to have such thoughtful friends! Then Ava, Sofie, Andrew and I piled into the van of Jay Sheehan along with Jay's lovely wife Beth and their adorable son Garrett for the drive to Logan Airport in Boston for our 7:15 p.m. flight. The connection was going to be rather tight in New York, where the final member of our crew, Clay Harper, would join us, but all seemed well until... the plane was delayed due to fog.

It was delayed just long enough to make us quite nervous, and to make a bit of airport sprinting necessary once we reached New York, but Ava and Sofie were up to the challenge, tugging on their backpacks and running for the gate. We were the last ones on board, and I actually met Clay for the first time as I made my way down the aisle to my seat.

The ten hour flight was as expected-- long, exhausting. We got as much sleep as we could and looked forward to waking up in Argentina.

We landed at 9:15 a.m. and made our way through customs. We filmed a bit of our arrival and the passport process, then piled into two cabs to our hotel, which is beautiful. Hotel Moreno! I love it! After some wonderful hot showers, we searched out some food and took a look around. Buenos Aires is steamy and hot today, and the heat finally broke into a very dramatic thunder and lightning storm complete with ice cube sized hailstones in the late afternoon-- at precisely the time we welcomed my friend Nina's cousin Claudio, his wife Olimpia and their 17 year old daughter Lara to our rooms for interviews with the girls.

Even after 14 hours of plane travel, little sleep and lots of running around the girls again rose to the challenge, coming up with a list of their own questions to ask Lara about her life in Buenos Aires. It was a productive first day.

Then we put on our rain gear and ventured into the wet nighttime streets to seek out a market for food. We ate a humble meal in our hotel and now we settle down for a much-craved sleep. The girls are sound asleep, Ava cuddling Teddy and Sofie with Moo. Tomorrow remains open to several different possibilities: a possible connection with the Girl Guides of Argentina? A visit to Buenos Aires' most famous cemetery? Something else? We'll find out tomorrow, after breakfast on the roof of our hotel. I can't wait to see how the time lapse of the night turning to dawn and day outside our window turns out!

Exhausted... can't quite believe I was able to write all of that. Buenos noches, and hasta manana!

The Adventure Begins... Tomorrow!!

Well, the Great Adventure begins tomorrow!

I wish I could say that I am as cool as the penguins we will be seeing, but instead I am all hopped up and jangling, crazily running from room to room, making lists, piling up clothing and gear and going a bit crazy. My friends and family are calling and emailing me and messaging me on Facebook, all reminding me to breathe and calm down. Ahhh.

We received two beautiful Magic Beanies from the marvelous Janice Callahan today-- one with a penguin emblem and one with two pirate symbols. How perfect! Ava and I can't wait to show them to Sofie, Andrew and Jay and Clay, the intrepid Team Penguin, when we begin our journey tomorrow to the end of the world. But first-- a good night's sleep and some last minute battening down of various hatches in the morning. Whew! Didn't we just do this? Imagine traveling first to the other side of the globe to China, and then from here to the bottom of the globe, to Cape Horn, within the space of 11 months! Now imagine doing that at age eight!

We couldn't have done it without you. Thank you!

I remain,

Jen

We Did It!!!

We Did It! We reached our fundraising goal!

Thank you!! Today is Wednesday, and we leave for Cape Horn on Sunday!

I just got off the phone with my excellent good friend Betsy Bray, who traveled to Cape Horn and took the same excursion last year. She is kindly loaning me her waterproof trekking gear, which is wonderful because we are not only doing this project on a shoestring- we are doing it on the little tiny hard thing on the end of the shoestring. What do you call that thing again? Say it with me: AGLET! We are doing this trip on an aglet, and every little bit of cost avoided is a good thing. So today I will pick up my loaned gear and then start a hunt for the same things in mini-size for Miss Ava. Waterproof trekking boots, waterproof gloves, waterproof pants and some decent fleecy stuff, sunglasses, and a cap.

I also need to address the subjects of various camera memory cards and batteries, travel documents, how to pack what into what bags, where the gear goes, and how to REMAIN CALM.

Less than four days until we leave! I am so excited! And nervous!

I remain,

Jen