Day 2: Cape Horn followed by some of the darker hours of my life

Day 2 aboard the boat began with an early wakeup call at about 6:30am, and when I say wakeup call I mean the most obnoxious noise blaring over the speakers all throughout the boat (including in our rooms, speakers full blast) followed by a man speaking Spanish telling us to meet up in the Sky Lounge in order to disembark (exactly what I like to hear at that hour in the morning).  We had arrived at our first stop of the voyage, Cape Horn, a.k.a, the end of the earth. We were shuttled over to the island aboard small pontoon-esque boats, which made for an interesting time.  Here I am, posing like an a**clown (quoting Office Space, of course, as I don't choose to say those words on my own free will and accord, duh Mom).  Once again, the weather was nice, and I was optimistic about the day.  Details on how that drastically changed soon to come.  Read on...

Every semester when the group goes on the EFT, it is custom to take a group picture, all of which adorn the walls here at the casas in B.A.  Unfortunately, everybody didn't get the memo to gather for the group picture, so we're missing a few kids.  Fret no more, however, for surely enough I was not one of those goblins, and I'm sitting pretty front and center next to my friend Zack and our program director Rafa.  I don't think they read this much, so I'm gonna go ahead and say being next to them helps me look good.  

Zack, Danielle and I, at world's end.  Not  much more to that one.

Yes I know, this picture by itself is not very interesting, but that's because what you are failing to realize is that just 500 miles south of there, we come across that ever-useful hunk of land called "Antarctica."  Also, you will notice that that body of water over yonder, the southern Atlantic Ocean, is pretty much open water, meaning that it is not surrounded by islands/mountains/protection...essentially, it is very choppy, and in order to get to our next destination, we had to ford this treacherous beast, and I must admit, she had her way with me for a good chunk of time. 

Here's the pony-show procession to get to the Cape Horn monument.  If you haven't already noticed (which if you have eyes like me, that's probably the case-see: John Joyce for thanks), we're all sporting some pretty classy lifevests, a requirement when disembarking the boat.  The walk there took longer than expected, due to the fact that most people who take this type of cruise tend to be in their later years of life, so the going was a bit slow with these forefathers of ours leading the way.  Pretty much, the age gap on the cruise was incredible, as you would be hard pressed to find someone inbetween the ages of 20-60.  These poor folks had to deal with us for what probably seemed like the longest 3 nights of their lives.  They were troopers, no doubt.

Me and Zack embracing.  Yep.

Ah yes, one of my favorite pics of the entire trip.  As you can see, the lifevests came equipped with extra safety measures, including the crotch strap to ensure that just in case all the other straps fail, this one is bound to keep the lifevest nice and snug on the torso.  Every time we were forced to wear these heinous things, I made sure all my straps were buckled, including the booty floss, and tightened it as far as I could to preserve the jewels while at the same time ensuring a big old, and completely visible, wedggie.  The girls really loved it, enough to take this picture for me.  Charming, I'm aware...thanks Mikey.