We are one step closer to our final destination; on Monday we received all our gear for Antarctica!
While the Chilean students were getting their clothing from INACH*, we walked over to the USAP** warehouse to pick up our gear. As we neared the ocean, we saw that a squat, yellow warehouse awaited us.
We went to USAP's warehouse at Punta Arenas for our Extreme Cold Weather
The warehouse is used for many purposes other than just clothing distribution, so we had to make our way through a room full of other storage before entering the room marked "Clothing Area."
Anna at USAP's wharehouse.
The plywood structure consisted of a hallway, two dressing rooms, and a service counter, behind which we could see an immense collection of Antarctic gear. Everything was organized on shelves, with grocery store-esque signs directing you to the correct aisle.
Row after row of cool Antarctic gear
We had each filled out a form with our clothing sizes and measurements before leaving the US, so USAP had a duffel bag ready and waiting for each of us. Anna and I went into a dressing room to try everything on, and immediately began opening our bags to see what goodies they had given us. Each duffel was stuffed with snow pants, rain gear, coats, fleece pants and shirts, socks, gloves, goggles...
Pile of ECW gear, ready to be used!
We felt pretty confident in what we had packed ourselves, so we each decided just to take the snow pants, goggles, fleece pants, and the lovely Antarctica-red coat complete with a USAP patch.
Anna and I are ready for the Antarctic adventure with our Extreme Cold Weather gear
*Instituto Antártico Chileno (Chilean Antarctic Institute) **United States Antarctica Program
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