Sweathog and Mountain Woman: Sunday, March 27, 2016 - Happy Easter and another day in Stanley

Just before I was ready to hit the sack last night an annoucement was made that we would not be flying out today. A bus tour was set up this morning to a local bay to view some of the local wildlife. I decided to skip it and instead I walked into town to attend Easter Mass. How many times will I be in Stanley in the Falkland Islands for Easter? I left before breakfast and got into town about 8:30. The breakfast place that I planned to eat was closed so I walked up to the church to confirm the Mass time. I arrived just as the eight o'clock Mass was letting out and was able to confirm the second Mass at ten. But then Karma; I was invited to the Parish Easter breakfast. How cool was that? After Mass I walked back to the ship.

After lunch another bus trip was scheduled to tour a large sheep farm. The farm is named "Long Island Farm". It is actually located on an island and was founded and run by Glenda and Neil Watson and is 23,000 acres in size. There is a lot of peat on the island and many people still use it for heating as does the farm. We were given a demonstration of harvesting and drying peat. Then there was a demonstration of herding sheep with a sheep dog followed by a shearing demonstration. The tour ended with tea and homemade pasteries. It was a very enjoyable afternoon.

Just before dinner it was announced that we should be able to depart tomorrow. It will not be official until the Military officially reopens the airport, hopefully first thing in the morning. Our plane is coming from Santiago and will not leave there until the airport is open. It is a six hour flight from Santiago to Stanley. It appears that we will be departing Stanley around 8 PM which puts us in Santiago at 2 AM Tuesday morning. Unfortunately no further flight arrangements can be made until the flight to Santiago is confirmed. It is certainly going to be interesting.

I cannot heap enough praise on Aurora Expeditions. They have continued to take care of everyone even though the trip has ended and our current circumstances have nothing to do with them. There has been absolutely no mention of additional costs. I will highly recommend them.

ILYB

Harvesting peat