Author: Flat HAL
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Day 3 Antarctica Showed the Flat Fellas Another Side of Itself
#flatstanley #flathal #antarctica Having seen moody and overcast, and bright, vibrant sunshine, day three offered dense fog and mist. For most of the day it seemed impossible to identify the horizon, the water bleeding into the mist. The flat Fellas spent part of the day looking through photographs we had already taken, and working on…
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A Fun & Cold Time Watching The Sun Set
#flatstanley #flathal #antarctica The high of the day was only a little above freezing, and the temperature seemed to drop quickly with the sun, but the color didn’t just linger in the sky, it seemed to get more brilliant and interesting as the time passed. For most of an hour, maybe more the sky reflected…
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The Sunlight Gives Us A Blue Sky And A Blue Ocean
#flatstanley #flathal #antarctica With help from Google’s Gemini AI:The sky’s blueness is primarily due to the scattering of light by air molecules. The ocean’s blueness is mainly due to the absorption of longer wavelengths of light by water molecules. While both involve the interaction of light with matter, how it happens is different.
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Day 2 Antarctica Showed Up Ready For Pictures!
#flatstanley #antarctica #flathal @hollandamericaline After showing us its moody side, Antarctica dazzled the flat fellas with endless expanses of ice, mountains, and the occasional wild animal. “A Colony of Gentoo Penguins to Port!” It was such an exciting announcement. The flat fellas joined other passengers in rushing to the rails of the ship. The scoured…
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Antarctica has its own color palette.
#flatstanley #flathal #antarctica A place without fire engine red, except on man-made structures, this is a content that mixes blues with gray tones to create a unique landscape all its own. The blue ice here is like the blue ice in glaciers the world over, the bluer it is — as we understand it —…
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The Flat Fellas First Day In Antarctica
#flathal #flatstanley #antarctica The overcast weather seemed like it might be a bummer at first, but as we looked at our photos we realized it was highlighting the way the ice of Antarctica seemed to glow on the horizon. Our photos captured a moody tone, depicting the harsh conditions living here must entail. Flat Hal…
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Ushaia, Argentina, is often the last city travelers stop at before going to Antarctica.
#flathal #flatstanley #ushaia #argentina Just one reason it has been dubbed the End of the World.
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Chilean Skua on the way to Ushaia, Argentina
#flatstanley #flathal #chileanskua #argentina #ushaia Flat Hal and Flat Stanley tried to make the most of a “late” in the day arrival in Ushaia for a “short” call in port. The morning was spent sailing Glacier Alley. At 2 pm the ship arrived in Ushaia, with all aboard at 7:30. When sailing All Aboard is…
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Glacier Alley, Beagle Channel
#flathal #flatstanley #glacier #charlesdarwin This channel is named for the HMS Beagle. A ship that played an important role in exploration of the area.It is also the ship Charles Darwin traveled on. Imagine being on the HMS Beagle. The year is 1826, give or take… essentially 200 years ago. You do not have GPS, email,…
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Straits of Magellan
#flathal #flatstanley #straitsofmagellan #chile When Flat Hal and Flat Stanley first made a list of bodies of water they had sailed on this trip, they did it as a bit of a joke. How often does a cruise ship sail on a lake? A fresh water lake! When we think of cruise ships we think…
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Punta Arenas — the Flat Fellas went for a short walk
#flatstanley #flathal #puntaarenas #chile On the shuttle ride from the ship to the city center, to Plaza de Armas, Flat Hal and Flat Stanley had their eyes focused on everything we passed, looking for something to wander back to. Fortunately the square we were dropped at was a short distance from the shoreline where some…
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The Chilean Fjords
#flathal #flatstanley #fjords #chile That heading alone might take a moment. Do you know where Chile is? What a Fjord is? (Norway has Fjords too!) Two days sailing the Fjords of Chile showed the Flat Fellas dramatic mountains, some covered in snow, and two glaciers. How big is that glacier?The cruise ship in front of…
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Where in the world are the Flat Fellas?
#flathal #flatstanley #southamerica #chile Flat Hal and Flat Stanley are sailing from Puerto Chacobuco to Punta Arenas by way of a scenic cruising through the fjords of Chile. On the smaller map, we started at the northern most red pinpoint, sailed by the glaciers at the middle pinpoints in the Bernardo O’Higgins National Park, and…
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Coyhaique is the capital of both the Aysén Region and the Coyhaique province.
#flatstanley #flathal #coyhaique #chile Flat Hal and Flat Stanley learned that Chile has 16 regions… kind of like states in the U.S., or province/territories in Canada. In Chile, provinces are like counties in the United States, or municipalities/regional districts in Canada. Sometimes, when we are traveling, we encounter a word, or concept we know the…
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Puerto Chacabuco — a day of sightseeing
#flathal #flatstanley #chile #ghostlake Flat Hal and Flat Stanley got a bit distracted at our first stop on the tour. The guide intended for us to look and see if we spotted an animal that was native to the region and frequented the area. However, the lake itself offered something different, and magical when we…
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The Flat Fellas saw a lot of birds in Castro, Chiloe, Chile
#flathal #flatstanley #chile #birds And fortunately, today, we had the camera with a good optical zoom with us to try and capture some nice photos.
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Flat Hal and Flat Stanley set out to see a UNESCO World Heritage Site
#flatstanley #flathal #UNESCO #Chiloe Have you ever heard of a UNESCO World Heritage Site? These are places that are considered to be of value to everyone around the world. When we asked Google’s Gemini AI about it, we received this beautiful phrase in the response: these sites represent the best of our planet’s cultural and…
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The Flat Fellas Visit Puerto Montt, Chile
#flathal #flatstanley #puertomontt #chile Flat Stanley joined Flat Hal for a leisurely walk on shore after a short tender ride over from the cruise ship. We talked in our previous journal about tenders. When the boat anchors a short way from land, some of the lifeboats are used to carry passengers to land. We have…
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Flat Stanley and Flat Hal decided to have another book club adventure!
#flatstanley #flathal #swissfamilyrobinson Sometimes it is fun to read a book at the same time a friend is reading the same book, then you can talk about it. Flat Hal was surprised by some of the things that happened in Swiss Family Robinson. The book was originally written in 1812, and people thought differently about…
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A walk around Robinson Crusoe Island
#flatstanley #flathal #islarobinsoncrusoe #chile Shortly after getting off the tender on Isla Robinson Crusoe I saw this large carved statue. It is in memory of Alexander Selkirk who was marooned on this island for four years. As Flat Hal and Flat Stanley explored the island they were struck by the variety of plants and flowers.…
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The Flat Fellas Visit Isla Robinson Crusoe
#flathal #flatstanley #islarobinsoncrusoe #chile Robinson Crusoe Island is the second largest island in the Juan Fernández Islands, west of South America, part of Chile. Why visit a small island with a population of 800? (With help from Gemini AI) The Juan Fernández Islands are a biodiversity hotspot with a high rate of endemism. Here’s a…
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Flat Hal and Flat Stanley are tryingto learn about Mammals…
#flathal #flatstanley #chile #sealion Specifically Seals vs. Sea Lions, how to tell them apart, and how to identify what these guys they spotted in San Antonio, Chile are — can you help? Is this the South American Sea Lion? Why do the flat fellas think they saw the South American Sea Lion? There are a…
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Kelp Gull in San Antonio, Chile
#flatstanley #flathal #chile #kelpgull Flat Hal and Flat Stanley thought we were photographing two different types of Sea Gulls, but it turned out these are all Kelp Gulls, the difference in the color of their feathers comes from whether or not they are an adult. The flat fellas had fun this afternoon watching the giant…
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San Antonio, the port city for Santiago, Chile
#flatstanley #flathal #chile Flat Hal was amused when he discovered he and Flat Stanley were visiting San Antonio. That’s the name of a city “not far” from home in Texas. Have you ever looked up your city name to see if there are other towns with the same name in other states/provinces or countries? According…
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70th Meridian West, a little time zone help, please?
#flathal #flatstanley #map #70thmeridianwest #chile Find the 70th meridian west on a map… meridian is another word for longitude, so we are looking for a line going up over and around the height of the Earth. (In our previous journal we talked about how longitude lines are long, and latitudes have attitude and wrap the…
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Christo de la Concordia de Arica – Christ of Peace (or Harmony) of Arica, Chile
#flatstanley #flathal #arica #chile #statue If you have ever seen a movie with scenes in the city of Rio de Janeiro then you have probably seen the statue known as Christ the Redeemer. It is huge, and stands atop a mountain overlooking Rio. Movies use something called an “establishing shot” a brief image to let…
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Technical difficulties!
Part of the adventure when traveling is finding WiFi, experiencing satellite internet connectivity, not always having a stable internet connection, and sometimes simply being unable to resolve what feels like a simple problem (if you were at home). Flat Hal shares a journal entry at FlatHal.xyz every other day (more often when life is truly…
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Birds Near the Cruise Ship Pier in Arica, Chile
#flathal #flatstanley #arica #chile #birding Gray Gull, Franklin’s Gull and Laughing Gull were all out in the water, can you help us identify which is which? Who do you “flock together” with? Do your friends play sports together? Other types of games? What do you enjoy doing together?
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Birds of a Feather Flock Together
#flatstanley #flathal #birds This expression has been running through my head a lot recently. Flat Hal and Flat Stanley have seen flocks of birds in flight, hanging out in the water, and relaxing in the sun on our mooring lines, and often there are a LOT of the same type of bird, then out of…
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The Flat Fellas visited a vineyard, and saw grapes on the vine
#flathal #flatstanley #vineyard #peru #grapes #pisco An important question to ask before eating a grape off the vine is what color are these when they are ripe. As Flat Hal and Flat Stanley discovered these will be purple in March (a month after they saw them) when they are ripe. As we can see they…
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Playa Roja,the Red Sand Beach at Paracas National Reserve
#flathal #flatstanley #peru #redsandbeach The sand is stained red from the volcanic activity in the region, as best we understood, giving the beach a different look than the white sand beaches we are used to seeing. The flat fellas found the red of the sand easier to see from the hillside where we took these…
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Some of the birds the flat fellas saw at Paracas National Reserve
#flatstanley #flathal #birding #paracasnationalreserve #peru The Eurasian Whimbrel really didn’t want to pose for photos, but a few of them were around. The American Oystercatcher putthat beak of his right into the sand when he saw something tasty!And the Peruvian Booby hanging out with a friend.
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Apachetas & Paracas National Reserve
#flathal #flatstanley #apachetas #peru Stacked stones left by previous visitors to Paracas National Reserve Here’s a breakdown of what Apachetas are and their significance: Meaning and Significance of Apachetas: Sacred Offerings: Apachetas are traditionally built as offerings to Pachamama (Mother Earth) and the Apus (mountain spirits) in Andean cultures. They are a sign of respect…
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Paracas National Reserve near Puerto General San Martin, Peru
#flatstanley #flathal #peru #paracasnationalreserve Flat Hal and Flat Stanley explored Paracas National Reserve When we saw Puerto General San Martin on the itinerary we weren’t sure what to expect. The nearby town of Paracas has a population of 2,000 which may not sound like a place with a lot of interesting sights for tourists, but…
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Here’s a quick vocabulary list for a tourist in Peru:
#flathal #flatstanley #spanish Polite Phrases:Hola: HelloBuenos días: Good morningBuenas tardes: Good afternoon/eveningBuenas noches: Good nightPor favor: PleaseGracias: Thank youDe nada: You’re welcomeLo siento: I’m sorryCon permiso: Excuse me (to pass)Perdón: Excuse me (to get attention) Basic Questions/Requests:¿Cuánto cuesta?: How much does it cost?¿Dónde está…?: Where is…?¿Habla inglés?: Do you speak English?No entiendo: I don’t understandUn…
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Callao, Peru – next to Lima
Flat Hal and Flat Stanley had a fun day in the port city of Callao. LOTS of freighters were loading and unloading, including one designed to transport cars. It is shaped a lot like a cruise ship, but doesn’t have windows, and lowered something that looked a lot like a castle’s drawbridge so cars could…
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Peru is Flat Hal and Flat Stanley’s second country in the Southern Hemisphere this trip!
#flatstanley #flathal #southernhemisphere We were so excited about the Panama Canal that Flat Hal and Flat Stanley didn’t journal about crossing the equator a few hours before we arrived in Manta, Ecuador. (The Captain predicted we would cross the equator around midnight, but none of us stayed up to watch the map and see exactly…
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The Chimú and Chan Chan
#flathal #flatstanley #chanchan #trujillo Flat Hal and Flat Stanley again opted to let others do the walking for them, and given not just the size of Chan Chan, but the labyrinth style layout, that was probably a good idea. Chan Chan is referred to as the Home of the Elite, the King and Queen of…
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Trujillo, La Libertad, Peru — Like Walking Back In Time
#flathal #flatstanley #peru #trujillo Flat Hal and Flat Stanley ventured away from the port area near Salaverry, Peru, where the ship docked to see some incredible sites dating back to the time of the Moche people. The Moche lived in the region before the Inca. The Moche built ‘huaca del sol y la luna’ the…
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Manta, Ecuador — a big city in every way
#flatstanley #flathal #manta #ecuador Manta, like Panamá City, felt like a BIG city, but where Panama City seemed to be full of skyscrapers lining the coast as far as the eye could see, Manta had more of a sprawl to it. (Then again, Panama City has 4 times the population.) República del Ecuador, A Presidential…
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Manta, Ecuador — a day when a little reality intruded on the flat fellas adventuring
#flatstanley #flathal #manta #ecuador With a population of just over 1/4 million people, Manta, Ecuador, turned out to be a good place for quite a few passengers to go looking for things we had realized in the past week and a half we forgot to bring with us, or simply wished we had. There is…
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Panama City, Panama— the Nation’s Capital
#flathal #flatstanley #panama #government Both Panama and the United States are presidential representative democratic republics. That doesn’t mean they have the exact same types of governments, but we can take our knowledge of the United States government to help us understand the government of Panama. Both have a President. Both have a legislative branch elected…
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Panama — Flat Hal and Flat Stanley made the most of their day ashore
#flatstanley #flathal #panama From a beautiful sunrise, to the Flat Fellas joining some friends for a tasty lunch on shore, our day was full of fun, laughter, making memories and discoveries. Including seeing trees growing out of the side of a building!
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The flat fellas spent a couple hours walking around Casco Viejo
#flatstanley #flathal #panama #cascoviejo The old quarter of Panama City dates back to 1673. It is easy to believe, simply by looking around this part of the city, that Catholicism is the most common religion as we saw a lot of beautiful churches that clearly had a long history. These churches were just a 5…
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Panama City, Panama — the flat fellas first time ashore in Panama
Flat Hal and Flat Stanley were excited when the ship docked at Fuerte Amador, only to discover that it may be part of Panama City, but it is a long walk from most of the places they hoped to see. The ship came out of the Panama Canal into the Gulf of Panama — we’ve…
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Certificates for transiting the Panama Canal
#flathal #flatstanley #panamacanal One of the fun things about a trip like we are currently on is getting to collect certificates that serve as keepsakes to remind us of doing something special and momentous. Flat Hal and I had never been through the Panama Canal before? Had Flat Stanley? Several friends we are traveling with…
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Birds flying around the Panama Canal
#flathal #flatstanley #birding #panama #panamacanal It might sound silly, but it seemed like there were different birds at the Caribbean side of the canal vs. the Pacific side. Just 75 miles apart, we sailed it in less than 10 hours, but Flat Stanley and Flat Hal saw more Brown Pelicans than they could easily count…
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The Flat Fellas Sail the Panama Canal
#flathal #flatstanley #panama #panamacanal Considered by some to be a man-made wonder of the modern world, on par with the CN tower in Toronto, the Empire State Building in New York, or the Golden Gate Bridge in San Francisco, the Panama Canal dramatically cut the distance ships had to sail from the North Pacific Ocean…
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Costa Rica… just a few of the flowers we saw…
an amazing number were familiar from the South Pacific trip. How many can you identify? #flatstanley #flathal #costarica
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Kona — the big island
There is a LOT to see and do in Hawaii. On our day in Kona we walked around, enjoyed the warm weather, the sun was hot against our skin (except for the people who went further from the harbor and got rained on), and the waves crashed against the shore and splashed up on to…
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Nawiliwili, Kauai – flowers and birds
Flat Hal and Flat Stanley went in to my backpack and my camera (as opposed to my cellphone) came out, and I started taking pictures of flowers and birds. Often, when I travel, I get to see flowers and birds that don’t grow or live near my home. (These are Plumeria for example) This is…
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Hawaii!
Did you figure out our first stop was going to be Hawaii? There are websites where you can follow the daily progress of a cruise ship. This is one way my friends and family can “follow along” when I travel. In this second map you can see the Hawaiian Islands, and San Diego… we had…
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Another day at sea — do you know where we are sailing towards?
There are several places a cruise ship can go to from San Diego, can you think of some of the possibilities? We could be heading North. We could be sailing South… or even going on a cruise through a Canal. After catching the end of a pretty sunset tonight Flat Stanley, Flat Hal and I…
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Sea Day! A fun way to spend a day traveling
Flat Stanley has bumped in to some old acquaintances on our trip, and he and Flat Hal having been making new friends. There is lots of stuff to do on a ship… There are places to play games, with new friends, or those you are traveling with. Or you can find a book to read. …
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Flat Hal had a big day!
Flat Hal started his day at the Doctor’s office where he discovered the Doctor didn’t know about Flat Stanley… but the phlebotomist did! She and Flat Stanley go way back! She was talking about penpals, surprises in the mail… a highlight from school she remembers! Yup, phlebotomist. Now there is a nice, big, fancy word…
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Hello world!
This is my first post. Meet Flat Hal, he’s friends with Flat Stanley, and by the time he is done adventuring I have a feeling he will have made a host of Flat and 3D friends. Hal has a couple adventures in mind, some planned… some are more at the thoughts, and hopes phase… but…