THE
CZECHS
Quark Expedition to Antarctica
December, 2007
We are aboard a ship, sailing through the Weddell Sea, exploring the beauty of Antarctica. There are about 100 of us and we come from all over the world, but mostly from Europe and America. Most of us are solo travelers. There
is a large group of people from the Czech Republic. From the gossip that I heard, they all work
together and their boss footed the bill to bring them all here. They stay as a
pack and rarely venture away from each other to speak with the rest of us. We are intrigued with them the same way young
children are intrigued by an odd neighbor.
We want to know more about them but we do not make the effort to intrude
on their inner circle. They keep us at a
distance and we do the same. Except, we
watch them as a hawk. And we speak about
them behind their backs. We speak in a
tone that sounds good natured but really, there is a hint of jealous in all of
us for they have a well earned reputation as being the biggest drinkers on the
boat.
We
come back from our first land exploration in the morning, exhausted, tired and cold and
we head right for the hot tea and coffee. The Czechs run to the bar and order
several rounds of beers. As a matter of fact, the bar is opened early to
accommodate their drinking schedule. Katherine claims that she saw the one
woman of the group pour cognac in her coffee one morning.
At
lunch, the restaurant staff knows to bring wine glasses right to their
table. The rest of us might splurge and
order a coke for lunch. At dinner, we all get a free glass of wine. The Czechs go through a couple bottles each
night. Then after dinner, many of us go
to the free movie in the lounge. They head right to the bar and they close down the place each
night sometime around midnight.
Then
they are up and ready to explore the continent the next day. There is never any indication of a hang over
or slowed down behaviors. They are up and hiking with gusto. Then the pattern starts all over again.
I bet
Patrick a beer that he could not learn the names of eight of them while we were
on our way back in Drake’s Passage.
Patrick prided himself on how many people he knew on the boat. So he took my bet but he never
collected. To his credit, I do think he
learned at least six names.
And
while I was in the airport in Ushuaia on the way home, we saw the Czechs,
huddled together around a small table.
They were on our flight to Buenos Aries.
While we were waiting for our delayed flight, they sent over a bottle of
wine to Ryan and me. They sat quietly
by themselves and they consumed several bottles of wine.
