Antarctica: A World Apart
By Gabriella Guglielminotti Trivel
Antarctica is a wilderness of extraordinary beauty where nature rules fiercely and unconditionally; a store of information about our Planet’s history and one of the very few places on Earth where people of all countries live peacefully with the sole aim to improve and exchange scientific information.
This frozen paradise on Earth was the playground of my adventure in March 2008: I went on a trip with Peter Bland, an Australian explorer, and Nik Halik, an Australian motivational speaker and mentor, to the Antarctic Peninsula to face my fears and limiting beliefs.
Imagine waking up in the morning on board a relatively small ship, looking out your cabin porthole and seeing the shore of the Antarctic Peninsula. Its mountains fall abruptly into the sea with their tops covered in century old ice, so thick that the white fades into light blue, ice blue!
That was just the first glimpse of my day, the best was still to come, a full day immersed in pristine nature, walking on the beach and over rocks observing penguins and other wild life.
Seals were lying at rest on the ice floating at sea or on the cliff looking at me with curiosity, whales were swimming alongside the ship, escorting us for some time while I was observing speechless, taken aback by their sheer grace and beauty.
How would you feel when you realise you are part of it all?
How about a whole day being immersed in the different shades of light hitting the water, the ice, the sky, the rocks, the snow and its formations all around yourself?
The days were full of surprises, either walking inland on hundred feet thick ice and snow, or listening to the snow and ice cracking under my feet, this being the only noise besides my breathing, my heart beat and the wind.
How about going vertical, tackling an ice wall which was sustaining me and leading me to heights only limited by my stamina and resilience; as hostile as it felt, it got warmer and warmer by the time I got higher and higher; I became the wall and the wall became me, I was suddenly becoming aware of the infinite possibilities awaiting me.
Success is the result of determination, perseverance, curiosity, passion and the ability to hold on to a vision: if I can see myself at the top, I will be able to climb it smoothly and enjoy the warm, soothing and all encompassing exhilarating and satisfying feeling of victory on reaching the top.
Then I was sliding into a kayak and gliding on the freezing water knowing that just a thin layer of resin protected me from the Antarctic sea. I could see icebergs and sea life, I was fully immersed in the magical beauty of Nature.
Have you ever considered spending a night on the ice? Looking at the bright stars of the Milky Way in the Southern hemisphere in an ink black sky, listening to the silence and sounds of the wilderness and observing your thoughts passing through your mind?
When I went night camping on the ice I entered a completely different reality that I never thought could exist and I was part of its magic.
What drives adventurers of all times?
It is pushing oneself to the limit to see that extra bit of land that nobody has seen before, to sail on that part of the sea where no seafarer has ventured before, to listen to the ultimate sound that mother nature creates only in particular conditions and in a specific part of the globe, to conquer the top of that mountain that is so high that fellow humans didn’t even dare to look at, because they thought it was unreachable and the seat of the gods.
The ultimate quest though is stretching one’s limits, seeing what is beyond everything else and discovering one’s inner guide and wisdom.
If you want to join me on this adventure of a lifetime, you can read “Antarctic Odyssey, a New Beginning” to find out what happened to me down under in the freezer of the Earth called Antarctica.
Would you like to know more about Antarctica and spiritual awakenings?
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