It's me, hai in Magical Realism

I felt like I hadn’t updated since 2021 but looking at entries I am not as behind as I thought, yay! Even though my last entries are about Summer of 2021, I wrote/posted those about a year after everything happened in Norway so just need to write about the last few months since February. Hooray!

It took me some time to recover and get back to normal after I got COVID for the second time on the way back from France, but in March of this year I returned to a regular workout plan which has really been life-changing. This is stupid but being sedentary during the pandemic for so long really took its toll on me. My body is so much happier when I am working out hard most days and fueling my body properly.

April/May were mostly non eventful, just eating healthy, working, working out. I saw incremental progress in both my physical body and mental state. I finally felt like I was starting to operate at a normal capacity again.

Late June into July A and I flew to NYC, to see our family, get my apartment ready to rent out finally, help out with swims, and even another around Manhattan swim for me. This all went pretty well and the swim was so perfect. We planned it so the swim was mostly in the night into early morning, which meant it was my first swim over a few hours long without my crazy zinc sunscreen. In over 30 personal swims of this course, and crewing/observing for another 20 loops, these were the flattest and most perfect conditions I have ever seen. I felt truly blessed. The sunrise was stunning and the whole experience was terrific. New York City at night was truly magical and it made me fall back in love with swimming again.

The way home was a bit trickier. We boarded our flight for the first leg from EWR to LAX and then sat on the plane for six hours before being deboarded. We flooded into the terminal with hundreds of other passengers and no rebooking information. We stood in an enormous queue while we were both on hold to rebook. After almost 2 hours I finally got through but there were no flights until Tuesday which would have knocked out my entire workweek Australian time. So I had them put us on the same flight a week later figuring I’d work remotely. Which really sucked but I didn’t want to lose another week of holiday time (I get so much less annual leave in Australia than in NYC oddly.)

Finally we got home around 4am and we slept on the floor because we had removed my furniture and our air mattress and bedding were in the checked luggage which was still at the airport! It was so late and we were so tired we fell right asleep anyway. We got another air mattress and bedding and clothing and stuff because I thought there was no way we were seeing that luggage again. But surprisingly, when we landed in Sydney all our luggage was there! I was a bit shocked to be honest and now we have 2 air mattresses and 2 extra blankets we don’t really need. After that I had about another month before I was going anywhere again.

In August we went to Sydney for my 44th birthday where I had booked a sunset terrace with a class igloo and an outdoor cedar hot tub overlooking Sydney Harbour. It was magical. We stayed at the Shangri-La and took full advantage of the Horizon Club for decadent breakfast, loads of free drinks and snacks, and amazing sunrises/sunsets. I took at least one bubble bath a day and we barely left the hotel, absolutely perfect weekend.

A week or two later I flew to Buenos Aires Argentina via Santiago Chile to participate in my first cold water swimming events since the pandemic started. I spent about a couple of days in Buenos Aires by myself, just chilling and relaxing. As a treat I booked into the Faena Hotel where A and I stayed on our first trip to Argentina before the hotel was officially open. That was 20 years ago and the hotel is still just as fantastic. I had leisurely breakfast each day, worked out at the gym, saw a tango show by myself, and again took lots of bubblebaths. After a few days alone I met up with Mariia from Finland and it was so wonderful to see her again after 3+ years apart. We walked and swam and shopped and ate amazing food together. It was marvelous.

The next day I met Mariia at Matias’ house where she was staying, and Lars from Germany and Rauno from Estonia had also arrived. I felt bad because I didn’t remember that I’d met Rauno before in Slovenia but we became fast friends anyway. We all swam together in Matias’ ridiculously neat outdoor 1 lane 25m pool. I hadn’t been in cold water in some time so it was reassuring to feel good before we headed down to Argentine Patagonia. Then we walked all around town, saw the sights and had such a blast together. Such a fun group and it was wonderful to bond with them before meeting up with the larger group.

They flew out a day earlier so I enjoyed another day alone at the Faena, then I randomly bumped into my old friends Jose from Spain and Ailen from Argentina at the airport. A driver picked us up and took us to the event hotel. Did some more exploring, picked up our credentials and registration and went to the opening ceremony. It was really nice, and then afterwards Lars and Rauno and I stripped down to our swimsuits and did a cold plunge demonstration for the media with Mariana, one of the festival organizers. It was dark and very cold and the water was cold, but again, good training for the actual swimming to come.

The next day was the first day of swimming. We got to the Perito Moreno glaciar national parque and the swim area was chock full of baby icebergs and the wind was blowing hard, making the water very bumpy. Unfortunately the first day of competition was also the longest event, the 1000 meter swim. I was so nervous and really wished I could have built up gradually with shorter distances before the longest one, especially since I had not competed in the cold for some time. The start kept being delayed as they were having conversations about safety, etc. and I wondered if it might be cancelled. I even hoped it might be cancelled.

For once the swims were starting with the men, which was a bit of a relief as this way if we started we’d have a good bit of notice. I walked around chatting anxiously with Ailen who felt similarly, and we tried to keep positive and warm. Rauno was not swimming the 1k and kindly offered to second me. Then suddenly the men were off, I watched a bit of the swimming which didn’t really set my mind at ease. The course seemed so long, the water so rough, with so many little icebergs around, I wasn’t sure if it would be safe for anyone. There isn’t a ton of super cold water in South America so for most of the swimmers it was their first time being in water below 5C / 40F let alone doing a kilometer in this temperature/conditions.

I was struggling with myself so intensely in my mind. 96% of me wanted to bail on the swim. The other 5% told me I just needed to get in and start swimming and see how I felt. I told myself it was ridiculous to come to Argentina from Australia and not even try, so I did. There was a mass start with about 20 other women. We had to walk down a ramp then line up in the water before the start. People were lagging like crazy and I had to force myself to get in. I got waist deep and started shaking immediately. It felt like forever before everyone was in and I was already shivering uncontrollably. At the start I started to walk and kept walking on to chunks of ice attached to the bottom. Everyone was in front of me and I wanted to turn around so badly. But then I started swimming and it got better.

It was a very slow start for me, with the waves and having to navigate around baby icebergs. I started to get into a rhythm and started to feel warmer. I started to enjoy the view and remember thinking how incredible it was to be looking at this amazing water studded by beautiful ice formations. I started passing people and then before long hit the turnaround. I was halfway and feeling good. I passed everyone but one woman who was not in my age group. I came out feeling happy and very proud of myself for starting let alone finishing.

Got warmed up in the sauna and they announced the next race of the day would be postponed until the following days due to poor conditions. I laughed and wondered why it was okay to do a kilometer in the same conditions but not a 100 meters, but such is life. The awards ceremony was outdoors but so much fun. It turned out the other 3 women in my age group had not finished so I was on the podium by myself. Got some fun prizes and the bus ride back to Calafate was such a party.

We found out the next day was cancelled so we had a sauna and hot tub at the hotel went out to the local ice bar and had a silly time. I was zonked and decided to stay in and rest while Mariana, Rauno and Lars rented a car and drove 2 hours to a hiking spot then hiked 2 hours and drove back. I am just not that motivated, especially when we had to race the next day!

We met up in the sauna/hot tub again and went to dinner. The boys got this huge meat plate and I tried sweetbreads for the first time. I found them tastier than most “exotic” foods! Then the next day we got to the national park and all the ice formations were totally gone! The water was also super flat compared to the day before. So funny. I had two races and won them both with much better starts. My strategy this time was just to suck it up and get in first and walk to the furthest/deepest spot with the cleanest line. It paid off and I had some good swims with good starts and (what felt like) strong swimming.

After our swimming was done Ailen and Flavia and I took turns taking glamour shots of each other in our swimsuits in front of the glaciar, and I cut my darn fool foot on a rock doing that and had to be attended to by a super cute but not very competent seeming medic. Made it up the hill just in time for the awards. Such a fun day with dancing on the podium again, this time with some great ladies, mostly from Argentina and Chile on the podium with me. Matias and Sergio invited us to the group dinner after which was really nice and we went back with them instead of on the bus. I think we went to the spa again after dinner to close the night

The next day was Saturday, the last day of competitions. This day there was no ice, but loads of wind and big waves. We were supposed to have two events but the starts were delayed due to the wind so only got one event in. Then the atmosphere somehow got even more festive! We went up to the restaurant before the awards and had some soup and whisky served in a glass with glacier ice rocks. So fun. Then there was more whisky and glacier ice at the awards and we all danced like mad. They gave out awards for the one swim and then overall category results. I won both and it was a lot of fun. Then it was time to head back to town and get ready for the Gala, yay!

Showered and got ready - I wore a short red lace dress with flowy sleeves with black tights and boots. Lars was in a full lederhosen suit which was pretty epic. Rauno looked nice too. I walked over to the venue with the boys and we were the first ones there by far. People eventually started coming in and everyone looked amazing. We had dinner, wine, and lots of speeches. Rauno made a plug for the World Championships coming up next year which will be a lot of fun. Then the dancing started. I have never been a big dancer so was initially reluctant to let loose but every time I left the dance floor a different person would come and pull me back in so I really started to get into it. I’m an awkward dancer but I enjoy it so from now on I am going to dance with wild abandon wherever possible.

The official party went until 2 or 3am then we went down the street to the afterparty. The afterparty was fun but it was SO LOUD and we were all so tired so made our escape and walked back to the hotel around 6am then sat up talking for another couple of hours. The boys were headed out on a 10am flight and I was SO GLAD I wasn’t booked to leave until the next day. I wasn’t hungover but I was so tired and felt physically sore from the swimming and the dancing. I had a leisurely day having breakfast by myself, then recreated our routine of sauna shower and hot tub all alone. I enjoyed the quiet but missed the boys a bit.

Then the next day I had breakfast then was picked up for the airport. Annoyingly Aerolineas Argentinas would not let me check in online and when I arrived 90 minutes before the (domestic) flight I was told I had been bumped off the flight (!) because I was the last one to check in. (?!) I was SO pissed off. This airport is super small with no lounge or anything but they upgraded me to first class for the next flight and gave me vouchers for the cafe so I had a salad and a full bottle of Malbec while I waited for 6 MORE HOURS for my next flight. The airport was completely empty, it was hilarious. Then a bit before the next flight I ran into Matias, Sergio and Jose which was super fun. Flight was easy and Sergio super kindly offered to give me a lift and then insisted I stay at Matias’ place. So sweet. We all walked to a restaurant and had dinner a bit after midnight. My flight was super early so we said goodbye then and I crashed a couple of hours before jumping in an uber to the airport.

The rest of the trip home was long but smooth, thankfully. Such an incredible trip, so I’ll end there for now and hopefully catch up to present day soon.