Slowly but surely
Published on 04.01.2012 - South Pole 1911-2011, Two Men One Goal
As he is getting closer to his final goal, Albert Bosch has decided not to hurry. "Llegue a la hora que Llegue", he said. That means : ""No matter when I'll get there, I'll get there anyway..."
Despite the fact that he has no more than 30 or 40 kil to go, Albert Bosch keeps wondering himself if he will be able to make it. Every day, he covers less and less kilometers, an extreme fatigue strains seriously his body every night, he is getting weaker and weaker when he wakes up in the morning. He is not far from being totally strung out.
Still he is so close...
When he describes the negative points of his final push, he never forgets to come to the positive ones either.
In this case the only one he describes is most unexpected (it shows anyway that Bosch has a real sense of humour): he was able to make a poo in a small plastic bag ! At Union Glacier base camp, the ALE people never forget to give to the expeditioners going to the Pole their plastic bags. Because, after crossing the degree 89, everyone IS OBLIGED to poo in a plastic bag. One understands easily why as from the dregree 89, everyone (these days, it means hundreds of people) is gathering towards the same geographical point. One has to keep these remote places the most pristine possible. That's not all : an other positive point is that the day after having made his first poo in the bag, he could add a second cute one in the same plastic bag, so that the first one does not feel alone anymore...
Anything else positive ? Anything more serious ? For Bosch it's a no. Because, if he has taken this scatological example it's for the symbol it represents : being obliged to use the plastic bags means that he has no more than 111 kil to go...
