Wanda Pedersen’s Reviews > Where the Earth Meets the Sky: A Story of Penguins, People, and Place in Antarctica > Status Update

Next to the neatly clad women and close-shaven men of the Coast Guard crew, we're a ragtag bunch with our dirty hair and sunburned faces, our coats and trousers stained with a colourful accumulation of penguin shit. The crew, out on deck for a smoke break, eye us covertly and presumably give thanks for their daily showers.

I've heard a mountaineering friend say that being stuck on the side of a mountain in a tent in a storm is like spending days in the trunk of your car. It's not quite that bad here--the hut is not that small--but the claustrophobic feeling of not being able to leave these four walls is bearing down on me.

When I sit on the ice nearby to take a couple of photos. I begin with my telephoto lens, but in short order have to switch to a 35mm and then to the wide-angle zoom as the curious [emperor penguins] come closer and closer. Soon one is pecking at my camera case beside me, and then peering right into my face while bowing to me and calling, and I realize I am being courted by an emperor. I feel inordinately flattered...

Working in the deep field is a make-it-or-break-it thing for human relationships. By the time the season ends you're either firm friends for life--a bond born of profound mutual respect forged in the fires of some interpersonal hell--or you despise each other with a burning hatred forged in that same place.