THE POST IN ENGLISH
By Luciano Pires
The North Pole is a geographic point which does not exist as a “natural” formation. There is not a mountain, a river, a tree or even a sign built by man at 90N. It’s a mathematical spot over the ocean. The ocean there is frozen. The ship must break through the pack ice to reach the point. Over this pack ice we would go down to have a barbecue. But the pack ice is floating because of the wind and sea movements. Even if we could go down in the exact spot where our GPS pointed 90º North, in minutes we would not be there anymore. We would drift away. So our North Pole experience was divided into two moments: the exact second when the ship’s GPS indicated 90 degrees north and after when the ship stopped and we descended to the ice for our barbecue and pictures.
The Expedition Leader asked us to go to the bow. Immediately dozens of portable GPSs appeared. Everybody watched as the screen showed 89º 57”… 58”… 59”… Then the Leader started a countdown using the loudspeakers. The ship horn blew loud as we reached our north pole. Champagne, congratulations and a bit of frustration…
It was different.
In my other adventures I reached “the” Everest Base Camp. I reached “the “Aconcagua. I could pocket a small stone. I could take a picture. I could touch the symbols that indicated I had reached my objective. It was real. But at the North Pole, nothing. I was at the geographic north, just over a mathematic equation, intangible, invisible. A place which did cost dozens of lives to be conquered. But which would never be more then a point in an Atlas. Just it.
But as I started to step down the ship’s ladder to the ice pack my heart started to bump louder. Few men did what I was about to do. And few men will do it in the future. I was about to put my feet on the North Pole! I walked straight to the sign they installed and took the picture of my life. At that moment any place over the globe would be south. Nobody would be northeast than me. And there is no north beyond the point I was standing. I was at the absolute north! At My North Pole.
THE POST IN PLAIN PORTUGUESE
De Luciano Pires
O Pólo Norte é um ponto geográfico que não existe como formação natural.
Não há uma montanha, um rio, uma árvore ou mesmo um signo erguido pelo homem no local. Simplesmente porque o local não existe. É um ponto matemático calculado sobre o oceano. Ocorre que no local onde ele se situa, o oceano está congelado, formando placas que têm que ser rompidas pelo navio. Sobre uma dessas placas nós desceríamos quando encontrássemos o tal ponto matemático. Como essas placas estão flutuando ao sabor dos ventos e das correntes marítimas, mesmo que conseguíssemos descer exatamente no ponto onde os instrumentos marcassem os 90 graus norte, em minutos não estaríamos mais lá. Teríamos derivado para um lado ou para o outro.