Richard, "Chico", Perales. Click to enlarge.

Meet Chico: Richard Perales

January 3, 2002

Richard "Chico" Perales is more than Foreman of the welders and insulators at McMurdo Station. He's a source of much-read daily wisdom and Antarctic humor. When I walked into the plumbing shop to get some PVC pipe for an experiment, Richard stood up, stuck out his hand, smiled, and said, "Hi, I'm Chico, can I help you?" Chico has a lifetime of experiences down here. We ended up talking for quite a while, and it was clear that his most important experiences on The Ice involve people. Here's some of what he told me.

Paul: How long have you been coming to The Ice?

Chico: I've been coming here for 10 years, I wintered over 4 or 5 times. I won't winter over again since I feel I've done it all.

P: Are you a welder? What do welders here do?

C: I am not a welder. I manage people. I give respect to their knowledge of welding. We have guys that are really talented and they don't have big egos. For example, one guy does all the TIG [tungsten inert gas] welding. The welding shop guys build experiments for the beakers [scientists]. The first time they come to us, they bring detailed drawings. My guys are so experienced that they make lots of suggestions on how to improve the design. The second time they come to us, they bring a drawing on a napkin. After that, they just come and talk to us. We recently had to build a volcanic-bomb-resistant housing for a camera on the rim of Erebus.

P: What's it like in the winter?

C: It's cold. You can't get precisely what you need, so you make do with what you've got. You turn into McGyver. We keep pulling rabbits out of the hat, but we're afraid that we'll run out of rabbits. I keep a diary, in July of my first winter I wrote, "get me the hell out of here!" As a foreman you have to know how people change in the winter: In July they are homesick, tired, and cold. So you have to make allowances.

P: How is it working with scientists?

C: The beakers are characters. They are passionate, they work hard, and do it with a smile, mostly. You have to learn to translate their language: When they say they need something done in a week, they really need it in two days. When they say they need it in two days, they need it yesterday. When they really need stuff, we bend over backwards. I like the science part. We talk to the PI [principal investigator] We pick their brains, find out what they are doing and why. When we go to the sea ice camps they give us the red carpet treatment and thank us for the work.

P: You do the comic strip for the "Antarctic Sun." Where do you get your ideas?

C: I was inspired by Calvin and Hobbes. There is humor all around us all the time. Recently a notice appeared on the Rec [recreation] board "Swim with the Antarctic Cod." There are places in New Zealand that let you swim with the dolphins, this sounds like the Antarctic equivalent. Except, the cod swim in 28-degree water and have sharp teeth. Some fingies [new guys] actually signed up.

P: What have you got out of your Antarctic experience?

C: The program has been good to me. When I go home, people tell me what they've done for the entire year in ten minutes. I can't even begin to tell them all the things I've done. We have exotic travel, science lectures. I visited Big Bend National Park, and it was nothing compared to what I've seen on my travels. It's all relative. I think an astronaut returning from Mars wouldn't even notice the Dry Valleys. My #1 experience of my whole life was crossing the Drake Passage on the way to winter over at Palmer Station. It was the boat ride from Hell.

Chico does a regular cartoon, "The Ross Island Chronicles," for the "Antarctic Sun." You can see his cartoons here . In addition, he sends a daily email to the McMurdo gang called "Spanish Word of the Day." He describes it as "quite simply a gibberish email about a whole lot of nonsense," but we call it a great window into life here. Not to mention that it can help increase your Spanish vocabulary. Here are a few examples:

No tenemos las velas mas luzes en el postre.
"We don't have the brightest candles on the cake."

Mejor un burro vivo que un leon muerto.
"Better a live donkey than a dead lion."

La gente desgraciada de necesidad necesita gente que sera bien para ellos y
la gente prospico necesita gente para hacer bueno."
"The unfortunate need people who will be kind to them and the prosperous
need people to be kind to."

Deritado.
"Melting."

field notes