On her very first day in Chile in 1985, a young Meredith Temple-Smith encountered a shrunken head at the home of the guide who was to lead a four-month zoological expedition to Patagonia. She was the only woman travelling with her new husband - a reproductive biologist - and three locals, two of whom spoke no English. In a culture outside her own, enduring often harsh physical conditions and engaging in the painstaking work of trapping and documentation of rare animals, she observed the group's changing relationships. Weaving her personal story with vivid details of the Patagonian journey, she explores her memories of being a young woman, and reflects on whether the resilience she acquired in her early adulthood strengthened her capacity to forge her successful academic career.