WHITHOUT THE RAIN THERE WOULD BE NO RAINBOW

As Yos', On, and Shats' are 2 days away from Puerto Natales it has been raining and raining so today they decided to take the day off. Maybe they are drying their clothing and damp organs.
Western Patagonia is thought of as the region with the most rain outside the Tropics. In 300 to 320 days of the year there is rain and there is not a single month for which official records are available with more than 6 days without rain.
Puerto Natales will be the first town on main land that they will reach since 2 months ago when they started this journey.
Back home in Israel we all hope and wait anxiously for the rain, so you are welcome to send some this way you guys.

AMALIA GLACIER

The last few days, since our friends left Puerto Eden, they have been flying south, paddling 50-65 km. days. It’s a combination of their bodies that have gotten much stronger and comfortable in that climate, the scenery that has become home to their eyes, and the nice big Ikilos Werner paddles , plus they have the tide and wind with them all making the engine go, go, go.
Yesterday they reached the magnificent Amalia glacier, the last glacier of the south Patagonia ice field that they will be visiting.It was very disappointing for them to see how much smaller this glacier was, not at all like it shows on their maps. The glacier is 50 km. away (as the crew flies) from the famous Torres del Paine National Park.

They put up camp right by the carving glacier so we can only imagine how cold it is at the moment. From the pictures it seems they are living in their REED clothing to keep worm.
They are now about 250 km. away from the next resupply point, at Porto Natales.
Here are some more pictures for mom and dad that have been mentioning to me how much they miss their suns.

some of the pictures refer to previous experiences along the way.

AND NOW FOR THE PICTURES

THE REAL THING







IF ONLY I HAD WERNER PADDLES






FISH AND LARABAR

arrived in puerto eden

Hey all.
As usual, amazing to read Hadas´s posts. As she wrote, we arrived to the village of Puerto Eden.
First an apology: the internet here is in the school´s liberary, it´s via satellite, it´s free, but there are 2 computers and time is limited. + Pictures will have to wait to Puerto Natales, in about 4 weeks….
So, just for giving an idea, our last hot shower was a day before our last post (about a month, ago, In Cisnes). Without getting into details, we didn´t have many cold one´s either).
After getting out of Cisnes, we had the first series storm. We found ourselves sheltered and hosted by a great guy, a land guard that hosted us. We spent 2 days at the farm, eating cheese he made, catching fish for the 4 of us for breakfast, helping the guy around and so on.
As we got closer and closer to San Rafael, the views became more impressive. Paddling by a wall rising out of the water to over 1000 meter high is amazing.
Around here, tides are not as high as it was at the beginning, but in the narrow channels, we found ourselves “eddy jumping”, against the current in some places.
At the evening before the glacier, we ended the day against strong had wind and found smoke coming out of a chimney of a small wooden hut. Knocking the door met us with Ronilio. Another land guard. The kind man invited us to worm ourselves and sleep in his kitchen. We were happy to share our food with him after he told us that he didn´t get food supply for a while…
As Hadas mentioned, San Rafael was empty the day we arrived. Glacial valleys create a heavenly silence. Other then the occasional collapsing ice, it feels as silent as it was millions of years ago. A perfect camp site convinced us to appreciate the beauty of the place for an extra day. The idea of pulling the kayaks threw Istmo the Ofqui helped with the decision…
The day of rest was spent exploring tomorrow’s portage trying to guess how long it will be.
The day after was a 7 hours of dragging the kayaks, one at the time (about a 100 kg each). The legs are not used to the hard work and the marsh land didn´t make it easier. BUT, it wasn´t 2 bad. Actually, much better then we though it will be. 1.2 miles later, we arrived In Rio Negro. The black water river flowing to the pacific.
The next day we were at the mouth of Golfo De Penas.
In everything we do, (driving, at work, kayaking…) there is one thing which is the most troubling. Something we are not in perfect control when we do it. Something that makes us feel a bit (or very) uncomfortable. Usually by recognizing what is troubling u can deal with it. Practicing a roll, perfect your reveres parking …For us it was that bay that made us un ease... Everywhere we talked about our plans here, people had something to say about Golfo De Penas.
So, we gave it the respect it deserves. We took Karel´s forecast very seriously and waited for the best weather.
Actually, it was about 4 days paddling. The first was about 9 hours 40 km in mostly wind waves and some swells.
The second was quiet and beautiful, small swells with no wind, next to” Irish” coast line.
The third was 9 hours of 3 meters swell with changing side winds and no landing options in the middle. I got a bit sea sick and had a long day. We were very glad to find a perfect landing spot in a beautiful bay. The 4th day was cut in the middle due to strong head wind and the last one was great again.
The Messier canal welcomed us with great weather. It seems like the views re invented themselves. After San Rafael channels, we thought “what can be different”. Well, we found out in the last 3 days. We chose the narrow “side” route and found it amazing. Great paddling weather with no wind and even 2 sunny days before Pto. Eden. (just to remind us it´s there).
Puerto Eden is an amazing place. The 120 resident’s village is located around 2 small bays. A wooden bridge above tide line and next to the hill is the main street.
About 10 old people are the last original inhabitants of the island and most of the people here find their living in fishing and shells collecting.
After spending the first evening as guests of the new pier work manager, his team, the had of police and one of the national park mangers, we feel like we know almost everyone, at list by the face…
The Armada guys here were great and very helpful, and the small wooden village, surrounded by snow caped mountains is amazing.
Now we are waiting for supply to arrive to town, so we can buy all the chocolate we can find, rice, lentils and porridge…
In a week kayaking trip, u get used to the conditions, the views and the partners in about 3 days. For us it´s much longer process, but definitely more intense. Conversation with each other goes to other levels (not just the dirty ones), and so does the ones inside our heads.…
Since a storm is coming, we will probably head of a bit later, and maybe be able to get some more internet later on.
Your comments are very exciting to read, even in a month delay… THANKS!
Us.

ARRIVING IN PARADISE

The boys have reached the village of Puerto Eden, the only inhabited place on Wellington Island which is an island west of Southern Patagonian Ice Field. Most of the island forms part of Bernardo O'Higgins National Park and is home to the last Kawésqar .

Now we wait for an up-date from the boys , if they can find internet.
Karel has warned them of 40-45 knot winds for Wednesday so…we hope they have a nice worm place to spend the time.

HALF WAY

Yesterday was the longest day on the water for the guys. 60 km.
Fantastic!!
Last night 01:00 A.M. I was woken up by a phone call from yosale' apologizing for the late hour to say that one of the EPIRBs is beeping non stop and that I should contact the main office to let them know that it is a false alarm. We canceled the use of that satellite emergency beacon for now.
No worries, they still have 2 more

They are now back paddling in the sheltered channels getting close to their next re-stocking point for food and fuel for the next leg. It has been nearly a month since the last village.

Here are some "life on expedition" photos:

THE CAVE MAN-ON.

OZONE HOLE CONCIOUSE-YOSALE'

IS THIS EATABLE AT ALL????-SHATSKI

YUM YUM YUM...

IT'S ONLY WHEN THE TIDE GOES OUT THAT YOU DISCOVER WHO'S BEEN SWIMMING NAKED.

AND IT DOESN'T GET BETTER THEN THAT,

WHEN YOU'RE IN PARADISE, YOU'LL KNOW IT.

ICE AGE 3

The boys say the views are breathtaking.
Thier surroundings include the San Rafael and San Quintin Glaciers coming down from the great Patagonian ice field, way up on the Andean mountains.
Although this area is very touristic, they said they were the only ones among the magnificent ice burgs.
The winds these last few days have been over 25-30 knots with waves of 3-4 M. making it difficult for them to make good progress.
So they are sheltering in a small bay waiting for better weather.
What do you do on your day off?? You eat more, read more, and sleep more.
They have noticed that on the 3 Kg. meet they got the date has expired. (On just had to try some to make sure).
He must be thinking:

eat what you like and let the food fight it out inside.
mmm…
More food for the fish.
They are having some problems with their solar panels at the moment so trying to save on battery use for now.
Still they text messages every day to give their exact position for us and for the cost guard.
You can find it on the map beside.
DID YOU KNOW? (BAZOOKA JOE NEWS)
1…English explorer James Weddell was convinced that the Indians of Patagonia spoke Hebrew.
2… Traces of the biggest dinosaurs ever found were in Patagonia.