camping in ikerasak

breakfast at 10 did not even cut it.

as each of us emerged from our rooms looking obviously hung over, we couldn't help but laugh at each other and ourselves. what a brilliant idea to get piss drunk a day before a planned 2-day hike, eh? what. were. we. thinking. 

"i'm kinda hoping we're not going to do this today", grunted emma, whose barbie moves were perfected with rakki the night prior. i'm totally with her on this; just the thought of hiking without enough sleep and with alcohol in your blood already hurts. also, i just discovered that i lost my voice. flu was coming.

alas, sofie and willem came around to announce that we ARE going to ikerasak today. ai. 

sofie held a quick briefing to show the minimal stuff required for the overnight camp. as peter and i are roommates onboard, we'd also be tent-mates. he was nice enough to carry the tent materials. following instructions to a t, i brought only what is necessary save for some stash of dried fruits and cookies, because i was pretty sure that a heavy backpack would give me a bad time.

today's premium cut

we headed out post lunch. it was going to be a 2-hour ride with wilda to get there. the plan was to hike for a few hours and find a good spot to settle and camp, have dinner and continue the next day towards the town, covering a total walk of 20 kilometers. 

round 2 with wilda

the landscape was beautiful as usual, terrain rugged. i'm pretty sure i had the lightest backpack amongst the group as the boys had to carry communal items like boiling pots and thermos and food. sofie and willem even had to carry guns. that's right, we're heading to polar bear region and for safety purposes we have a couple of shot guns. but even though it's light, the backpack - which of course belonged to Floris - was half my height! 

me and the F heritage bag

the rock

we hiked for about an hour before we had our first cookie break. willem took this opportunity to bring out the big-boy toy. he too has a drone. here's him taking it for a spin.

we did another 2 hours of hike before we finally found the spot. "we have to camp here!" willem announced, excitedly. no qualms from anyone, it was indeed special. we were instructed on how to set up our tents, and once we're done, it'll be dinner time.

the five-star view from our camp

our tent, which we set up near the mosquito-larvae-infested pond :D

happy campers

here's another nice video from peter vancoillie as shared in puffins facebook page: 




i think that the last time i ever did an overnight camp was for girls' scouts eons ago. i don't even remember what camp food was like. it's my first time to try freeze-dried expedition food. and you know what, i liked it. 

i think now is the perfect time to tell you about these arctic mosquitoes. i don't even know how to begin describing the exasperation these little buggers brought upon me. they are terrorists. they're humongous - they're as big as baby flies. i kid you not. the mosquito sprays and patches that i brought don't work on them! they're like the Vin Diesel of mosquitoes! 

their motto: come one, come all

they are like these gang of pickpockets where a few of them would try to distract you by nuisance (they'll be buzzing around, all over your face, go inside your nose or ears) while the rest focus on sucking you dry (literally). i remember that after camp dinner, while we were all chatting, peter tried to relax by reclining sideways a la 'draw me like one of your french models' kind of pose. i told him off, "peter, you leaning like that is almost telling the mosquitoes 'bon apetit'!". it was exactly what they had throughout our journey: a buffet.

anyway, as i mentioned, we were in polar bear region, and while the chances of polar bear attacks were close to impossible, our dear hike masters would not take the risk. so we had to do polar bear watch that evening. each of us would have to look after the camp for an hour, and if we do spot a polar bear, we need to wake sofie/willem up and perhaps be ready to run for our lives. we drew lots and of course the ever-so-lucky me got the 3-4 am shift. the only good thing about it: the mosquitoes were nowhere! the wind was too strong for them, so they were hovering low. 

safe and sound and polar bear-free at 3:30

wake-up call was 8:30 the next morning. as you can see in the photos the tents do not, in any way, fend off the eternal sunlight. i had to sleep with 2 eye patches to shut the light out. peter woke me up, and it took me a good five minutes before i could completely open my eyes. 

the combination of this difficult night, and the difficult hike the next day, has left me too exhausted. i couldn't eat much, and peter constantly reminded me that i do need to eat as i need that energy, but my body was ready to shut down. sofie has authoritatively decided that my bag has to be emptied and distributed to the nice volunteers (always olivier, pieter and peter) and she put some anti-blister patches on my feet to help ease the pain (did i tell you guys that i did not have the right shoes??). finally, willem and her talked to me about options. either they would get jan to come and pick me up near where we were at that moment and let the rest of the group finish off in town, or to let the rest of the group go first, and sofie would stay with me and we'll walk my pace to the town. 

sofie told me some tales of encouragement, and i can see that she believed i can do it. i did want to finish the walk to town, but i didn't want to hold the group. so the latter option worked. it was just a good kilometer to go; just a little bit of push. so i took an energy bar and had some water and walked slowly with her. olivier stayed too. 

almost there!

when we arrived, the puffins cheered for me. they're really a sweet bunch, always encouraging. i guess given the circumstances, it was nice that i didn't give up. somebody had a brilliant idea to get some ice cream pops. talk about poetic justice!

we were back in moonlight around past 8 and had late dinner. emma, our resident barbie and baker, made some really nice rice pudding that night. this time, i took a photo. 

yummy in my tummy

and so, with that, we have completed 8 days of our journey. the fate of moonlight was uncertain at that point, having no direct solution available just yet. we did not have any itinerary the next day, which was quite a relief in fact, as by the end of that evening i already knew that there was no way i would wake up early the next day.