[pe2-image src=”http://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-PjL01jhnmzs/VTIuZRKTsNI/AAAAAAAAoOI/-8BUNFqqC0o/s144-c-o/IMG_1903.JPG” href=”https://picasaweb.google.com/112133179186774955122/SouthAmericaSection3Stage24Brazil7UruguayArgentinaFlorianapolisToBuenosAires#6139020253697650898″ caption=”Guillherme’s outdoor camp life…” type=”image” alt=”IMG_1903.JPG” ]

trip days left: 31
straight distance left: 599,9 km
Highlights: Amazing flying cobweb strings with attached spiders
Lowlights: Thousands of not amazing flying mosquitoes
Pos: here
Loc: Entrada do Lagoa Mirim
Acc: tent
Dist: 41,6 km
Start: 6:05 End: 16:25

Unfortunately I had to leave yesterday night once more my bug-free and bug-proof tent, as there was quite a strong thunderstorm disconnecting two of my main guy lines from the pegs. Additional rain didn’t really make the thing more pleasant, but I was quick, and also had also quickly wiped any mosquito intruder off again. See, when one makes fun out of other people’s pain…:-) The guys had covered both small tents together with an additional tarp which seemed to hold up enough in the storm. But then I had nice dreams 🙂

The guys made noise already at 5 am, being ready to go at 6 am as agreed. I may have had slept for another 20 min…It was a dark morning, and after half an hour the whole river was covered in fog that you could not even see the other side! Not really exciting paddling. At least few wind, but again strong counter current that I was hugging the shore very tight all the time. I like that better anyway, much more to see and to smell!At 10 am the fog was lifting to a still dark sky, but the afternoon was lovely sunny! The headwind was mostly low to moderate, but always annoying additionally to the counter current. I have had better paddling days on the lagoons and rivers!

When the sun came out, an amazing nature phenomena I have never seen before in that intensity came up: The air was littered with flying thick white cobweb strings! Up to high into the sky, you could see candy-floss like strings flying around, some many meters long. The strings were also low flying over the water, my kayak and body were wrapped frequently into the tense material. More disgusting were actually the on some strings attached spiders which had a nice air ride with the wind, until they stick to somewhere else again, like on my face…

The guys held up nicely with the endurance to paddle so many hours with few shore breaks, but even when they were not used to paddle that long, in the double kayak there was always one of them able to relax while the other one could easily keep up with my slow but very steady pace. Especially the back seater took his chance to relax without the front seater’s notice quite often… 🙂

[pe2-image src=”http://lh3.googleusercontent.com/–wqfKPPzhYs/VTIuVUuk81I/AAAAAAAAoOI/f4TJ1RtjSDI/s144-c-o/IMG_1902.JPG” href=”https://picasaweb.google.com/112133179186774955122/SouthAmericaSection3Stage24Brazil7UruguayArgentinaFlorianapolisToBuenosAires#6139020185935606610″ caption=”Camp with Antonio and Guillherme” type=”image” alt=”IMG_1902.JPG” ]

We camped on the entrance to the lagoon on a nice sandy beach exit with some dry short grass on top. The mosquitoes were so bad here I was as usually quickly disappeared into my tent, while the guys rather liked apply layers of repellent and lived the outdoor life. My skin could not take that treatment every night after my cleaning shower!