Today Marty and I spent our day organizing our food and gear in a warehouse at an undisclosed location in Punta Arenas, Chile. Why all the secrecy? Because this warehouse holds thousands of dollars of expedition gear for a handful of people heading to the South Pole.
Before we head into the warehouse, let me tell you how our day began in our quaint, ten-room hotel. At breakfast, we were greeted with a smile and a platter of fresh, yummy food presented on top of this inspirational placemat. What a great way to start the day.
Upon arriving at the undisclosed warehouse, we located the gear we had shipped weeks earlier in the middle of a sea of boxes, stuffed shelves and wooden crates. Here Marty releases our sleds from their shipping coffin:
Next we unpacked our 8 blue rubber tubs of gear and worked for hours repackaging food by eliminating all unnecessary packaging to save weight.
Here’s our little corner of the warehouse that we called home for the day. Thank goodness all of the gear in the background isn’t ours or we would have a very hard time pulling our sleds (and everything wouldn’t fit)!
If you want to see where Punta Arenas, Chile is located, check out our “Track Our Progress” map page. We have pinpointed the location of our hotel (not the … unmarked warehouse). Tomorrow we’ll spend part of the morning doing final testing of our satellite phones, shopping for perishable foods (for all our fatty foods like salami, cheese, butter, and nuts) and then back to the warehouse to finalize our packing.
Wow! How will you know what’s for dinner? Glad to see all of your supplies were there! Don’t eat all the chocolate bars now, Chris!!
I know, those chocolate bars are very tempting!
Thanks so much for sharing your experience as you go, it’s so fascinating and I look forward to following along and checking on you guys daily! Best of luck to you both!!
Lots of love, the Beales
Thanks so much Holly. Glad to hear that you’ll be following. We can’t wait to get on the ice in a few days!
I am very excited to follow your progress. Sounds like the adventure is off to a great start. Bon voyage and have fun.
Thanks Deb!
Daunting. (Hey, Chris, you found your coat!)
With all that secrecy, I just hope you have secret code names that you use in the Undisclosed Warehouse. Marty probably has a long list of cool code names from his days in Hawaii, but if not, here are some ideas: Blue Goose, Arctic Fox, Puffy (looking at Chris in the warehouse), Mr. Kim (inside joke from Denali)… AND this could be a fun way to keep your minds busy once you’re down south! Much love to you guys!
Susan, love the code name idea. Maybe we’ll think up different code names each day, that could keep up busy!
Oh my…it’s soooo close now. Sending you so many cyber hugs. Love the place mat…what a great way to start any day. xox
Hello Marty,
I learned of your great adventure from Dennis Huang. I wish you and Chris the very best. I will be rooting for you; stay safe and Godspeed !
Your friend,
Dan Nguyen
Thanks so much Dan, great to hear from you and learn that you’ll be following along.
I loved the placemat….what a clever idea. Good luck to both of you. We’ll be following along. Be safe!
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