April 5, 2006

Dear friends and family,

by now, I believe that a lot of you have heard that the "Frogger >expedition" across the Bering Strait has been successfull. ;-) 14 days and 30 minutes , 200 miles, between the town of Wales (USA) and the Russian Coast, 3 miles North of Uelen. 14 days and 2 hours, 203 miles between Wales (USA) and the town of Uelen (Russia).

Great experience, great trip, had to ditch a lot of gear to complete the journey, and finished it with only 1 sled (the second one got busted while climbing up and down countless walls of ice). Ran into many many polar bear tracks but only saw 2 alive who did not really try to approach us. So, be reassured, we did not blow away any Nanooks in the process !

This is not the time though for me to relate this venture in details. I will do so as soon as I can. Right now, I have VERY LIMITED access to the internet....

So, after we landed in Uelen, we entered Uelen and met with the mayor who put us in touch with the Uelen Border guards who proceed to detain us, claiming that we did not have the proper paperwork to cross the border for the gun we carried (that we obviously only had to protect us from any over aggressive bears) and we did not enter the province of Chukotka through an approved port of entry such as Providenya down South. On our original visa request with the Russian consulate we clearly specified that we will be walking and therefore could not confirm where/when/where we will enter Russia. So as far as I am concerned, somebody at the Russian consulate clearly screwed up ..... So, we were flewn to the regional town of Lavrentiya on the border guards/military chopper where we are now requested to stay until the situation gets resolved.

Apparently, US, UK and French embassies are now involved.... Definitely more attention on our crossing that I wanted.... We have met with regional FSB (new KGB) officials and we are waiting for other FSB officials being flewn in from Moscow today for further meetings. I have stated that I am no longer signing any deposition that is not in English and this might delayed our departure. I have mad contact with the local Orthodox priest who is one giving us a place to stay while we wait....

Gotta go, Dimitri

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April 6, 2006

Hello everyone, here is a picture that was taken earlier today in Lavrentiya, near the place where we stay, right next to the burning coal plant which heats up the entire village. You can see on the pictures our friends Leonid (the young local Orthodox priest) and Lydia, a weather report employee at the airport. Leonid fed us a great traditional Russian diner last night and is looking after us and the FSB is currently ignoring us while they are probably working on their paperwork....

We definitely wish we could share any of the pictures and films that we took on the Bering Strait but they are currently in the hands of the FSB.

Have a great weekend, wherever you are.