"So what's there to do in Igloolik?" you ask. I begin to laugh maniacally, then realize you expect an answer, and clear my throat. "Uhm..."
Here's the thing. Igloolik is one of the sleepier little hamlets of the north. It's not like Toronto, where I can just leave my house and meet my friends for wine and pizza in Withrow Park, or go to a free outdoor movie night in East York, or go downtown and walk around Yonge Street and people watch in Yonge and Dundas square. There are no coffee shops, restaurants, movie theatres, shopping malls. If I want something, I'm going to the Northern Store. I usually end up looking at prices and decide I don't want anything anymore.
If you're adventurous, like me, you can walk on the sea ice. Apparently this has been made illegal, as it's dangerous as you can slip off the ice flow and into the ocean. Even if you can swim, the water is frigid and hypothermia is never far away. In spring time there's a possibility you can fall through a crack and not be able to get back to the surface. OK I'm not adventurous. I'm a wimp. But I walked on sea ice (which I will call an ice berg) when it was on the land. I fell into the sand which was pretty much like quicksand. Does that count as dangerous?
You also see these pretty yellow and violet flowers all over the place. I haven't had a chance to get up close and personal with them yet, but the yellow ones look like poppies. I forget the name of the violet ones already.
On the land, you also find random monuments to... who knows what.
Someone had thrown it out, and the person who found it brought it to me and told me it was mine if I wanted it. How wonderful is that? It's also not every day you get to meet the animal who gave you such a gift too. It was wonderful to do that and to be able to "thank" them for it as well.
It was massive. I am reading that bowhead whales are second largest only to the blue whale, and often grow to weigh about 100 tonnes. It would have probably taken about 60 men and many many boats to bring it back to shore. I am learning that the Arctic is all about survival and the Innuit have done a brilliant job of surviving for about 4000 years now. I don't think I could ever go out on a boat and bring in a mammal that weighs about 100 tonnes.
Here's the thing. Igloolik is one of the sleepier little hamlets of the north. It's not like Toronto, where I can just leave my house and meet my friends for wine and pizza in Withrow Park, or go to a free outdoor movie night in East York, or go downtown and walk around Yonge Street and people watch in Yonge and Dundas square. There are no coffee shops, restaurants, movie theatres, shopping malls. If I want something, I'm going to the Northern Store. I usually end up looking at prices and decide I don't want anything anymore.
Why yes, that is indeed a $4.00 can of coke.
Many of the local families have cabins "out on the land", which is any land that's not in Igloolik proper. This weekend, my colleague invited me out to her uncle's cabin for tea and bannock (fry bread, which I thought was only a south Canada First Nations thing, but apparently not!). There were lots of kids there and I got to see a vastly different part of the island of Igloolik. It was a super enjoyable experience.
From the outside it looks small but on the inside it's quite roomy and cozy. It was so nice to sit and relax and talk and laugh. The landscape though, was beautiful. There is such a stark beauty here that I didn't see at first but has grown on me these past two weeks.
Sea ice, still breaking up.
Everyone will take these big blocks of ice and use them as freshwater in their cabin (that's how our tea was made!). A lot more pure than the chemicalized, "treated" water we get in Igloolik that has made me sick almost every day I've been here.
If you're adventurous, like me, you can walk on the sea ice. Apparently this has been made illegal, as it's dangerous as you can slip off the ice flow and into the ocean. Even if you can swim, the water is frigid and hypothermia is never far away. In spring time there's a possibility you can fall through a crack and not be able to get back to the surface. OK I'm not adventurous. I'm a wimp. But I walked on sea ice (which I will call an ice berg) when it was on the land. I fell into the sand which was pretty much like quicksand. Does that count as dangerous?
Uppin' my street cred'.
I also built my first "real" Inukshuk. I call it real as I made a decently sized one. The rocks here are super flat, which makes them easy to stack, unlike the Inukshuks I've tried to build everywhere else (Canada was here!) and have fallen the minute I've taken my hands off them.
On the land, you also find random monuments to... who knows what.
Like this random missile. Hall Beach, just south of here, used to be a former DEW Line, so maybe that's the answer.
You are a long way from home, my friend.
One of the coolest parts of the afternoon (and it was all great, so this is pretty much ultra amazing) was when my colleague took me to another part of the island to see the skull of a bowhead whale. And it wasn't just any bowhead whale! Earlier in the week, I had been gifted a lovely piece of carved baleen (or, the tooth of the whale), which had been carved from this very skull.
That stringy stuff you see is what it uses to filter out kelp and plankton from the Arctic waters.
Someone had thrown it out, and the person who found it brought it to me and told me it was mine if I wanted it. How wonderful is that? It's also not every day you get to meet the animal who gave you such a gift too. It was wonderful to do that and to be able to "thank" them for it as well.
I am about 165cm and I am pretty sure it was taller than two of me stacked on top of each other.
It was massive. I am reading that bowhead whales are second largest only to the blue whale, and often grow to weigh about 100 tonnes. It would have probably taken about 60 men and many many boats to bring it back to shore. I am learning that the Arctic is all about survival and the Innuit have done a brilliant job of surviving for about 4000 years now. I don't think I could ever go out on a boat and bring in a mammal that weighs about 100 tonnes.
It was a really good day.
No comments:
Post a Comment