Day 14 - Greenland. GREENLAND!!!
Jul. 21st, 2012 02:37 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
life_of_glamourOH MY GOD WE'RE IN GREENLAND!!!
Today we are in Tasiilaq on the Eastern coast of Greenland. To get here today we flew from Reykjavik in a prop plane - a Fokker - into Kulusuk, a village nearby with an airport. This is the first time I've flown into an airstrip that wasn't paved - it has a dirt runway! Coming into Kulusuk on a small prop plane was the bumpiest, most exciting plane ride I can remember, and I've had a few. That Fokker was bouncing and swinging all over the place.
In Kulusuk we transferred to an Air Greenland helicopter, which was, coincidentally,![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
cathyn's first helo ride!
We made a quick, 15-minute hop over a fjord and a couple of razor-sharp mountainous spines. Greenland is unbelievably rugged and gorgeous. You know all those things I said about Iceland being beautiful? Greenland completely blows it out of the water - I'm happy we went to Iceland first because after Greenland it would only have been disappointing. It is awesome in the most literal sense of the word (a word which I hardly ever use anymore because it means something inspires awe - a rare thing but this - Greenland - truly, truly inspires awe in me). Here are some pictures I took sitting in the middle seat of the helicopter. What I'm saying is - these are crappy pictures of Greenland, and yet even these...well, tell me - does this look magnificent or what?!
I can't even. This is so amazing, I've wanted to come here since I was a child playing with maps of the world (yes, I played with maps, I love maps above almost all types of images and will still spend hours poring over them - there is but one adornment I've placed on the wall in my office at work other than white boards. Wanna guess? A map of the world) and learning that this enormous, continent-sized land mass was barely populated at all. And then learning that it's not quite as big as it looks on a flat projection, but it's still pretty damn large - 5 times the size of Texas is what I heard today.
These don't even begin to illustrate the absolute magnificence of the landscape, of being surrounded by it on all sides. It's like looking through a keyhole at the Sistine Chapel. Alright, I think you get my drift. I'm honestly blown away by the beauty of the land.
At our hotel we found that 1)our travel guide for this part of the trip wasn't here, which wasn't a big deal* and 2) the people here are friendly and helpful and approachable and welcoming! Oh my god this is such a nice change from Iceland! :-) :-) :-) :-) :-) That's 5 smiley-faces for Greenland!
Here's a view of Tasiilaq from our hotel room - those are icebergs floating in the bay there, yes:
Since we were left to our own devices (instead of getting a walking tour of the area since our guide was indisposed*) we took it upon ourselves and went for a stroll around town. Couple of things - first up, there appears to be a bug infestation underway here (the locals say it just started, and it's not normal), as you can't step outside without walking into clouds of little gnats who want to fly up your nose and into your ears and eyes, so going outside at all was quite the courageous move on our part, I'll have you know! Secondly, we are at the top of the village, and the roads are EXTREMELY steep - like, I'm walking on a paved road and I'm afraid I may slip and tumble all the way to the bottom if there's a patch of gravel (and there were many because the roads haven't been maintained in many years - most of the roads are in fact dirt, there's only one paved road in town).
So we headed down to the grocery store to see about some bug repellant, but there was none (they get groceries on a ship from Denmark, but only in the summer, and only once so far this year so your chances aren't all that great to begin with, no matter what you're looking for).
Then we checked out the Tasiilaq Museum, and spent probably an hour standing around and chatting with the museum curator, from Denmark. We talked about lots and lots of things, first about this village, living in Greenland, and then ranging to European politics, American immigration policy, the local discotheque, the native Inuits, winters in Greenland, etc, etc. Have I mentioned people are much more friendly and approachable here than in Iceland? It's been so refreshing, and so welcome after the last two weeks we spent being frozen out, dismissed and/or ignored by the locals.
Oh hey - stopped and took this picture on our way back up to the hotel - it's the world's tiniest Travellodge! Go on, zoom in, it really says Travellodge Greenland on the sign!
We found out later that it's actually a little house that is rented out to some of the travel guides, including ours. It has running water (now) but no sanitation facilities - they use buckets and a truck comes around once, twice, or three times a week to retrieve the waste depending on your contract with them. This is the case for all of the houses on the right side of town, looking down from our hotel room.
Walking around the village it becomes apparent that, Danish currency aside, we are NOT in Scandinavia, by any stretch. The roads are littered with garbage and strewn with empty beer cans. The river has at least 2 defunct bicycles reclining upon its rocky banks, plus various pieces of trash and
junk. The clear waters of the fjord display all of the refuse that has been thrown, dropped or otherwise deposited there. Hoardes of dirty children wander the streets, and the paint is peeling off of most of the houses that look so cute from a distance, many have boards over the windows. The population is about 3000 people, of which half are children, and there's a 25% unemployment rate. It is a colony of Denmark, but not Danish in any sense. Danish is the official language, but few of the natives speak it. In fact, the language spoken by the people in East Greenland isn't even the same as the language spoken in West Greenland - it's not a written language, either, so the signs all over town written in Western Greenlandic (the administrative center and capital is in the west in Nunavut) don't mean anything to them. Also, also -on an unrelated but interesting note, many of the people who live here have never seen a tree!
Our travel guide (our Iceland tour bookers booked this excursion through a different company with more Greenland experience) finally stopped by around 4:15 to greet us and give us an idea of what day-trips would be available to us tomorrow. We are planning* a full-day boat tour around Angmagssalik Island, which is the island we are on (I didn't realize until she showed me a map, but this whole region is fjords so it's hard to tell what's connected and what's not), which will take us into a bay replete with icebergs, as it is the head where 3 glaciers converge and drop into the ocean. That should be amazing, and I'm looking forward to it!
And finally, here's a giant radio antenna on the mountain above town. There are a surprising number of television stations considering that the entire east coast of Greenland is home to fewer than 8500 people!
* Our itinerary and tour information package was quite explicit in stating, right up front, that things in Greenland happen on their own schedule, and "you should be prepared for delays and changes, this is a destination where variables such as weather, limited transportation options, and minor technical problems may cause changes to travelers for several days. If you go to Greenland with an open mind, and keep remembering these facts, we are sure that Greenland will be an experience of a lifetime." (No kidding! It's already been the experience of a lifetime!) On arrival at our hotel the host told us, "Be prepared, Greenland is very maybe." And Eric at the museum said, "It's much like the concept in Mexico - everything is 'manana, manana'!" Works for me, I'm a go with the flow kinda gal.
Today we are in Tasiilaq on the Eastern coast of Greenland. To get here today we flew from Reykjavik in a prop plane - a Fokker - into Kulusuk, a village nearby with an airport. This is the first time I've flown into an airstrip that wasn't paved - it has a dirt runway! Coming into Kulusuk on a small prop plane was the bumpiest, most exciting plane ride I can remember, and I've had a few. That Fokker was bouncing and swinging all over the place.
In Kulusuk we transferred to an Air Greenland helicopter, which was, coincidentally,
cathyn's first helo ride! We made a quick, 15-minute hop over a fjord and a couple of razor-sharp mountainous spines. Greenland is unbelievably rugged and gorgeous. You know all those things I said about Iceland being beautiful? Greenland completely blows it out of the water - I'm happy we went to Iceland first because after Greenland it would only have been disappointing. It is awesome in the most literal sense of the word (a word which I hardly ever use anymore because it means something inspires awe - a rare thing but this - Greenland - truly, truly inspires awe in me). Here are some pictures I took sitting in the middle seat of the helicopter. What I'm saying is - these are crappy pictures of Greenland, and yet even these...well, tell me - does this look magnificent or what?!
I can't even. This is so amazing, I've wanted to come here since I was a child playing with maps of the world (yes, I played with maps, I love maps above almost all types of images and will still spend hours poring over them - there is but one adornment I've placed on the wall in my office at work other than white boards. Wanna guess? A map of the world) and learning that this enormous, continent-sized land mass was barely populated at all. And then learning that it's not quite as big as it looks on a flat projection, but it's still pretty damn large - 5 times the size of Texas is what I heard today.
These don't even begin to illustrate the absolute magnificence of the landscape, of being surrounded by it on all sides. It's like looking through a keyhole at the Sistine Chapel. Alright, I think you get my drift. I'm honestly blown away by the beauty of the land.
At our hotel we found that 1)our travel guide for this part of the trip wasn't here, which wasn't a big deal* and 2) the people here are friendly and helpful and approachable and welcoming! Oh my god this is such a nice change from Iceland! :-) :-) :-) :-) :-) That's 5 smiley-faces for Greenland!
Here's a view of Tasiilaq from our hotel room - those are icebergs floating in the bay there, yes:
Since we were left to our own devices (instead of getting a walking tour of the area since our guide was indisposed*) we took it upon ourselves and went for a stroll around town. Couple of things - first up, there appears to be a bug infestation underway here (the locals say it just started, and it's not normal), as you can't step outside without walking into clouds of little gnats who want to fly up your nose and into your ears and eyes, so going outside at all was quite the courageous move on our part, I'll have you know! Secondly, we are at the top of the village, and the roads are EXTREMELY steep - like, I'm walking on a paved road and I'm afraid I may slip and tumble all the way to the bottom if there's a patch of gravel (and there were many because the roads haven't been maintained in many years - most of the roads are in fact dirt, there's only one paved road in town).
So we headed down to the grocery store to see about some bug repellant, but there was none (they get groceries on a ship from Denmark, but only in the summer, and only once so far this year so your chances aren't all that great to begin with, no matter what you're looking for).
Then we checked out the Tasiilaq Museum, and spent probably an hour standing around and chatting with the museum curator, from Denmark. We talked about lots and lots of things, first about this village, living in Greenland, and then ranging to European politics, American immigration policy, the local discotheque, the native Inuits, winters in Greenland, etc, etc. Have I mentioned people are much more friendly and approachable here than in Iceland? It's been so refreshing, and so welcome after the last two weeks we spent being frozen out, dismissed and/or ignored by the locals.
Oh hey - stopped and took this picture on our way back up to the hotel - it's the world's tiniest Travellodge! Go on, zoom in, it really says Travellodge Greenland on the sign!
We found out later that it's actually a little house that is rented out to some of the travel guides, including ours. It has running water (now) but no sanitation facilities - they use buckets and a truck comes around once, twice, or three times a week to retrieve the waste depending on your contract with them. This is the case for all of the houses on the right side of town, looking down from our hotel room.
Walking around the village it becomes apparent that, Danish currency aside, we are NOT in Scandinavia, by any stretch. The roads are littered with garbage and strewn with empty beer cans. The river has at least 2 defunct bicycles reclining upon its rocky banks, plus various pieces of trash and
junk. The clear waters of the fjord display all of the refuse that has been thrown, dropped or otherwise deposited there. Hoardes of dirty children wander the streets, and the paint is peeling off of most of the houses that look so cute from a distance, many have boards over the windows. The population is about 3000 people, of which half are children, and there's a 25% unemployment rate. It is a colony of Denmark, but not Danish in any sense. Danish is the official language, but few of the natives speak it. In fact, the language spoken by the people in East Greenland isn't even the same as the language spoken in West Greenland - it's not a written language, either, so the signs all over town written in Western Greenlandic (the administrative center and capital is in the west in Nunavut) don't mean anything to them. Also, also -on an unrelated but interesting note, many of the people who live here have never seen a tree!
Our travel guide (our Iceland tour bookers booked this excursion through a different company with more Greenland experience) finally stopped by around 4:15 to greet us and give us an idea of what day-trips would be available to us tomorrow. We are planning* a full-day boat tour around Angmagssalik Island, which is the island we are on (I didn't realize until she showed me a map, but this whole region is fjords so it's hard to tell what's connected and what's not), which will take us into a bay replete with icebergs, as it is the head where 3 glaciers converge and drop into the ocean. That should be amazing, and I'm looking forward to it!
And finally, here's a giant radio antenna on the mountain above town. There are a surprising number of television stations considering that the entire east coast of Greenland is home to fewer than 8500 people!
* Our itinerary and tour information package was quite explicit in stating, right up front, that things in Greenland happen on their own schedule, and "you should be prepared for delays and changes, this is a destination where variables such as weather, limited transportation options, and minor technical problems may cause changes to travelers for several days. If you go to Greenland with an open mind, and keep remembering these facts, we are sure that Greenland will be an experience of a lifetime." (No kidding! It's already been the experience of a lifetime!) On arrival at our hotel the host told us, "Be prepared, Greenland is very maybe." And Eric at the museum said, "It's much like the concept in Mexico - everything is 'manana, manana'!" Works for me, I'm a go with the flow kinda gal.
