UUMMANNAQ, Greenland. Having stranded a bunch of people in Ilulisat overnight, Air Greenland had to send two flights out today. Since I am travelling alone, I got the later flight, so I had all day in Ilulisat. I poked around the hotel for awhile. The lobby has some interesting stuff. Lots of seal skin products, including jackets for only $2000 or so apiece and his and her gloves for about $150 per pair, and carved necklaces and ulos made from walrus teeth, narwhale tusks, reindeer bone...

There was a pack of sled dogs tethered outside, but I'm not sure whose they were or how much they can be used. I understand from a local guy that they haven't had real sea ice for 7 years now (Global warming, what?). But I walked the 15 minutes into town, and it was COLD and mostly, people just stared at me... but I did see one guy sledding about. Apparently, the dogs can't really run on just ice, but there was plenty of snow on the ground in Ilulisat, and despite the windy cold, it was pretty cool just to watch people doing town stuff. That town has about 5000 inhabitants and is quite a bit bigger than Uummannaq, which itself is only about 1000 people. i was pretty surprised to see so many people on the street, including school-aged kids. I gather that weird hours are kept... for many things.

When I returned to the hotel, I found that my flight had been moved up and it was time to check-in and go to the airport. At the airport, I found that I, in fact, was the ONLY one in the second pod to Uummannaq. So instead of the usual 50 minute flight by plane to Qaarsut and 10 minute helicopter flight over to Uummannaq, 15 boxes of "fresh" fruit and veggies and I got a 1 hour helicopter flight through mountains and icebergs to Uummannaq. It was pretty spectacular. I got a thorough sightseeing tour of the frozen interior from the west coast, along with tons of icebergs and water, and a bit of the mountainous islands, including the last, Uummannaq, which is named for its heart shaped peak. On the way, I was like a broken record, singing "Cold as Ice" by Foreigner at the top of my lungs. (or at least the 3 lines that I know.) This was quite against my will, and thankfully, I couldn't even hear myself, due to the hefty ear protectors I was wearing. I hope the pilots were wearing them as well. I couldn't tell since we were separated by the "fresh" fruit, etc. I will try to find a place to post more pictures, but I will save them all for posterity. In any case... I start teaching tomorrow.