Arctic Adventure
For some crazy reason, I followed California Mike to the Arctic Circle... last week, in mid-February. It was bbrrrrrisk.
First we flew with Aeroflot to the largest Arctic city, Murmansk. This was an adventure in itself. You see, when Aeroflot has mechanical problems with a plane, while in the air, they do not feel its necessary to communicate such matters to the passengers. Instead, they crawl around on the aisle floor doing 'something' with the mechanics below (one doesn't usually get to see that stuff) and then attempt several landings until they get it right. My friend, Emma, was openly freaked out. I reassured her with smiles and jokes while secretly sending a text to my friend in Moscow. It included my family's contact information and my final words. Luckily, he waited until good news came before acting and we eventually landed safely.
Some passengers who seemed oblivious to it all were these young hockey players, who were heading to a tournament. Many of them were sporting NHL logos on their toques (hats). I was so excited to see the logos and said 'Hey, I'm from Canada'. They responded with the only English phrases they knew...'Calgary Flames', 'Montreal Canadians', 'Anaheim Ducks', and 'What's your name?' So cute!
California Mike's main objective of this trip was to see the Northern Lights. He was pretty set on it. Not that I didn't want to see the beautiful lights; but, being from Canada, I had first-hand knowledge that we can't predict when/where we'll be able to catch a glimpse of the mysterious 'aurora borealis'. However, I decided to come along when he promised reindeer sightings. Of course I didn't expect the first sighting to be on top of a pizza at Mama Mia's. Other menu items included 'Boiled Reindeer Tongue' and 'Ruza' (minced pork & reindeer w/ fried onion and boiled egg).
The next day, we headed to Lovozero with Yuri. The hotel clerk told us it would be a three-hour drive, but Yuri managed it in just over two. I sat in the back seat with my hands over my face. It was so cold that the windows were frosted up anyway. He reminded me a lot of my Uncle Don who used to get a real kick out scaring the hell out of me. He had the same hearty laugh and a great sense of humour. Since he got us there safely, we arranged for him to pick us up for our return trip (presuming we'd survive until then). I think he's cute, too... and much friendlier than the typical Moscovite.
A couple hundred miles south-east of Murmansk, on the Kola Peninsula, we found Lovozero. There isn't much to see here except a few dreary-looking apartment buildings. Many inhabitants are the indigenous Sami people who are either unemployed or work for the reindeer farm cooperative - an interesting BBC article describes their situation best - http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/business/6171701.stm.
We were the only guests staying at the only hotel, although we we saw a business-looking man on our last morning. When we asked why people go there, we got a cryptic (translated by Emma) response... 'each has their own reason'. Since we were the only strangers in town, we thought that people on the street might be more interested in us, but they seemed indifferent. There is a very good museum in Lovozero which showed us the different cultures since the 16th century who inhabited the area. The guest book was 15 years old and only a few pages were filled - seemed to be mostly Norwegian visitors. It actually seemed that they had opened the museum just for us, but that too is clouded in mystery.
We met Sasha at the hotel. He is staying and working there in an effort to start an outdoor camp for tourists. The salmon fishing is supposed to be great. (I wish we had been served that, as opposed to reindeer at the hotel). Politics and bureaucracy are blocking Sasha's many attempts but he is very patient. Sasha is also working toward a competition in Alaska for dog-sledding next year. He was dressed for a 200 km snowmobile ride to another remote area.
Before he left, he hooked us up with a local reindeer herder for a ride to see rudolph 'et al'. We aren't sure if the Sami guy dressed for us or if it was the norm, but we had seen replicas of his traditional atire in the museum. I was on the back of the snowmobile on the way out to the lake and had to keep moving the knives and reindeer teeth hanging off his belt to avoid being stabbed. Not that I would have felt anything. I have seriously never been so cold in my entire life. He actually stopped for a cigarette at one point on the frozen lake while we sat there and froze our extremities. He did stop at his hut for us to warm up as he mentioned that we weren't dressed properly.I didn't take my digital camera because it was so cold I didn't want to damage it. But seeing the reindeer, many of them tethered, was kind of a 'downer' to me. I know that this industry is currently the base for this community, but they just seemed to sad. And, obviously, they many years of visualizing Santa with Dasher, Dancer.... must have had an impact.
Can you believe these two weren't dressed properly? They had so much gear, they could barely move their arms. They had a great time playing in the snow on mini-outings... including middle-of-the night peaks for the northern lights. Emma and I stayed in the hotel and played scrabble.Back in Murmansk, where it was a much warmer -17, we did some more exploring. The fog kept us from seeing the inlet to the Barents Sea, only a few kilomtres from us. I really wanted to see an icebreaker that was supposed to be docked there, but, like the northern lights, another miss.
We did manage to spot a naked guy running from this sauna to the cold water. Those crazy Norwegians!
W We took in a cultural museum prior to leaving and had dinner at 'Alan's', named after my Dad.
We managed to survive almost unscathed... Emma had frostbite on her nose.
posted by Ilsa @ Tuesday, February 20, 2007
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