At 5 am, after a stormy night on the sea, we climbed up the slippery
rocks of Aappilattoq Island, leaving our battered and for now immobile
boat behind. What now?
There was no one in sight. Soaked, cold and miserable, we were
desperate for a shelter. And a shelter there was: just few a steps and
a call away from Else’s (Aalibarti’s wife) mobile phone. Their old
friends picked up the call at this early hour, welcomed us in, even
though they were not home themselves. “Welcome to Aappilattoq”, they
said. “Feel at home”.
It was one of those fairy tale homes we happen to meet on the road in Northern Greenland. Nets, sleds, skins, drying fish and seal meat, polar bear and musk ox heads, puppies running lose at the entrance, and that’s only a minor part of the fantastic exterior décor, and then, of course, peace and warmth inside.
There is no running water in such houses, but there is a communal
bucket that makes morning a comfortable moment. In search of the
water we ventured out and soon met the great residents of Aappilattoq
which by the way means “the red“ who welcomed us into the local
service center where we finally could take a nice shower that we needed so badly and cook the food in the real kitchen.
But there was no real need for cooking: managers of Pillersuisoq, the local store in the national chain, invited us over for exquisite treats – dried narwhale meat, seal, fish and other delicacies. Mammaq!
But that was only the beginning of the gifts whose stream got heavier only as the day progressed. At the local school we got a sleeping ground and access to internet. The school itself was a piece of art. If my kids were still youngsters, I would go to the extremes to enroll them in such a school. It is actually a palace, not a school. Unfortunately, only one new child will be enrolling at this school next fall, said the principal Hansine Thomassen; the population of Aappilattoq is still decreasing.
And then we met Piitajaraq (Peter) Aronsen – a great hunter, kayaker, artist, hand crafter, philosopher and a special man. Peter an outsider of a liberal kind. He still lives far away from everyone on a small island, in absolute solitude, and has come to Appilattoq to visit his nephew. Peter has powers of a special kind. I won’t go into the depth of the matter for the obvious lack of time, but I can say that he does a lot of things that “normal” people can not. At the same time he is a very sweet man who likes to grow little plants on this window and even talks to them; the same way he talks to his dogs who understand him from a whisper.
From Piitajaraq we received another gift – a freshly killed seal and
fish which we are planning to use on the road when the right time
comes.
Little Jaaku (Marcussen) got a special gift from Piitajaraq, a pair of polar bear gloves on lamb skin – a tribute to Jaakuaraq’s recent victory in the national dog-sledding competition. But of course, not only Little Jaaku, but no one has been forgotten: generous Piitajaraq honored us with exquisite little decorations made out of we all were beautiful flowers made out of Greenlandic bids by Peter himself No need to say that all these fabulous things Piita has made himself.
In the evening we returned to the same house where we have started our
day. Our absent hosts were now back home. Aqqaluk Grim is a politician
and a mind-setter. He treated us with a great dinner and talked about
his community which is now at the crossroads. “Hard working people
live in Aappilatoq; they are fishermen”, he said. “They are earning
their own money – by catching Greenlandic halibut – and this way they
are independent from good gifts from the South”.
Aqqaluk is also a member of the local community board. He said that
they work on a 5 year plan which will help define the goals and
perspectives for the settlement’s development. He is quite positive
about the future, yet open about the difficulties:
“Fishing is a
sustainable industry”, says Aqqaluk. “Of course, we would rather be
hunting (we are hunting society), but with restrictions from the
South, forced by the animal rights organizations, hunting stopped to
be profitable. So, we have to adapt.”
“The living conditions are harsh here. Many scientists have visited our settlement to find out first hand how it is possible to survive in this environment. But the reality is that unless you live here, you will never know. "
"And yes, it’s hard. But we do not we don’t complain about life. This is the way we live and when the hard time comes it’s all about helping each other. This is basic law of culture”.
Tomorrow we will be off to Upernavik to hopefully fix the boat and
then move further North, to Kullorsuaq – the Devil’s Thumb.
It was one of those fairy tale homes we happen to meet on the road in Northern Greenland. Nets, sleds, skins, drying fish and seal meat, polar bear and musk ox heads, puppies running lose at the entrance, and that’s only a minor part of the fantastic exterior décor, and then, of course, peace and warmth inside.
But there was no real need for cooking: managers of Pillersuisoq, the local store in the national chain, invited us over for exquisite treats – dried narwhale meat, seal, fish and other delicacies. Mammaq!
But that was only the beginning of the gifts whose stream got heavier only as the day progressed. At the local school we got a sleeping ground and access to internet. The school itself was a piece of art. If my kids were still youngsters, I would go to the extremes to enroll them in such a school. It is actually a palace, not a school. Unfortunately, only one new child will be enrolling at this school next fall, said the principal Hansine Thomassen; the population of Aappilattoq is still decreasing.
And then we met Piitajaraq (Peter) Aronsen – a great hunter, kayaker, artist, hand crafter, philosopher and a special man. Peter an outsider of a liberal kind. He still lives far away from everyone on a small island, in absolute solitude, and has come to Appilattoq to visit his nephew. Peter has powers of a special kind. I won’t go into the depth of the matter for the obvious lack of time, but I can say that he does a lot of things that “normal” people can not. At the same time he is a very sweet man who likes to grow little plants on this window and even talks to them; the same way he talks to his dogs who understand him from a whisper.
Little Jaaku (Marcussen) got a special gift from Piitajaraq, a pair of polar bear gloves on lamb skin – a tribute to Jaakuaraq’s recent victory in the national dog-sledding competition. But of course, not only Little Jaaku, but no one has been forgotten: generous Piitajaraq honored us with exquisite little decorations made out of we all were beautiful flowers made out of Greenlandic bids by Peter himself No need to say that all these fabulous things Piita has made himself.
“The living conditions are harsh here. Many scientists have visited our settlement to find out first hand how it is possible to survive in this environment. But the reality is that unless you live here, you will never know. "
"And yes, it’s hard. But we do not we don’t complain about life. This is the way we live and when the hard time comes it’s all about helping each other. This is basic law of culture”.
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