Land of the people doesn't have so many...

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Even though I only spent three and a half days in Greenland, I am in love.

I arrived at the airport early Monday morning, groggy but excited, only to find out that our 0915 flight to Kangerlussuaq has been delayed six hours. An ominous start to the trip, yes, but I spent that time productively, befriending some classmates and spending the meal vouchers the airport gave us. Long story short, our flight was cancelled to due technical problems with the one plane that Air Greenland owns for flights between Kangerlussuaq and Copenhagen. Kangerlussuaq is the largest airport in Greenland, and the only point of entry by air. There is only one flight between Copenhagen and Kangerlussuaq everyday, and the airport is the only reason Kangerlussuaq exists. The original airstrip was built by the USA, and the necessary facilities grew up around it - hotel, grocery store, souvenir shop. That's about it. There's not even a doctor in town- but I'm getting ahead of myself. We reclaimed our luggage, got on a bus, and went to a hotel in downtown Copenhagen where I had a shower, dinner, lectures about musk ox and the Arctic and Antarctic regions, and a good night's rest.

Tuesday midday we finally take off. The flight is just over 4 hours, and the time difference is four hours, so we take off at 1200 and land at 1230 - a good use of time, I'd say. The temperature was -14 C, which was the warmest it was to be the whole week. Kangerlussuaq looks just like the photos - a bunch of buildings disguised as storage containers/trailers/trucks. There's not a lot going on here, architecture-wise. This is the closest to the North Pole I've ever been - 67'00'' N - inside the Arctic Circle! (which, I learned, is shrinking - but not because of global climate change - because of Milankovitch cycles). As soon as we dropped off our luggage and bundled up, we piled into a truck/bus and set off on a musk ox safari. These creatures are plentiful in the Kangerlussuaq area (they were introduced maybe 30 years back) but we only saw a few, in clusters of three or so. Then we visited a research station, funded by the USA, that deals with upper-atmosphere electrons and temperatures and particles and solar flares and chemistry and physics. It makes me wish I were better at science so I could live in Greenland and study what's above us. The station had an epic laser that reminded me of Lost. For dinner we had fried halibut with vegetables and rice, followed by coffee and a lecture about the aurora borealis and Greenland's geology. I curled up to sleep in a surprisingly hot bed and had to shed some pajama layers to reach a comfortable temperature. Too warm was the last thing I expected to be in Greenland.

Wednesday was the coldest day. I bundled up and packed even more layers to take with me. A three-hour truck/bus ride, some snow-shoveling, and several avalanches, musk ox, and caribou later, we were at the ice sheet. It was very windy and cold, with snow drifting every which way. Karsten, a geologist who was helping with our trip, said we could see for approximately 20 km, but normal visibility is more like 40 or 50km! I could try to describe what it was like to be on the ice, but words can't capture the immensity and raw beauty I saw and felt. Pictures fail, too. Sometimes you just have to put away the camera and experience what it is you're looking at, instead of hiding behind the lens. On the way back to camp, the truck/bus couldn't make it over a snowy hill, so we all got out and danced around for warmth while he tried again and again and again. The road was right next to a frozen lake and the truck/bus kept jack-knifing, so it was really nerve-wracking. We told jokes and riddles and jumped up and down to pass the twenty or thirty minutes it took. Finally, he made it and we piled back into the vehicle to go to a lecture and then...amazing Greenlandic buffet! There were mixed reviews about the whale they served, but everyone seemed to like the terrestrial meats (musk ox/caribou). But the biggest hit came after dinner, when Kim the restaurant owner/manager/chef presented us with Greenlandic coffee. Each ingredient supposedly represents something.
• 50 cl Tullamore Dew (Greenlandic man)
• 50 cl Kahlua (Greenlandic woman)
• coffee (dark sea)
• whipped cream (snow and ice)
• 50 cl Grand Marnier, set on fire (Northern Lights)
Try this at home - really. You will not regret it. It puts Irish coffee to shame.
After that delicious concoction, a small group of us set off on a polar expedition, by which I mean we walked around and played in the snow and took pictures.

Thursday was somewhat relaxed. We spilt up into three groups, and my group was the first one to ride around in the SnowCat, which is like an arctic tank without the military nonsense. We visited some sledge dogs. It is forbidden to bring other sledge dogs into Greenland and you can't buy dogs. They only need one or two females, so they shoot any extra female puppies. Disney managed to get the law changed so they could bring in some Huskies to shoot their movie 8 Below or something. Bravo, Disney. We drove out onto the frozen sediment of the fjord, where I got the chance to drive this magnificent machine. Woohoo! Back at camp we had a toasty lunch and talked about gender politics - my kind of conversation. We also had the opportunity to do some research for our papers, but most of the resources available were of the scientific variety, whereas I want to explore the role and influence of the USA in Greenland. Then two other students (Hugh and Ingrid) and I walked into town to buy some postcards/souvenirs. More lecture and a small exhibit of Greenlandic history before dinner, then an exciting game of cards to round out the evening. I saw a small squiggle of Northern Lights and another small patch of green, but nothing like you see in the pictures. It would have been nice to see, but it wasn't necessary.

Friday morning we visited the Kangerlussuaq Museum near the airport, which was converted from an old Danish hotel. Then at 1125 we left Greenland. And that's it. I'm already trying to figure out when and how I can get back there.

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Photos

Looking down
This is the first picture I took of Greenland - I leaned over the woman sitting in the window seat of the airplane to capture it.

Welcome to Greenland!
Hey! I'm in Greenland!

Ice Cap
Even a panorama cannot do the majesty and immensity of this place any justice.

Sunset
We didn't get to the the Northern Lights during our stay, but the sky was breathtaking nonetheless.

Greenlandic buffet
It includes smoked halibut with mustard dressing, white wine-steamed salmon, raw whale, smoked musk ox and caribou, just to give you an idea.

Grønlandsk kaffe
Coffee + alcohol + fire = love in my belly

Ice crystals
He threw boiling-hot water up into the air and it crystallized before it hit the ground. So cold - so cool!

Sledge dogs
Not pets-working animals. They have the potential to be dangerous, hence the chains. But still cute.

An incoherent community
This is, I believe, an incoherent scatter radar. It helps scientists to study the upper reaches atmosphere.

Comments

[elisabethampthor]

I recommend you click "Satellite" when looking at the map - much better than the "Terrain" default, at least for this map.

[Kara Loo]

that man in the tshirt looking up at crystalizing boiling water gives me goosebumps. he needs to put some clothes on :)