June 10, 2008 – As I write this entry, it is past midnight here in Greenland, and I am having a restless night. The sun is as bright as ever in the sky, with no hint of going away anytime soon. I wander outside and find Niels still awake and feeding his 40+ dogs, an amazing number of pets, but he loves each tremendously and gives them plenty of attention. There were many cute puppies, spring pups that added to the size of the pack. I decided to walk back to my cottage and saw a huge ship coming into the pier; they unloaded crate after crate of materials for the village including jackets, canned food, soda, and at the same time picking up fresh halibut from the day’s catch from the fishing factory we toured. A little after 1:30, I finally fell asleep with the sun bright in my eyes.

It was a beautiful morning, and before she went off to her day’s work at the fishery, Niels mother stopped by to wave us good bye. The leader of the village also stopped by to wish us well on our way, and he wanted to know if we enjoyed our stay. I gave him a huge two-thumbs up and I really was sad to be leaving such a pure, remote location. It was amazing how warm and welcome the people were; it was a town where nobody locked their doors and nobody slept in fear of another with a crime rate of zero.

As we sped away on the speedboat, I strained to see the small village disappear into the distance, and with one last glimpse as we turned the corner of a mountain, my heart melted as I realized it would be a very slim chance I would ever return. The surface of the water was calm, reflecting the sky like a mirror. I was glad as this made the boat ride much smoother, but in the far off distance, a depressing sight reminded us of the fate of the Arctic as massive pieces of ice broke off the glacier and fell into the open sea, sending up large waves.

We passed through what could be compared to an asteroid belt, with so many icebergs, small pieces of ice, and ice sheets floating in the water as obstacles for us to cross. The rough water made for an exciting ride, but also made my butt uncomfortable and sore! As we approached Upernavik, we saw a tower on the mountain end of the shore with the same airport we came into, the runway dropping off the cliff 200 feet above us.

Tomorrow we will catch an afternoon flight to Ilulissat, a flight we can’t miss or we would be stuck another three days until the next flight! While we wait for our flight, we spent our time touring the small village and absorbing the little time we had left in Greenland. Our room that night was beautiful, with a full kitchen and living room to give us some additional space to really stretch out. Our trip home begins tomorrow!

Related posts:

1. Greenland – Day Six
2. Greenland – Day Four
3. Greenland- Day Five
4. Greenland – Day Eight
5. Greenland – Day Nine
6. Greenland – Day Two
7. Greenland – Day One
8. Greenland – Day Three
9. Greenland – Day Ten