June 6, 2008 – Today was a day of travel for us, as we continued to make our way further north in Greenland. We had a great breakfast to start the day, and another guest was extremely nice enough to take us to the airport on the other side of town. The fog blanketed the town delaying our flight two hours, and I was worried that we wouldn’t be able to make our Musk Ox Safari in Kangerlussuag. Fortunately we made it alright, and landed in the longest runway in Greenland at the Kangerlussuag airport, which used to serve as a USA military base during WWII. The runway is larger than the town itself!
When we started our safari to search for musk ox, we were warned that just like an African safari, we may not even see any animals at all, because they can be unpredictable sometimes. As we drove up a mountain, we had a beautiful view of both sides of town; one side held the airport and the other had miles of treeless land. There was a view of a glacier 20 miles away, stunning even to the naked eye. Our guide found a musk ox with a special telescope, and looking through it we saw a tiny motionless animal that I could barely even see. I was happy to see it move and that confirmed that I was actually looking at a living animal. Too bad we didn’t get a greater view or see more musk ox! But fortunately the weather was beautiful and the clmate was great, explaining why we chose that spot to build an American base.
After our safari, we took off on another flight finally arriving at Ilulissat. We finally saw not just one iceberg, but countless icebergs floating in the sea! David and I were wildly excited to see the icebergs, because the view is simply stunning and breathtaking! We arrived at the Hotel Arctic, an extremely unique hotel with aluminum igloos! The igloos each have an amazing view, and it was absolutely one of the most unique hotels I’ve ever stayed at.
In Ilulissat, everything closes at 5pm, so we had to get an early dinner. We ate at the Mamartut, the coziest restaurant in town, with similarly excellent views. The restaurant grows its own herbs and has a signature homemade soup made of shrimp, fish, and potato. It was the first opportunity I had to taste musk ox steak, and with their secret gravy the steak was truly perfect. With a signature dessert of chocolate and blackberry sorbet, we needed a cup of coffee for our two-mile walk back to the hotel.
When we got back to the hotel, David and I didn’t feel satisfied because we wanted to meet a deaf person. So we asked around and one of the drivers at our hotel, Alf, knew a deaf person in town so he took us there. We had to knock on three different doors before we finally found a house that said the deaf person lived upstairs, and thankfully hadn’t gone to bed yet! We met Mikkel, who was absolutely thrilled to see another deaf person, much more two of us! With just one other deaf person in town who didn’t sign, Mikkel pretty much alone in town. He treated us to long stories about Greenland and Denmark’s relationship, and how many Greenlanders were educated in Denmark before they returned home. Many people who lived in Ilulissat have never gone north of Sisimiut, and Mikkel was awed and impressed that David and I were venturing so far north- are we insane or true adventurers? It was getting late (but not dark) and we agreed that we had to meet again on June 11th when we returned from our journey up north on our way back to America. At 1am, we had a difficult time getting to sleep with the sun shining on our igloo.
I couldn’t take my eyes off the beautiful icebergs which looked so peaceful and serene. I can’t wait for my day tomorrow, as we embark on our ultimate journey to meet the Greenlandic Deaf hunter!
