06 August 2008

GREETINGS FROM GREENLAND

looking back at the blog it looks like i neglected to record the rest of my journey in chile down to patagonia and the alerce trees. guess that will have to wait as now i'm up at just about the opposite end of the earth.

GETTING THERE IS HALF THE BATTLE
aug 1 + 2

it wasn't easy, but i made it to greenland. first was a flight from JFK to rekyavik, iceland. we taxied on the runway for an extra hour, which made me very nerouvs about catching my connecting flight to greenland with less than two hours in between, and at another airport no less. luckily i convinced the airline to seat me right by the door, and i was the first out, running down the jetway, chugging the water in my sigg bottle at security as they scanned us all yet again on the way out, and finally out to the taxi i had arranged while still back at home. we sped away from keflavik to the regional airport, where i arrived 130 USD lighter and just in time to stand in line amidst a spanish tour group for our delayed flight. from there is was off to narsarsuaq. the views flying in were breathtaking, even if i was a bit delirious into my second day of travel. we arrived in town, which is little more than the runway and a youth hostel. my helicopter flight (the final leg of this part of the journey) wasn't scheduled until 6 that evening, and it was only a little after 10 in the morning. i asked, just in case, if their was space on an earlier one, and luckily a spot had opened up on the 11 am. so i was off to qaqortoq, my final destination of the day. the 20 minute trip was my first time in a helicopter, and both the mode of travel and the scenery were thrilling.


icebergs as seen from the helicopter

aug 6

it's now the 6th of august and i've had several days filled with rigorous hikes and lots of ancient lichens. the landscape is like walking in a field guide to arctic flora. it's cold and drizzly and a few icebergs are floating out in harbor. but now i'm about to take a boat out to the camp site at sodre igaliku where a group of archeologists (from Copenhagen and CUNY, of all places) have been studying norse ruins. i'll have to fill in the details of the last few days and the adventures of the week to come upon my return to civilization...

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