Food… I need food!

Well, my title may be a little dramatic but this past week I finally succumbed to the need to eat more than the rations I brought with me from Edmonton on my initial trip here! Protein shakes, canned chili and dry cereal just weren’t filling the bill for me. As you’ll recall from an earlier blog, I am still suffering sticker shock from the prices at the local stores. People like me have two options, they can grin and bear it, or they can use two options that are available for most of the communities in Nunavut – food mail and barge orders.

Needless to say, barge orders won’t work this time of the year! The barges (two companies serve Nunavut) make their way from Montreal or Churchill. They are dependent upon the ice thawing in the Hudson Bay, as well as many other logistical issues. Each company has one barge which arrives in late summer or early fall before the freeze up. Many people place big orders in the spring for shipment on one of the barges. ATVs, trucks, furniture, exercise equipment, you name it.

People order large bulk orders of food and supplies, like pepsi (remember how expensive it is here!), canned goods and other items that they can’t get through food mail. Obviously, I can wait and order items on the barge for the summer, but I don’t think I can wait that long! And, I do remember a couple of stories that the locals told me about the barge orders that makes me wonder if I should place an order this spring.

The first story was about office furniture. It seems that the person I am replacing placed a barge order for new office furniture in the spring of 2009. Eagerly, she waited for the barge to arrive only to find out that it wasn’t on the barge when it arrived! Somehow, somewhere, the order got left off the shipment. Yup, and you guessed it, that meant that she couldn’t get it until the next barge order – one year later!! As is, when I arrived the furniture was quite new, not by intention, but by real bad barge luck!

Another person told me that they found lemming droppings in some of their barge orders. Others have said that water damage can affect up to 20% of an order. There is no sending it back for credit, only the task of taking pictures and hoping that your vendor on the other end believes you and will provide credit that you can (you guessed it) apply for your next year’s order!!

Food mail is another alternative but it has its own ups and downs. Food mail is a national initiative to help get subsidized food to northern communities. Three companies in Winnipeg including Safeway, will take online orders that they ship out via the airlines. The government provides a large subsidy to help with the shipping costs and the companies give you the same prices as if you were shopping in their store. And, if you are a Safeway clubcard holder, you get those benefits as well as Air Miles! Sounds like a good deal!

The controversy regarding Food Mail is two-fold. One, the government decides what items will be eligible for shipping subsidy (called eligible items) and those that will not (ineligible). Surprisingly, and many local people would tell you frustratingly, the lists don’t seem to make sense. For example, I can order frozen pizza or hot dogs and get a shipping subsidy, but not chicken bouillon cubes, lemon juice, cans of diced tomatoes, soup or tuna (not that I’d eat tuna (!), but you get the idea) or pampers for babies (not that I need those either). Some of the locals told me they feel like big brother is telling them what to eat and they don’t like that.

More worrisome for locals is that the program is ending March 31 of this year. Instead of having the southern companies like Safeway and Canada Post look after providing the subsidy, it will be passed on directly to the local food stores. The concern is that it will never get passed on to the consumer. Some even say the recent spike in food prices is to offset the new “lower” prices that the stores will be offering once food mail ends. Who knows, all I know is that I’d better get busy and get what I can before this program ends.

As you will see in the pictures above, I did place my first food mail order! It arrived safe and sound (that can also be a problem when there are weather delays and your head of lettuce and fresh veggies sit in a cargo area, waiting for the next available plane)! I have so much food now, I don’t know what to do with it all. And yes, you guessed it, there were frozen pizzas and hot dogs in my order! I couldn’t resist. The good news is that I can put all the frozen items in my un-insulated back porch. Works like a charm as long as those sled dogs across the road don’t smell my cuts of meat! Oh, and those little critters in my kitchen, those are my virtual pets! Cute, eh!

I’m off to Iqaluit tomorrow, weather permitting. I must sound like a broken record, but once again my travel plans and those of my colleagues have been changed this past week due to blizzards in the area. I was supposed to go to Iqaluit on Wednesday. I will now leave (hopefully) on Monday! Other staff were supposed to return to Baker on Thursday and Friday, and they still aren’t back yet. Wish me luck!

Chat to you later from Iqaluit!

Down But Not Out!

Well, hello again! I am guessing my family and friends must have thought that I had been eaten by a polar bear – it’s been so long since my last update! The truth is that I am alive and well, having survived a fierce blizzard, being storm-stayed at a hotel with no water (!) and a solar outage. I’ll talk about the first two in a moment, but first about the solar outage. This past week, according to the news, 3 large fireballs shot off from the sun. One in particular was quite large and while people in most parts of the world wouldn’t pay too much attention to this, I guess it can have quite an effect at the polar extremes. It seems to have played havoc with my internet connection, so much so that I couldn’t connect long enough to the blog to update any text or pictures. In fact, this update is coming to you via Edmonton, where I have forwarded to family to have them upload it for me! Now that’s technology!

As you might remember from my last blog, I was in Repulse Bay, a nice community situated on the Arctic Circle. I was to stay there until Feb 9 and then fly on to Coral Harbour. Unfortunately, a fierce blizzard ended those plans. Even the other hotel guests were amazed at the winds and blowing snow. Everything was shut down, including the airport and the water trucks! Yes, even the water trucks that deliver to homes and businesses could not operate as the metal connectors on their hoses were freezing up. As a result, on Thursday, we ran out of water at the hotel, which meant that they couldn’t cook meals for us or yes, you guessed it, shower or use the facilities! Wowser, that was something. It didn't seem to faze anyone (including me) as all the guests sat around sharing great stories about blizzards and life in the north. I wish I had a recorder, there were so many interesting ones!

Now, the good news is that the hotel I was staying at allows their guests free reign of the kitchen at all times. The cook prepares lunch and supper (one choice, you either want it or you get something for yourself). I was a little concerned that we would be having Arctic Char and Caribou all week (I don't like fish and I'm not very adventuresome with my food choices), but I was wrong. While we had water, the cook made great meals of roast beef, chili and fries, etc. Arctic Char only showed up one night, and everyone grabbed for it right away. I passed on it, but maybe I should have tried it as everyone said the Arctic Char in Repulse is some of the best in all of the north!

Once we ran out of water and didn't have any more cooked meals, I wasn't too upset. Still suffering “sticker shock” from the high prices in Nunavut, I was more than happy to go forging through the kitchen, looking for treats! Bowls of ice cream and other sweets that I’m just too cheap to buy here looked really good! Check out my pictures of the prices of ice cream ($21.95), Lays potato chips ($6.99), Honey Nut Cheerios ($19.99) and Tide laundry detergent ($36.99) from the local store in Repulse Bay, and you’ll see why I thought that was a luxury worth having! I guess prices could be worse. There was a story on CBC this past week about a jar of Cheese Whiz being $35 or something like that in Arctic Bay, a community here in Nunavut. Now that’s pricey!

The storm started to subside on Friday around noon. I had been successful in rebooking my flight and now would be able to make it out on the 3pm flight with all the rest of the stranded passengers. We called the airport a number of times during the afternoon to see if the plane was coming and kept getting the message that it would be late. How late, no idea! Finally, we got word that it was coming at 5pm. Yahoo. Finally. We walked our luggage over to the airport (yes, the strip is right in town!). True to their word, we got out just shortly after 5pm. We flew to Rankin which was our transfer point for our flight home to Baker. If all went well, we'd be home by 7pm. Not too bad. However...

Again, more delays! Our connecting plane was delayed. How long? Who knows? The attends could only say it would be late. The airport snack shop was closed, the Rankin taxis were not running because the fuel depot ran out of fuel during the storm (!). We had nowhere to go and nothing to eat. I guess this was my just reward for eating all that ice cream in Repulse!

One of my colleagues and I thought we might watch a movie on my computer. But, we kept putting it off, saying that the plane would probably be in at any time. As is, we could have watched a double bill! It wasn't until 11pm that we finally saw our plane arrive! Happily, we made our way on the plane and gobbled down anything the attendant had to eat! She must have thought we hadn't eaten for days! By midnight, we were home. I guickly got ready for bed and smiled. Live in the north is unforgiving and unpredictable, that is for sure! Next time, I'll pack more food, just in case!

"Bearly" Escaped!

As I mentioned in my last blog, I am going to share a polar bear story with this blog. The story took place in Repulse Bay (where I am now stranded) during this past fall. Once every 5 years, the local Inuit community is allowed to kill one bowhead whale. The bowhead whale is the second largest whale in the world and the whole event is a very special one for an Inuit community. I have pictures of that event which I will also share in a later blog. They are amazing!

The killing of the whale brought many polar bears to the community, looking for fresh spoils. Eight or nine polar bears came ashore, coming directly into town and putting a great scare into the locals. One of my colleagues was here during this time and he said that he was scared walking between the school and the hotel, because the locals had warned everyone to stay indoors!

The local RCMP and Wildlife officers were able to scare off most of the bears, but had to kill 4 that would not leave the town. However, one bear was silently making his way back to town, out of sight of those that were trying to keep the community safe!

A group of locals were drying skins just on the outskirts of town, on the crest of a hill. All of a sudden, the group started making a great commotion and running down the hill toward the town. One of the local RCMP heard the commotion and drove out to see what was going on. What he found was a polar bear chasing the locals!

The RCMP officer fired a shot to scare the bear but he only stopped briefly then charged after one of the group. The officer fired again, this time killing the bear. His shot hit the bear in the head which killed the bear instantly. However the head shot made the use of the bear skin and skull useless for the locals. I've included pictures of the bear that are wild, to say the least. Look at those teeth, wow!

As much as I do not like the thought of killing animals, I am getting better at understanding the "circle of life" and how important animals have been to the very survival of the Inuit people. And today, while many do not depend on the caribou, polar bear, etc., for their survival, the locals continue to respect their culture and ensure that every part of the animal is used productively and humanely. I respect that.

Once the polar bear was deemed to be unuseable because of the headshot, a "qablunaaq" (white person, pronouced kub-lo-nak) thought the bear skull would be a great gift for her family down south! She was given an export license and was able to take it with her at Christmas time... in her carry-on baggage! It was not entirely clean by then and she said even that freaked her out a bit. Can you imagine the people at security, screening her carry-on baggage! That would have been very interesting!!

In my next blog, I'll share pictures of the bowhead whale capture and the special events that followed, courtesy of some local educators. Stay tuned!

Stranded!

Holy smokes. I thought my first blizzard in Baker Lake was a good blizzard. It couldn't hold a candle to the one that has stranded me in Repulse Bay! The storm started within an hour of us arriving and hasn't let up since. Even the other guests at the hotel, who have spent years in the Arctic, are standing at the window and "oohing and awing" at the wind and blowing snow. I have rebooked my flights to attempt to get out tomorrow afternoon, returning to Baker rather than continuing on to Coral Harbour. Coral will have to wait for another day!

Unfortunately, our transfer point, Rankin Inlet, is also experiencing a blizzard, so it may not work out for me! The possiblity exists that we could leave Repulse tomorrow, and, should we not be able to land in Rankin, continue down to Churchill, Manitoba. Churchill is the polar bear capital of the world, but unfortunately, the polar bears are out on the ice now and not visible from land. As I fly out of Repulse, however, I should be able to see polar bears near the ice floe edge, which is about 10 minutes by air, out of town. I'm keeping my fingers crossed as I can't wait to see a real, live polar bear!

I arrived in Repulse on Monday night, just barely making it out ahead of a blizzard that was forming in Baker. In fact, as we drove out to the airport at 7am, we did so in total white-out conditions. We couldn't see anything other than the reflective pole markers on the left side of the road. We had to come to a complete stop a couple of times, because we couldn't tell the road from the ditch. But, the winds were not enough to ground the aircraft, so we made it out. Surprisingly, it was a calm flight, even as we could see the severe weather forming to the north of us.

After a short stop in Rankin Inlet (home of Jordan Tootoo), we made it to Repulse Bay. The community sits directly on the Arctic Circle and has a special monument to mark the location. It was covered in snow when we arrived but I did get a summer picture of the monument and an aerial view of the town from a local educator. He was also gracious enough to also tell me a great story about polar bears and one bear in particular, that was an unfortunate one (for the bear, that is). I'll tell you about that story in my next blog!

What an adventure!

Well, we made it to Iqaluit, but wow, what a trip it was! As luck would have it, we were able to get a Tuesday noon hour flight to Rankin Inlet, our main hub. From there, the plan was to catch a special charter to take us to Iqaluit. Unfortunately, lots of other regions of Nunavut were experiencing the same blizzard conditions we had on Monday and had to be rerouted to Yellowknife, NWT, which was the only major airport open. A decision to use one charter to pick up our people in Yellowknife and then fly over to Rankin (3 hour flight) to pick up the rest of us was made.

More flight delays caused the charter to arrive in Rankin Inlet around 8:30pm. The long wait, with little or no food available at the airport and no water in the washrooms (!), meant a trying start to the trip. We were excited to see the charter arrive, only to find out that the air temperature inside the charter was similar to the outside air temperature.

As we were boarding the aircraft (4 engine, Dash 7) I could see people's breath and thought, "Are they smoking? I can't believe they allow people to smoke on a charter!". It wasn't until I took my first breath that I realized that they weren't smoking. As I breathed out, I could see my breath! And wow, was it ever cold in that aircraft. The seats were frozen and the metal was "ouch" to the touch. I told myself that once we were in the air, it would be warmer. However, it was taking a long time to fire up the engines. I wondered why...

About 20 minutes later, one of the crew came out and asked to speak to the person in charge. Oh, oh... that was me! As it turned out, the number of passengers on our list (40) did not jive with their manifest. Given the amount of fuel on board and the number of passengers, they told us we were the equivalent of six too many people to get off the ground safely! Once our senior management team decided which six people to jettison off the plane, we had to figure out how to get their luggage off the plane. The airport was now closed and the luggage handlers were gone home, so we decided to pitch in and help the crew unload the cargo and find the luggage for those not going on with us. It was a great team effort. I guess that's what "other duties" refers to in our contracts!

Well, once we unloaded and reloaded the luggage, it was time to take off. And, despite my thoughts that the cabin would warm up once we were airborne, it didn't happen! I (and everyone else) was frozen! I could hardly feel my feet, they were so cold. I snuggled down into my Canada Goose arctic parka, but it wasn't long enough to cover my legs or feet. I tried to sleep but even that was hard in the cold! After 3 hours, we finally arrived in Iqaluit at 1am (Iqaluit is on Eastern time zone,so we lost an hour). After we unloaded our own luggage (getting good at it now), we called taxis and headed to the hotel. Thankfully, a large number of taxis responded to our call and we got to the hotel quickly. The front desk attendant was great and got us quickly checked into our rooms. By 1:30am, we were safe and sound in our hotel rooms. And, boy, was I ready to report for breakfast at 7:30am. Having missed both lunch and supper during our crazy day, I was starved. Oh, well, thankfully, morning arrived very quickly and with it, food!!

The rest of the week was very busy as the conference was condensed into two days, rather than three. I didn't get out to see Iqaluit, but I did get to go square dancing (!). Square dancing is very popular in Nunavut, so I couldn't pass up the opportunity. I did, however, pass on the raw Arctic char that was spread out on a tarp on the floor, available for anyone who wanted to eat it! Someone recorded one of my square dances, so maybe I'll post it sometime for a good laugh! The rest of the week went great and despite a few warnings that blizzards were on the way to our region again, we made it home safe and sound on Friday afternoon.

As I sign off for this blog, here is the answer to my last blog question re: most verocious animal that comes into our town. I said it started with a "w" and was more vicious than the wolf. The answer is "wolverine". Yup, those little varmits do come into town from time to time, especially during blizzards. I'll tell you a bit more about that in my next blog.

Tomorrow I am off to Repulse Bay (sits on the Arctic Circle) and then onto Coral Harbour (located on a large island in the Hudson Bay). Wish me luck on my flights (getting out on time, and getting home next Friday!). Chat to you then! Have a great week!