Saturday, October 30, 2010

I, of course, intended to blog each day of this trip. As usual, we were so busy that a whole week has gone by and we head home tomorrow and this is the first chance I've had to write a note.

Right now the elders of the community and some other community members are preparing a community feast using the caribou they harvested yesterday when they took us "out on the land". They also took us out on the land on Wednesday but that was a day for capturing photos and not for "catching" caribou. We have been treated extremely well here and our students are in love with Cambridge Bay and its people. We already know that there will be tears tomorrow as we leave, even though the Cambridge Bay teens will be in Stratford in just a little over two weeks for the flip side of this exchange.

Cambridge Bay is not for the faint of heart. It's a difficult city to reach and the conditions in the arctic are often harsh. We left Stratford at noon last Sunday and flew to Edmonton where we stayed in a hotel for the night. Twyla and Steve (friends of Paul Finkelstein and fans of the Screaming Avocado) hosted all 18 of us at their house where they served us gourmet dinner made with food we could expect to find in the arctic. We had muskox carpaccio, caribou stew, arctic char and a cafe au lait cake. The food was interesting and delicious, though a few of the students found it a bit too much of a test. The arctic char was the hands-down favourite and that trend continued in Cambridge Bay.

Monday was exciting and definitely a time for bonding. We flew from Edmonton to Yellowknife in the early morning and then waited for our plane for Cambridge Bay which was delayed due to fog. Eventually we did board the plane and flew to our first stop which was Kugluktuk (Coppermine) where we deplaned so that they could re-fuel. We flew from there to Cambridge Bay where we made a dramatic descent through the clouds, saw the lights of the runway and then ascended again and flew back to Kugluktuk. The cloud ceiling was just too low for the pilot to make a safe landing. After 7 hours of travel and 4 hours of airports, we made it back to Yellowknife and our hotel. The students were disappointed and so were we but we were all up and ready the next morning to return to the airport and try again. The weather was still an issue in Cambridge Bay and so our plane was delayed for 3 hours. After a three-hour flight we finally made it to Cambridge Bay by 6:00 p.m. on Tuesday. Unfortunately, Paul's luggage, Steve's luggage, 2 students' luggage and my luggage did not make the trip. Luckily the two students had put sleeping bags and some clothes in their carry-ons. The people in Kiilinik High School graciously rallied around and brought in some extra mattresses and sleeping bags for us. They also brought warm parkas for us to wear the next day. This is truly a very generous and friendly community.

Wednesday was spent out on the land. We were pulled on sleds called komatiks out onto the tundra. The weather was cold and blustery and the scenery was awe inspiring.