survival of spirit

It seems that everything will start again anew. After many days of perpetual dismal darkness, a slice of sky emerged just long enough to paint the ice a turquoise shade of perfection. In most other terrains, rushing out to catch the evening light would be a simple routine. When it takes forethought to dress, space to put on pac boots half the size of your legs and dexterity to zip up the Canada Goose expedition weight jacket with two pairs of liner gloves on, you swiftly learn the necessity of equanimity. The days have been filled with stunning beauty and two independent journeys towards acclimatizing to this world apart. The petite room in which we call home has two bunk beds, a small table and a narrow standing closet. The square window sits above a Danish oil heater mounted to the wall, and despite our gear stacked and strategically placed, we inevitably dance around one another to arrange for the day ahead. The communal kitchen serves as a refuge from the cold and an alternative to dining out. The markets have little fresh produce, notably cabbage, onions, and apples, but they do service an ever hungry hiker with cereal, cheese and dehydrated tomato soup.

Although desperate for a stretch of sunshine, we continue to delve deeper into the Inuit traditional culture and present reality. The people offer a friendly smile when passing and those that speak English come forward to inquire about our time here. Like any culture, there are layers, and a vast collection of varied types of people. The children play in the snow, the women hang wet clothes on the outdoor clothes line in the falling snow and the lot of them puff away on cigarettes. Wrapped in furs and down jackets, the wind chill carries a crisp reminder of cultivating and maintaining tenacity. Living here is a matter of survival, and the physical strain of simply existing is reflected on the faces that walk the ice packed streets. The solitude throughout Greenland brings a mixture of tranquillity and isolation, mutually exclusive yet woven together into the history of this island.