Reykjavík Grapevine - 04.08.2008, Side 36

36 | REYKJAVÍK GRAPEVINE | ISSUE 10—2008
DESTINATION By Haukur S. MagnúSSon — pHotoS By julia StapleS
There was an arctic fox hanging out on the porch
of Hotel Kulusuk. He was just kind of lazing about;
playfully jumping around as mountains larger
than anything I’ve ever seen trembled in the fad-
ing light of a suspended midnight sun. That fox
was noble and mysterious in his spring coat; he
had a cat-like demeanour, and he approached me
when I beckoned him with a catcall. The local
Kulusuk women working the clean-up shift at the
hotel poked their heads out of a window. “Danger-
ous!” they yelled, warning me about the perfidi-
ous fox and his biting ways. I laughed as I realised
he probably had rabies. “Good
old fox. You obvious metaphor,
you. All mysterious, playful and
treacherous; ready to launch
your surprise attack. Just like
Greenland’s unforgiving na-
ture.”
Twelve hours into a 30-
hour stay in East Greenland, I
was already so awe-struck by
the place that I found myself
talking to an arctic fox. Laugh-
ing out loud at him. I will not
be able to describe my experi-
ence of Greenland adequately
in the written word, and serious
attempts to do so verbally have
thus failed me. Again, I urge
you: go to Greenland. Now. If
your time and money only al-
low for a day trip, do that. If you
can stretch it further and stay a
week or two: do it. The impor-
tant thing is you go.
Now for an anecdote about arriving in
Greenland: As the plane started its slow landing
descent, I could see some mountains in the dis-
tance. “Look. That’s Greenland,” I said to Grape-
vine’s photographer, sitting next to me. We gazed
at the jagged mountain-scape and gaped at the
amazing display of countless icebergs floating
in the oceans surrounding it. “Judging by the dis-
tance of these mountains, our plane ought to land
in three minutes,” I thought. Three minutes passed.
We descended further, and those mountains got
bigger. “Just touching down now,” I thought. Our
descent continued still. “These mountains are
huge,” I thought. “Is this real?” I thought. We finally
landed in Kulusuk airport, surrounded by those
monsters. It felt good, and they were welcoming.
Like soaking in time.
CHECKING IN
Hotel Kulusuk has an excellent and friendly
staff. Its charm lies rather in its homeliness (i.e.
cartoon polar bear patterned
carpeting) than any luxuries,
but they certainly provide most
things the discerning traveller
might want for. Post check-in
we made our way down the
dirt road to town, passing sev-
eral tourists on the way. Clear
and sunny skies coupled with
a soothing breeze made for a
wholly unexpected climate that
had us soaking our expensive
mountain gear in sweat. The lo-
cal kids we passed, playing in
their T-shirts, seemed better ac-
customed to East Greenland’s
summer temperatures, but we
were glad for our gear when it
got cloudy the next day.
Entering Kulusuk, we find
the town a sort of loosely knit
collection of small, colourful
(some faded) houses. Crushed
beer cans were strewn casually
about, remnants of a winter still in the process of
fully passing. Shopping for a snack in the local
everything-shop, Pilersuisoq, we encountered the
mighty Einar, an Icelandic mountaineer that often
guides climbers on expeditions in Greenland. He
was shopping for a cartful of cheese, stocking up
for a two and a half week excursion to seek out
virgin peaks around the Knud Rasmussen glacier.
He tells us that when he is done guiding the group
he will return to the peaks of Greenland for his
honeymoon.
FINDING GEORG UTUAq
Preparing for the trip, I rang up Jóhann Brands-
son, an Icelander who runs the Kulusuk souvenir
shop with his wife Guðrún. They’ve lived there for
ten years. Upon hearing my travel plans, Jóhann
gave some basic advice. “Just go to Georg Utuaq.
He’ll arrange for you to take a boat trip to the gla-
cier. If you give him a bit more money, and the
conditions are right, he might take you to Ammas-
salik. Don’t worry about finding him. That won’t
be a problem”
And it wasn’t. Stepping out of Pilersuisoq, I
used my broken Danish to ask a local where to
find Georg. “Over there,” he said and pointed to a
house thirty metres in the distance. There stood
Georg, amidst piles of wet sleigh-dogs, caring for
a grounded boat of his. We told him we’d like to go
on a boat trip. That wasn’t complicated at all. “Go
to the hotel pier,” he said. “Either me or my son
will be there in an hour to pick you up.”
bASKING IN TASIILAq
After walking around the town for a while, wonder-
ing how the inhabitants of those small houses spent
their days, we made our way to the pier. Georg’s 21-
year-old son Justus welcomed us aboard his small
speedboat before wordlessly racing off towards the
unnamed island that hosts the Apusiajaak glacier.
He deftly swerved between the icebergs, stopping
for the occasional photo op. By the glacier, all fell
silent, and we revelled in it.
We stopped by in Kulusuk on our way to Am-
massaalik, where we picked up Justus’ 19-year-old
girlfriend, Saalannguaq, and her friend. The trip
was smooth and beautiful, and we barely believed
our eyes when our boat docked at the town of Ta-
siilaq. Tasiilaq is East Greenland’s largest township
(and first Danish colony), and looked positively gor-
geous in the 7 PM sunlight. Basically a larger, better
maintained version of Kulusuk, Tasiilaq used what
little flatland it has for a football field and thus its
houses are scattered all over the hillside. We spent
two hours in town, walking around, talking to the
locals and just plain basking in its quaintness. This
trip had a lot of basking in it.
A SLIDESHOW
On our way back to Kulusuk, as we passed
through the outsea fog, Justus and Saalannguaq
pulled out their ultra modern cell-phones to show
us a slide show of their life in Kulusuk. Their eigh-
teen-month-old daughter featured prominently
in the pictures, as did various scenes from their
home life. They depict a happy life, full of love and
laughter, one that honours their roots yet is firmly
footed in the present. They told us about their life,
about Saalannguaq’s growing up in Tasiilaq and
Justus’ job at the Kulusuk airport. And how they
spend their days.
When we returned to Kulusuk, we immedi-
ately got on a jeep driven by our fabulous hotel
manager Lassi. He took us to the top of a moun-
tain, where the U.S. Army used to monitor the Cold
War through their radars. The sun was setting, and
it was breathtaking. We drove silently back to the
hotel, where our friend the arctic fox was rooting
through some trash, looking for nourishment. We
talked to him for a bit before heading to bed. To-
morrow would bring more adventures. We were
beat, and awe-struck.
Go to Greenland. now!
Majestic Greenland is only a couple of hours away from Reykjavík.
You’d be dumb to miss the opportunity.
tasiilaq's inhabitants have their Priorities straight, and oPted to use the only Flat Plot oF land in town For a Football Field.
EAST GREENLAND FACTS
» East Greenland totals 2.600
km of coastline
» It is one of the most isolated
habitations in the world, and
was “practically unknown”
to the outside world until the
late 19th century.
» It counts just over 3.500
inhabitants.
» Although tourism is
becoming a more important
factor of the local economy,
seal hunting is still the main
source of employment.
» Tasiilaaq, on Ammassaalik
Island, is the largest town
in the area, counting
approximately 1.900
residents.
twelve HourS into a 30-Hour
Stay in eaSt greenland, i waS
already So awe-Struck By tHe
place tHat i found MySelf talk-
ing to an arctic fox. laugHing
out loud at HiM.”
DISCLAIMER
Special thanks to Hotel Kulusuk (www.arctic-
wonder.com) for providing accommodation,
and Air Iceland (www.airiceland.is) for flying
us over there.