Barrow, Alaska... WE JUST FLEW BACK TO FAIRBANKS TODAY! HERE ARE
SOME STATS ABOUT OUR AMAZING 24-HR JOURNEY:
71 Degrees North Latitude...
It would have taken us a long day's journey by car (over 400 miles) on a
dangerous gravel road to travel to 70 degrees latitude from Fairbanks. We would
have ended up at an oil field called Prudhoe Bay where the Alaska pipeline
begins... Instead, we decided to fly in comfort on a Boeing 747 to an authentic
Inuit village northwest of Prudhoe Bay...
Northernmost City in North America...
Yes, Canada has some small villages that are farther north but they are very
sparsely populated. Barrow is a city with over 5000 people within the
surrounding area. And the best part is...there are no chain restaurants or chain
stores or chain gas stations. (heck...there was only one gas station and it
sells gas at $3.50 U.S. a litre). All the roads within the town are gravel. The
motor vehicles are either trucks, all-terrian vehicles, cars with monster-truck
wheels, snowmobiles or dogsleds (the non-motorized variety)
On the shores of the Arctic Ocean...
I foolishly went barefoot into this mighty ocean (it was ice-free at the time
with no ice packs visible from the shoreline) and stood there for about 20
seconds with water up to my ankles. It wasn't bad at all until I came out and
the wind froze my feet into a formation that to this day I haven't completely
thawed out yet. The sand was black gravel with beautiful large black stones that
were polished by the water and wind. The only sea-life we saw were giant orange
jellyfish that seemed to take over the shoreline. The water temperature was +1C.
No road or rail access...
All supplies are either flown in to Barrow (on every commercial flight it
seems...half of our plane was used for this) or by cargo ship. Sadly, the Inuit
elders are afraid that satellite TV is destroying their traditional way of life.
All the youth seem to spend their time watching it instead of learning the
traditional culture and language. There are recreational centers that do offer
all kinds of activities for the youth. The high school has only 300 students
from grades 9-12 yet cost 70 million dollars to build. It has an indoor swimming
pool, an indoor running track, a huge music program and unlimited access to
state of the art technology.
24 hour sunshine...
After speaking with the locals, it was apparent they love summer. There kids can
play outside whatever time pleases them (at midnight they were flying around in
ATV's at over 40 miles an hour or shooting birds with rifles). Window are
covered with tin foil to not only block the sunlight but actually reflect it.
The sun never climbed high in the sky but never dipped below the horizon either.
Locals dread the winter not because of the temperature but because of the
24-hour darkness. There are many psychological issues due to the lack of
sunshine.
Ascetics of the city...
The city looked like a junkyard with a shack every few meters. Many of the
people up here unfortunately live on welfare. Although the equipment supplied to
them was brand new at first, it was not maintained. After something broke down,
it was left to rot. There were no disposal areas. Yards were scattered with
broken down trucks, snowmobiles, refrigerators, stoves, bikes, etc. The yards
were also filled with unrecognizable scraps of metal and wood. All homes seemed
to be made of planks and plywood. They all sat on posts because of the
permafrost. Most buildings looked run-down except for a bank, police station and
a dentist's house. Scraggy looking dogs seemed to be found chained up around
every corner. Boats that look like they haven't seen the water in many decades
leaned up against buildings... the newest and most colourful structures were
neon play structures for the children.
Landscape...
Tundra...no trees although a few locals stuck some driftwood into the ground and
attempted to fabricate an arctic palm tree. The tundra itself had a few
wildflowers, plants that looked that looked like swabs of cotton, small red
berries and brown grass. I stepped on the tundra to say I've walked on it and
promptly sunk at least 2 inches. Water then seeped into my shoes fairly
quickly....
Food that was offered...
There were no authentic Inuit restaurants. We ate a place for lunch called
Arctic Pizza and then, believe it or not a Mexican restaurant for supper!
However, our tour guide brought out some raw and cooked whale meat and blubber
for us to sample after the tour. I managed to wash down some of it. Mary could
not get the smell of it off her hands for many hours.
Climate...
The thermometer never climbed higher than +5C. It never dipped lower than 0C.
However, the wind was relentless and that made it feel like -10C most of the
time. Remember folks...this was July! The fog rolled in for about an hour
obscuring almost everything but left as quickly as it came.
Alcohol....
Alcohol is not sold in any stores. There are no bars. The last bar closed many
years ago when two men were found frozen to death just a few feet from it. After
our guide told us this and some tourists laughed, she informed us both men were
her mother's brothers... oops. Locals are now limited to ordering alcohol
through city hall. Their limits were 6 cases of beer, 5 cases of wine and 5
bottles of spirits PER MONTH.
The people...
Two-thirds of Barrow's residents are Inuit. They performed a culture show for us
that involved dancing, singing and drums. Every song sounded the same to our
Canadian ears but the enthusiasm of the locals made up for it.… HOWEVER, the
second verse of every song was deafening in volume. It usually involved everyone
shouting at the top of their lungs and pounding the drums as hard as they
could...
Employment...
Hunting and fishing still sustains most of this cities' population. Tourism has
really benefited the city as well. We were shuttled around a "Top of the World"
bus by an Inuit guide who seemed reluctant to give information until we
bombarded her with questions. After the rampage of questions were finished, she
would ask..."Any more questions...maybe later?" It went on and on like that... A
DEW station (distant early warning) still exists outside of town...
Adult Recreation...
There are even smaller shacks that serve as "summer getaways" just outside of
town. These decrepit buildings have two uses: #1- to get away from the relatives
in town and #2- to serve as bases for the duck hunting season.
Store Prices...
A two-litre carton of milk is $8.00 U.S. A three litre jug of Ocean Spray
Cranberry Juice is $16.00 U.S. A bag of potato chips is $6.00. Fresh fruits and
vegetables are limited and ridiculously expensive. Many locals are overweight
perhaps due to high inactivity during the winter months and choosing cheaper
junk food over the most expensive healthier variety. Minimum wage in the
continental U.S. is around $6.00 an hour. Here it is $16.00 an hour...
Airport...
The airport was no larger than an average sized McDonald's. The only flights in
and out of Barrow were two a day from Fairbanks. Security was indeed tight. They
were especially fascinated with our shoes. Imagine if the shoe bomber was a
female who had hid the necessary ingredients in her bra instead. Would every
women then have to....?
We were told that less than 25 years ago, there were only 3 flights per week and
about 24 tourists total arriving in Barrow. Now there were about 100 tourists a
day visited this remote location. Most stay only for the day...a few opt to stay
overnight...we did...
Hotel...
The heater wouldn't shut off so we opened the window. The window wouldn't close
so we turned up the heater. The heater wouldn't start again so we opened up the
drapes to allow the midnight sun to warm the room. The bathroom fan had a heater
which melted the tiles in the bathroom... The T.V. remote only controlled the
dials on the air traffic control computer at the airport... The receptionists
never made eye contact unless we claimed our asses were on fire...
Inuit Games...
We were treated to the blanket toss which is similar to "parachute" if you
remember that game from elementary school. However, the Inuit children were
tossed so high in the air hydro companies had to constantly rescue them from
power lines. The real reason this game existed was to scout out the ocean from
an elevated vantage point to search for whales.
Another game involved jabbing spiked pieces of wood into a spinning suspended
log with measured holes in it. The first one to jab a stick through the hole
won. Apparently the elders were not concerned that eyes may be gouged out,
nostrils mangled or tongues impaled...
Inuit Crafts...
Miniature sleds were crafted out of caribou jaws, fur from various furry
creatures was made into clothing...the poor whales had almost every single body
part craftified...
Wildlife...
We say a snowy owl from the distance, jellyfish and two blackflies which were
blow away quickly...
This was indeed, the sidetrip of a lifetime. It was one of the most fascinating
areas of the world we have ever seen. We have learned so much. That is what
travel is all about...
Brought to you by Mr. Travel Advocacy himself... Steve Pankiewicz
PS I went to bed around 3:00 a.m. last night to frolic in the daylight of the
arctic. Hence I had little sleep...sorry bout the grammatical and past/present
tense errors. We are off to Denali National Park tomorrow and then to the
Anchorage area. I don't know when I'll have E-mail access next so I thought I
better write about this Barrow trip while it was still fresh in my mind. Thank
you for reading!
