Last night we arrived at Ittoqqortoormiit near the mouth of Scoresby Sound, and went to anchor a bit off shore surrounded by floating ice chunks.

One of the younger villagers paddled out in his kayak. He chatted with Millie, our translator, and took calls from shore on his cell phone. Yep, with a population of about 500, they have cell phones (about 300 of them), and high-speed internet access.

[So a special hello to anyone from Ittoqqortoormiit reading this. Thank you for letting us visit your village, and it was great talking with the many of you who came on board.]

About the village

The first things I noticed were the colorful buildings - blue, red, green and yellow - not clashing with the landscape but accenting it. The next thing I noticed was the sound of the dogs. You could hear them all the way from the ship - a yowling noise different from dogs back home. Once ashore, I got a closer look. They seemed friendly enough, but were working dogs - not the sort you pat on the head and throw a Frisbee. They looked tough, and like they had a lot of character.

Later I watched one of the villagers cutting up red meat for his dogs. The dogs watched too, with considerably more intensity. They howled in concert, working themselves up in a frenzy, but once fed quieted right down - not wasting time begging for more.

My hour ashore almost up, I headed back to the boat landing. On the way, I surveyed the town's layout. There was a church in the center, a small hospital (with a dental clinic), a little tourist office (they occasionally get tourist ships here) and a general store. Not much food in the store though. No fresh fruit or vegetables. You can't farm in this part of the world, and there's been no supply ship for months.

Later, discussing global warming, villagers told our translator Millie that years ago they used to hunt for almost all of their food. Now, because the ice has become too thin to hunt on for much of the year, they are now forced to rely more and more on store bought food.

Open boat

Phil (bosun) was shuttling people out in one of our boats, but it seemed like every kid in town was trying to get on board. Driving slowly to the ship, Phil let village kids take turns putting their hands on the wheel to "help him steer." You could see they loved it. On the ship, kids were everywhere - examining things, climbing ladders, and playing tag on deck. Despite all their rambunctiousness, I saw they respected the boundaries we'd set up. None of them went past the rope put across the stern to keep people away from the helicopter, and none of them went into roped off accommodation areas.

One Greenland custom is dropping in on friends for kaffemik (coffee) to celebrate special occasions. It's a nice way of wishing well, so we had some out for our guests.

Meanwhile, the kids went crazy over the apples Isha handed out. Many of the younger villagers spoke English. We talked about what it's like to work on a ship, and live in a Greenland village. I was only a little surprised to find out they have a disco here, and listen to a lot of the same stuff as in the U.S. One teenager with a big "50 cent" patch on his pants told me they like a wide variety of music. Apparently, Eminem's big, along with Metallica and pop music in general, but the only live music in town is traditional Greenlandic.

Unfortunately, we couldn't stay to hit the disco. (I'm guessing Tuesday is a slow night anyway.) We're eager to head north to Zackenberg station, where they've been studying the effects of a changing climate for a decade.

- Andrew