We awoke to the largish town of Sisimuit, one of the armrest in Greenland, and we getting off at an official dock. This morning, of the three options, we chose the archaeological hike. It was about three hours of serious hiking, clambering up rocks and stepping up and down two or three feet on rocks. Fortunately, Barney was always there to give me a hand, as I’ve found that going down a steep rock on my “bad” knee is OK, going up on my good knee is harder as I cannot bend back as far as I used to. We covered a loot of territory, and saw a number of remains of turf houses from the 16th century and onward, as well as graves and fox traps made of stones. The graves all had a view of the waters which was considered essential in the Greenlandic culture. we saw the dog island, where owners let their dogs roam free for the summer, so they don’t become too domesticated, and establish hierarchy which helps with sledding. After a long and quite strenuous hike, we enjoyed a nice lunch and heard about the morning town tour which visited a place called Dog Town. We’ll go there later.
In the afternoon, we boarded a shuttle bus that went between the ship, the Sisimuit Museum, the large grocery store, and the edge of town where the Arctic Circle Trail starts and where Dog Town is. First we head into town to see the Sisimuit Museum is. It is made up of eight old wooden buildings. The Old Shop, built in 1825, held the ticket office, a small gift shop, and some historic photographs. Behind it in a open area was the most interesting part of the museum: a series of dog sleds made in different parts of Greenland, and a tent of the type used in the summer, with a below-grade entrance to the large skin tent, with an elevated platform for sleeping and a lower area for cooking, which we could go inside. Thinking about how few materials possessions these folks had, as they migrated with various game and the seasons, made us realize how little people really need to survive. The Museum also included an old Lutheran church which had been restored, a turf house replica from the 1990s, which included the two sleeping platforms, one for each family, separated by a skin curtain, the Colonial Manager’s Residence from 186 which had a schoolroom and historical photos, and the Old House built in 1756 with an extensive exhibit in Sakai culture and artifacts.
We then caught the shuttle bus to the edge of town, to go to Dog Town. As we walked down the paved and then gravel road, we wondered, where is the facility? We were expecting some sort of large kennel with Greenland Dogs, but all we saw were dogs hanging out on various small rises, some laying in the sun, some nursing their puppies, others playing. we realized that this was Dog Town, and when I looked it up, we found that this whole area was designated for the dogs to live most of the year. They specifically do not want the dogs to be too domesticated, and we had been told not to approach or try to pet the dogs. So for a while we simply admired them from the road, and a few times a curious puppy approached us, only to be herded back by a watchful mom dog. One mom dog even followed us up the street a bit to make sure we were moving on. And then it happened: one dog started to howl, and then others joined in, until the whole little valley of dogs was howling, for well over a minute. It was magical. And then suddenly, it was over. we walked back up to the bus stop, and headed back to the ship. We went to the cocktail our and recap, then dinner, and chatted with our friends a bit about future National Geographic Expeditions - we are considering going to Svalbard - and headed to bed.
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