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I taught in a village on the frozen Yukon River for 6 months and it was so much different than city or lower 48 type living. I got to the village on the frozen Yukon River when it was -25 degrees and the wind blowing 30 MPH. I was picked up and driven to the school and saw a couple hundred very small houses raised off the ground. Even the school was raised off the ground. Raising the houses keeps them dry in case the Yukon flooded and also prevents buckling caused by the tundra melting.
The town consisted of 2 stores (convenient stores with snow mobiles and 4 wheelers) and one restaurant that would not pass any health inspection, but everyone went to.
The school had an old part and a newer part. Gas and heating oil were 6.50 a gallon and it is now 10.00 dollars a gallon. People drove on snow machines to hunt moose get fire wood. My village had no big trees, just bushes. People traveled upriver to find wood and hauled it back with their snowmachines. Kids came in Mondays with frost bite on their faces quite often.
It was usually -20 to -30 degrees there from Jan - May. A zero degree day with no wind felt warm actually. Everything was white. It was either snow or ice. When you left the village, there was just brush, foxes and an occasional moose. The day I flew out, we had a Grizzly bear run through the airport.
I was one of the few whites and many elders did not speak English. They kids generally spoke English and Yup'ik, the native language.
5 comments:
That is so interesting. I love to hear of stories like this as it is a learning experience for me.
It reminds me of a book I read a while back from Peter Jenkins (one of my favorite nature authors). It was called Looking for Alaska and he wrote a chapter or two on Eskimo living. You don't realize how easy you have it until you hear about how they live.
You can see the village by looking at the pictures from Jan - May on this blog. I started this blog because of going to the village actually.
The people are truly amazing. They live off the land more so than in the lower 48. you do not get a moose or fish - you starve.
They can make so much out of the fur from animals too.
I took a quick look at them and will go back this week because there is so many great pictures and stories to go with them.
I love all of your sunrise/set pictures. I cannot get over the hazzards you have to endure just to get around. LOL, I will never complain about having to shovel 3 inches of snow from my driveway, honestly. ;o)
The natives live with snow and ice for 7 months or so and would like it even longer for travel It is so much easier to travel on the river on snow machine than through the brush. When they use snow machines going through the brush, they go slower and they have to deal with moose and bear. Both moose, bear and wolves feel they own the trail and get bothered by motorized vehicles, especially moose.
People travel at least 50 MPH going village to village on the frozen Yukon. Natives live with frostbite.
Kallen,
Thanks for checking out the village posts. I just checked them out too. It sure brought back some memories. I do miss a lot from those months. There are a lot of emotions tied up with those months as well.
Thanks for checking out my blog.
Rich
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