| Flying north |
|
 |
| Flying north� Chapter 1 In my 26 year I was lucky to have the opportunity to see the arctic. As a video production technician employed by TNI, a northern based TV Production Company. Heading north to train the Inuit in the art of video production, I boarded the Twin otter turbo prop in couapik . With two other native passengers, two crew and, two tuns of cargo all haphazardly tossed in. Pre flight checks complete? (The captain lit his cigarette) Lifted of from kouguak we headed north. Leaving the tree line behind in 20 minuets. I settled in for the duration. Flying low over the deep green tundra dappled with countless nameless tiny lakes of turquoise. A flat plane 360 % of horizon To the southerner, the lack of southern forests play tricks on the mind, As a trained photographer I knew my 35mm camera couldn't capture The now changing landscape. Heading north I am also time traveling. The tundra is changing color! As I head further north I am flying threw summer and in to fall The tundra is now a freckled brilliant red on a green carpet, lakes of blue black My new friends off handedly comment that "yup looks cool" Thinking of nothing but the home coming, from the chaos of the south Filled with lightning and thunder, "electricity jumping to the ground!" I learned that in this land Lightning is never seen, thunder never heard. As we neared Salawit the landscape is now out of control , no green is left. Mountains bathed in red's yellow's and orange tundra. All depth perception lost, no trees no bushes not Even haze to separate foreground from Back ground Landing in salawit���... Chapter 2 The settlement of salawit �.Chapter 3 The job ��������Chapter 4 The silence's of tundra�.....Chapter 5 Hunting��������.Chapter 6 The picnic �������.Chapter 7 Tundra (viewed wall standing) appears to be a perfectly groomed golf green? `Red orange? While invited for a (picnic) by the girls (men Do not go on picnics) I learnt something extraordinary. After stopping the truck at their command. The girls streamed out of the truck's box. Fanning out on to the tundra and falling to their Knees then elbows. As I had learnt not to question (to an Inuit a question is an Insult, as it demands both a response and justification) I unpack the cheese and bread I had brought. After which I turned my attention to observing. (in the Inuit culture learning is done by Observation ) sprawled out on the tundra inching along with their heads close to the tundra While picking at it, at the rate of 3to4 times a minute and occasionally eating one? As odd as it is the tundra provides fruit, all be it scant After 45minutes of gathering AlisaPY (Alisabith) presented to me her palm with a match Box size pile of black berries, saying . " some one once baked a pie with them." As she said this I noticed that she emphasized "ones", in time I would notice that she constructed All sentences around a central word. The black berries the size of match heads, tasted like tart blueberries. Under closer scrutiny , the tundra is an incredible forest of inter twined match stick sized bonsai trees. Some ever green in appearance, others with tiny leaves now in fall Colors. The Aurora Borealis�..Chapter8 |
| By far the most spectacular natural phenomenon I have ever witnessed. As I have not yet read an account that comes even close to the actual experience. I have reservation that mine will not describe it's beauty . To visualize the main structure imagine a cylinder of glass, the width of the Arctic Circle sitting on The arctic circle, with a height of 300 miles high. As we are viewing it from the Arctic Circle. Place you self on the inside of the cylinder, With your back against it Replace the glass with Translucent silk, includes a downward flowing wind. Add color primarily green to start with. Include the shimmer of ripples on a pond in direct Sun light |
 |
| Page 2 |