Unexpected trip to Kangerlussuaq

After a fabulous sleep at Hotel Arctic I headed to the airport, and was told that I would fly not straight to Nuuk, but via Kangerlussuaq. This was great for me, as its another area that I got to see, Kangerlussuaq being just on the Arctic Circle, and inland, right on the edge of the icesheet.

Flying over the icefjord, and icesheet as we left Ilulissat was great, and just jaw dropping in scale.

 The tiny bits that I had hiked along were put into perspective, this is such a massive and uninhabited land.

We flew for about 45 minutes on the edge of the icesheet, which was so beautiful. You can see the carving of valleys from the ice,

and so many bright blue lakes

and the ice, which is changing all the time and quiet mesmerising

Kangerlussuaq is an area with some vegetation, and popular with people wanting to see widlife, like the musk ox and caribou. Most of the area that you fly over is just barren, a cold desert.

Flew on to Nuuk, sat next to a young Danish physio who works in Nuuk and had been visiting her folks in Ilulissat. They are doing what lots of semi retired Danish people do, working a year in a remote Greenlandic village, the Dad driving ferries and the Mum working in daycare. She is working with 8 other physios in Nuuk, and this after a year or two will really give her career a headstart in Denmark. They provide free accomodation and extra salary to get professional people to come and work in Greenland.

It was a magificent day after a week of rain and the pilot dropped low and flew for the last 15 minutes inside the fjords, which was just magic, felt like we were almost touching the water. I found out most Greenladic people can't swim, and they have only just built a swimming pool in Nuuk, the only one in Greenland.

Stayed at some cheap apartments in Nuuk ( read a bed sit with no reception, but at least not too expensive). Good omen when I arrived, as the table had these stones on it..

Given that my blog is "one wild and precious life", from the poem by Mary Oliver, "The Summer Day", I thought this was pretty special. My favourite part is

"Doesn't everything die at last, and too soon?

tell me, what is it that you plan to do

with your one wild and precious life?"

Did some shopping in a rush ( only ended up having an hour instead of a day), and fly back to Reyjkavik tommorow.