Ittoqqortoormiit, Greenland. Day 6

At breakfast the Sydney couple sat with us. We are not at all on the same wavelength. They had the “We are not racist but” conversation. They said they were going to reserve a dinner table for the 6 of us like last night. My solution was to ask Lisa (the fun Chicago woman we usually wait with to board zodiacs) if she had no plans for tonight could we eat with them. Phew. Sorted.

We got ashore in rain, almost sleet and headed for the tourist shop via the church. It’s a tiny settlement of 360 and there’s only one other in all of East Greenland which has a harsher climate than the west where most live. The church was simple and a woman in local dress welcomed us as did the minister.

Only 10 could go in the tourist shop at once as it was very small. (Their own shop gets provisions only once a year so we didn’t buy anything there). We posted cards to the grandchildren and bought a mug and a fridge magnet - it was the end of season so there wasn’t much left to buy - then we headed up the hill past the colourful houses to the football pitch passing a little playground.

Dogs were going to be fed at the bridge at 10.30 so we headed there with Lisa and her husband John the kayaker. A couple brought out tiny puppies and laid them on a furry cover then the dogs were fed.

Iain and I went up the steep hill on the other side towards the golfball (weather radar maybe) and the communication satellite dish for a view down to the town. A small boy on a bike fell off if as he hurtled down the steep slope ahead of some women in a quad bike. He cheerfully got back on. There was a musk ox skin drying outside a house.

Back on board it was lunchtime. We ate with Amalia and Edna from Brazil. They were interesting about the rain forest and told us of places to go if we ever went to Brazil.

Later we had another over-our-heads talk by the geologist. We were told the sea might get rough and to made our cabins secure. (When we got back on board our porthole had been covered by the metal part).

I went to the lounge and sat with Wendy from London - we had scones and cream and jam and a chat. Travelling by herself she has met almost everyone.

After the debriefing it was dinner and thankfully Lisa called us over to eat with her and John. They were interesting about US politics and he had a UK passport through his dad.

Lana our Greenlander guide wore her traditional costume. Italian is shared among the family for birthdays and other special occasions. The beadwork was intricate. She told us about the significance of the house colours in old times -yellow was for a hospital, green meant communications, red was a church and blue was fishing folk. The Greenland sled dogs are the closest dogs to a wolf and came with Thule culture. Hunters now have to have a licence. Dried carp, caviar and seal blubber are eaten and seal soup is a staple.

We had a talk on the “rare night parrot” Pullen Pullen. I thought it might be a spoof. We thought we’d watch TV which we have in the cabin but all the films seemed to be Sci-fi, apart from Perfect Storm - maybe not tonight with the big sea!

The collage shows the settlement from the sea, the puppies being fed, Lana in her outfit, and a musk ox skin hanging to dry.