The Little Diomede Island : remote and hostile

Remote but definitely not a paradise: located in the Bering Strait, between Alaska and Siberia, Little Diomede Island is an ice-covered flat-topped rock with steep cliffed coast and only one small permanently inhabitated settlement: Diomede (Inalik) , population ~160 hab.

At approximately 65.75° N, -168.95° W , Little Diomede is very isolated, by rough seas and by the persistent fog that shrouds the island during the warmer months. No regular flights link to the mainland Alaska: just the weekly helicopter mail delivery and a summer small charter from Nome. Ski planes do occasionally land on an ice runway during the winter months, and whenever the sea calms down passengers from ships can go to land in small boats.

Thousands of sea birds, seals, whales, walrus and two (!) arctic foxes frequent the coast and the surrounding water and sea ice; now and then, through frozen sea, a polar bear is an welcome visit.

The location of the village is a small area, the only which does not have near-vertical cliffs to the water. Behind, rocky slopes rise at about 40° up to the flattened top.

Little Diomede Inuit natives live a subsistence lifestyle, harvesting fish and crab, hunting beluga whales, walrus, seals and any polar bears coming from Alaska in winter, when Bering sea is frozen.

Facilities are spartan: an heliport for weekly mail delivery, a breakwater and small boat harbour, a school, one ice cream machine, a clinic and washeteria, and a small shop where inuit handicraft is sold. No bank, no gym, no hotel, no café or restaurant, no shopping, no cars, no streets - only rows of wooden stairways granting access to the cabins where locals live.

The Diomede people are excellent ivory carvers, their art being recognized by art dealers and collectionners.
The two close Diomede Islands (Big and Little) are separated by the International Date Line which is approximately 1 km from each island.
They are sometimes called Tomorrow Island (Big Diomede) and Yesterday Isle (Little Diomede) because the big island is 21 hours ahead of the small one. From the smaller island you can look into "tomorrow", in Russia’s Big Diomede - presently uninhabitated.

Another North - Arctic Russia

Wonderful video showing northern regions of Russia like Hibines, Shorya mountain, Taimyr, Kolyma, Ural, White Sea, Ladoga, Kuznetsk Alatau, Enisey river. I must quest those Thules from the East...




Music:

Georgy Sviridov- "Our North "
State Capella of Saint-Petersburg, Vladislav Tchernushenko conducts.

Sisimiut (Holsteinsborg), a northern beauty

Sisimiut (Holsteinsborg) , the second largest city of Greenland, is elegant, colourful and rich in heritage.

With about 6000 inhabitants, it’s the most northern ice-free town in the island´s west coast.

The town center is characterized by its colonial age buildings with the old blue church, the old shop, colonial residences, an old forge.

Sisimiut was founded in 1756 as a mission and trading station, based on whaling.

The old town is now a museum.

The Bethel blue church is Greenland’s second oldest church dating back to 1775


Sisimiut is situated between hillsides, and the small houses are built on hills.

It is also the northernmost limit of winter navigation by sea, and the southernmost limit of winter dog sledding.

The Sisimiut Museum of history, as well as a special museum of trade, shipping and industry, is situated in an old 18th century building.
  


The Sod House museum next to the churches, is a house with hick walls built of piled up sod gathered on the tundra.


The harbour is opened all year. A major factory, the Royal Greenland fish and shrimp plant in Sisimiut, is an important source of revenue for Greenlandic product.

Las Lajas Cathedral: at the end of the world

Las Lajas Cathedral, built in 1916, is located in remote southwest Colombia, deep down in a gorge of the Guaitara River (close to Columbia’s border with Ecuador) .

This must be one the most fairy tale beautiful pilgrimage sites in the world. A scene of magic splendor, the cathedral clings precariously to the side of a sheer cliff, above a swiftly running river in a mountain gorge.


Lingering mists hide the church in the rain season. In concert with the rumbling of flowing waters church bells echo across the mountain valleys.

Las Lajas was named after a type of flat sedimentary rock called Laja which is similar to the floor tiles found in the Andes Mountains.

How Raven Created the World

The Raven and the Whale

an Inuit (Eskimo) story
Retold by Laura Simms

In the very beginning of time, Raven made the world.

Raven was both a god and a bird with a man inside. After Raven created everything, he decided to remain on the earth. He loved the people and the animals and he was curious about them all. Even though he had made the world, he did not know everything there was to know.

Raven liked to paddle his kayak out into the sea. One day he saw a large whale.
He said, "I wonder what it looks like inside the belly of a whale."

Raven waited until the whale yawned. When its mouth was wide open, he rowed right in. He tied his kayak to one of the whale's teeth and started walking deeper inside the whale's body. The mouth of the whale closed behind him and it grew dark. Raven heard a sound like a drum or distant thunder. He walked until he came to the belly of the whale. The white bones of the whale's ribs rose up around him like ivory pillars.

In the center of the whale's belly, Raven saw a beautiful girl dancing. She had strings attached to her feet and hands stretching to the heart of the whale. Raven thought, "She is so beautiful. I would like to take her out of this whale and marry her."

So he said to her, "I am Raven. I made the world. Will you come with me into the world and be my wife?"

The maiden replied, "Raven, I cannot leave the whale. I am the heart and the soul of the whale. But if you want to stay here and keep me company, that would make me happy."

Raven threw back his beak, revealing his human face. He tossed back his wings and sat with his hands on his knees. He watched the girl as she danced.

When she danced quickly the whale soared through the water. When she danced slowly the whale floated calmly. Soon, the girl danced so slowly that she stopped moving and her eyes closed. Raven felt a cool wind from the world blow through the spout of the whale. He thought again of taking the girl with him into the world. He felt human desire. And, he forgot what she said.

Raven pulled his beak back down over his face and covered his arms with his wings. He grabbed the girl. He heard the strings snap as he flew with her out of the whale up into the sky.

As he flew, Raven heard the whale thrashing below in the ocean. He watched the whale's body as it was tossed by the waves onto the shore. The whale was dead and the girl in his arms grew smaller and smaller and disappeared.

Raven realized that everything that is alive has a heart and a soul and everything in the world is born and dies. He was overcome with great sorrow. He was so sad that he landed on the sand beside the body of the whale. For weeks he cried and cried. Then Raven began to dance. He danced for weeks. Then Raven began to sing. He sang for weeks and weeks until his heart was soothed. Then he flew back up into the sky.

He promised the humans and the animals that he would always return to this world as long as we cared for one another and understood that everything in this world lives and dies, and everyone human and animal has a heart and a soul. Raven's tears were the first tears. His dance and his song of grief and healing were the first song and the first dance.