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Lisa's Journal
Monday, August 21th, 2006
"Maybe this nice lady here can help me out."
I'm at the Inuvik airport checking my bags for a flight to Tuktoyaktuk. A large, smiling man in paint-spattered pants walks towards me, leaving behind two big white buckets on the weigh scale.
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| Bob Steen from Tuktoyaktuk. |
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"Would you mind checking one of those for me? I'm over my weight." This is Roy Furness of Roy's Painting in Inuvik and he's got a contract to paint the school in Tuk but the extra paint is going to cost him hefty fees. I stammer and stall, recalling how southern ticket agents insist that you pack your own bags and know their contents. I stare from the big bucket to Roy. He arches his eyebrows and smiles pleadingly.
"Alright," I say, awkwardly.
Tuk feels like Nunavut. The Inuit fishers and carvers and the tundra all make me think of Pond Inlet, Baffin Island. Both are tranquil and crisp. I meet first with Bob Steen, a man whose father was a teenage stowaway from Texas who snuck aboard a whaling ship in the early 1900s. His grandfather on his mother's side was a Russian bootlegger.
Profile:
Tom Thrasher
72 year-old Tom Thrasher claims that back in 1954 his family pitched the first tent in Inuvik.
He was among three dozen carpenters who helped to build the town. He now resides in Tutoyaktuk
with his wife Linda. |
I spend the rest of the day with Tommy and Linda Thrasher and then tour the town with Rebecca Pokiak. The highlight is a 30-foot descent through the permafrost into the community ice house. I scour the hallways and peer into rooms which hold piles of meat and fish. The smooth walls reveal candy-like layers of ice and sand and the ceiling is fuzzy with crystals. It's surreal.
I return, hungry and tired to the Pingo Park Lodge, a hotel comprised of several ATCO trailers sewn together. Meals are included in the price of a room but it's long past dinner and the place is deserted. I walk through the dining area and see a note for me on the white board: "Lisa, your supper is in the fridge. Enjoy!" Pork chops, mashed potatoes and peas. I am undone.
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One of Inuvik's tourist attractions is the Our Lady of Victory Roman Catholic Church. Built over two years, it was opened in 1960 and is shaped like an igloo.
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