Trip 3 - Day 18

Last night after moose burgers, which were delicious by the way... they're denser than hamburgers and darker (if darker can possibly describe a meaty taste). Also I got a recipe for moose chili, so now I just need to find some moose in Canada so I can make chili! So last night after moose burgers I went back to the house and pulled out my set-up and made sure the recorder was working, and the head mounted microphone and the video camera, and checked all my notes and prompts and made sure the toys were in the backpack so that no matter what happened I would be prepared! And then I went to bed feeling confident and ready for an early day even though my meeting wasn't until 1pm today.

Setting you up aren't I?

So I wake up this morning and there's about an inch of snow on the ground to every ones surprise. It was fantastic! I walked along the slippery boardwalks to the store and got change to pay my new consultants with and cookies (Coconut dreams) to share during my first real field session in this the end of the third week of an eight week trip where I totally psyched myself out that everything was going to go wonderfully and finally an elder said yes I have the time to work with you which is nice because the trip is ticking away faster and faster and if I go home with nothing well, there go my dreams as a field linguist and yea be imaginative. So everything is ready and there is nothing to do so I start my new book and read a chapter. Then I take all by gear down the ladder and sit around and its 12:50, then its 12:55, and then its 1:00 and 1:05 and I walk over the dudes house to see about the boat across the river to meet with this elder and I can pay for gas to take me across the 40 feet of this uncrossable off-shoot of the Yukon and then pick me back up two hours latter, which he agreed to yesterday. And he's asleep on the floor. And apparently, according to a family member, the boat is having trouble starting anyway.

So I walk along the river bank to see if there is anyone not out hunting nayiq (spotted seal) but even if I find someone, how am I supposed to get back later? There was no one anyway so comunque (Italian for “whatever”). I call the elder and tell him I'm having boat trouble and he just says “Okay, another time” and says okay when I say I will reschedule once I have a boat. So there go my high hopes.

Don't worry I didn't give up. I walked to tribal admin and asked who they would recommend and they said his daughter works just down the hall, but what do you know, she wasn't in today so I couldn't talk to her. And of course that other elder, oh and that other-other one haven't called back yet. I feel like I'm being overly needy but apparently I haven't been annoying enough yet because they still think one hour out of their week is too much for a project of which they all say “oh yea its good your doing this, we need it, no one speaks the language anymore and our language is not Inupiaq like up north but it's also not like the dialects down south, we're in between and no young ones speaks it anymore....”

Well.

I ran into another guy though and he was going to Emmonak about an hour later and he invited me along and me needing to get of the village said absolutely! I love adventures! So I went back and put on my wool long underwear, wool boxers, flannel lined jeans, snow pants (and J said I wouldn't need them), a wool shirt, a wool hoody, a wool poncho-hoody, my new-nice coat, a rain-wind break, a beanie, gloves, two pairs of wool socks. And made a nice bottle of hot tea. And this by the by is not a kass'aq (white man (aka from Russian “Cossack”)) over-preparing for a boating trip on an icy river in a speed boat. When I got to the boat he gave me another heavy coat to wear, and he was wearing just as much. So I climbed into the boat and we pushed away from the bank.

Heading off the Little Kotlik River we merged onto a branch of the Yukon which was about 4 times as wide. And from there we traveled the river ways through the tundra. Some rivers were no wider than the boat, others were quite massive. All the rivers, were filled with chunks of ice if not sheets of ice and if you can imagine filling a pool with slushy and then pushing a piece of aluminum through it then you can imagine the sound of the boat on these rivers. And then at high speed ramming into the ice sheets and cutting through them, Oh my Goodness, I can't even imagine what it must have sounded like when the Titanic hit that iceberg.

The ride to Emmonak at that speed is about an hour and half, and about an hour in my fingers were numb and wishing for heavier gloves (which somebody sacrificed to save space in my bag). My toes were also numb, but otherwise I was warm. The rivers flow in twisted, entangled webs and have dense copses of “trees” (stunted willows, with a few pockets of medium sized “tall trees”) lining the banks. Usually one bank is an eroded cliff and the other is a level or shallow decline to the river's edge. Basically, you can see where the terrain changed elevations before the river cut its way through, by watching for the transition of the banks from high to low on each side. We only hit a sandbar once and got stuck for a few minutes which considering the driver knew all these rivers by heart with no GPS was amazing because I got lost after our second 180 degree turn from one river on to another while still managing to move away from Kotlik. After awhile we saw some wind turbines on the horizon and I was like okay we're like 5 minutes away, but apparently the flat tundra can be deceiving because it was like 20. We got out onto the main course of the Yukon, which looked more like a sea as it was so wide, really impressively wide. We got to see a Bald eagle perched on a branch overhanging the river which was awesome! The bird really was huge and magnificent. A bit later we took another offshoot and round up in the Village. Emmonak is bigger and more spread out. It has cars (still no way to drive there, you have to go by boat or plane) and since its so near the Main river it also has huge barges instead of the small ones here in Kotlik. The village is only about 8-900 people though, so bigger than Kotlik but not huge by any means.

Getting out of the boat was amazing and I didn't know the blood to my legs had slowed down so much. The days aren't really cold but being out on a windy river and traveling at high-speeds into the wind with no wind breaks is just simply cold. I got to wander a bit in a small part of the village and then we loaded a brand new ATV onto the boat (a chore in and of itself) and headed back to Kotlik. We took a different route this time mostly but I did recognize a few intersections, I think. About a third of the way through the trip we saw three big, BIG, bull moose along the river. When they heard us they turned and cantered into the trees which were nearly as large as they were (so basically the moose were huge, or the trees were small). A little while later we saw a calf along the waters edge which was awesome too. And once we were nearly to Kotlik we came upon a storm cloud, out of which was the final curve of a great rainbow up against the gray sky and as we came close upon it, it expanded to form a perfect arch of color from one bank to the other, like a gateway into Kotlik. Stunning really. But then we entered the storm and it started hailing on us so I had to duck my head and avert my eyes to keep safe (it was small pellets really, just traveling at me really fast. And just as fast as we went into the storm, within about 3 minutes we were out of it again.

Along the way we passed about a half dozen camps and settlements. Some were old, run down, and clearly abandoned, others were summer fish camps and looked decently well maintained. These were like 1-2 houses and a few fish racks, a mukaq, and a smoke hose house or two in each camp. We also passed Hamilton, which is an abandoned village that resettled to Kotlik in the 70's (I'll give you the history of this region over the weekend I guess). All I saw was a run-down yellow hut and a few brown cabins from where I was but it looked quaint and cozy and like an awesome place to explore if I ever got the opportunity. It's sad it and so many others were abandoned. I also don't know why Kotlik keeps it's houses so brown or neutral in color when Old Hamilton, or Greenland, or Iceland paint thier villages so brightly and cheerfully. Once we got to Kotlik we had to get the ATV out of the boat again, and my was that fun! Then I said thanks and headed home and slipped on my moccasins to warm up my toes. The hot tea was a good idea. Sadly I didn't get many pictures because we were moving too fast and my fingers were too numb. So just memories. I learned a lot though and had a good time and got to know this guy a lot better so that's cool!

Now I just need the river to freeze over fast so I can walk across it to go talk to that elder, eh. Hopefully, according to my guide, it will happen in the next week or two. Basically, one minute its liquid and the next people are walking across. How the main branch ever freezes with that width is beyond me, but I just need the Little Kotlik to freeze really.

We saw a couple guys come home with nayiq which was cool. Apparently, they're only around during this time of the year, and they're valued for their spotted skin and rich meat. We also saw a few beaver damns. So a disappointing day in the important respects but not a let down by any means. I had fun, had a great adventure, and got a much needed escape from the village and waiting routine for a few hours. And tomorrow I'll be back to it I guess. Like is every field site (language community) this frustrating (teeth-pulling (hassle-y (some nice word which shows my frustration at not being able to do an hours worth of work but also my love for the village/culture/language/people and desire to continue coming back to study the beautiful language and land while submitting myself to this anxiety torture))) I wonder?

Yea so, all in all a good day to be an adventurer and an explorer.

Piurra!