Leaving Iqaluit - Entering The Hamlet of Igloolik

Well...so sorry that it has taken such a long time to write on this blog!! We have been SUPER busy in Igloolik at the first ever Rockin' Walrus Festival. We left the beautiful City of Iqaluit (The Capital of Nunavut as you can see in this picture) on Monday Afternoon for a two hour flight in a tiny little plane.

Our lovely host Andrew took us to the airport in this van...here is a picture of Andrew with Mama G and Mama A!

Here is a picture of the tail of one of the planes - apparently all the tails are painted a different Inuit Art. sooooo pretty to look at.

Our plane was small and was flying below 3000 feet so we were able to see all of the landscape from above & experience a really smooth ride!! Check out the ice floating on the water...this is where the polar bears, walrus and seals would make their homes - pretty neat isn't it?
Here is another pic from above - I thought it was pretty cool to see the land touching the ocean like that.
When we got off the plane in the Hamlet of Igloolik all we could see around us was flat flat land...lots of people say it looks like Mars.

Here is the view of the waters edge when you are in downtown Igloolik. The ice has been melting now for a couple of weeks - the water is very cold. This is the best time of year for Seal Hunting - the seals are abundant and very important to the people of Nunavut. They eat seal and keep warm in the winter. This seal skin is drying outside a lucky hunters home - they use the pelts for many things - comfortable mats to sit on (there are many rocks on the land - actually rocks everywhere you look), artwork, purses, warm additions to beautiful handmade clothing too.

One of the first "things" we got to do besides be amazed at the things we were looking at all around us in 24 HOUR SUN with not one single tree in sight was feed Mama Kate's Sister Maren's Dog team - here I am the brave one feeding them each a cup & a half of dog kibble - they like to eat fish and seal too!! Pretty big and beautiful dogs that is fore sure.
All I can say now is Thank you soooo much to Maren for giving The Funky Mamas this amazing opportunity to spend time in her very special Hamlet. You will see in the next blog that we have had an INCREDIBLE time here - keep checking in!! This is Mama Kate and her little Sister Maren driving around the town of Igloolik on our first day!!

Last day in Iqaluit

Well...the Mamas are leaving Iqaluit today and catching a plane to Igloolik - a small community right on the Arctic ocean - what an adventure we have had!! We spent the day yesterday wandering around town after our exciting interview with Rosie at CBC North! Met up with some really great kids on the streets of Iqaluit.

Just outside of The Arctic College is a funky collection of Inukshuks - here is Mama Georgia, Mama Tannis and Mama Chantal!

We stopped in at the local grocery store - things here are really expensive - look at this ice cream for $14.99!!

I thought this was interesting to see the Women and Men's washroom sign - aren't they beautiful??

While we were walking around we kept coming across rocks and stones that have been carved by local artists - there are NO gardens here but many rockeries. There are NO trees in Iqaluit either - imagine that! Look at Mama A with her new friend!

Next we came upon the most beautiful wall of Inuit Art murals on the Firestation - check out some of these images...

Later that night after our evening show we cooked up and ate a fresh Arctic Char that Mama A helped pull out of the sea with her new friends Charlie and Donna - it was DELICIOUS!!! As we were drifting off to our sleepy place we looked out the window and saw the moon rising above Frobisher Bay - this is as dark as it gets at this time of year in Iqaluit...pretty cool...

Day two in Nunavut...

Ai (Inuktitut for "Hi") Here we are again totally enjoying ourselves in The Arctic!

Our first adventure today was a preschool workshop in the Elder Centre - what a great group of people of all ages! We sang, danced and played together! What fun!





In Inuit culture the babies are carried around in a coat that is called an "Amoutik" pronounced "a-mouty" - they are a little pouch that sits right on the adults back deep inside the beautiful warm coat - it makes sooo much sense. These are photos of Naja Jane with her friend.

Here she is again - so comfy and cozy!

The schools in Iqaluit look very different from the ones we see in Southern Ontario - this school is the elementary school right in downtown Iqaluit - note that it does NOT have any windows...

This Middle School is different again from the Elementary one - very colourful and pretty looking...its sits atop a hill overlooking Frobisher Bay.

When we played our afternoon show under "The Big Top" - this was our backdrop on stage - they are sunglasses that the locals wear in the winter because the sun and snow are sooooo bright! It keeps them protected!

After our Big Top show we met up with one of the breakdancers from the Circus Show the night before! They are going to be coming to Igloolik too!

Here we are doing the bunny hop at the lookout overlooking the raging river at the end of Iqaluit lane. This place is FULL of surprises.

Assunai (Goodbye in Inuktitut) - see you tomorrow!