Back to Bethel and travel to Akiak

Headed back to Bethel once again, this time to actually run a camp.

While it was a great week camp wise, it was busy and we really didn't do much otherwise.

The only day we really got out was our travel day.  We checked out the Yukon Delta Wildlife Refuge visitor center.  I had been there a couple years ago on my first trip to Bethel but wanted to revisit.  The best part is the taxidermy- I've been trying to learn more and more about the native plants and animals but it takes so much time.  With berries alone there are all kinds.  Salmon berries (a yellowish raspberry type thing) were just starting to ripen and a good amount of blueberries too.  Definitely filled my belly with some of those a couple afternoons!

That rabbit is GIANT.

Polar bear....

RAWR!

Couldn't pass up this photo op

Walking to the plane with my co-worker- it was SO windy.  No one else seemed phased but us.  

 All loaded up.... (notice the ceiling)....

This is the "Should we really be flying in a duct taped plane in this kind of wind face"

It ended up not being a bad flight at all- I even fell asleep for a few minutes.  The other nerve racking aspect of this travel day was that we hadn't actually made contact with our contact in Akiak.  We tried all morning to call to see who would pick us up from the plane and give us a key to the school where we would be staying. We were just hoping some kind person would help us once we landed.  It was fine.  A lady in a truck pointed me to a white mini-van....I walked over and said we needed to get to the school... he didn't say much, just backed up the van to the plane to load our stuff and told us to get in.  We did.  Turns out he was the Era Airline agent and that's just how it works here.  We got to the school- but of course were locked out.  We just started asking around and before we knew if we found who we needed and got our key.  We were set and ready to go for another week of camp!

Time off. Sort of.

Well, I headed back to Anchorage so that I could get that darn vaccine I need for Thailand...which meant I would have a few days off back in civilization.  Axel had been out working too and it sounded like maybe, just maybe, we might be able to see each other for a bit before we have to head out again.  Unfortunately, he wasn't there for the first couple days, so I went out to the camp where I have worked the past couple of summers.  Not only are there numerous tents for me to choose from to sleep in and plentiful food, but there are tons of wonderful loving people there that I was very happy to see.  As I was hanging out there my first night, I was told there was an open seat in the van for a paddle trip in the morning.....  needless, to say, I claimed that seat.  And despite it being sort of work as there was a group of kiddos with, it was great to get out paddling and exploring a new lake- especially in the sunshine!  The next day at camp, I was recruited to 'work' again....which included a bit of climbing, friendship bracelet making and kayaking.... really, I can't complain.

Navigating through the lily pads.

On Cottonwood Lake.

The lake at camp (....there's a reason I keep going back.)

And then at last Ax made it back in town and we were able to go out to dinner and hang out at his house at least a little bit.  While he was at work the next day, his friend/roomate came home with a bunch of salmon.... and by a bunch, I mean A LOT.  And it was awesome.  I got to get a little taste of the processing process and even made the brine for the salmon that was going to be smoked.

 I didn't catch it, nor was it super big, but I wanted to show you all an average salmon.

In the evening I had to go to the store to grab some groceries for my next couple weeks in the villages so I had Ax drive me ... and this is what happened....

Some girl ran a red light and hit the tail end of the motor home (after Axel's valiant effort to get us out of the way) as we were turning on a green arrow.  Total bummer.  Don't worry- everyone was ok (besides the vehicles).

The next day it was back to the villages.  Bethel (more of a town than a village), Akiak and Manokotak.

Hooper Bay Stay

Well, my stay in Hooper Bay is over now, but I figure I should fill you all in.  Really, it wasn't that much different than Chevak except that we had a lot more kids and ran a lot more program so it was more work filled than fun filled (except that my work usually is fun), which means less pictures and stories that I can actually share, but here is what I've got for you:

Hooper Bay is an interesting village in that approximately 70% of the population is under the age of 25.  That's right- nearly everyone is my age or younger. We had heard some things too about this village being a little 'rougher' than others... made us a little nervous at first, but these kids really appreciated us being there.  I mean, I was greated on the streets by hugs from kids I hadn't ever met.  Just walking to the post office on my first day I got at least five hugs from little ones.  They love that we are there for them and are so excited to meet someone new that they just hug you.  So cute.  Not to mention that EVERYONE you see waves, says hi, or, at the least gives you a head nod as they drive by on their Honda (4 wheeler).

One of the common things said about the villages in the YK Delta is that they are 'trashy'.  Well, yes, they kind of are-- its incredibly expensive to ship goods in and they are already fairly poor so there is no way they are going to ship garbage out of these places, so unfortunately, it all hangs around.  But no one out here seems to really mind.  It's just how it is.  Anyways,  during my time off, I did try to explore a bit (not that there are many places to go, but I try to see what there is to see).

 Early in the week I went on a run to check out the other side of the village- this one is pretty spread out.  This is what I found- the village dump. Yuck.  And the smoke?  They burn all their trash which made me want to hold my breath for the rest of the week.  Definitely not my most exciting find, but interesting nonetheless.

 One of the better things I found exploring- the beach!  It was at least a couple miles from the school, but totally worth the time and energy it took to get there.  Because it was early (1030am--everyone stays up late and sleeps in in the villages it seems) I was the only one out there.  A big ol' beach on the Bering Sea all to myself...it was fabulous.

 I was told by the village truck driver that this is the first year in five years that they have had a decent supply of drift wood come in- and yes they did!  Most people take the big nice logs to their homes and stack it in a tepee shape to dry for burning in the winter.

At the beach

 A native dance fan- pretty awesome.  An elder in the village brought some dance fans and baskets to sell, and as much as I like supporting artists, I had to pass...simply a little too pricey for my current pay. However, it was awesome to see them and talk with them about it a little bit.

Tundra.

And that's about all there was to see in Hooper Bay.... 

So with my other free time, I taught myself the Peyote stitch for beading.  Teens in the villages love to bead and really appreciate it I guess it's because it's been a part of their culture for so long.  Usually I make little earrings and bracelets with the girls and they will teach me new little tricks- for example, floss is the best beading thread and instead of tying knots you melt it with a lighter....  Anyways, here was my project for the week--  turned out alright too!

Flew out of Hooper Bay to Bethel and then Anchorage for a few days off...

Sat right behind the pilot this flight- I like to watch them fly the planes

In a previous post I mentioned how I was bummed that I couldn't capture the turquoise color of the glacier water- I finally did capture the color in this lake from the airplane!

Travel Day (by boat!) to Hooper Bay

After a week in Chevak, today was our day to head over to Hooper Bay...not all that far from where we were (we could actually see it in the distance), but since there is no road system it meant we would have to do the usual and hop a flight on over here.  Our boss told us to catch the mid day flight.  Simple enough..... or so we thought.

We called in the AM to check the routing (inter village flights work much much much differently that the typical plane/airport system most people are used to) and realized they were flying from Hooper Bay TO Chevak and we needed to  go the other way, but because of the way the other passengers were flying, despite having reservations, we pretty much got screwed and had no way to get to where we needed to go.  We would have to wait for the evening flight but from the sounds of things we were heading in the not so common direction and it was likely the same thing would occur.  Not news we wanted.  I expressed our trouble to one of the maintenance men, Larry, and he made a comment that maybe we could go by boat.  I've wanted to travel by boat out here so badly but it's kind of hard to make it happen.  I quickly jumped on the opportunity to ask if he knew anyone who was headed that way and it just so happened he was thinking about going out halibut fishing as the weather was awesome- probably one of the warmest days they will have all summer (high 60's....maybe even a whopping 70).  He then told us to keep trying to figure out the flight stuff and if we couldn't by high tide he might be able to drive us in his boat.  We ditched trying to figure out the plane situation and started the communications to do the boat gig.  You see, it isn't as easy as it all sounds as there is the culture/language barrier on top of all crazy logistics.  We kept asking when he would take us in his boat....

"at 2 maybe 3 maybe 4 or even 5"
"So, when should we have the guy with the truck (there's usually only a couple trucks in the village- everyone drives 'Hondas' or as we would say four wheelers) bring us to the river?"
"when the boat is ready"
"what time will that be?"
"when the tide is high"
"how far from now is that?"
"when the boat is out of the mud"

ummmmm ok......next situation to tackle.... when we arrive by boat, how will we get to the school we will be staying at?.... talked to what seems to have been about a hundred people (ok...maybe i'm exaggerating a wee bit) to finally get a number with the guy who drives the truck in the next village.  Just gotta call him when we get there..... sure hope it's the right guy and the right number.

This is the guy who drives the truck in Chevak- he was super helpful and awesome.  When we made a quick stop at the store before going down to the river some kids handed us this baby bird (some sort of goose?).  They sometimes carry live animals around like they are toys- and it's totally normal here.

At last, we paid for the gas (after a wee bit of a debit card malfunction) for Larry and made it to the boat with our stuff and hung out as the tide came in.  Climbed in the boat with Larry, a teacher from the school named Mike, some other native guy I didn't know and two Chupik ladies... I'm pretty sure one was Larry's wife.  After a very muddy start, we were on our way to the Bering Sea.

Just waitin' for the tide to come in.

My staff partner going through the mud to get in the boat.  Rubber boots ARE a necessity.

Riding down the river to the Bering Sea :)

My awesome staff partner riding along

The boat ride was simply fabulous.  I mean, I enjoy flying in the bush planes cause I still think they are really cool, but this was a way different way for me to travel to work.  The weather was so sunny and as we cruised out of the river past several fish camps we got to chat with them about all sorts of things.  And we stopped along the way to check some nets for fresh fish for bait.  What fascinates me is that they brought in a bunch of salmon without even really wanting or meaning to and then were going to use the other fish (which to me are big) as bait for halibut.  As we were out and headed to Hooper, the ladies started pointing and saying something-- a seal!! I've never seen a wild seal until today.  I then instantly shifted from asking about the salmon and halibut fishing to questioning about hunting seal and whale...they do it all out here.  Oh, and any wood they need for winter burning has to be found in the form of driftwood.  Talk about a lot of work to do!

Checking nets for fishies.... wish I had gotten a better photo of this process but this will have to do

A bunch of the fish they pulled from the nets...the big one even flopped for the picture

Visiting with Mike about being a teacher in a village- and a cross country coach!  If for any reason any of you ever go to Chevak you need to find this guy- I wish I had met him sooner.

Cruisin'

I made a couch out of our stuff- it was cozy!

At last we made it to the school (it is GIANT....even compared to schools back home) and are settling in tonight.  Went for only a short walk in the village before the rain sent us back indoors.

Tomorrow is a day off and I have a new village to explore- yay!

My stay in Chevak

So the past few days we have run program.  Unfortunately, I'm not to share pictures of the kids or of work and out of respect for the people I work for (and so I can continue to work at a place I love to work) I'm not going to share much of that.  I'll keep the travel blog just to the travel part of my trip.

During my time off, I've like to wander around a bit so I'll just share those pictures with you.

The school- also my home for the week- pretty awesome that it was nice and new and right by the water.

 Some of the kids showing me how to hunt bird eggs.  Didn't find any but it was fascinating to hear about all the things they make with the eggs.  Their favorite?  Hard boiled swan eggs with salt.

 Look on the roof top- there are walrus tusks drying out.

 I may not be able to post pics of my campers- but their artwork is ok!  This project was based on identity-  most kids I do this with have focused on their individual identity but out here it's all about their cultural identity.  Community pride is huge.  I also just recently learned the difference between Yupik and Cupik and as I understand it Cupik is sort of like a different dialect of the language.... kind of like Mexican spanish and Spain spanish.  

These signs were posted in the school-  I took photos of some of my favorite values of their culture.

 Lots of Native art throughout the school.  Love looking at it, I just wish I had someone to explain it all to me.  Learning more slowly but it takes a while.

Kayak frame hanging in the library

 A typical village view

 Salmon drying at someone's house

 Post office- most exciting place in the village! 

After living in Illinois for so long I started to wonder if there was anywhere quite as flat.... there is- it's the tundra.  And like cornfields it's usually not picturesque, but it does have it's moments.

 Another great tundra photo

 This little boy was very proud of his adorable puppy and loved that I took his picture.

 boats on the river that goes out to the Bering Sea

My staff partner and I were wandering around and stumbled upon this in someone's yard.... a whale bone?!

Hopefully this gives you all at least a little taste of where I am and what I'm doing.

Travel Day to Chevak AK

Woke up early in Bethel to go for a run as I knew it might be my last opportunity to do so for a few days.  Plus, I love running on the boardwalks for some reason. Boardwalks you ask?! Most of the village is on permafrost/ tundra so everything has to be built above ground.  Houses and buildings are all on stilts and the sidewalks are all boardwalks.  Since Bethel is a village hub it’s bigger and you can actually accumulate some distance whereas other villages there really isn't anywhere to run to.

That's me running on a boardwalk.  Last year I was telling my boss about the article in Runner's World magazine that highlights some amazing place or trail to run and how I felt like this place should be one because it's so unique.  She insisted that we staged a photo and tried sending it in.... we did the amateur photo....just not the actual sending it in part. 

Packed up and hit the airport.  It’s not like airports most people know- no security or anything.  The pilot just walks in says where he’s flying and you go walk on the plane with him.  It was only an 8 seater caravan thing.  I like flying.  A lot.  It’s quite amazing flying in rural alaska too- you really start to get a sense of how big this state really is.  It took us about an hour and a half of flying through the middle of nowhere (the plane flys low enough you can always see) and it seems like you have flown so far and then you look at a map and you’ve gone a teeny tiny distance.  It’s really hard to understand how big this state really is.

That was our plane.  Nice and cozy.

Made it to Chevak safely and had our contact here pick us up in his pickup.  It works a bit different in the villages.  We pulled our stuff from the plane, tossed it in the pickup and climbed in the back.  I love it-  only in this job would I ride jump in the back of a pickup to get to work.  On our way all the kids in the village smile so big and wave and say Hi to you.  They are pretty excited when we get to town.  Settled into our new ‘home’- an office in the school building with a teacher’s lounge for a kitchen- and then went for a walk through the village.  We chatted with the kids to find out what was going on in town- turns out another kids program and a bible camp is going to be here during our time- so we will have some competition in getting kids.  But really I’m ok with it-  I’d rather have less girls and really get to know them than to have a bunch and it be crazy all day.  As we were walking around I was surprised by all the cute little puppies- they are EVERYWHERE.  Apparently this isn't uncommon in villages, there are just dogs all over.  At least they are all friendly.  I want to adopt them all. 

Some of the kids showing me their puppies. 

If you walk around a village- you WILL by bombarded by adorable puppies and children.  

Had lots of down time in the evening after planning for tomorrow- did some artwork, listened to a book (I’ve been doing the audio thing rather than actual reading- less to carry and I can draw at the same time), hung out with my staff partner, visited with the other group that’s here, found some internet (hooray!), listened to the local radio station (it’s fabulously interesting and I couldn’t help but be a bit giddy when they announced our program is this week), and now, it’s time for bed.  Camp in the AM- Yay!