August 19 Paamiut and freedom!

 

Paamiut, an Inuit village 9n southern Greenland

We were let out of our cabins this morning, hooray!  And that meant we could re-join the expedition.  Today it was a visit to Paamiut, an Inuit village in southern Greenland. The name means ‘the people who live at the mouth' referring to the nearby fjord; the village has existed since mid C17th. We were ferried ashore and left to wander. The houses are incredibly cute and colourful spilling up and over huge rocky outcrops. Everyone we passed was so friendly and welcomed us to their village.  We visited the local church and museum, both were interesting. Lindsay was on the lookout for a white-tailed eagle as they claimed they have a resident population of these birds, but he didn’t see any.

After lunch we went zodiac cruising around the low-lying islands at the mouth of the fjord.  I found the rock formations of these islands quite fascinating.  We rounded one island and there on the rocks was a gathering of villagers – they had caught a Minke whale and were cutting it up to share among the families of the village. They are allowed 1 whale per year.

Food for the village and local wildlife.
A little gruesome for some used to buying their meat vacuum packed 

Contrasting vessels

That evening after dinner a few of us gathered around Joselyn, the ship’s biologist and Naturalist, to inspect the minute aquatic creatures she had scooped up amongst the sea weed as we cruised around the islands. Intriguing.