Day 5- Sunday

Day 5 Sunday

Today we hear over the CB that heavy rain is coming and we need to return back if we don’t want to be stuck on this part of the Hudson for a long time. We pack camp very early (start at 5am) and we are ready to leave with all meats dressed and packed for travel by 730. We check the nets and get some more fish for the cooler on the way back, there are 3 nets to check, J* works very hard in the cold morning water, he is quiet and a hard worker and has a gentle way about him and he is the best hunter on the team. We begin the trip back, this is very difficult, waters are very rough and crash on every wave, soon backs and bones hurt and this continues for several hours. We stop at grandparents’ for a break, this is a welcome respite and we are grateful for the tea and bannick. They accompany us with young I* who is 10 and shows me his new rifle, a .22, very impressive). We relax for a bit before heading off again for the next leg of the return journey, this is a long trip, and I am shown and taught Inuktitut words for the geography on the way back. Seeing the houses of the Inukjuaq community was wonderful, we return before 3pm, then we unload for about an hour. I return back to my Inuit family, utterly exhausted, looking in the mirror I have grown a scraggly beard and am sunburned, but feel that sense of happy deep exhaustedness that means when you lie down you breath a big sigh of contentment…I must say that a shower was very welcome,I take a long rest, download some pictures, and after a few hours walk up the hill to the satellite dishes where I can jump on an internet connection, I spend a few hours up on the hill hood up against the wind checking my email, this has been a wonderful week. I will begin my survey data collection next week and take some time here in town before possibly heading out on the land again.


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