I promise you all, more spectular images and "text" you simply won't believe, but every word is TRUE.
The man who lost his nose !
True Story,
http://majikimaje.com/wally.html
Out on the ocean ice, we need much wood! To keep the tents warm for the women who do the cooking. The wood is gathered in the summer time along the beach, which catches major amounts of wood of all types.
SO WHAT DO YOU WANT TO DO TODAY ? UM ! Children live out here for the two month hunt, and play out, all day long for days and days on end. Rifles, weapons of all types are in each campl. Gunshot wounds are totally unheard of here. Safety first & safety second! NO ONE GETS HURT from rifles or guns up here. I have not heard of any incident in over 25 years.
Point Hope Alaska 99766 Population 750. We are one giant wave away from becoming fish food. We are 8 feet above sea level! Flooding was a major problem in the 70's and the village was moved from the Old Town site to the new location 2.5 miles south.
Not nearly far enough away. but we have had no problems yet with recent flooding, but erosion of the old town site is still advancing.
The "Point" disappeared in 1989. Point Hope used to have a populationi of over 10,000 in the mid 1800's, THEN the yankee whalers and Portugese whalers arrived, The population was reduced to just 190 people through disease and mass starvation.
When I arrived in 1981, 450 people were stuggling to EAT, the food they want to eat. The bowhead whale, but agencies, groups, want to prohibit these people from hunting of their aboriginal rights.
THIS IS WRONG. Fresh donuts are made every day in each and every camp.
How do you get the dough to rise? True the tents are warm but drafty, After the dough has been mixed itis put into a clean plastic trash bag, and carried the same way or method a mother will carry a child - Under her parky!
That dough will rise just right !
The woman making the donuts is Emily Lane. this girl is one of her twin daughters.
CARIBOU SOUP! yummy. but how do you get fresh water to make the soup. We do not carry or haul water out here, We need tons of fresh water daily, but we are camped out, on Ocean Ice, frozen salt water! We have to get the salt OUT OF THE WATER.. how? The Eskimo way.. .. we wait ! Take any large piece of Ice. Stand it up, brush the snow off of it especially the top, clean it. Now wait.. ... .. and as the hours go by, the sun will cause the ice to become clear, the salt is settleing in the frozen ice. Take your kettle over to the ice and chip/chop horizontally and fill your kettle with clear ice.. DELICIOUS fresh drinking water. The Eskimo way! We have lots of "tricks"!
And there are somethings, that you will just NEVER believe ! ha ha.. I am a city boy, from Boston. I know how your going to react when I tell you some of what happens up here.
I have been here for 27 years, there is no way I would ever leave this paradise. No Macdonalds, No Wal Mart, none of what you would call "civilization" . Our back yard is larger than most states and even some countries.
There are no cities, towns, or any humans in this area, ha ha ha ha.. Oh!!! have I got stories for you! but you will never believe these TRUE STORIES.
KAMAKTOAQ (kah mah toe ack) is a ceremonial site for whaling festival, held each June, the smalest bones (left) that are centered in the arch are from a 30 foot whale. the next size is from perhaps a 40 - 60 foot whale. the Jumob Jaw bones are from a 100 foot whale, at least. This ceremonial whaling site has been used for thousands of year!!
A bowhead whale weighs an astonishing TON per FOOT! I have been honored to have been invited on 5 sacred whale hunts.
A 48 foot whale was caught. The amount of work involved to haul that massive animal upon the ice using people power only was a grueling 17 hours work. The only reward, we get to eat! Maktak (muck tuck) is their favorite food, I got a half bag of M&M's stashed in my pocket, but I can't find them. Fully dressed I have over 38 pockets !
