Greenland (it's not so green)

 Erik the Red, who I didn't mention in my Iceland post (something has to wait for the book!), is the one who named Greenland in the hopes of luring settlers.  If ever a country should have been called 'Iceland' this is the place with 80% of the land mass covered in ice.  I visited the east coast where only 3,000 of the countries 57,000 inhabitants live, many in tiny villages along the coast.  No roads connect the villages so helicopters & boats come in pretty handy.  As we flew into Kulusuk (a town of about 250 people), you could immediately see why not many people live here.

We changed to a small helicopter (took a couple of trips for our group of 12) and flew over to the town of Tasiilaq for two nights.  Tasiilaq is the largest town on the east coast with a population of about 2,000.   Do the math and you'll see that doesn't leave many who are spread out in other small villages.

 

The only animals that we saw were sled dogs (and a rare cat).  The dogs are considered work animals, not pets, and all we saw were tied up in the yards. 

We passed by the town's cemetery as we headed off on a hike into a nearby valley.  In the Inuit tradition, no names appear on the crosses.  Instead, the name of the deceased is passed on to another thus living on to the next generation.

The brightly colored homes dot the barren landscape.  Some, as with the red one below, have fish drying on simple racks attached to the house.  Most people work in a service-related job or are hunters of seals and the occasional polar bear. Permits are only for those who make their sole living as hunters.

 

The view from our hotel (too bad the panoramic shots don't spread out here). 

A boat ride along the coast allowed us to see some icebergs up close.

The helicopter rides gave us a good chance for some aerial views.

The northern lights were active all 3 nights, but most particularly on our second night in Tasiilaq when they filled the skies.  I was unable to get a long enough exposure on my camera to capture the lights, but one of the gals on the trip graciously shared her photos. 

 I loved the cotton grass blowing in the wind.

Walking back from the store on Kulusuk where we spent our final night.

Views from a mountain top.  We took one of the 3 (yes, 3) vehicles on the island of Kulusuk up into the mountains to where an American military base had once been. Lovely views (but still no green!).

 

Iceland and Greenland were so different, but both had such beauty.  Very glad to have seen them!