Day 25: Relaxing in Pang

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Today we had a day in Pangnirtung, which is awesome! We got to go to a local hotel and we tasted tea with milk for the first time in four weeks; coffee, proper coffee; toast, jam, orange juice, it was amazing!

We spent the day in Pang looking at a printing studio and Inuit craft.

Some of us went to the store and had a look round there. We went to the library and read some of the papers and the books. Climate change is a massive issue in all the literature in Pang, and how climate change is affecting hunting and the culture, and the permafrost on which the communities are built, and what’s happening in those communities.

We went to the store and were surprised by the prices of some of the things there. For example, a small bag of Haribo cost $6, (£3.70) a packet of 5 disposable razors $35 (£21.50)  and a little tub of ground pepper was $10. We started rummaging through the bargain bin and got ourselves some tortilla wraps and bread, which we ate with our freeze dried meals in the evening. They cost us less than a dollar each, absolute bargain.

High Prices in Pang

In the afternoon, whilst we were there as well, our camp site had turned into a bit of a kid’s playground because it was the first day back at school for all the children in Pang, and they were having a big barbecue with a camp fire. We talked to some of the secondary school teachers and other people in the community.

We had some seal meat, which is a dark meat but had a strong fishy taste, but it was delicious we also drank a seal stew made from the juices of the seal meat, i’m not sure what else was in it, but it tasted very good anyway.

In the evening we watched an elder make an Ulu, this is a knife that is used for food preparation. It had a very sharp semicircular blade. Some of us bought an Ulu too.

We sorted out our equipment and packed our bags, ready to fly to Ottawa tomorrow. Tonight will be our last night in the tents. Tomorrow will will have our first shower in a month.

Listen to Katie’s report from Baffin:

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