Qaqortoq lies on the southwestern tip of Greenland which is the largest island in the world after Australia. It has a long rugged coastline which has massive cliffs and glacial fjords which have sculptured Greenland's landform over aeons. About 85% of Greenland is permantly covered with an ice-cap which is 3 kilometres thick in places. There is enough water captured in this frozen mass to raise the world's oceans by almost 6.5 metres. If this were to happen due to climate change, most coastal cities would look like Venice. Qaqortoq is an Inuit word that means, "the white place", very appropriate for the landscape colour for more than half the year.
Conditions at Qaqortoq were calm with absolutely brilliant sunshine flooding the whole port area, the sprawling township, and the rocky mountains which formed the backdrop of Qaqortoq. What a contrast from 4 hours ago in Nanortalik, where heavy fog and rain prevented our visit today. So now we plan to spend the day there, tomorrow. The weather was a total surprise too, because usually the climate here is, at best, highly unpredictable. Summer temperatures are normally comparable to summers in Northern European ( milder than expected) but weather is variable even in summer. Today it was about 24C when we arrived with clear blue slides and no wind at all - an incredible surprise. Later the temperatures rose to 26C and we wished that we hadn't worn our thermals but because of the unpredictable nature of the weather in Iceland, thermals should always be on hand. We were told that during winter it is extremely cold here, with consistently freezing temperatures and strong biting winds. Qaqortoq is frequently. isolated by winter sea ice (we saw icebergs in the port area today) and accessible only by aeroplane or helicopter.
We had paid to do a fishing trawler trip in Qaqortoq, with 8 other people. This trip was to take us around icebergs and up to where the ice caps meets the sea. When we contacted the company they said they'd try to do the trip today, instead of the original plans which were for tomorrow. We stood on the shore after our tender dropped us off and after an hour were told that our tour had been cancelled because all the tour boats had been booked by today's tourists from Denmark so there were no boats, free for our revised trip. Disappointing, but there was no way of reversing this so hopefully our money will be refunded to all 10 of us and other people who'd booked for tomorrow as well.
Qaqortoq Is built around a natural harbour where we saw some brightly painted fishing boats, barges and small launches. Larger ships like our Sea Princess need to anchor off shore because the port is not deep enough for larger ships to dock. It's a pretty little town with its' colourful wooden houses, churches, a few commercial building, brilliantly toned spring flowers and glacier lake. One of the first things we noticed that there were a number of stone carvings, created by local artists on the rock face of the huge boulders along the foreshore, so we went to look at them. The designs included fish, porpoises, whales and a few faces of Inuit people.
We took out our map of Qaqortoq and replanned what we would do for the day. Like many others whose tours were cancelled we decided to walk around the town and learn about how people live in this isolated hamlet of Qaqortoq. We walked to the Museum that was 'a stones' throw away from the port.
The small but interesting museum is housed in the old governor's house, built in 1804. The museum presented the history of the town with historic black and white photographs and there were excellent display of objects from the colonial period and objects made and used in daily life by Inuit culture as well as traditional costumes and artifacts. Although there are only about 55,000 people in Greenland, their civilisation is both ancient and resilient. The people have blended the native Inuit culture with some enhancements from Norwegian and Danish viking culture.
We saw displays that show what a resourceful people the Inuit are. For example they used all parts of the whales that they hunted. Bone for needles, hair combs, decorations, buttons. Stomach lining for making waterproof clothing. Bladder to create an balloon to keep a kayak float, Fur or skin for clothing or waterproof boots.
Outside in the backyard of the museum was a small traditional turf house dwelling, built from stones with a wooden door, stone floor, tiny open fireplace and a roof insulated with tundra ( artic' grass") It may have been cramped inside but at least it was waterproof and kept the cold outside. We saw miniature models of seal-skin tents and life-size kayaks and paddles.
Nearby is water fountain built to honour the fishermen and whalers who have given so much to the community by risking their lives to provide food for the whole community. It is the only fountain in all of Greenland.
The people of Qaqortoq live in closely knit cluster groups around the town, where warfare is unknown, and mutual help is taken for granted. Today, other Inuit people live in Alaska, Canada and Greenland. I read a plaque to the Inuit people which said the best monument to the Inuit culture is that they have survived thousands of artic winters. Qaqortoq is an isolated town because even in summer, it can only be reached by helicopter or ship. This is because the town has no road links to the rest of Greenland due to the natural barriers of the high mountains and glacier valleys.
Remote or not the people of Qaqortoq value education as the key to their future. As we walked around the town we saw several high-quality educational institutions all built around a central school. These include a pre-school, an 8 year basic schoool, and a 2 year secondary school. We met a Danish teacher who now lives at Qaqortoq. She was walking and pushing her baby in a pram with huge wheels to make it easier to get around the town. She said she loves the peaceful! Friendly community here. She teaches science and physical education at the high school. She explained that after secondary school, students then choose from the "gymnasium"-a 3 year secondary school which leads into tertiary education or advanced schools to specialise in for commerce, vocational training, folk arts and farming. How encouraging that such a tiny community does not inhibit good learning opportunities.
We spent the rest of the day walking around the town where we saw a quaint old wooden old church building, built in 1832 by Lutheran missionaries. It is still used today for weddings and funerals and it has a functioning pipe organ. Outside the church is a monument to sailors lost in a shipwreck in 1959.
Later in the afternoon we visited the new church which is higher up on the hillside in the middle of the town. It is a much larger, modern building and it has wonderful views of the sea along its southern side. We spoke with a local lady who works in the office and she said most Sunday's the pews are filled. The pulpit has the Greek letters, "alpha and omega" on either side of "a tree of life symbol" - a timely reminder that God is the beginning (alpha) and end (omega) of all things. That Jesus is the way, the truth and the life.
We wandered up and over grassy hills of summer flowers, over a hill and through a cutting in the rocky hills where we found a stone quarry. In contrast to this, in the opposite direction was a beautiful lake . We sat and admired the deep blueness and calm of the lake and enjoyed the warmth of the sunshine. Continuing on we crossed an iron bridge over a stream before climbing up into another area of the town where again we sat and relaxed in the sunshine. Here we stopped to eat some take-away food we'd bought from a little supermarket, on the hillside, where the locals shop. As we sat there, looking down over the town, two Inuit men walked towards us and responded to our "hello" . They were very friendly and pleased to meet us and we sat and chatted for at least half an hour.
Njasa is a 41 year old man whose wife died of cancer 2 years ago. He has 2 grown sons who live and work in another part of Greenland so he rarely sees them. Njasa, works as a cook on a fishing trawler. He talked about his life as a cook where he works for 14 hours a day for 3 months before having shore leave. I asked him how he varies his cooking since the main ingredients are fish, whale, prawns and lobsters. He laughed and replied that he was very creative with sauces of all descriptions. I think he would have to be 'creative' to keep the crew happy. Apparently, his trawler stays out at sea and smaller, faster vessels ferry the catch back to various ports in the Atlantic Ocean and North Sea.
The other fellow was about 24 years old but he had little English as his uncle explained, " he didn't pay attention in class" . However, he is studying commerce and wants to get a job in Denmark, marketing for the fishing industry one day. His uncle told him that he must practise his English if he wants a job in marketing. One the topic of the fishing industry, earlier in the morning, we had passed the local fishing market where we saw whale meat being cut up ready to sell to the Inuit people of Qaqortoq. This is their staple protein food and whilst samples were offered to our fellow passengers to sample, only a few men tried the raw meat which looked a bit like sushi.
