No crazy adventures to report like my last entry, thank goodness! I’ve been wandering around Anchorage like the rest of the tourists here. It’s spring and the place abounds with visitors. The Anchorage Museum so far is my favourite – an amazing museum as well as being one of the more attractive buildings in the city – the rest being slightly underwhelming…most being built after the 1964 earthquake here that rated a whopping 9.2 on the Richter scale and precipitated a catastrophic tsunami. Many of the buildings in the centre of the city were destroyed and subsequently rebuilt, and you know what the architecture of the 60’s and 70’s was like!
In the museum the main display is on Alaskan native culture. There are seven different cultures, including Eskimo, with a number of tribes in each culture. The collection on display was amazing and I will have to go back to do it justice but the clothing and everyday items there are nothing short of extraordinary. How people adapt to such extreme conditions (-45°c) and live rich lives using only what is available in their environment while being mindful and generous is inspiring. One example is the lightweight waterproof gut parkas created by the Unangax women from the intestines of sea lions, seals, whales and grizzly bears! Talk about wasting nothing! Sharing and generosity is an important part of their culture, something they wish to see passed on to future generations - such a lovely set of maxims!
The other place I have been hanging out is the Alaska Public Lands Information Center where all the public land managers jointly provide information for visitors. Everyday there is a lecture and a series of films shown. I’ve made friends with Ranger Roger Fuson who, for those of you who know him, looks like Mike Dodkin’s long lost brother. Roger is a font of knowledge and took me on a tour and amazed me with the rich history of Alaska. Of course the true locals arrived first - maybe 16,000 years ago and were living happily until the Russians arrived and started causing trouble early in the 1700’s. They were keen on cashing in on the rich natural resources especially furs and even the Spanish tried to settle here. The British came – Cook and Bligh, looking for a north-west passage and finally the place was sold by the Russians to the Americans in 1867 for $7,200,000.
I listened to a lecture by a dog musher – a petite lady who braves the winter to drive dogs pulling a sled through the snow on long journeys, racing other crazed dog mushers. She told me she owns 51 dogs! She said they cost $1.50 each to feed a day, and yes I asked – they bury the poo! It’s too cold here to compost. I met Lily a sweet husky who looks too petite to help pull a sled across miles of frozen country. The mushers prepare for the races by mailing bags of food and equipment to the checkpoints to be cached until they arrive weeks later. Frostbite in dogs and mushers is common! And dog mushing is the official state sport. Only in Alaska!
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