Wk 10 (Russian) Giggles
Date Posted: 4.23.2007
Location: 64º25N 173º13W
Provideniya, Chukotka, Russia
Weather Conditions: Blue sky and sunshine, 26 °F (-3 °C)
We are in Chukotka! "Tuesday morning I woke up in my bed in the small apartment where we are staying and I actually thought 'am I dreaming or is it for real?'" says Mille, "and then I just had to giggle. Finally, we made it." That would have been Monday afternoon back in the United States. When we flew across the Bering Strait we crossed the International Date Line.
On Sunday morning it seemed like we had crossed some sort of line setting us one week back to doing the exact same thing as last Monday. Once again, we brought the Polar Huskies to the plane to be loaded and made sure all of our supplies were in place to be loaded on one of the two planes. But one thing was different from last week when Paul and the Polar Huskies were sent on a return flight from Chukotka, Russia to Nome, Alaska. Our pockets were filled with twenty-dollar bills. We had made numerous visits to the local cash machine and even borrowed cash from locals in Nome. We were all prepared to pay $6000 in cash for bringing the dog food into Chukotka as demanded the last time around...
Imagine Paul's expression when the Russian federal customs agent 'Dimitri' handed him a note with the total written out: $264. "Two-hundred-sixty-four dollars!?" Paul exclaimed. Dimitri is the very same stern young man who demanded last week for Paul to "pay $6000 cash or return to the United States." Needless to say, Paul was more than puzzled. Like last Monday, Vladimir Bychow was right on the heels of the border guards to meet Paul as he stepped off the plane - and this time Vladimir had brought an entire crew of people to help. Vladimir translated for Paul from Russian to English as Dimitri explained, "This is your second time to Russia. Rules are different then - you now only have to pay 18% of the total value of your dogfood plus a small fee." Paul, not sure whether to smile or not, just sort of mumbled "really? guess I should have brought all the food along..." as he thought about the fact that more bags of dog food were now with Mille on the second plane still to come - and it was her first time to Russia. "Yes, too late!" said Dimitri. Laugther spread through the room. Relieved with some laughter, Paul joined in.
Right: The airport is not open or heated like you may think of an airport to be. A scheduled plane lands here once every two weeks from Anadyr, the capitol of Chukotka. In the summertime, it is once a week. The airport is part of a large military community that was abandoned about 3-5 years ago. Provideniya sits across the bay about 6 miles (9 km) by road.
Cups of teas and many visits to the customs office later, it turns out Dimitri is a very nice guy who has helped us out a great deal this week. And for the more than five hours it took to get first Paul, and then once her plane landed, Mille through customs, it was Dimitri who was puzzled again and again. "Paul!, Paul come here, please" it would ring through the big cold spaces. "What is this???" Dimitri said holding up the snow measurement tools, staring at the hundreds of butter sticks, and tasting the pancake mix. Every single box of food, every little bag inside of bigger bags inside of other boxes, were opened and inspected while everyone huddled and wished for the endless string of supplies and stuff to come to an end.
The road you drive from the airport to Provideniya is the only road that leads out of the community. No two communities in Chukotka are connected by road. But, we were thrilled to learn that at this time of the year, there is indeed a terrific trail system that even allows for small tanks to travel between the communities. Perfect for the Polar Husky 'tanks' who are ready to role! The last few days have been non-stop with logistics, tying the sleds together, re-packing the food, and meeting with officials. Every step of the way Vladimir has been by our side giving us advise, translating, explaining and... laughing as we try to figure out what exactly IS going on....like at the bank. The first task once we had unloaded and staked out the Polar Huskies was to go exchange our many twenty-dollar bills to Russian rubles. The final bill being about 25,000 rubbles or some $1200, Paul and Vladimir sat down at a small table at the bank to count out the twenties.
Yet again Vladimir was giggling as "they prefer new bills." Well, there was nothing new about our bills, coming from an ATM machine, people's socks and drawers. Sure enough, every bill was thoroughly inspected and then taken through a light machine and finally Mille was handed back a pile of $280 worth of twenty-dollar bills that were deemed "no good." Then, Paul and Vladimir had had to leave in a hurry. Paul couldn't find his passport. Vladimir, quite frightened at the prospect of having to explain Paul's way out of jail, wasted no time in getting back to the dogs where it had hopefully fallen out of Paul's pocket. Sure enough, Xena was sitting on it!
We will always have to carry our passport, visas, and the official invitation. We have also been registered with the police. Nikolai Ettyne who was suppose to travel with us as a team mate, was responsible for our invitation to Chukotka. That means he is actually responsible for where we are pretty much every minute of the day. Since Nikolai is not here and not traveling with us, that authority had to be transferred to Vladimir. Now Vladimir gets a call every now and then asking where we are at and what we are doing. They really do check where we are! But then, they seem to check where everyone is at. If you are living in Provideniya and would like to go to Laverentia, which is in the Chykotsk region of Chukotka, you actually need permission to travel there even if you are a local.
Since Vladimir is not traveling with us, we will instead be accompanied by Artur Annalu because we are not allowed to travel alone. A Native coastal Chukchi who lives in the third community on our route, Yanrakynnot, Artur is a respected Elder of the region. He used to be a marine mammal hunter, but he now works as a park ranger for the Beringia Park where one of his tasks are to observe changes on the land! "Artur does not speak English, but how perfect is that" says Mille, "we can learn lots from Artur knowledge of the land, plants and animals - and he says he is excellent at scaring off polar bears!"
From what we hear, that's a good thing. Just the day before we arrived in Provideniya a dogsled race actually came through town with thirty-some dog teams. Just north of here, one of the teams was chasing a polar bear! When we met with high school students at the local Museum this week, we asked if the bears ever come into town? That is apparently very rare, unlike a bit up the coast where we are heading. We were excited to meet with the students and share with them about GoNorth!, our field research related to climate change and invite them to take part our new program 'What's Climate Change to You?" On our sleds we are carrying all sorts of tools that we are handing out for students in Arctic communities to be able to collect the same data as we are during the expedition, and share with the rest of us online. They will also develop online Community Climate Diaries, much like some of you may be doing in the classroom right now!
On that note, make sure to post anything about polar bears, animals, plants or climate change to the Nature Map in the Climate Zone. Also, join this week's chat on Thursday, April 26th at 10 AM to talk about Climate Chaos!
In the meantime the plan is that we will be dogsledding up the coast to the community of Laverentia where Aaron and Jeff will join us. It will be so great to have them join the team! Once we are all together we will then turn around to travel back down the coast spending some time in the communities along the way making our way back to Provideniya.
The Polar Huskies want to go. Luckily, here in Provideniya they have had lots of visitors to keep them busy. Domino, who is this weeks' first Polar Husky Superstar is normally very shy - much like his mother, Nazca. We are not sure if it may be something in the Russian tone of language or all the Russian giggling, but Domino really enjoys the attention here. At a distance he can be a bit frightening with his very serious looks. Domino is not your typical boss dog, but he is without doubt definitely one of them, if not the top dog in the kennel right now. He is so because he demands respect, but more so because he is indeed very powerful. Yet, also just like Nazca, Domino really has the sweetest nature, he loves to give lots of licks, and he loves to go... fast. 
This week's other Polar Husky Superstar, Kodiak, can be shy as well. But, he too is really taking to the attention. With his one floppy ear (we have no idea where that came from!), Kodiak's looks always get attention. He is small in stature but Kodiak is solid as a rock and much like Domino there is a lot of mental power to his slender frame. From a tiny puppy, Domino was a loner who didn't care much to be part of the pack and who really just tolerated the dominance of his playful brother Good Thunder. He can also seem like a loner with people, but that's not for real. He absolutely loves attention. His greetings may sound like a deep growl, but you soon realize that he is actually grinning - it is really more of a giggle... As we finally set off over the ice tomorrow, every Polar Husky face is bound to be nothing but grins and giggles.
