Travel EXPLORING IQALUIT It was easy to tour Iqaluit (population: 7,250) on foot. Three free attractions gave us an excellent orientation to the city and the Qikiqtaaluk Region (formerly called Baffin Region). At Unikkaarvik Visitor Centre, we viewed wildlife, historical, cultural and art exhibits. Its centrepiece is a 1,091-kilogram sculpture of an Inuit drum dancer. Carved by five artists from a five-ton block of peach-coloured granite, it’s so heavy that it was airlifted into the building in 1991. Friendly staff gave us a map and helped us book local accommodations and tours. Next door, the Nunatta Sunakkutaangit Museum displays historical photos and Inuit artifacts, including tools made from bone and caribou antlers. Its gift shop sells local art, carvings, jewellery and books. (Nunavut collects only GST on purchases.) During our free guided tour of the Legislative Assembly of Nunavut, we admired more art and a ceremonial mace made from a carved narwhal tusk, local silver and gemstones. ANCIENT INUIT HOMES We travelled by boat with a local outfitter on a day trip to Qaummaarviit Territorial Park, a small island 12 kilometres southwest of Iqaluit. Although this one-quartersquare-kilometre islet appears inhospitable to life, Thule people (ancestors to today’s Inuit) lived here periodically from AD 1000 to 1800. Plaques along the self-guided boardwalk trail provided interesting details about the semi-subterranean house pits, meat caches, kayak racks and rock tomb found here. Stone rings marked the locations of skin tents occupied by nomadic Inuit during the summers. We also viewed remnants of their rock-and-whale bone winter homes. Crouching in front, we could see how the sunken entrances trapped warmer air inside. Tiny white chickweed blossoms brightened the grass that now covers the elevated sleeping platforms. LILLIPUTIAN GARDENS More wildflowers accentuated the tundra in Sylvia Grinnell Territorial Park, a halfhour walk or short taxi ride from Iqaluit. After viewing the waterfalls on the Sylvia Grinnell River from a 55-metre-high platform, we explored the tundra. At first glance, it looked devoid of life. Up close, however, the tundra’s miniature plants, lichens andmosses resembled a tapestry of diverse colours, textures and shapes. Nunavut boasts 200 species of flowering plants. Brilliant pinky-purple splotches attracted us to clumps of fireweed. We snacked on wild black crowberries and bilberries, which looked and tasted like small blueberries. CSANews | SPRING 2019 | 17
RkJQdWJsaXNoZXIy MzMzNzMx