Travel STICKER SHOCK The Tununiq Sauniq Co-op store sells groceries and supplies. We were shocked to see that prices for fresh fruit, vegetables and milk were more than double what we pay in Toronto, due to long shipping distances. Sealift ships transport non-perishable cargo to the community during ice-free summer months. Perishable supplies arrive by air year-round. Tununiq Sauniq Co-op also sells beautiful stone and bone Inuit carvings. Our favourite piece was a polished black narwhal sculpture. The whales’ spiralled ivory tusks incited 19th-century whalers to bring home rumours of unicorns. Nowadays, outfitters bring visitors on whale-watching boat trips to search for narwhals and massive bowheads along the Baffin Island coast. THROAT-SINGING A 70-minute flight took us from Clyde River to Pond Inlet (Mittimatalik), located on the northern tip of Baffin Island near the eastern entrance to the Northwest Passage. The hamlet of 1,300 people overlooks Eclipse Sound and glacier-covered Bylot Island. Strolling through the village looking for the Nattinnak Visitor Centre, we met a woman carrying her baby in the back pouch of heramauti. The child giggled as her mother gave us directions. The centre displays local art, crafts and tools. We admired the ingenuity of traditional fish-skin bags, seal fat pounders – once used to make oil for lamps – and caribou-antler knives designed to carve snow blocks for igloos. Our visit coincided with a cultural performance on the centre’s stage. After their fascinating demonstration of throat-singing, two female singers explained how they made rhythmic, low-pitched sounds representing birds and animals. In the Nattinnak Visitor Centre’s library, we viewed interesting books about Nunavut and its culture.The gift shop sold note cards with prints of traditional clothing and sealskin boots – similar to the singers’ footwear – as well as beautiful Inuit stone carvings. INUKTITUT LANGUAGE Most signs in Pond Inlet were in Inuktitut and English. Nunavut has four official languages – Inuktitut, English, French and Inuinnaqtun, which is an Inuit language variant spoken in the westernmost communities. Although everyone we met spoke English, the Inuit appreciated our attempts to speak their language, even if it were a simplequjannamiik(thank you). It was fascinating to learn the origin of some words, such asqaritaujaq, which translates to “like a brain” and means “computer.” Some Inuktitut words have duplicate meanings, such as tingmiaq (bird). Colloquially, it means “airplane.” (The legitimate Inuktitut translation is qangatasuuk.) 20 | www.snowbirds.org
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