First Week

New family portrait

The first few days in the community were full of discovering new things and finding out how to break out of our frozen door! The temperature has been quite cold (-30C and with the windchill more like -40s) and so we have been becoming accustomed to wearing all our winter clothes, even ski masks & goggles. Nicolas of course has a fit every time we bring out his boots, snowpants and jacket. It was only after about the first week that we felt comfortable taking Nicolas out without his bundled up stroller which was so warm that he fell asleep in it each time we went out.

Nicolas all snug & cosy for a walk

It was during the first week that we also found out that a nice smooth knife was the best manner to break the ice that creeps THROUGH the door overnight! It took a lot of chipping away at this ice frozen into the doorframe to get the door open each morning..lol.

Ice coming through the door

We also found out really how expensive fruits & veggies are: $21 for asparagus and $10 for one Costa Rican pineapple!! After we made that find Randall said he wasn't the only Costa Rican in town, but probably the cheapest! lol.. The community is pretty small with only 2 main stores (mostly selling food), one bank, an elementary & high school and health centre being some of the main attractions. Good thing is that it is fairly easy to walk from one end of the town to the other; however, walking in -40C+ temperatures makes a short 15 minute walk into an almost unbearable feat when your hands and feet start to freeze while you're walking with all your groceries. One valuable solution we've discovered to carrying groceries is to use sleds! Instead of trying to carry everything with awkward gloves, you just pile everything up on a sled and drag the sled behind you.

Omingmak St, Cambridge Bay