As most of
Greenland is covered by ice, the villages and towns face the sea. This is where
life and sustenance come from. This is where the Greenlandic people have hunted
and fished a bounty of seals, whales, walrus and fish for generations. The sea
is what the graveyards and their dead look out on. And the sea is where the
Arctic creator and spirit lives.
Her name is
Sedna and she purportedly lives in the depths of the ocean and is goddess of
the sea and all the sea creatures. As gods go, I think it is a rather nice choice
to have a female creator. I think I will add her to my list of preferred
creators. The only one on the list so far is Mother Nature.
Anyway, the
point is that the sea means everything to the Greenlandic people. It means
something to me too, because I go on several boat trips while in Greenland. It
is not an option to drive from village to village. No roads.
Today my boat trip brings me to the tiny village of Iliminaq located south of Ilulissat. I sit outside on the small motorboat and enjoy views of the icebergs as we zip by. I snap unreasonable amounts of pictures. 
The weather is rather nippy. Then it starts to snow. Water sprays over my legs. A chill wind blasts my face. By the time we reach the village it is snowing rather heavily, I feel like a popsicle, and all I can think about is finding a warm building. Snow in July, for heaven’s sake!
Fortunately,
there is a cosy, first class restaurant here, and I have pre-booked a lunch
platter so I can sample some of the local delicacies, including muskox and
various renditions of freshly caught halibut. The following picture is not the restaurant but the former whale blubber boiling shed:
Many of the rocks are covered with bright orange lichen: 
The main
source of income in Iliminaq is fishing, but nowadays the inhabitants also
welcome tourists and give them a short guided tour of their village. We are
shown the church, the meeting hall, the original whale blubber boiling house,
the graveyard, and the former shop from about 1740. Despite the snowflurries
disturbing the view, it is all very picturesque.
