Nanortalik, Greenland

After two days at sea which was not in the original plan, as you know, We arrived ahead of schedule this morning. By 7:00 a.m. they began lowering the tenders. Unfortunately we could hear the gear motors quite clearly. So we were up early. Slightly astonished by the unpredicted clear, sunny, warming weather which greeted me as I stepped out on the balcony to take pictures of the rocky shore fronted by bright white and glassy blue icebergs, I couldn’t wait to go exploring! A quick breakfast with the beautiful view and we set out. The tendering services have been very good and we were soon ashore. It was a pretty long and somewhat dangerous walk up into town. The path followed the curve of the bay. It widened to a potholed asphalt road that should have been one lane. Trenching was actively being done on the inland side and a shear rocky drop off was on the ocean side. Pickup trucks whizzed back and forth without slowing as they approached and passed the distracted, gawking tourists. Many using canes and walkers. Holland America is filled with we old people, some in pretty bad condition, none ready to jump out of the way of a slow walking donkey much less a speedy truck. Then there were the bulldozers and backhoes to contend with. It was like being in a video game to reach the town’s first street. As you might have guessed there is a lot of construction going on. Scaffolding is on the buildings, a wide trench which may be for new sewers or water lines. Not sure which. At the information center I spoke with Kristen who said that 10 to 15 cruise ships come here a year. Kristen is the sister of the Information Center manager. She was helping her sister out since Friday is Kristen’s day off. She is a nursing assistant at the nursing home. We passed the quite large, L-shaped, one story wood home later on our walk. We passed a parade of matching wheelchairs coming up the steep hill. Each was pushed by a determined young man. I guess the sunlight and fresh air was being enjoyed despite being cocooned by warm blankets and puffy coats. Carol and I walked through what seemed to be the main street to the church where I peeked in and listened to a choir concert for a few minutes. Further along but not by the church were remnants of a cemetery. Graves were unmarked except for an outline of large rocks. There were three modern headstones from the early 20th century. More random walking took us past the large, low school. It serves for K – 12 students. We climbed over boulders and down rocky paths back to what little pavement there was and headed toward the long tender line waiting to go back to the ship. Three boats dropped off tour groups and then all three filled for the return. All in all Nanortalik is a small fishing village. All types of boating can be done here. It saddens me a little when I see young people and old people doing what little they can to gain a few tourists dollars. A girl sang, a boy played a little drum. An older woman used a large white skin Tambourine with drum sticks attached. Back on board we had lunch at the deli, visited with friends, and are preparing to try to win Lightening Trivia.