August 22 – Qaqortoq

 After exiting the Prinz Christian Sund, we travelled west along the coast of the north Atlantic Ocean. There was very thick fog, high winds and driving rain. The periodic blasting of the ship’s fog horn reminded us that the ocean can be dangerous.

In the morning when we arrived in Qaqortoq harbour, the fog was still very thick. You couldn’t see the shoreline, which was at most 500m away. Fortunately for us, the sun came out and burned off the fog leaving us with a beautiful sunny day.

Because the harbour is too shallow for a cruise liner, we had to tender into the town. What a disaster. No one was sure of the process and where they were supposed to assemble to board the tender. The lady in charge of assembling passengers to board the tenders seemed to be clueless and was obviously frustrated. Passengers trying to get to their excursions in the town were getting angry as they received little guidance, and the start time of their tour was approaching. It was not a good way to start the day.

Qaqortoq is a small village, slightly smaller than Port Stanley. Its main industries are fishing and seal skin tanning. The residents of Qaqortoq are a mix of Danes and Inuit. When a cruise ship enters the port, the population of the town doubles.

The village is a mix of colourful homes and buildings that are located on multiple small hills.  Marg said it reminded her of the older section of St. John’s Newfoundland. The houses are colour-coded, which signifies their purpose or the trade of the person who lived there. Red buildings are for commercial houses, churches or government buildings. Yellow buildings are for hospitals, doctors or health services. Black is the police station. Green buildings are a mix of utilities, auto mechanics and teleoperations. Blue buildings house fish processing plants.

Now people are free to paint their homes whatever color they choose.

We went for a guided walk through the village. Our guide was a young lady, who was Danish and had decided to move to Greenland. She was very knowledgeable about the history and culture of this area. Her talk was a mixture of folklore and practical information, which was very entertaining.

According to folklore Qaqortoq means white in Inuit. It got its name from the surrounding cliffs being white. The colouring was not from chalk or limestone, but rather from seagull droppings.

We were told of a Viking legend that was meant to scare children into obedience. It seems that a young girl was fishing with her father on the ocean, when he told her that he had found her a husband. She refused and in a fit of anger the father threw her into the sea. She swam back to the boat but when she clung to the side of the boat, the father cutoff the first joint of each finger.  These became the fish in the ocean. Again, she swam back to the boat but when she clung to the side of the boat, the father cutoff the second joint of each finger.  These became the seals. For a third time she swam back to the boat but when she clung to the side of the boat, the father cutoff the third joint of each finger.  These became the whales in the ocean. Unable to hold on to boat any longer she sank to the bottom of the sea and became the sea goddess “Mother of the Sea.”  It is said that if there is something that is bothering the mother of the sea, her long black hair would get all filthy and trap the animals in her long black hair, resulting in no food for the many families living off the sea.

Our guide picked up a flower from the side of road. Tradition has it that if a male hands this flower to a lady and she accepts they are engaged to be married.

She told us that polar bears are a threat in the village. It happens so often that there is an alarm system to warn people when these white beasts enter the village. A friend of the guide had woken up one morning to find a polar bear on his roof.

Qaqortoq is the main center for education in South Greenland and has a primary school, middle school, high school, a folk high school, a school of commerce, and a basic vocational school. Ice storms can close roads and transit can be dangerous. Because of this and the distance children travel to go to school, they end up living in the school dorms from a very early age.

We walked by a butcher, who was cleaning a musk-ox. It was huge and apparently it tastes like sheep. We went to a restaurant for lunch but they didn’t have any local dishes. They were sold out of musk-ox and whale.

Our guide said that the government subsidises food to keep prices down. Unfortunately, they won’t subsidises snacks such as candy and pop. I’d never be able to survive there.