Reindeer, and moose, and grouses, oh my! - Part 3

On we go with day 6. Day 6 started with what I swear is the most physically taxing thing known to man: kick sledding.

This is us on a kick sled.



The idea is, you stand behind it (ordinarily without someone sitting on it), one foot on the braces underneath, which are supposed to glide across the ice like skis. With the other foot you kick, sort of like a skateboard, and therefore propel yourself across ice or snow. That's the theory, anyway. In reality it goes about an inch and then you have to kick again. And kicking really hard with 8 ton boots made me feel like I was having a small heart attack with each kick. Maybe it's just me. I got further and further behind Tatu and Jonathan. Between panting breaths I was like "dang, this is hard." Tatu scoffed. "This is how old women get their groceries around town," he said. Oh, the shame. At least his incredulous disbelief didn't keep him from slowing down for me.

After my near heart-attack while kick sledding, we got back in the van and drove to see a reproduction of an old Sami teepee, the kind they would have lived in for the winter a thousand years ago. Here's the outside, covered in snow- note the stick for hanging up reindeer skins and meat to dry.



And here's inside the cabin. Looks cozy, eh? Actually they would build fires in the middle and everything would be covered in reindeer fur, so it would be pretty warm.



We also saw a nearby Russian Orthodox church- the only one in Lapland. After the Russians tried to take over and/or kick out the Sami multiple times, they aren't exactly big fans of the Russians.



After this we had lunch, followed by more cross-country skiing. This time was on a more challenging track, though whenever it would come to a Y, Tatu was nice enough to let us take the easy route. Apparently it was a track used by pretty serious athletes; it had some huge hills (which we avoided) and firing ranges for biathlon. I have a whole new respect for biathlon; anyone who can hold still enough to aim that well after cross-country skiing UP a huge hill... well... it blows my mind. Naturally Scandinavians in general would be good at it, considering that was how they used to hunt, and also how the Finns defended themselves during the Winter War.

This was followed by... you guessed it... sauna and beer, dinner, and a good 9 hours of sleep.

Day 7: ice fishing. The coldest activity of the week. Least time-consuming though, since we just used the lake behind the cabin. I took many pictures of the lake during the week... every time the lighting was a little different.

Here's the lake, pre-sunrise, with a strange low-lying fog:



Another pre-sunrise shot on another day:



Pink skies overhead:





And last but not least, here's the lake the morning we went out to fish.



The Sami don't ice-fish inside fancy huts with record players and coolers of beer a la Grumpy Old Men. No, the Sami just sit out on the ice on a little folding stool and brave the winds. Overall we found Lapland to be quite still, but on the lake it was windy. Luckily, drilling holes in the ice will keep you warm. Also unlike Minnesotans, when Sami ice fish, they don't just use one hole. They figure if you haven't gotten a bite in one spot in 10 minutes, might as well move to another spot. So at least you warm up every time you drill. Here's Jonathan, showing how:



Here's me, hunched over a hole:



In the end, we caught nothing, although there were a few close calls. When the cold even started to get to Tatu, he built a fire (in the snow, no less- that's what I call Sami talent) and made us some coffee and hot cocoa.



After we were numb and it was obvious the fish weren't biting, we decided to call it a day.

Our final sauna was delightful, as was our final dinner. Our Sami chef made us the most incredible salmon I've ever eaten- she rubbed spices into the fish, then attached it to a cedar plank and roasted it over a fire for several hours. When we walked into the dining room, it smelled unbelievable, and tasted better. She also made us cloudberry shortcake. Mmmm. Incase you don't know, cloudberries are a distant relative of raspberries. They only grow in northern climates; they're a pretty pale orange color, not to mention delicious.



In addition to this delight, she also prepared us breakfast bags for the next morning, since we had to leave extremely early to make our 7:00 AM flight.

We got up around 4:30 and found a cab waiting for us at 5:00 to take us to the Rovaniemi airport. Since Rovaniemi is home to Santa's Village, the airport has claimed itself to be "The Official Airport of Santa Claus."



They even have a replica of Santa's Sleigh, complete with reindeer, and, disturbingly, a reindeer skin on the back of the sleigh. Guess that serves as a reminder of what happens to the reindeer who mocks Rudolph.



Our flight back was uneventful, as was the train ride back into the city. The bustle and pollution of St. Petersburg was quite a shock to the system after a week of dead silence and seeing almost no humans besides Tatu.

The Sami life wouldn't be a particularly easy one... 8 months out of the year there's a very real fear of freezing to death... but I think I'd have a hard time passing up the chance to live it again. A solid week of daily saunas, fresh food, intense exercise and intense rest is a wonderful cure for the stresses of the modern world.