first day funk: the breathtaking ilulissat icefjord

after a series of unfortunate events, we got settled in the yacht for our very first briefing. quick introduction, room assignments, house rules, itinerary for our first day. exhausted, i settled in and skipped the meet and greet over drinks, or whatever the guys did.

i woke up early the next day, like i normally do when i'm travelling (this quickly changed after two days), and found daniel already up and ready for breakfast. it was officially our first day in this trip! it was going to be a day-long hike and i was quite excited, not having the faintest idea of what's to come. 

as we got ready, i quickly realized two things:
1. my shoes were flat. theirs were like hard-core hiking shoes.
2. sofie and willem (hike guides) both have hiking poles. some hikers didn't, but if the ones guiding are using them, they must've been necessary.

assembling the ensemble (photo from pieter)

and so we started to walk. as we reached the edge of the town and started to make our way uphill, we saw some sled dogs chilling, and we made our first stop to take photos. "the dogs always score!", sofie announced. they're husky-like but not as fluffy and they don't bark like normal dogs, they kind of squeal. we tried not to disturb their sunbathing too much.

wherever you go in the world, puppies are always adorable.

at the start of ascent, we could see the beauty from the horizon. you could just imagine how much better it was from the vantage point. it was such a lovely day, a far cry from the day prior's weather. there were barely any clouds, and while that was so great for sightseeing and photo-taking, it wasn't so great on the (lightly sunblock-applied) face. 

very promising views

the omni-present sun

before the trip, i asked to 'host' our organization's mascot and bring it to greenland. we have a monthly newsletter at work, and the mascot is being featured making its way around the world. here it is in camouflage.    

say hello to CPI-clops

halfway into the hike, i realized that i should:
1. kick myself for not having the right hiking shoes
2. kick myself for not having hiking poles

looking back, this first hike was actually the mildest of all the other hikes to come, and it was already difficult for me! things could have really been better had i been more prepared. nevertheless, the regular breaks for hot tea, cookies or chocolates and water were helpful. it also helped that there's always something amazing to see.  

amazing views throughout the hike

post lunch, i could already see the pattern that i'm always behind. from time to time one of the guys would slow down and walk with me, though for the most part i also enjoyed walking alone. 

we finally got to the vantage point where it's 180 degrees of pure magic. that was a view worth hiking for! 

behold, the mighty ilulissat icefjord

lone ranger, perhaps out fishing?

somewhere while everybody's busy admiring the views, i had to hide and wail. i thought of floris. how could he not be here to see this? how could i be doing this alone?

but really, i wasn't. i was there with a bunch of nice people, though at that point i didn't know them well yet. also, there's CPI-clops. what good is a mascot if not to entertain its host, right? 

it's got to be the coolest CPI-clops out there, conquering the largest island in the world

after i recuperated from my self-imposed drama, and after everybody's had their fill of enjoying the scenery that was to be stowed forever in their minds and memory cards, we proceeded to walk back towards town. we did not run out of nice things to see. there was a never-ending trail of icebergs, more sled dogs, and the constant supply of mosquitoes. the notorious arctic mosquitoes. i have never been so violated by tiny creatures in my life, but that's a story for later. you never get truly annoyed of anything yet at day 1. we will come to that soon. 

bye for now, giant icebergs

more sled dogs

almost back in town! i could almost taste my victory Coke

we did pass by a grocery store and i zeroed in on addressing my parched throat and got a 500ml coke, and other goodies to share with the group. as i queued to pay, i realized i did not bring my wallet! of course someone came to rescue and lent me a hundred bucks :D 

'EPAL' is a Tagalog slang for a busybody (or its Singlish equivalent "Kiasu"). the more you know!

  
back in our luxury yacht, everyone settled down to relax. while having our first dinner - some really delicious chicken tikka (i didn't want to be too asian, so i didn't take food photos :( if only jasmine was there haha) and we were advised not to drink alcohol yet (noooooo!) because... we were about to take a trip around the icebergs via zodiac. 

yeaaahhhh!

the best surprise was that i get to do this little cruise with my beloved father in law. double yay!

the cruise was done in batches of 3, and while the rest were doing theirs, daniel and i were already winning by wining at the deck. later that night we started to sail out to our next destination.  

all in all, first day of the trip was so bloody awesome! it was a perfect start to my love affair with greenland.