Rareș Beșliu, a photographer in love with nature and animal life, starts the photographic project North of words, a parallel between the Arctic regions and the impact of climate change felt in Romania. He went on a series of expeditions to the coldest areas of the Planet – Svalbard, Greenland, the Canadian Arctic Archipelago – and his stories and photos, collected under the Jurnal de Nord hat, will be constantly published on ertudin.ro and in ” Weekend Truth”. More information can be found on www.lanord.ro and www.raresbesliu.com.
The mummies at the Museum of History in Nuuk. PHOTO: Rareș Beșliu
DAY 9. Tuesday, August 15
First thing in the morning, we disembarked at Nuuk. Then I raced against the clock to get to the airport on time for Kangerlussuaq. I really wanted to not leave here until I visited the history museum (The National Museum of Greenland), where I saw some of the best preserved mummies in the world. They were discovered by two hunters in 1972 and date back to 1475. Six women and two children, one of whom was only 6 months old, were preserved as only ice could do. It is believed that the baby was buried alive because Inuit tradition said that when the mother dies, the children must go with her. The custom seems to have been a practical one, since he had no one to take care of them, but that does not diminish his cruelty at all. The Inuit, the most smiling and kind people I have met, live with this history behind them. The world was and is a paradox.
After I shuddered at the museum, I reveled in writing the views. Just like in Svalbard, we replicated the “you promise, I send” contest where people promised not to buy water at PET on August 14, and I send them a view from here. Whether they kept their word, only they know, but I think even the intention is worth encouraging. I know first hand how hard it is when I'm out and about not to buy half bottles whenever I feel thirsty. And the problem is that, most of the time, I give up and end up contributing a little more to the world's sea of plastic. I put solar panels on my house, I bought a scooter and an electric car, but in the fight with the bottles, I feel defeated. That's why I'm looking for all kinds of tricks to encourage people to join me, because I've seen with others that it can be done. In Svalbard, at the restaurant, you pour yourself water from the mug. On the icebreaker at the North Pole, I only drank tap water. It was good and free, like any right we should all have.
After landing at Kangerlussuaq, I went to look for accommodation. In such a small town, with 500 inhabitants, you have to wait in line to find a place to sleep without having reserved it in advance. That's how I ended up in a room with 16 beds. Me, the sensitive, the fit, the enemy of microbes. In front of me, only stacked beds, three on top of each other, with dark green curtains, so that the impact of time on them cannot be seen too well. The bed had only the mattress, the pillow and the linen could not be rented for this room, only for the ones with fewer places. I'm wodering why? I felt like I was going to sleep in a smelly cave. Luckily, I could at least rent a towel and take a shower in one of the 4 bathrooms that serve the several hundred guests.
How hard it was for me when I came, but how hard it is for me now! At least then I had my own room and bedclothes. Defeated in the battle of decent and clean living, I returned to the airport, where I comforted myself with food and internet until I returned to my “accommodation”. I haven't been able to keep the diary, like every night.
I slept with the fear of falling out of bed, but more with the care of the equipment. Two cameras and five Canon lenses, plus a DJI drone stayed overnight in the refrigerator room, because it was the “safest” place. I think if I had left my car unlocked I would have been more at ease.
Copenhagen, one of the bicycle cities. PHOTO: Rareș Beșliu
But here I am now in Copenhagen, with all my baggage behind me, safe and sound. It's a miracle I haven't lost anything so far. Denmark is the last stop before I get home and the country I'm discovering for the first time. I was injured several times by cyclists and I say this with a smile. I don't think there are more bicycles in the world than here, and Amsterdam looks like a small child next to this city. It's fascinating. They have a type of bike for every need. Some have strollers attached to make shopping easier, and others have a special place for children. Only one lane was for cars.
No more than 3 hours of flying by plane separate us from this country, but civilization and sustainability are light years away from it. In restaurants, water is always free and available to everyone. I will fight for this to happen in Romania as well.
