Anyways... I'm in Toksook Bay right now. There is a huge Blackberry Festival going on right now and there are a few teachers here that I know so I'm staying with them for the weekend. Emily, Aimee, and I flew in Friday night which was an experience of itself. There usually aren't any flights straight from Kipnuk to Toksook but because of the Blackberry Festival they are having daily flights. The planes here are run more like a taxi service than the airlines in the Lower 48. You call up the rep in your village and tell them where you want to go. They say okay and call you 10 minutes before the pilot arrives so you can make it to the airstrip on time. Once on the plane you pay the pilot your fare and you are on your way! The trip was short, about 30 minutes, and we got cell phone reception the entire way there. Because of the festival I guess they have a lot of problems with people trying to bring in alcohol so there were a few VPOs at the air strip to greet us. They didn't check our bags or anything but their presence was noted.
Yesterday was an incredible day. One of the girls that I am staying with coaches cross country so we woke up early to watch the meet. Three other teams had flown in to compete. The meet went really well, we found out later that the course is one of the most difficult courses in the district... you have to run up a mountain which I found difficult to walk up. Not to mention the mud and rocks that are all along the course. The kids did well but were covered with mud when they got back and one of the girls from Goodnews Bay tried to run through some mud and sand up to here waist. She came back to the starting line with only one shoe!
After the race we watched the awards and were fed lunch and we went to pick some blackberries. They aren't the blackberries that we are used to... they resemble our blueberries but are much darker and not as sweet. But still delicious! We picked for an hour or so and then decided to walk up to the stone people, rock formations which are on top of one of the mountains. The view was beautiful. You could see the ocean and the town and more mountains/hills and the cliffs off of the ocean. So beautiful! Aimee and I wanted to go to the coast so we walked that way and eventually go there. It was so pretty. The beach was empty and there were cliffs all along it. We walked along the beach all the way back to Toksook! (I will let the pictures speak for themselves)
When we got back, dinner was ready and we were able to eat, halibut and quiona, and then head over to the fiddle dance. Local bands were playing there, including The Coastal Band, which our professor from culture camp, Agatha, sings in. We had a great night dancing and meeting new people and finally around midnight we decided to head home.
The weather yesterday was beautiful but today is cold, rainy, and windy... apparently the norm for Toksook. Aimee and I went berry picking this morning but only stayed out an hour or so. We got pretty cold. I was able to pick about a half gallon or so of berries though :-) They should make some delicious blackberry pancakes or muffins!
Sorry that this is so brief but I'm at the school right now and we are waiting for our flight. We aren't sure when we will get the call.
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