Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
My friend Linda points out that littering in Bush Alaska doesn't mean exactly the same
thing that it does Outside. Nothing ever gets thrown away in the Bush. There is a local
joke about the 55-gallon drum being the Alaska state flower, but it's no joke that said
drum can be made into a stove, a cache, a dog pot or a dog house. Blazo tins are beaten
flat and used for roofing, Blazo boxes are used for furniture, one-pound butter cans are
used for piggy banks, parts jars, ashtrays. Dead engines of any and every kind are scav-
enged for parts. Scrap lumber is
never
thrown away; too much of Alaska has no trees.
You'll see a lot of what looks like trash piled around village housing. It isn't, for the most
part; it's good stuff that the owner is going to put to good use someday.
Last and most important: Alaska Natives and in particular Native elders move at a
slower pace than the rest of the world. They take a while to answer a question; don't rush
them. Don't insist on looking them straight in the eye. Don't stick out your hand for them
to shake. Wait, watch and take your lead from your hosts.
So. Are you scared yet?
Don't be. Alaska is “a wondrous place, with treasures to satiate desires both subtle and
gross.” It is the last place left to show us what our planet looked like a thousand or even a
hundred years ago. It is an extreme landscape, three mountain ranges, thousands of
streams, creeks and rivers, rolling tundra that stretches on for hundreds of miles, thirty-six
thousand miles of shoreline.
Such an extreme landscape inevitably breeds extreme personalities. You put four
Alaskans in a room, you'll have five marriages, six divorces and seven political parties.
They are capable people, they have to be, Alaska won't tolerate anything less. But they
don't suffer fools gladly, and to them, everyone who doesn't live in Alaska is a fool.
Enjoy them.
