{"id":2525,"date":"2020-03-28T20:30:17","date_gmt":"2020-03-28T18:30:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.danamladin.com\/?p=2525"},"modified":"2026-01-24T23:24:25","modified_gmt":"2026-01-24T21:24:25","slug":"groenlanda-cand-vrei-o-plimbare-usoara-si-ajungi-sa-te-antrenezi-ca-serpasii","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.danamladin.com\/en\/2020\/03\/groenlanda-cand-vrei-o-plimbare-usoara-si-ajungi-sa-te-antrenezi-ca-serpasii\/","title":{"rendered":"GREENLAND \u2013 When you want a simple walk and you get to train like the sherpas :)"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

“2 hour snowshoe walk” \u2013 this is what I paid for\nduring one more day in Ilulissat<\/strong>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It looks like the path is similar to the one taken the first\nnight in Greenland, when we went to see the Northern Lights, so the people from\nthe Tourism Center offer me for today\u2026 a “5 hour snowshoe HIKING”!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

My God! I say that no, I would not get into anything like\nthat, since I have been somewhat of a couch potato lately\u2026 It is clear that I cannot\ndo that and, God forbid, I might be left somewhere on the way.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

However they hit me hard, telling me that, the other day,\nthey had a 81 years old lady in the group and she walked the entire track!!!\nDamn! I will be a laughing stock! So I accept. Let’s do it!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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When we are supposed to leave the Center, the tourists are nowhere to be found. None of the\u2026 three who had signed up for the tour did not show up. So, there I am, alone at the limits of the town, starting a private tour, practically. Because I am alone with the guide. A guide who, since there is no group, combined for me all the tracks they were taking the tourists on, so that I could see the best places.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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I am very heavily clothed! I have three types of trousers,\ncaps, that I am both wearing and carrying in my backpack, I have a very warm\ncoat and underneath some more clothes, just as I was instructed to wear. And\nplenty of gloves\u2026<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The guide, a Spanish man who works here a few months per\nyear, gives me the \u201crackets\u201d we are going to wear. I will be like a penguin, walking\nthrough the snow with them\u2026<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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No matter where you look, you are breathless! (Well, I am\nbreathless from the wind too\u2026)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A fishermen’s boat looks lost among the ice blocks.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The guide tells me that during summer, there are more icebergs\nand because of them, sometimes, no boat passes by, they simply cannot!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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THE SERMEQ KUJALLEQ GLACIER<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

I look from up there to the huge ice blocks that I have seen from down there, during the boat trip. I remember that they are broken of the Sermeq Kujalleq glacier \u2013 the most productive one in the Northern Hemisphere! This one has a terrifying speed: it moves 20 meters every day, during winter and 40 meters during summer!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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On the first height, here I am taking pictures both with the camera and with my phone. The gopro died a few minutes after our start, probably because of the cold weather. I still resist\u2026 Although I feel sweat freezing on my back. I am already fed up with how much we went up! But it is worth it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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What is fascinating, the guide tells me, is that the landscape is different each time. Every time he brings tourists here, it looks different, because the ice blocks are permanently moving.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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From this stick, the UNESCO protected area begins. This\nmeans that, beyond this mark, nobody is allowed on snowmobiles, sledges,\nunicorns\u2026<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This is an area respected by everybody! Or by almost\neverybody, as the guide picks up from the snow a Coca Cola Can. There are no\ndustbins here, so he puts it in his backpack.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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“I am glad that you like it here” \u2013 he tells me after we cross another area that involves going up and down, me breathing heavily and trembling with cold, him being very lively, me feeling that I am all wet underneath all layers of clothing, him feeling that he found a person desperate to take pictures \ud83d\ude42<\/p>\n\n\n\n

After I take hundreds of photos and I film, he shows me, on\nhis phone, a film he made in this area a few days ago. It is nice what I see\nthere!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But what I can see now is equally nice:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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