I’ve now found myself in one of the most northernmost places you can get to easily (ok, after only 8 flights): Eureka weather station in arctic Canada. It’s not much of a tourist spot, and actually getting the weather here doesn’t come easily (oh, the irony!). But what you can get is great food and a warm bed to sleep in after shelling out a mere $300 per night.

I left from Friedrichshafen on the 14th to end up in Ottawa via Newark, and I spent most of my flight trying to figure out what I was going to tell the customs agents in Newark when they searched my luggage and found the two bottles of rum I had stashed. Why not just claim them, you may ask? Well, they’re from Cuba. And anyone that lives in the US knows that stuff from Cuba is not allowed in the US if you’re a citizen, because of the… well, since it’s supporting the… I mean, it’s bad to… ok, no one actually knows why. We just get in trouble if we have Cuban goods, that’s all.

Anyway, I was thinking up the best excuses and statements of ignorance that I could muster up so I would be able to eventually make my way to Ottawa – but instead of getting stuck with a customs agent problem, I got held up with an immigration officer. Our conversation went something like this:

Ofc: So, where are you staying tonight, Mr. Russell

[He reads my immigration form]

Me: I’m headed to Canada. I’m not really sure, I will probably book a hotel later this evening.

Ofc: You really don’t know where you’re staying?

Me: No, not yet.

Ofc: Oh, that’s going to be a problem. You see, if you don’t tell me some place that you’re staying, then I have to call my supervisor, and he has to fill out some paperwork, and you’ll be detained, and they’ll confiscate your luggage… so it’s better to put something there, make something up…

Me: Oh, well I don’t want that to happen!

Ofc: Yeah, just make up some bull****…

[I grab the form, scribble in Ramada, Ottawa, Canada]

Ofc: Ok, what’s that second word?

Me: Canada.

[He stamps it, thinks about it]

So, that was that. I lied on a Federal form cause otherwise I’d be detained. Neat, never done that before!

My next customs experience was in Canada. Of course there the Cuban rum is ok; that wasn’t a big deal. Instead, the maximum allowable liquor that I can bring in is 1.15L or some strange thing like that. And how much rum is in the two bottles? I have no idea. So I leave it off my customs form.

Again, instead I get an interrogation at immigration about what I’m doing in Canada. The guy was nice, and after 10 minutes or so, I was on my way. I’m not sure what he really wanted to know from me.

The next day I flew from Ottawa to Iqaluit, and then from Iqaluit to Resolute via two other stops that I can’t remember the names of. That was pretty uneventful, except that I got sick along the way, and consequently felt like crap the whole night and most of the next day.

Now I’m in Eureka, and we’ve flown twice from here, with tomorrow being a long day with a flight to Alert (now, that’s WAY out there) and back. Then on Monday we hope to go to Thule, my favorite Air Force base in the Pituffik area.

There are only a couple of things that aren’t so great about this place: the first is the existence of (but lack of permission to use) the internet. There is one PC here that is only to be used by the staff for internet. According to the guy managing this place, they have a shared “32 kilobyte” connection, which implies he really meant 32 kilobit, but whatever. But it has been noted by the esteemed and resourceful Pannir that our rooms have ethernet connections, which – with the right amount of coaxing and guessing about IP addresses – can be used to get out on the internet, even if only for a brief period before an IP collision occurs.

I guess the second “not so great” thing about this place is the extremely high cost of getting from the airport to the actual weather station (where you sleep and pay $80 for dinner each night – it’s only $60 for lunch, though): $145 bux to ride for 1.5 miles. That’s a pretty damn expensive ride! Not sure how they justify this, but I guess it’s the only game in town. Either walk or pay the fee (I walked except when we had all of our luggage with us).

The final – and most absurd thing of all – is the unavailability of weather information. That’s right: it is, in fact, a weather station. And it’s connected to other weather stations, and there are “meteorological technicians” on staff 24 hours a day. But, if one desires to actually know what the weather is outside, or get a forecast, or what the cloud ceilings are, or perhaps a temperature, or the wind direction and velocity – forget it. There is no posted weather information and no one willing to provide it for you. Your only means of weather is to ask for permission to use one of the two phone lines, call someone else in any part of the world, and ask them what the weather forecast for the Eureka area is. Now, that’s efficient!