“Bugs!”
That was my first thought as I waited outside the airport for a taxi that never arrived. Mosquitoes, fat and fast, were everywhere. It was dusk: there’d be no night, not really. It was July and I was too far north and very isolated. So isolated, indeed, that I’d never imagined, hadn’t prepared for, mosquitoes. Those bastards are everywhere. Bring on the bats!
Of course, within a moment of abandoning my taxi-rank wait and boarding the semi-public coach whose driver, as we whizzed into town, yelled out the names of hotels in a Danish I, for one, couldn’t begin to comprehend, many several “taxis” did, indeed, arrive outside of Nuuk International Airport. Still, I was concerned: how was I supposed to get around the city without taxis or Uber or a bus system I could begin to understand?
I needn’t have worried: I was to walk. (Regular readers, at this juncture, might find themselves wondering if Somewhat Rudish has been purloined by one Russ J. Rudish, the famed walker of Floridian beaches, Spanish pilgrimages, and world-wide hotel treadmills. Hark and never fear: ‘tis I, Charles. Yes, I, Charles, the one, the only, the infamous anti-ambler, would spend the next two days exploring a provincial capital small enough for even me to enjoy on foot.)
First up, naturally: the bar. The best bar, I’d heard, was a joint called “Daddy’s” which, I was surprised and disappointed to subsequently discover, was in no way affiliated with either the homosexual or arrangement-seeking communities. Rather, it was a pub, filled primarily with Danish workers and German tourists drinking beer and eating the literal saltiest peanuts I’ve every encountered in my life. I read Henry James. At midnight-ish (who could really tell, as twilight led to dawn) they locked the main entrance, cutting off a beautiful crisp sub-Arctic breeze. Upon leaving, sometime thereafter, I realized why: outside, in the forecourt, drunks had rowdily congregated. Locals, I guessed, mostly. I recalled the moaned words of an inebriated homeless man on a similar night many years ago in Anchorage: “our land is so rich and they take everything.”
I scurried to my hotel and shut the curtains black.
More from the Series
Part 2
About Travels with Charlie
Name a country, city, island, restaurant or ballet performance and you can bet Charles Rudish has been there. Follow along as he documents his adventures around the world with this ongoing series. Charles offers a humorous and insightful perspective on travel, culture and exploring the world around you.
