Bethel, Alaska is a small town about 400 miles from Anchorage and 400 miles from Russia. It's a small fishing village on the Kuskokwin River that empties out into the Bering Sea. It's nothing like I pictured Alaska to be. It's a muddy, wet tundra area, with about 6,000 people. 
I was able to find an LDS church in town and truly enjoyed the people. They were instantly so friendly and so interested in what I was doing. Throughout the week I say several of them in town and I loved it.
Work was very interesting throughout the week as we learned about the many things these people deal with on a day to day basic and the fascinating lives they live. Some of the workers there told us about how the only way to travel to visit their families in neighboring villages is to fly or take a boat. There are no roads! These same workers take their annual leave every year to go hunt for the coming winter. They hunt, fish for hundreds of fish and pick berries for two weeks. They then smoke and can every inch of every fish in order to live off it for the coming year. I was amazed!
Things are very expensive in Bethel as everything must be flown in or brought in by plane. A gallon of milk is about $10, ice cream $9. I could go on and on with the fascinating things from this trip.Undoubtedly my favorite part of the trip was on Thursday, the Mayor, Thor, took us on his boat to a neighboring village. This is one of the closest villages and can only be reach by the river. In the winter the river freezes over and they are able to actually drive down to the village or taking their snowmobiles. We were literally out in the rough of Alaska. It was so beautiful and so interesting. I wish I had a picture of Thor, he was so great! (As I'm sure you can tell by his name alone.)
6 comments:
This is so fascinating, it sounds like you had a memorable experience. Your travels sure run the gammet! For several years my aunt and uncle (who are Nathan's age) worked in little village like the one you described, as teachers. Justin was invited up for a semester there one year and it was a great and eye opening experience for him. Driving snowmobiles everywhere when you are 13, not bad :) I remember that there was a lot of poverty though, these people didn't have much and many spent their pay checks on alcohol. Overall my bro loved the people and had an amazing time. It makes me want to go see Alaska someday...
Sounds beautiful, truly still one of the "last frontier" places. It's always fascinating to me to see how other people live their everyday lives. Thanks for the peek into Bethel.
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Loves!
Sounds very fun and very cold. Rusty always talked about going to grad school in Alaska...I think I would have turned into a popsickle.
i love the pics! I have always wanted to go to alaska. And I am glad you approve of Bradley :) haha
That's because Thor was the name of the dude from Adventures in Babysitting! I love Alaska though. Life up there fascinates me and it is SO beautiful! You are so lucky to be able to travel and experience so much. Maybe one day we will stop playing phone tag huh? Hope all is well. Love you!
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