Our first day in Tasiilaq, Vicky and I went on a two-hour self-guided walk around the town. On our second day, the hotel owner took us on a three-hour walking tour around town. It’s safe to say that we saw most of the town of Tasiilaq.

Tasiilaq was actually quite interesting. In this first post from our walkabout, I’d like to highlight some of the quaint aspects that we found.

Tasiilaq seemed like a desolate place at times. Then I would just stop and look at a scene like this one and think, "WOW, this place is beautiful".

You can see the edge of the asphalt street on the bottom left. Tasiilaq had just paved their main streets a week before for the first time ever. Before that, it was gravel roads and in fact, most roads still are gravel. The highlight here is that you are looking at Tasiilaq's first and only street sign.

This scene was as typical as you can get in Tasiilaq. Both of these houses have fish hanging out to dry and between the two houses is a clothes line to air dry their washed clothing.

You need a front-porch seat and the only store in town doesn't have one. No problem. You just go down to the harbor, find yourself about eight pallets floating in the harbor and pack them home. A little rough carpentry, some old rubber matting and a pillow - and Presto!

What if your front door hand-railing breaks? You go back to the harbor, find some driftwood, a little more carpentry and you are back in business. I would say that the residents of Tasiilaq are very self-sufficient - because they have to be.