The Finnish Arctic (Lappland)
The land of the midnight sun (in the summer time)
The land of eternal darkness/twilight in the winter time.
Full moon.
The forest in full moon.
At the ski slope.
-24c
The record round here was set back in -99,
a bone chilling -51c.
Endless miles of Reindeer studded human-void ski tracks
through pristine Arctic winter wonderlands !
Reindeer in the driveway !
T'was a fascinating couple of lazy Arctic weeks of snow eating and
pondering the amazing survival skills of the Reindeer in this Hell/Paradise.
There were even bizarre mystical events to be witnessed
such as a horde of skiing Englishmen !
One negative experience One will have in Lappland is an almost
assured presence of irritating noise and fume pollution from caravans
of snowmobiles wrecking the serene ambiance.
This northern tip of Europe has been inhabited by the so called Saami since the end of the Ice age.
This Saameland often referred to as Lappland is currently occupied by the goofy hillbilly Nation of
Finland, the noble Viking Nations of Sweden & Norway and the evil empire of Russia.
The Saami are currently forced to learn Finnish in school ! How scandalously insulting !
One day the Saami will inhabit a Nation who's southern border will be the Arctic circle.
The Saami and the Finns share a common ancestry with the Mongolians, the Japanese and Koreans.
The Saami Shamanic culture (which the Finns have lost) extends from here to Chile through north
America and is referred to as the "Shamanic Belt" by anthropologists. It used to be a cohesive
culture back in the day but has now been fragmented by enormous distances and time. Nevertheless
One can still hear the obvious similarities of the Shamanic Native north & south American drumming/
singing/dancing and the the traditional Saami-Finnish versions. Linguists have also established links
between the mysterious Finnish language and the Athabaskan languages of the North American natives,
especially the Navajo. This is FASCINATING STUFF !!!!!!!! and that's yer history lesson for today. Tchau.
A few days later; I'm in Rio and it's 41c, without the minus in front.
Faaaaak !!!!!!! I really don't know what's better....Hell....or Hell...?