My second home in Ivalo – the Hospital.
Having broken ribs is not such a big deal and I really do not deserve much sympathy. I mean – with the benefit of hindsight – it is pretty dumb to go dogsledding carrying a bloody big camera. It would be best if you left comments saying ‘Jeez – you are really dumb!’
When we arrived Cate said to Mika ‘Is it OK if we take a camera?’ and Mika replied ‘Sure but you may fall off and break it!’ Pretty clear message there.
We spent a fair amount of time in the hospital in Ivalo where I was attended to by Doctor Väärsi.
I broke my ribs on New Year’s Eve so X-Ray was closed and I had to wait two days to get this done. At first the good Doctor was a bit dismissive – suggesting after an examination that I might have a ‘cracked rib’.
He was much more impressed after the X-Ray when it revealed 3 and possibly 4 breaks. He thought I may not be able to fly home as planned because of the nature of the breaks – but he discussed this with his colleagues in Rovaniemi and they decided to let me go as planned.
We stayed in the Lapinleuku Wilderness Hotel which is a collection of log cabins inside the Arctic Circle. The place was built by Timo Sarkoja who lives there with his wife. They still seem to do all the work even though they are both in their 70s.
It is a surreal experience to be in a place so remote and so cold that you would be dead within an hour without winter clothing – and where you really cannot get the 30 meters from your cabin to the dining hut without kitting up with coat, boots, hat, gloves and scarf.
I know I bang on about this all the time but for people from the Southern Hemisphere – this was an astonishing experience. We had only four hours ‘daylight’ each day but wallowed in the bliss of every second of our stay in this wonderland of snow, half-light and shadow – and then the inky blackness of the Arctic night. Unfortunately we do not have many photos of our trip after Helsinki because of the Camera Crushing incident.
Gwenyth has a camera but it was made in 1992. Yes I kid you not. This is a woman who is a General Manager in charge of Technology in one of Australia’s major Law firms and she has a camera made in 1992. Well you can just imagine the quality of the photos it takes. In case you cannot - I will post some soon in the Picasa Album attached to this Blog. 1992. Sheesh!
