When we landed in Akiachak, the first thing I noticed were the mosquitoes. Not to put to fine a point on it, but the little bastards were swarming, some the size of grown men, all poised to suck the life right out of us.
This was the first flight where we were literally the only cargo --- being Sunday, there was no mail, and no other passengers were headed our way either. As such, the village agent to his time getting to the landing strip. In all of our village interactions we had made previous contact with the tribal centers. Usually, this meant a local would meet us at the airport and give us a ride into town --- a surprisingly efficient system that had not failed us yet. In Akiachak, because we were arriving on a Sunday, we had no tribal liaison attending us. Instead, we were planning to huff it the 1-2 miles into town. The presence of billions of mosquitoes, not to mention the low-lying shrubbery that was certain to house bears, made that a less than awesome prospect. Thankfully, the Era agent headed out to meet us, giving us a ride into the village and saving us from the potential for being mauled by a bear or worse --- the certain death that lay from a million tiny mosquito bites.
Unfortunately, this is the sum total of my experience in Akiachak. Intermittent rain storms and the aforementioned fact that it was Sunday (and everything was closed) kept us from interacting with anyone from the town or getting a real sense of its vibe. So far, every town has its own unique personality, but with Akiachak I did not experience any of this. It is the curse of this job, really; we blow into town long enough only to get the barest feel of a place, and then, like a puff of smoke or a light breeze, are gone.
No comments:
Post a Comment