And I succeeded! A nice guy named Rick who is going away all spring, agreed with me that his dogs would have a much better time hanging out with the babes than be left on a chain for the next months.. So when we jumped on the small aircraft that took us here to Qikiqtarjuaq on Friday morning, Buck and Anu joined us. Two friendly dogs that appear strong and tough. Exactly what we were looking for! 

Qikiqtarjuaq is a beautiful little village situated on the east coast of Baffin. Approximately 500 people are living in the community and we have already made friends with many of them. We have had tea at the police officers, enjoyed a delicious meal with all the school teachers, played hockey with the local kids and learned our first words in Inuktitut from the hotel host. Tomorrow we are proudly taking part in the local celebration of the international woman day and on Monday we are meeting the kids at the school. With two more dinner invitations in addition to whats already mentioned, we are actually in a hurry to get ready for departure on Tuesday morning! The food still needs to be packed, the skins for our skis needs to be cut, chains for the dogs needs to be prepared, the tent poles should be taped together, and so on and so on. But as the moon grows bigger in the clear arctic sky, we are ticking off more and more "to dos" on our list and the expedition life comes closer and closer. Before we know it we will be out there on the ice, waving goodbye to exciting days and welcoming new ones. There will be 80 of them.