Paglagivsi

Paglagivsi means Hello. We just came back from a bus tour of the city of Barrow. Ran into some neat stuff.

First of all, they are extremely proud of their whaling heritage. Whale bones as pictured above are prominently displayed.

We also discovered that there is still an early warning radar station here in Barrow. Our tour guide told us that most of the facility that was built during the Cold War was dismantled in 1999, for a cost of about $3 million. After the events of September 11, 2001, the government spent $22 million putting it back. He said that this station is not on any official map even. There is reportedly no military presence in Barrow. There are, however, 35 Air Force personnel that work this area that never dress in military uniform and do not ride in military vehicles. He said, "But they're here."

We learned of the Frozen Family they found about twenty years ago. About 800-1200 years ago, a massive sheet of ice flattened an unsuspecting family and perfectly preserved them for centuries. There is some article about it in National Geographic. There are still research facilities here and a lot of scientific money gets pumped into this area. We saw the original habitation site of Barrow and learned that they settled there because of the native snowy owl population that they used as a food source.