The Arctic Knife
Feb 28th, 2008 by Chris
It turns out that Kuukkelinpesä is not far from a road, and on the road is a souvenir shop. It was the people from the shop who had left the beer on the table so naturally we felt obliged to visit.
We walked across the lake for about fifteen minutes and then started to climb up a short trail to meet an almost surreal sight. In the middle of seemingly nowhere, in this vast arctic wilderness, was a bright yellow sign with bold red letters announcing
Coffee and a doughnut 50 cents
When we walked into the Arctic Knife a small, rotund woman with broad rimmed specs and a big smile greeted us like we were old friends, hugging each of us as we came in and enthusiastically welcoming us in her best English. Inside the shop was a veritabe emporium, with something for all tastes. I was very tempted by a trapper hat, but resisted. Sophie found a pair of lambs wool lined boots to replace her ageing Ugg boots, and a carved wooden cup. The woman who had greeted engraved Sophie’s name on the bottom of the cup beautifully. It wasn’t just the goods for sale that met with our approval though—at least one member of the party took advantage of the opportunity to use an inside loo that flushed!