Uummannaq and Siorapaluk, GREENLAND

The turquoise tinted, sea ice is covered in a web of dog sled tracks, some go across the bay, some lead behind Uummannaq, and the other routes go around the front side of the island, where the canning factory and shipping port are. As we approach our destination, Uummannaq mountain juts sharply into the sky, to a height of 1170 metres, and then extends out like a huge, stretched out tongue, with pop rock candy coloured homes, sprinkled all over it. On the back side of the mountain is where Santa Claus lives. Years ago a Danish television program built Santa’s Castle on the west side of the island. To this day Danish and Greenlandic children believe St. Nick lives on the back side of the mountain and they send thousands of letters to the Uummannaq’s Post Office every year. The helicopter hovers, lowers down and settles on the Uummannaq heliport pad.