Highland Games

                Yesterday I went to the Alaska Scottish Highland Games and it was SO MUCH FUN!! I went with my friend Nazario, and coworker friend Karyn and her husband Alec who is native Eskimo. Before the games when we were having breakfast he was telling us all about living in a small part of Alaska and how he comes from a town where they live off of the land and whale hunt. I know what you might be thinking oh whale hunting is so horrible and yes those vicious whaling boats are awful. But for the natives of Alaska that is how they survive, they use every part of the whale and other animals that they hunt nothing goes to waste and everything is respected.

                For the people who live in the small rural parts of Alaska they don’t have groceries stores everything is flown in and one onion can cost about $8 just because its been shipped in on seaplanes. So trust me when I saw nothing goes to waste and Alec told us a lot of great stories, even one about someone he knew I think it was a cousin who had hunted a whale and as he was going to kill it he fell off the boat into the water (waters up here are so cold that you can die within minutes of being exposed if you are not wearing a survival suit) when he fell into the water the whale pushed him up back into the boat with his nose. Talk about amazing…how could you have nothing but respect and admiration for an animal that not only feeds you and your entire village, but saves your life even though it knows you are going to hunt it for food. Amazing if you ask me.  So anyway after breakfast Alec took us to their place where he had some Muktuk in the freezer for us to try if we wanted. Muktuk is the Eskimo word for whale blubber, which they eat. Of course I was a little leery of trying it but what the heck when was I going to get another chance to eat whale blubber!? So he took some out and sliced it up and what you do is sprinkle a little salt on it and then chew it. I have to admit it was very interesting, chewy a bit oily but not gross it was pretty good. I also tried a piece of cooked whale meat which was salty and fishy tasting I didn’t really like that very much. But it was an interesting experience and it was nice of Alec to share that with us.  Here is a photo of the Muktuk this part was a piece of flipper which Alec said are more chewy than the rest of the blubber parts which are more tender when cooked and eaten.

                Then we were off to the Highland Games! It was in this place called Eagle River which is a cute little town tucked away among beautiful mountains. The weather was perfect it was sunny with some clouds but mostly sunny as evident by the sunburn I got even though I thought I was being careful and put on sunscreen. There were lots of men in kilts and I do have to admit if I saw a guy wearing a kilt I might think it was a little odd, but at the highland games its highly attractive haha they really wear them well.

Here are some photos from the games:

All in all it was a great day I had fun going with my friend/coworker Karyn and her husband Alec.