I first traveled to Iqaluit in 1986; we stopped on route to Resolute and used the original airport (which was then turned into the cargo facility. I returned in 1988 – before I had even started at INSTAAR in Boulder and by then we were at the “new” yellow dome terminal. Iqaluit was my home away from home from 1988- 92 and I even had a PO Box and a bank account at Bank of Montreal (I wonder what happened to that?).
I returned in 1995 and came home with a dog (Akla) who proved to be a great, feral, bundle of fun. He lived to be almost 20 years old, proof that original canine bloodlines are often the strongest.
I returned to Iqaluit in 2023 before starting a disastrous job with unscrupulous and dishonest government contractors. For the first time I stayed at the Frobisher Inn, never having been able to afford it in the past. It was decent although 4X the price you would pay for a similar property in the South.
Lots had changed and yet the feel was the same. The town itself is bigger but I soon got oriented. Northmart is still there, in my head it will always be the Bay. The Snack has strangely survived but I didn’t go this time, thus missing my chance to see a recurrence of two women wrestle fighting on the floor over some disagreement. The cold still freezes your nose hairs and makes your cheekbones ache. There’s a slight smell of jet fuel and two stroke exhaust. It gets dark at 230-3pm in late November so you’d better make the most of the daylight. There’s an excellent new coffee shop / cafe called Black Heart Cafe just north of the new RCMP building – highly recommended. And there’s now a third “new” terminal at the airport. Will I live long enough to see a fourth?
