More From Atmau

Here are some more pictures from my adventures in Atmau.
First of all- let me explain a few details about logistics:
There are 3 small airlines that make daily flights from Bethel into the outlying villages: they are Hageland Aviation, Yute Air, and Grant Aviation. Many people have opinions about which company is the safest, friendliest, promptest etc.- Let's just say I have had the most experience with Hageland, and they fly some of the largest planes, thus I feel safer.
So each airline has an "agent" in the villages. This is a local person who meets the plane to pick-up supplies, makes reservations for those of us traveling in and out, and provides transportation to and from the airstrip. In Atmau Hageland's agent is Buster- a friendly young Yup'ik man. Buster is an extremely important link in my getting in and out of the villages. There are generally 3 flights a day per village and even though they are "scheduled", you never know exactly what time they will arrive. Timing is quite important since there are no buildings on the airstrips to wait in. It is also Buster's responsibility to call the school and let me know how close the plane is, then pick me up and get me and all my stuff to the plane on time (the pilot's do not wait for anyone!)
Usually I am the only one on the village agent's 4-wheeler or snowmobile, but on this particular day in Atmau, Buster arrived at the school with a woman on the back of the snowmobile and was also pulling a sled holding a young boy and his grandmother. I got in the sled with the others (along with all our luggage) and off we went. Next we pulled up to a trailer where we picked up an elderly man. He stood on the back of the sled and held on. When I pulled out my camera, the boy was fascinated and asked me to take his picture - here are our pictures from the ride. Sorry for the blurry shot- we were moving at a pretty quick pace! I even let him take a photo of me (even though my eyes are closed, I had to post it for him!)