Kotlik

Today I am in Kotlik, Alaska which is located on the Yukon river. This is a boardwalk village so there are no roads, just boardwalks running through the village. Everyone walks, bikes or rides 4 wheelers on the boardwalks. There are no cars in the entire village. This time of year there are tons of huge mosquitoes so walking outside is pretty rough. The salmon run is going on right now so much of the village is out fishing, so things are a little slow as far as doing eye exams. We are set up in the school so I have internet, but the boilers are turned off in the school so no heat or warm water. Yesterday I took a walk along the river on a boardwalk. There are small boats lining the shore and lots of fish hanging to dry behind houses. It stays light here almost all the time so the kids stay up really late playing outside. I usually go to bed by midnight and there are always lots of young kids still outside running around. We had to charter a flight in the morning to our next stop, Mountain Village. The flight is about 20 minutes, but cost $750 since it is a charter. Food at the little grocery stores here is also very expensive. Yesterday my one bag of groceries cost $77. We have already been in Alakunuk and Emmonak on this trip, which are also along the Yukon. In Emmonak we stayed in the Emmonak "hotel" It is an old two story building with the bingo hall and city offices on the first floor and some really dirty rooms on the upper floors. We paid $105 dollars a night for the rooms. I talked to one villager who told me he remembers this building being built when he was a child in the 70's. He said it was the only two story building in town and he thought it was "the biggest building in the world".