We dropped our friend's car off at my parents' place in Ottawa and got to stay for a very nice lunch (thanks mom) before being chauffeured to the airport (thanks dad).
Apparently, the Canadian North airline has not realized that it is no longer the 1990s: although it was only a 2.5-hour flight, we were served complimentary hot meals on trays, with a free glass of wine on offer and a warmed-up chocolate chip cookie arriving later on in case the carrot cake in a small transparent plastic container was not enough dessert.
We were met at the airport by Joseph, director of the Qajuqturvik Community Food Centre, who brought us to our hotel to check in and then gave us a grand tour of Iqaluit: downtown, the centre itself, government buildings, Apex beach, a cemetery with two big bowhead whale ribs framing a view of the tundra sloping down to the water, and a spot at the port around the bay where you could see the lights of the whole city at once.
Iqaluit is small but sprawls along the flat land by the water and up onto the hills above. Most building are built on steel posts to keep them from melting the ground beneath, which would unsettle the structures. There is interesting architecture everywhere, some of it looking like weird alien pods. The main roads are paved but many side roads are not, and there's a lot of sand and grit in the air. The height of the tides is immense -- Joseph says up to 11 meters -- and so far we've mostly seen low tide, with long stretches of mud and rock between the shore and the water.
Our hotel room is fancy and spacious, with a view of the bright yellow building that used to be the main passenger airport and Frobisher bay not far off to the south.
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