Trip to Bethel, Alaska

We, Beth, Niki and myself, left for a fun weekend in the village of Bethel, AK.  You may remember our friend, George, whom you saw snowshoeing with us last month, and he was on our Bear Adventure last June.  We went to visit him in Bethel where he teaches Physics and Economics at the High School level.  Bethel is located on the tundra and in the Yupik territory.The town was established by the Moravian in 1885.  People in Anchorage call Bethel a village but let me tell you it is a BIG village.  The population is 3500 and the town is 48 square miles with only 10 miles of paved roads.  You can only get to Bethel by boat or plane. 

These signs are at the Bethel Airport.  These are Yupik words identifying the restrooms.  The poster is to help you know what you can and can not do with Walrus Ivory.  There is definitely rules for Natives versus non-Natives. Bethel is the hub for about 56 villages in the Yukon-Kuskokwim Delta.  It is the largest village in Western Alaska.  What is tundra?  Tundra is the flat, treeless wet land of Alaska.  Because the tundra is wet, swamp-like the earth moves a lot so you will see most of the houses are on stilts to allow for movement.

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Bethel is where the Kuskokwam 300 Dog Sled race takes place in February. These are Dog Sled sprints.  Can you image 300 miles a sprint?  It is a good training for the Iditarod.  These are some of the houses, churches, buildings and resturants around Bethel.

The house above is very typical.  This subdivision does not have city water or sewer.  This is a 1000 gallon water holding tank outside the house with insulation.  It is filled every week.  They must conserve water when they have this limitation.  Think how your life would change if you had only limited water each day.  Water cost about $400 a month.  Yikes! The big house is where George lived with 4 other teachers last year.  It is on lthe Kuskokwam River and very expensive. Since George doesn't have a car it made it difficult to get around town.

This is the Bethel harbor.  It is one of the largest harbor in the Western coast of Alaska.  Don't you just love the Winnebago on top of the containers?

Chief Eddie Hoffman was a famous Native who helped the Natives settle the Land Grant Agreement when Alaska became a State.
BABS, as the locals call it, is the Boarding School for Native students who need an alternative Middle School or High School experience.  Most of these students have a some alcohol or drug problem.  Chris, another camper with us, teaches here.  He shares a lot of the success stories of the students with us over the weekend.

The school grounds for the Boarding School.

This is the only grocery store in Bethel.  The Value Center (George and Beth, entering) is a store where you can buy groceries, amunition and guns, clothing, and winter gear.  One stop shopping.








Just a few food price items for you.  Now you can appreciate your grocery store prices!



Generic Peanut Butter $12.55.

 A bag or crate of Cuties for $15.29!!

 The fruit section looks lovely.  George told us to look closer at the produce.  After closer inspection, almost all the oranges had spoiled spots, apples were bruised, bananas were almost brown on one side.  So they do get fresh fruit, it arrives once a week by plane, pay a lot and get not the quality you and I are used to paying for.

 This is the sign that leads us to George's house.  I don't speak Yupik but they all do.  This is George's house.  It is 438 B City sub.  They give their address by street address and which subdivision they live in.  Bethel has 5 subdivisions.  Now what is really pecular is how they receive the mail. It is sent to the Bethel Post Office but they don't pick up their mail at the Post Office.  The Post Office is located near the airport. That makes sense. But since many people do not have cars they can not get to the Post Office. So a gentleman in the City Subdivision owns a Post Office mini post in the City Sub.  So George and everyone in his subdivision has to go to this man's house to pick up his mail.  It is hit or miss a lot as to whether the man is home so you may not get your mail for a few days.  Unique but it works for Bethel.

 George's house has city water and sewer so this is the old holding tanks since they gained city water 4 years ago.

 This is George and Sarah.  George and his friends use the hides they catch or purchase and make their own hats, gloves, mukluks (boots), and head bands.  They really live the subsistance life. They hunt almost every weekend and eat caribou, moose, ptarmigan, fox, etc. and use the meat and furs.

 Typical inside of City Sub housing.

 Remember, I told you the tundra is on permafrost so it is frozen most of the year.  Here is the city water pipes (in the foreground) throughout the subdivision.  It has to be above ground because they can not bury the pipes.  And because it is tundra and difficult to walk on there are many board walks to help cross over the tusik. Tusik are are large clumps of grass and make it difficult to walk from point A to point B.

 Here is how fire hydrants look in the village of Bethel.  The metal container is full of insulation to keep the water flowing in case of an emergency.  Two houses down from George's house is another local who wants you to know he hunts moose.  This is a very typical Bethel home.

 This is an up close photo of the top moose antlers.  He has them decorated with Christmas lights all year round. He said it is a beacon for him to find his way home when he had too much to drink!  Honest guy.

This is a Bed and Breakfast ready for you to purchase in Bethel, Alaska.  It has 1 bedroom, on bath and comes with a boat. There is a wood shed in front of the the property.  The house is on stilts, no windows or doors and on the city water subdivision.  WOW! I have a deal for you.  

This property is for sale for $230 K.  Not bad .  You have to be willing to live up here in a village and probably can only rent to teachers or hospital workers.  

I hope you enjoyed learning about an Alaskan Village, Bethel.  My next post will be about our Arctic Camping adventure.  It was an awesome experience.

I hope you all have had a wonderful weekend.  

Cali Gari (so long in Yupik)

Nanuq of the North

Sheryl