Santa Claus & Reindeers!

I arrived at Rovaniemi this morning at 7:53am. Mark was already there. I met him at the conference and he was working at the Rovaniemi University. So he offered to show me around for the morning. The temperature in the morning was -5 degC.

The highlight of the morning was a trip to Santa Claus Village and the post-office. Rovaniemi was located on the Arctic Circle, and the Finns laid claim to Santa. He works everyday, sitting in the photo gallery taking pictures with visitors. There were pictures of Santa with all sorts of celebrities and delegations, including the Beijing Olympics host characters and Mickey and Minnie Mouse! I wonder what Santa had to say to the Disney duo… Yours truly took a shot and succumbed to the touristy thing of buying the picture. Anything sent from the arctic post office would receive a special stamp mark. You could even choose to have the item sent on the next Christmas Day. The tourism angle was very well planned and executed.

I hopped onto the bus for another 4h ride to Saariselka. It was a small village, 15min from one end to the other. Every single shop was featured in the newspaper, targeted at visitors. I was lucky to have missed the earlier winter crowds. The weather in the day was rather nice, with sunshine. My room had a big thermometer right outside the window, and it registered a nice 4 degC. I went around the safari shops asking if there was anything to join in for the evening. I settled for a reindeer safari ride.

Markku, our local Sami guide, brought us to the reindeer farm where he outfitted us in warm space-suits (they were called husky suits), thick snow boots and a Sami pullover. We climbed into the wooden sleighs/ sledges, and off we went. The reindeers obediently trotted along behind Markku’s sleigh. It was still bright, the sun only set around 9pm. I took in the sights. Except for the sleigh, it was total silence. After an hour, we stopped at a tent-hut where Markku started a fire and we roasted sausages and had tea. The smell of the tea reminded me of Nepal, where we always sat around the fire stove warming our hands. All too soon, it was time to return. We got back into the sleighs and before we knew it, we were back at the house where we took off the warm clothing. I started to feel cold in the van. Returning to my hotel room, I realized that the weather had plunged to a blistering -15degC. Oooooh….. I put my carton of fresh milk and pack of ham outside the window to be chilled.