Photo of the Expedition Team Walking Down to the Khatanga River In Siberia.

This is a picture of the Dolgan Boot Maker in Khatanga.  He stood in the store for over an hour where I was visiting with the local people.  I asked the lady in the store what he was doing and she replied that he was wanting me to visit his work shop.  I wish that I didn't wait so long to ask about him just standing there.  So I went to his work shop.  It was a privilege to have him give me a personal tour of his work shop.  I just sorry that I did not speak a single word of Russian at this time, it would have been much more educational for me.

This is pretty interesting.  I visited with a young lady that worked in the store.  She spoke English pretty well and I learned a tremendous amount about the city.  I went to the store for many days in a row and stayed there almost the whole time that she worked. 

As the customers came in they wanted to meet an American, that was me.  There were very few people who could speak any English so the lady would translate for me.  I learned how the people gathered their food and how they had cabins out in the tundra.  One man came into the store and bought a liter of Baltic Beer.  The lady handed him the beer and then he gave it to me.  I asked what this was for and the lady said that he bought it for me to drink.  you can read more about this in other parts of the 2002 North Pole Expedition Exhibit.  Also you can find out about what all of this beer and vodka did for me that doctors and multiple operations couldn't do at this link.  Why God Sent Me to the North Pole.