Expensive food

[Cavman]

https://m.wimp.com/barrow-alaska-the-worlds-most-expensive-grocery-store/

 

[UtahPete]

https://m.wimp.com/barrow-alaska-the-worlds-most-expensive-grocery-store/

Don't go in there without your oil royalty check.

 

[Yazz]

There are no roads going up to Barrow, AK. The only way to get supplies in are by boats or airplanes.

Now think on this... Barrow has been occupied by the Iniut for more than 1,500 years. Before outside transportation, they relied on the land for what they needed. Bet they had the toilet paper equivalent figured out, and they didn't feel the need for avocados, chips or watermelons.

So this young couple are up there comparing the price of their cultural "needs" to what they feel a different society's "needs" are.

We've traveled a bit and have always been aware of other ways of living and language. What we have seen everywhere we went, were tourists treating a different culture as entertainment, with no respect for the locals around them.

These two people tell me that the phrase "Ugly American" is alive and thriving.

 

[ARtraveler]

Don't go in there without your oil royalty check.

Even those will not go far. The state in all its wisdom has now capped the PFD checks at $1,100. We were supposed to get $2,200 last year--until the Governor snarfed half the amount from all of us.

Errrr...he wont be having a second term. :roflblack::roflblack::roflblack:

 

[ARtraveler]

Yes, those prices are true. Barrow (now called Utquiavik) is the northernmost city in AK.

Linda has a daughter and son in law that manage an A & C store near Nome. Pretty much the same pricing.

Its all about the transportation. Boat or airplane are the choices.

Those prices get very high once you get out into what is called "the bush." :yikes::yikes::yikes:

 

[MRH]

I don't think they were portraying this a rip-off, rather they were pointing out just how expensive it is get supplies in this very remote area. And it is, unquestionably, very expensive. They were rather neutral on the issue, and I think the charge that it has is one we bring with us, be if it for the cost itself, or the people telling the story.

 

[PrairieSpyder]

There are no roads going up to Barrow, AK. The only way to get supplies in are by boats or airplanes.

Now think on this... Barrow has been occupied by the Iniut for more than 1,500 years. Before outside transportation, they relied on the land for what they needed. Bet they had the toilet paper equivalent figured out, and they didn't feel the need for avocados, chips or watermelons.

So this young couple are up there comparing the price of their cultural "needs" to what they feel a different society's "needs" are.

We've traveled a bit and have always been aware of other ways of living and language. What we have seen everywhere we went, were tourists treating a different culture as entertainment, with no respect for the locals around them.

These two people tell me that the phrase "Ugly American" is alive and thriving.

That's all true, Yazz. But there is a significant non-native population in Barrow, too. And it is America.

I went there when we did the NTA trip, but didn't go to the grocery store. I did buy a hat at a souvenir shop, though. And the natives have a great sense of humor. On a rocky beach just outside of town they built vacation houses (shacks) . . . with "palm trees" - drift wood trunks with baleen nailed to the top!

 

[SPECTACUALR SPIDERMAN]

king crab legs & salmon are worth the money there