We expected two days of being on a boat in the icy cold wind, watching polar bears. The first afternoon went as planned. My frozen fingers held my camera as well as they could, filming the wonder of those enormous bears - as big as elephants - walking around just 20 meters from us. Sleeping, cuddling, swimming. This was their land and we were just visiting in an unsuspicious bobbing little boat. Three hours on that boat, shivering despite the many layers of winterclothing I was wearing. I was exhausted yet filled with wonder about this magical feeling of being surrounded by gigantic polar bears, being THERE, where THEY live. The village looked sad and harsh at first sight, used up by time, the hotel being a wasted one-floor building where everything seemed to be falling apart. In front several caribou antlers and skulls were lying on the floor, next to the school buses. Our room had bare heating tubes, a chord hanging above our heads to turn the light on, a carcass of a closet, just like the carcass of a whale that we would see the next day. Inside, the temperature was surprisingly high and my face would just not cool down. The hotel woman was the boss. But she would cook for us to see us well fed. I didn't sleep that night. At all. The change was too harsh. Too much new to take in. There was to be a magnetic storm those days, and that night I stood up several times to peer at the clouded sky in the hope of getting a glimps of the Northern Lights, but in vain. When we got ready at 7 the next morning, our guide came to tell us that the wind was too strong and the boat was cancelled. That was a blow in the face. The lady of the hotel told us we couldn't just go and walk around town by ourselves: if we'd mess up, she would get it on her plate. What now? We sat in the common room for some time, until the others of our boat group, stayin at the other hotel, came with a strange man. They had found him sitting around and he told them he was a guide. The eccentric man took us to the beach, dancing all the way, and looking for stones. We didn't want to see stones. Just polar bears or the village. We walked through a sand storm and were almost blown off our feet. A handsome ranger appeared with his car and told us that it was too dangerous to be there: that beach was polar bear territory! Far away we saw some polar bears lying in the fields, their noses away from the wind. In the afternoon, many villagers walked in and out, and we ended up having a good conversation with a couple of them. It was a wonderful turn of events. We began to see the village with other eyes. Then, another surprise happened. We got hold of another guide who could take us with his car and in the evening sun we saw bears eating what was left of a whale, one of three yearly catches for the entire village's food. That night between newly made friends we took turns to set our alarm clocks, so we could see the Northern Lights. The strong wind had cleared the sky! I thought I didn't sleep, but I was woken up by an excited Joachim at 1.45 and I jumped in my clothes. We ran to the stairs just outside the door and joined three friends to marvel over the Northern Light. No one wants to be outside at ground level at night there, because a bear might just be turning the corner or be hidden between containers. We crowded the stairs, happily, with one eye to the ground. Those lights dancing in the sky. Twirling. Long, broad lights. Breaking up, uniting. The sky itself was dancing. When all four cars of the Bear Patrol were somewhere else, a bear, than two more, came out of the shadows! They were up to no good: the Bears are Back in Town... We could watch them for a while coming closer, but then we had to go inside and lock that door. That night I was too excited to sleep. And the next day I was still too excited. Somehow we connected with some people and with ourselves in a very short span of time, in a place we came to view from gruesome to something more beautiful, living the best adventure ever when nothing goes it was supposed to. I haven't felt that happy since my birthdays as a child. Did you like it? Give this video a thumbs up! 👍😃 There's more on our homepage! 👉👉👉http://jolo.world 🚐🌎 and: 📷instagram: www.instragram.com/jolo.world 📱 facebook: www.facebook.com/joloworld 🌎 TravelMap (our map and blog): joloworld.travelmap.net Also check out my personal homepage, with a more poetical and musical perspective on this journey: 👉👉👉http://lobke.world (English version / versión española) 🎶🌎📷📝✨🙃 And my social networks: 🌟📷www.instagram.com/lobke_sprenkeling (photography) 🌟🎶www.instagram.com/lobke.world (artistic activities) 🌟🎵www.facebook.com/worldoflobke/ And that's it for now! See you soon for the next vlog and other videos!