igloos and dogs

in our perpetual efforts to get to know every aspect of the quebec winter, we decided to go all the way: spend a night in an igloo and ride a dog sled. the igloo was not built with blocks, it was basically a heap of snow made hollow inside (quicktime movie of us inside the igloo). the natives living more north use blocks because the snow over there is more frozen. the night in there, even though quite cold, taught us a lot about how to keep our body warm. rule number one: go to the loo as soon as you feel the need - even if you really don't feel like getting out of your thermal sleeping bag. if you don't, a lot of your energy will be used on your bladder rather than on keeping your body warm... in the morning we were surprised to get breakfast at a nearby hotel - hot coffee never tasted so great!

the dog sled consisted of a sled with one person sitting and the driver standing, and 6 dogs. the only thing the driver could do is stand on the brakes or not stand on the brakes. the rest is up to the dogs...