Days+23-31

I have completed my time in Kazahkstan and will now venture north to Siberia. I hope to meet the Chuk Chi tribe somewhere in the snow and ice. I will now take a plane as far north and east as possible. I am very excited to meet these remote people and hope that I find what I am looking for because of my immense expenses on this leg of the journey. I must part with a total of $3500 because of my flight and mode of transportation. Just like Spencer Wells, I have needed to use an old Soviet tank for transportation into this land due to the harsh weather and bad conditions. Obviously, this has not come cheap so I am putting it all out there on the hopes of finding the genetic marker in someone in this tribe. I have hired a guide who knows quite a bit about the Chukchi and their culture. He claims to know where to find these remote people, so once again I am putting it all out there. We travel together for the length of the journey, and sure enough he leads me to the tribe that I am interested in. I thank the man and say goodbye as he ventures off on his own. Now I become excited and introduce myself to the Chukchi people. They accept my request to assimilate into their culture for a few days and to take some DNA samples from some of there tribesmen. I find that for my body type and build, this extreme weather is really harsh. Back in Port Allegany, PA the temperature usually never went below zero degrees Fahrenheit. Now I must deal with temperatures much colder than this and the heavy snow. I wonder how these people have dealth with these conditions for so many generations. The answer is in the build of their bodies. The Chukchi are shorter and bigger, allowing them to conserve body heat better. Now that I have that figured out, I begin to take blood samples from the tribesmen and ask them questions about their culture and way of life. They say that they are happy in their lifestyle. Their ancestors followed the groups of reindeer up into this land, but eventually tamed them so they would not have to keep traveling around. That night we set down to a dinner of cooked reindeer meat. I thoroughly enjoy this meal and thank the Chukchi for their hospitality. After the dinner, we part for bed. I am a little skeptical upon first sight of the tent, because although it does look warm there is no way that it can keep me safe from the devastating cold and wind that lurks outside. Upon entrance into the tent however, I am pleasantly surprised to find it as warm as I hoped it would be.