The story of the woman who spent her forties alone in the Arctic

Everyone has experienced the coronavirus pandemic differently. For the most part, the COVID it was confinement and solitude. For others, it was an opportunity to meet and enjoy, incredibly, being isolated.

This is precisely the case with Valentina miozzo, which moved to the far north of Norway, within the Arctic Circle, not only in the midst of the pandemic, but when the polar nights lasted 24 hours. “December and January were two dark months”, he told CNN.

Miozzo, from the Emilia-Romagna region in northern Italy, had had his eyesight disturbed by the pandemic. He was a tourist guide and accompanied Italians on their trips abroad. “Everything was focused on tourism,” he emphasizes. “I spent my life traveling, I was away from home about six months a year.”

Until the arrival of the coronavirus. As in many other places, the travel industry suddenly came to a halt. Unable to work, he continued to blog and do promotional work virtually. But after experiencing some of the toughest lockdowns in the world, European summer 2020 has arrived, with the virus supposedly under control. That’s when received an offer to manage a house in the Arctic Circle and did not hesitate.

“Was I scared? No, I saw it as an opportunity to visit places I might never have chosen.” And he insists that “since I could no longer do my job, it was a way of traveling and experiencing another reality, in a more static way, of course, but in a part of the world that I did not know and that fascinated me “.

So, she left Modena, Italy of about 185,000 inhabitants and known for restaurants and food and changed it to Kongsfjord, with 28 inhabitants. “The nearest supermarket is 40 kilometers away,” he told CNN. “The nearest hospital is 322 kilometers away, and the airport is obviously small and local and 64 kilometers away.”

Contrasts

“In winter there were winds at 120km / h and ice everywhere, it was difficult to move,” he explains. Residents go to the supermarket once or twice a week, as long as the roads are passable. When the weather is bad, you don’t have to think about it.

“I knew I was going to a very isolated place, I had been warned. I knew it was extreme and I knew I was in the arctic tundra, but I had never been to Norway,” says -he. “Shortly after my arrival, the polar nights also arrived.” Twenty-four hours of dark night, 7 days a week. “It was an incredible experience, living two months completely in the dark. It was not disturbing, in fact, it is more difficult to live in broad daylight.”

And from the dark night, to the light of day. From mid-May to mid-July, the sun does not set. “It’s getting harder to sleep.

His job in Kongsfjord ended about two months ago, but he decided to stay a little longer and rented a house. “It was nice to be here. According to what he explains, he created strong links with the local population. Whether it is the pandemic, the harmony of the Kongsfjord or its inhabitants. For the moment, he plans to resume his work as a tourist guide in the European autumn, even if he emphasizes that “he will come back to visit them”.

Source: CNN