Kerry McCluskey
Northern News Services

IQALUIT (Jun 22/98) - Twenty senior citizens from across North America are standing on the sea ice of Frobisher Bay in the middle of June, huddled around Pauloosie Kilabuk and one very dead seal.

They're waiting for their lunch.

Kilabuk takes out his razor sharp knife and begins to cut down the belly of the freshly killed animal.

The pungent, wet smell of seal immediately fills the air and some of the elders take a step back.

Others step in closer with their flashy digital cameras to get a better shot to send down to the grandkids in Mississippi.

Charlie Smith of South Florida sure didn't back away but you can bet your pension that his reasons had nothing to do with his grandkids.

"I've eaten seal, along with a lot of other wild game," noted the retired engineer who was on his 25th Elderhostel and on his second trip to Iqaluit.

"Why not? I've enjoyed it. It's less pricey than doing the same things with a commercial agent. It's not as plushy but so what?"

Nancy Pease isn't quite as experienced in the pleasures of the Elderhostel.

"I've only been as far North as St. Anthony, Newfoundland and it's my first Elder Hostel," says Pease, a resident of sunny San Fransisco.

"I'm fascinated with the North. I think it must be in my genes somewhere along the line and I'm interested in the Inuit transition from the land to the town."

Eric Ross of Sackville, New Brunswick is having a "whale" of a time and while he wants to come back to the Arctic, he is a little leery about eating seal.

"I'll try a little bit of it but I'm a vegetarian. But, when in Rome..."

Edmontonian Henry Shimizu says the call of the North brought him and his bride to Nunavut's capital.

"I'm an elder and we wanted to come to Iqaluit. We've had a wonderful time." Elderhostel Canada currently provides more than 20,000 adults with inexpensive educational opportunities around the world.