Glen Korstrom
Northern News Services

INUVIK (Feb 12/99) - Six years ago, Finto Cabin Lounge bartender Heather Martin was in Fort McMurray, Alta., while native chiefs from across Canada were visiting for a convention.

One chief made an impression even though she cannot remember his name.

"He totally blew me away. He picked me out of a crowd and came right over to me. He had blue eyes, which was really funky, and he was married. He was older so it wasn't like a come-on thing," she says.

"He started telling me 'You are troubled right now in your life. You're in a lot of pain. You're going to go through a lot more. Things are going to get really bad to the point where you think life is just not what it's supposed to be. Then, everything is going to come together and you're going to end up with native people.'"

That eerie meeting was an encounter that foresaw Martin leaving the south coast of B.C. on New Year's Eve and moving to Inuvik to start 1999.

"I love it here," says the single mother of 18-year-old Denice who stayed behind in Gibsons.

"The people here are so fantastic and the people I work for are just awesome."

To Martin, the best part of the job is meeting people -- and as she moves around the lounge taking drink orders and sharing jokes, she looks as comfortable as a gracious hostess in her living room.

Before moving to Inuvik, Martin worked at Molly's Reach, which is a tourist attraction cafe located in the building where much of the old Beachcombers TV series was filmed.

"Shooters were my scariest thing to make because you have to layer them," the rookie bartender says, explaining that heavier liqueurs need to be on the bottom of the glass.

"The first China White I made was hilarious. I can't use a spoon. I just use my finger and put it over the top and then let (the creme de cacao and Bailey's) out slow."

So far, Martin, who is also a musician, has not had a chance to jam with bands in town as she intends to do, or to sing much because a cold has made her voice raspy.

But her cold has not dampened her enthusiasm for adventure and new experiences in her new Northern home.