My mentors were open to teaching and the region is full of interesting social and cultural aspects. Excellent mentors and freedom of experiences. Remote and isolating. The homes are hoisted about the ground to prevent them from sinking as the warmth of the building would melt the soggy soil-less surface. Ironically, the Yukon-Kuskokwim Delta of southwest Alaska is considered a desert.
Water has to be delivered by truck to homes individually.
Pipes above the ground would be constantly freezing and six feet under marsh is permafrost. To the average resident of the lower 48 it's a frozen barren desolate place. However to the 21,000 Yup'ik and Chup'ik Eskimos and Athabascan Indians who occupy this 75,000 square mile region it is a bountiful and sacred land. Bethel, with a population of 5,000, is the largest and most ethnically diverse of the entire region. These geographically remote pockets of society still speak their own language exclusively, practice a subsistence lifestyle, and maintain many rituals and traditions.