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It was as if I discovered sex for the first time that morning . " And last spring , ' coyotes ' [ people who lead UDAs through the desert for a fee ] were bringing groups as large as a hundred through here . My guide was wearing shorts and flip-flops . But I just could n't think of my address even though I own the bloody place and I've been living there for eighteen months . I was proud to be there to help , but I was frustrated and angry because this was not an experienced climber . As they floated along , black lights occasionally illuminating hearts and flowers , a bad recording of Dr. Zhivago 's " Lara 's Theme " reverberating in the confined space , all Leigh could think about was senior year homecoming . I confess I was n't in a particularly jovial frame of mind about our situation , since I knew how unforgiving the Arctic can be . Yet many experts , such as former UN Chief Weapons Inspector Hans Blix , believe it 's a cover for the secret production of nuclear weapons.There are myriad implications of this difference of opinion — thankfully it would be mostly theory and rhetoric during my month-long stay , this past May and June — but one tangible result is that a country just opening to Western tourism has now been clamped shut and braced for an international showdown . While I snapped photos of the sunset , the boatman scanned the roiling current with eyes wizened by lifetimes of river sun .