[Introduction]
Hello, I am Professor Gustov. You may know me as being the official mascot of GHAGAFAP which is Canada's longest running annual event. Welcome to another one of my classes on geocache puzzle solving and more. Within my class you will learn some very valuable puzzle solving skills. As always I will present you with a puzzle that you may find to be part of an Unknown geocache type. I will work with you to help guide you in solving the puzzle so that at the end of this session you will have all the information needed to obtain the coordinates of the geocache.
[Fluff Stuff]
This language is known as Anishinaabemowin and is still widely spoken, but the number of fluent speakers has declined sharply. Today, most of the language's fluent speakers are elders. A movement has picked up in recent years to revitalize the language, and restore its strength as an anchor of their culture. The language belongs to the Algonquian linguistic group, and is descended from Proto-Algonquian. Its sister languages include Blackfoot, Cheyenne, Cree, Fox, Menominee, Potawatomi, and Shawnee. Anishinaabemowin is frequently referred to as a "Central Algonquian" language; however, Central Algonquian is an area grouping rather than a linguistic genetic one. This is the fourth-most spoken Native language in North America (US and Canada) after Navajo, Cree, and Inuktitut. Many decades of fur trading with the French established the language as one of the key trade languages of the Great Lakes and the northern Great Plains.
[Puzzle]
I have written a message on the board. It is up to you to figure out what it means.
[Lesson in Solving]
Today's lesson is to figure out what the message on the blackboard says. You can get started in several ways. I have included a big clue to a very famous Canadian in the title of the cache page. The information in the Fluff Stuff can also guide you in the right direction. Or if you ever see what looks like words or any string of letters that you are not familiar with, it often helps to select a word of phrase from the puzzle and try doing a search for it on the internet. This may in return potentially tell you what language it comes from or perhaps even bring you to an online translator. In this case, there have been many other geocache puzzles over the years that use this language or other native languages. Once you figure out the language you should have no problem finding out the English meanings of these words.
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[Gustov's Geocaching Tip]
There are more and more caches these days being created where a special tool is required to retrieve or access the cache. Some of these may include a magnetic wand or a screw driver. Other items might be a wrench, bottle of water to fill a tube which allows the cache to float to the top or perhaps even a key to unlock the cache. There is even an attribute for this called "Special Tool Required". However just indicated that a special tool is required isn't enough. A good geocache will owner should specify in the cache description what the special tool is so that you can come prepared and get a find on the cache without having to return at a later date. It can be very frustrating and disappointing to get to a cache only to realize that you aren't able to access it because the cache owner had left out some important information such as what tool to bring. |