Days 27-30

Last I chatted, Emily and I had just moved into Julius' (our couchsurfing host). Lots has happened since then! Later that night I said goodbye to a number of people (I can't remember who all left when) after a communal dinner at downtown hostel.

Monday (day 27?)
I went scuba diving with Dive.is out in Thingvellir National Park (a UNESCO World Heritage site for beauty and being the site of the first parliment) on the rift between the European and American continental plates! The two dives were amazing - we dove down to ~18m to swim between two ridges of volcanic rock.  The visibility was endless, and though the water was cold (~3-4C), my drysuit and thermals kept me warm enough!  Unfortunately half-way through the first 30min dive, I got a leg cramp, and while I was stretching it out, all the air got into my feet. If you've ever drysuit dived, you'll know how annoying this is. I pulled off some underwater acrobatics to get my feet under me (and the air out of them), but one of my feet came out of the boot - making the fin useless. I was overweighted, and couldn't control my buoyancy while I was struggling with my boot. By the time I surfaced, I'd royally fucked up my sinuses meaning I couldn't equalise my ears to descend again; I had to spend the remainder of the first and all of the second dive at the surface (aka - really bubbly snorkelling): The sights were still amazing though! And, much of the dive avoided any great depth, so I didn't miss all that much by way of seeing things. I did, however, miss the feeling of being weightless - of "flying" through the underwater canyons! Oh well. I have some great pictures from the second dive! (I'm at the surface always)

Once back in town, I Skyped my parents, took a nap and met up with Emily at the Loft (our old hostel). Stacy, Riley, Emily and I headed to the Laundro Mat Cafe for dinner. I had brazed lamb on bread (like a steak sandwich, but waaaaay better!) with salsa and sour cream - odd combination, but delicious! And a fresh juice with mango, apple and mint!  We headed to chill upstairs from the kitchen in the Downtown hostel (where I lived when I first arrived here). After Stacy turned in, Emily, Riley and I headed for YoYo (like menchies) behind Hellmigrakirk (not the right name...It's the big church that dominates the downtown skyline here). From there Riley headed back to his hostel and Emily and I to Julius' (he had given us a key).

This night, Emmanuel, a Portuguese guy from London joined us at Julius'. He was just starting a trip around the world! Funded, I think, by his own record company. He was really into punk music, but seemed to love all music in general, and he'd published a friend's book, a fanzine (underground punk magazine) - and had plans to make his own book over the course of or following his travels using Amazon's CreateSpace (I think - I have to verify website).  Julius' went out again this night, but we didnt' hear him come in this time.

Tuesday (May 21, Day 28)
This was an early morning also. Emily and I got up an left Julius' by 745 to be at the Loft early enough for a pick up from El Hestar for horsebackridding! My horse (pony!) was a brown (mare/gelding? I didn't check) named Mercure (or as close as I can pronounce). The ride took us through various farmers' fields (they have a law here allowing anyone to travel anywhere, so long as they close the gates behind them), and multiple sun/rain/sun/rain iterations, out to a view point over the river where Gabriella (our Swedish guide) told us a story of a horse who would attract children and carry them out into the river where the water would claim their lives. There was a Swedish character, a man with a harp, that paralleled this story - and I though of harpies - who would also lure their victims out for drowning (I think that's the right creature). We didn't go as fast as I would have liked on the ride, but we did spend a significant amount of time tolting! This is one of the extra gaits the Icelandic horse has that others do not - it's a very smooth gait where each side moves in unison.  There's another gait that appears in some horses here - the flying ___, which I still have to look up - apparently it can be faster than a gallop! The tour really made me want to take up ridding again! Maybe I can work it into my post grad budget!

The ridding only lasted the morning, and we were back at the stables before long. There was a mix up that delayed our bus, but meant we got free coffee and cookies before heading back to town! On the bus, we met a German family who were planning to go whale watching and were looking for activity suggestions.

We were dropped off back at the Loft, and after some wandering, met up there with Stacy and Riley again. The four of us headed to the City hostel (out by the awesomest pool) about a 40 min walk away. Riley and I cooked a communal dinner for us and Stacy, then I ran off (literally!) to go check our Eríal (a pole dancing studio!). The class was really fun because we learnt on spin poles (very dampered compared to the ones at Tantra), and we worked on handsprings from upsidedown rather than standing! It was a good way for me to try something new! Ava, the instructor, didn't seem to speak much English, and because I was kinda nervous/awkward I was mumbling and speaking quickly - not a good combo, but in the end everything worked out, and I even got a picture with her!  I'd left most of my stuff with the group at City, and had agreed to meet them at Laugardalslaug (an awesome outdoor pool just around the corner from CIty).  The pools here are awesome! I've been to a few - they're all outdoors, heated with geothermal water (I'm pretty sure), cheap - 550ISK! (<5$), with free lockers and super clean (and dry! because you can't be wet went you enter) change rooms.  We swam till just before 10pm (when it closes). We left Riley and walked back to the city centre, said goodbye to Stacy (who headed off to Norway early the next morning) and climbed the 3 flights of stairs up to Julius' flat.

Wednesday (May 22, Day 29)
Early morning again - left Julius' before 8, headed to drop our bags at the Loft (because it was Emily's departure day, and I was moving to a new host), then sat in Kaffitar accross from the Loft till Riley arrived. The day was beautifully sunny, so we wandered for a bit before stopping to chill/climb around/suntan in the graffity-ed skatepark. I mailed some postcards, and then we wandered some more before returning to the Loft to get our things. Emily and Riley eat lunch there while I said goodbye and took off to meet Anna at her place near the Downtown hostel (where I stayed on arrival!) for 13h00. I at lunch at Anna's while chatting with her till she left for work, then i headed off to 871 +/- 2 - an excavation site of a Viking long house. They had a really cool 3d map where you could touch the lables to pull up more information on that topic. Eventually, I ended up at fish. (a yummy restaurant!) again for cheap coconut curry fish soup and really good braud with pesto while I finished writing up the remainder of the postcards (for people who'd sent me their addresses on facebook). When I asked, the woman recommended Ten Drops for Skyrcake which I decided I needed to try before I left. I went there and had wine with my ramekin of skyrcake with raspberry sauce (deeeeeeliicious mini skyr cheese cake with a cookie/crumble bottom! - second best thing after Kent's Crème Brulé!).  The wine made me tired, so I hiked back to Anna's (took about 25 min - distances here are difficult to estimate because the maps make them look way farther than they are!) to repack my stuff for the flight and to skype Colin. Anna got home from work around midnight, and I headed to bed shortly after a chat with her.

Thursday (May 23, Day 30 - Last day)
I'm on my second cup of coffee. Well, the first was a frap from Te + Kaffi (Pippo - mint chocolate!), now I'm in Stofan's drinking a latte (which has free refills! I'm so gonna miss the self serve refills offered at just about every coffee house here!) It's raining. The rain started just as I left Anna's. Then it was just a drizzle, now its heavier. I'm glad I went back for my raincoat when I had the chance... I'm sitting on a green vellour chair at a coffee table typing with my keyboard on my lap. Not the most comfy, but I like it. There are 2 other women at the table. They are both dressed impecably. (One has on a suit jacket, fedora, and tight pinstripe jeans(?), the other a velvet forest green dress).  It makes me feel so gruby in my tee and lulus. I'm excited to wear normal person clothes pretty soon!

I think I've had too much kaffi... It's getting harder to concentrate....that or the fact that I need to catch a bus in 2 hours... I always get a lil anxiety before I leave a country. Ok - deep breath, keep writing... (I'm writing today entry concurrently with the parts above - if you hadn't noticed...)

whooof that was long winded....i think I need to go run around a lil now...

See you on the plane!
Laura out.

Day Twenty - Rafting!

Today was the most amazing day of my trip so far. After some debate, and running around, Luke, Steve, Emily, Sharon and I decided to go whitewater rafting. I was a bit sceptical seeing as I've been in both Alberta and the North Island of New Zealand, but I knew I would feel as though I missed out if I didn't go. I'm really glad I went!  The 7h30 pick up was challenging due to the late night last night, but so very much worth it!

After a quick breakfast, we met our driver Chris (who was really cute),  and started our hour long trek to the base camp in an 80s/early 90s Range Rover with Steve and I on bench seats that faced inwards in the back. Poor Steve wasn't looking too hot after our late night. We very nearly hit a goose, and had to dodge a few others. Every time Chris swerved to avoid them, the girls squealed and woke Luke who was dozing (aka hungover) in the front seat.  Randomly, it turns out that Chris had worked with Sharon's friend's dad when he was a guide in BC!

At the base we has some free mochas (aka hot chocolate mix in drip coffee).  We each picked up some free clothes out of the lost and found shopping cart to bulk up and keep warm (soooo glad I did this), put on our drysuits halfway, got booties, gloves and a helmet and loaded onto the bus. It took another hour or so to get to the drop site driving over gravel roads and later a farmer's road. Unfortunately the bus (a medium sized tour bus) needed to turn around, and had very little space to manoeuvre. At one point during a 3 point turn, the rear end of the bus was hanging over a cliff! None of us girls wanted the bus to fall over the cliff cause Chris, the cute guide, was driving! We couldn't get all the way down to the drop site, so we had to portage the boat for a ways following our safety briefing. For the last section we just slid the boat down a grassy hill. Then we got into the water!

Luke was the first to get wet; he was the guinea pig for what to do if we fell out. I think I got a massive wave in the face on our first set of rapids; I don't remember so well because I got massive waves of water in my face almost constantly every rapid we hit while I was at the front with Steve! We had our first attempt surfing early on, but Steve 'fell' out almost right away, so we had to rescue him. We got 2 more chances (the second was the best, and the last a total surprise!) to surf later on. At the second surfing section, we spent a bunch of time going back over and over (practice makes perfect right?) and we even had a contest - who could stay in for the longest! Steven and Emily won because they managed to make it to the last round, Luke fell out first (I think I took him out) followed by Sharon and I. There was no lunch provided, BUT we did stop at the edge of the river where a basket had been wheeled down using a pulley. WAFFLES! With whipped cream and rhubarb jam, all homemade! They were delicious! There was also hot chocolate made with milk (probably whole milk - it was really rich! and good for keeping us warm). After our stop we floated another little ways then got out again to walk along the bank and check out the "Green Machine" (I can't remember if that's actually the name, but it was a pretty bad as set of rapids!) and watch our two kayakers navigate it first.  Unfortunately we didn't flip here, but it was pretty exciting as we rafted up to and through it! My heart was pounding a mile a minute! 

Next, Anup, our guide, asked if we were interested in cliff jumping - unanimous YES! We stopped on the right bank, hiked across a mini-glacier, climbed up a rock face and stood 7m above the flowing river. 3-2-1 - nope, that's effing high! Steven didn't take any time to think about it, but it took Emily a few tries to finally take the plunge. Sharon and Luke both took it like a champ! I was certainly nervous, but it was pretty exhilarating!

The final parts of the tour were pretty calm, and gave us a chance to get to know Anup.  He was from Nepal, and had wanted to be a rafting guide since he was in his teens. He'd been in Iceland for ~13 years. Sometime near when he'd started, a client had told him how old the canyon was, and he had us guess. We were way off with our 200 thousand years, turns out it's 9 million and 13 years (because 13 years ago it was 9 million years old!) A few years ago he'd been to Vancouver, and had smoked some green grown by a famous Canadian! He couldn't remember the name right off the bat, but we eventually figured it out! (Sorry, I'm not gonna say who, but you probably know him!).

When we got to the exit point, we didn't have to carry the boat up the hill like I've had to in the past; they had a pulley system rigged up to a tractor which pulled the boat on a cart up the side of the canyon!  The girls and I took another topless photo (sorry mom) in our drysuit bottoms before piling into the bus for 20 min to make our way back to the base. We almost hit a really dumb sheep who tried to play chicken with the bus - it was walking in the tyre track and didn't move over, I guess it just didn't care too much as it walked past us on the port side.

Back at the base, we had some more coffee/mocha, Sharon and I split a locally brewed beer (something to do with a festival?) and we chatted with Chris about the potential for a hydropower plant on the river we'd just conquered. I'd never before considered the impact the damming and use of the river as an impact on tourism - usually I'd just considered the ecological/environmetal aspcets, but for Viking Rafting, it would put a serious dam-per on business (pun intended!). Chris had taken a bunch of photos of us on the river, and was kind enough to cut us a deal for them! If you're ever in Akureyri - VIKING RAFTING IS AWESOME!

Laura out.
ps. this was written at a kick ass coffee shop (as recommended by Caitlin).

Day ?

So, I've well an truly fallen off the bandwagon...people have been leaving everyday since the last day of the programme (the 17th), and it's the limbo part that I'm not a huge fan of. Part of me wishes I'd been one of the ones to leave early because it would mean that I wouldn't have to watch everyone else leave, but at the same time, I'm looking forward to the next few days. I've booked scuba diving for tomorrow morning, and horseback ridding with Emily on Tuesday! I wouldn't have had time to do all this without the extra days.

Emily and I moved into our host's 'couch' today, and we'll be there for a few days until she leaves on the 22nd.  She and I are sitting in a bakari (yum!) taking some down time for things like this (and ironing out the kinks in our tours for the next few days).

Yesterday (D25)

Here's an image from yesterday's hike (I got sunburnt ):

More to come when I have time to sit down and work on this. But I hope to post images for each day even if it takes longer to get the text up...

Day Twenty four

Today was the last day of the course, we got up for breakfast at the Loft before heading out to Haskoli Island (the university) for 9am as we had done for the first week of the course. There were 5 groups presenting - Fisheries, Deforestation, Energy (us), Waste, Environmental Economics, and I might be missing one?  All the groups were really interesting and did a good job presenting. After the presentations we had a lil powwow in the couch valley in the atrium outside our class room. Once the instructors had left, our group each pitched in 1000ISK (~10$) each to get a pool of money to divy up for gifts for each of out instructors! Leah, Lee and Harold all got good (we hope) bottles of wine, while Caitlin (who's pregnant) got a pair of baby socks, 2000ISK to her fave coffee shop and chocolate!  If took most of the afternoon to get his organized and get the gifts, so by the time we got back to the Loft, it was pretty well time to get ready and head to Leah's rented condo for pizza & wine (and hot tub!).  When we awarded the gifts, Caitlin was so greatful! Apparently, she'd never been given a gift before!

A couple of us (7) jumped into the 5-person hottub before heading out to a brewpub for a couple pints with our whole group (including Lee, Leah, Harold and Caitlin and her partner!).

Day Twenty-Three

Today we drove around the Snaefellsness peninsula on our way back into Reykjavik. We stopped a a really cool black sand beach where the were lava formations that Sharon, Emily and I climbed on our way down to the water. There were also rower's stones - large smooth rocks of varying weights (16-60kg).  If you wanted to row on a viking ship, you would have to be able to lift the heaviest stone! ( I didn't actually walk through this part because we climbed our way down to the beach, so I didn't try....). On our way into town, we stopped a (former?) factory outlet wool store. I almost bought a sweater for ~50$, but the arms were too short, and I couldn't get over that. Stacy ended up buying it though, s it found a nice home!  I did buy some angora socks (sooooo soft!) and 3 spools of wool which I intend to knit into a circle scarf! (or something).  We arrived back at the loft in the mid-late afternoon, and I ended up wandering out alone to get diner. I headed up to Cafe Loki - a place recommended by an add on the plane, and where fermented shark was available, but there was nothing there that i really wanted, so I headed back down the hill away from Hallgrímskirkja (the church that dominates Reykjavik's downtown skyline) to a place called "fish." that I had seen on my way up. I had their fish soup (spicy coconut curry style) which came with delicious Icelandic braud and pesto! (that I thought was green garlic butter, deliiiicious!) As I was finishing my meal, Steve walks in to say hi because he saw me from the street, and I decided to head off with him for a walk. We ended up at YoYo (like menchies) where we loaded up on frozen yogurt and fruit toppings! I then had to head back to the hostel to work on the final presentation/dance for the course!

Day twenty-two

Today was an early morning (840 departure! - that's early for us) to get to the Natural History centre here for a lecture by a woman there (Harpa), followed by an attempt to get coffee (nowhere was open until 11 really) and then a trip to the Volcano Museum - some really interesting stuff there: depictions of eruptions, stones, an obsidian knife. Lunch was eaten at home (aka our guesthouse - a nice step up from the typical hostel! Though Marjan's bed broke yesterday...).  We then headed off to the SeaTours office to meet up with everyone before our BOAT CRUISE! This was a highlight - we saw many birds including 2 shag couples and some chicks, PUFFINS!!!! (lundi in Icelandic), and a magnificent Sea Eagle (from afar) AND we got to eat some scallops fresh caught from the ocean! As in they sent down a small catch net and hoisted it up for us!

We returned home to attempt to do some work and then headed out for diner at a recommended restaurant where I spent too much $, and Sharon could hardly eat anything (sans dairy, meat or scallops). A quick jaunt up to the lighthouse to watch the "sunset" (basically it just lowering in the sky, it's 00:43 here now, and the sky is still somewhat light).   I haven't uploaded pictures yet, it's been pretty hectic, but I've been noting my daily activities! there have been a few really good highlights these last few days (geothermal caves & rafting anyone?!), but project/course work and not wanting any minute to slip away have hindered the blogging process! Hope you keep checking back...

Laura Out.

Day Eighteen

Hello all! This was written two days ago, but is being posted today because I didn't have interwebs/time till now! I'm working on a project, so I likely won't get a chance to post yesterday or today till tomorrow.... I hope!

Today we left to head north for Myvatn around nine, but one of the vans had an engine light come on, so we made a stop on our way - turns out it was nothing though it could have ended poorly had broken down while venturing through the highlands. The landscape was varying from foggy mountain passes to slightly hilly plains finally to a hill overlooking a geothermal area - this hill was brown and exposed in contrast to the black snow-covered surrounds. On the far side was a view of Myvatn - the lake, and  geothermal waste pond - similar to the Blue Lagoon. We're staying at a back country hut-style accommodation in a small town on the edge of the lake. I mostly ate my lunch in the car, so after a quick stop to unpack at the hostel, we moved on to another nearby town to join a conference on Sustainable Tourism in Geothermal Areas.  There were two speakers from New Zealand to talk about the impact tourism has had on their geothermal areas and how they look to volunteers to help enrich the conservation effort. They were fun to listen to because I had seen or heard of many of their case study areas. Unfortunately, the remainder of the conference was in Icelandic, and neither my nor my peer's mastery of the language is yet good enough to listen to lectures! So we ski  dattled after grabbing some free food.

Day Nineteen

Today started off with a trip to a Bird Museum at Myvatn with the algae balls! (these flora live in the ocean and form green balls) From the bird museum we started our 2-3 hour scavenger hunt which took us all around the lake. We started with the Church that had "split" the lava -  flowed on either side, but didn't hurt the church! WE also had to identify 5 bird species from around the lake, and we stopped at the tourist centre to ask the guide for help - he identified a bird who's picture we'd already taken, then we ran off o take our "on an island" photo and got he remaining 4 bird photos to identify before heading off to get lava cooked bread (they make let the dough cook in cooling lava!).  Our last two stops were a peninsula with magnificent lava arches/columns, and finally a lava field that cooled in the forms resembling man-made castles and are the rumoured homes of trolls.

Before heading for Akureyri, we stopped at a geothermal hot spring hidden within the lava field. The first pool was too hot at over 40C, but the second cave we stopped at was amazing! After scaling the rocks down to the entrance (because the stairs were burried in snow), stripping down to our bathing suits and finally climbing down a rather precarious ladder, we found ourselves in a pool light only by the light peaking through the rocks above our heads. It was unreal how beautiful the area was, and I was smart enough to grab my mask and snorkel (part of which fell off into the black depths of the cave ): so I could dive and explore the caves at will. I really wish I'd had a good waterprooof flashlight though! That would have made exploration far less scary... (I don't particularly like dark, unclear water...) Still, it was unbelievably clear, and though not warm, was a good temperature for swimming despite the cold temperatures (and snow!) outside. The walls were fun to climb and jump off of!

The drive to Aukureyri was peppered with stops as usual (so as not to drive us all crazy - pun intended), and we arrived not too late in the afternoon I had a burger from the restaurant in our backpackers - it was delicious! Avocado salsa! (it was nice to get some veggis! - haven't had many this trip...) Emily, Sharon and I asked about stuff to do in town the next day (our first and only free day!). Horseback ridding, whitewater rafting, and ATVing came out as options but the guy behind the desk  ended up "deciding" for us that rafting would be the best. The price made us run around for awhile trying to get others to join our 5 person group to make 8 or a discount, but we weren't successful.  The night was topped off by a lengthy party session (one of few so far - I definitely expected this to be a much more party trip than it has been, apparently we're lagging pretty far behind last year's standard! - we found this out after the midterm in Hofn). Leslie and I were out until 315! (She has a picture of us at the church on the hill with the clock behind us showing this!) We ran into Gabi, Stacie and Riley when we arrived back at the hostel - I sat down for a chat with Riley, then tried to get him to come sleep on the etra bed in our room because he was locked out of his! He ends up up sleeping on the couch in our hallway. I went to bed for a couple hours sleep before 730 departure for rafting!

Day Seventeen

Today started with a beautiful drive through a forest (the first we've seen, and one of the few in the country) to listen to a talk by an Icelandic forester/ranger (he works for the Iceland Forest Conservation service) we walked past the tallest tree (a Lodgepole pine from BC) and the largest tree (a conifer species from Colorado) in the country! There is only one forest forming species here, birch, which is believed to be a hybrid of a shrub-like (here during/before the ice age) and a tree from which came as pollen on the winds from Norway. The rest of the species here are from various countries and have been selected for their ability to grow in sub/Arctic climates. Our guide also told us stories of some of the people behind the importation of the trees. One recount included a German Count who sent seeds from all over following the second world war.  His daughter came to see the forest a few years ago and was disappointed to see that they hadn't formed the lush green forest she was expecting.  We were also informed of the meaning of Bull (wrt BS) - it apparently (unless he was pulling our collective leg) comes from a Norse word meaning gibberish.

We ate lunch in the vans surrounded by forest before setting off to see the Hydropower plant at Fljotssdalstod (I don't have the correct characters.... but that's the gist).  *** I read a publication by the forest service, but unfortunately I forgot my notes on the kitchen table, and I'm not currently allowed (or able) to get back to my house. ***

The dam is very interesting - the whole of the power station is built inside a mountain! After an informative video, we drove nearly a kilometre into the mountain to see the power station, which contains 6x 3-Phase generators fed by 2 4m diameter vertical pipes of water. (I intend to look into these a little more to try to apply EECE, be well see if that happens...) The most recent images I'd seen of a power plant similar to this was of a catastrophic failure in Russia that my teacher had shown us in class. This looked nothing like that; every thing was pristine! I was very obviously groomed for visitors.  There are 3 dams containing 2 reservoirs which are diverted to feed the power plant. On of these rivers is now cleaner that it had been (glacial sediments have somewhat filtered out) while another has been completely destroyed by the water coming from the tailrace. It was really depressing to see the colour of that lake as we drove away.

Next we visited a friend of Caitlin and Harold's (instructors) at the Vatnjokull info centre for the eastern region. He took more ecologically biased stance on the dam matter that was very interesting to listen to. The man at the hydro station mentioned that fish were spawning in the clearer river at the expense of the fish in the lake, and that the latter hadn't supported anyone's livelyhood. Whereas the info centre guy (I need to get better with Icelandic names...) talked about stakeholders being more than just the anthropocentric stakeholders we think of immediately. Who wins? Sustainability entails 3 dimensions Environmental, Social and Economic. (no single one should be exploited for the sake of the others. - This brings us back to the Ecological Economics topic again....)

Lastly, those of us that didn't need to get food for the next few days (of people like me, who decided I'd ether starve or live off the random things I had) would head for a hike up to Hengifoss (a waterfall characterised by basalt columns and changing colours) The total hike was about 5km up a hill and through a valley. The weather and landscape was much how I picture Scotland - damp, foggy, yellow green and peppered with slightly mossy lava rocks. It was gorgeous. Too bad we couldn't see the waterfall through the fog! We did, however, find some sort of geocache -  a hidden treasure in the rocks...ok it was a bright orange tube, but it contained a pad of paper where we signed our names, a Russian calendar of sorts and a stamp. I didn't have anything to leave behind, or I would have left something for the next traveler!

I leave you with this. Enjoy!
Bisous

Day Sixteen

Today we moved on from Hofn to Reytharfyorthur (that's more or less phonetic spelling... see below for the actual location name) rather quickly in the morning because the roads were better than expected.  We were settled into our new hostel by around 13h00 and headed off towards the Aluminium Smelter shortly thereafter. That tour almost didn't include everything it should have because they'd lost power as we were driving up, but in the end, we were allowed to go in to see the pots (the enclosures where they make the aluminium from the aluminium oxide and a catalyst. I think I may have partied a bit hard last night because I've had a splitting headache all day which I believe has contributed to my considerable crankiness. (Sorry guys) And I almost fell asleep (and off a table) while listening to our guide answer some of our questions at the end of the tour!

I wasn't allowed to take my camera with me, and the only shots I got of today were me fooling around with my warming filter, so I've nothing new to post, but I decided to include an amazing (or two) glacier shot! enjoy!

Day Fifteen

Today started off with lectures at the local research centre again - starting with Climate change to a quick Connection between Climate change and Tourism followed by Harold's presentation about his masters thesis, and PhD process of his study (ongoing) of Tourism and the effects of it.

This afternoon we headed out to an old Armed Forces base initially set up by the British and later taken over by the Americans. Then we proceeded to walk across a black sand beach, picking up stones along the way. Our guide took us across a plain to a Viking Village (actually a movie set which apparently has not yet been used) which we meandered around for a while before moving on back towards the vans. The instructors headed to get the vans (with the one left near our outlet) as we walked off to meet the horses. Both Ava and I had apples to feed them. Our last visit was to a view point on the far side of Horn (a mountain) accessed through a tunnel (Gabi, Stacie and I held our breath).  The weather was somewhat misty so the view wasn't as spectacular as it could have been, but we could still see the three glaciers Thor showed us modeled over the next 200 years.  Its really depressing to see how much they've changed since their peak size (in this little ice age - started in 1200) in 1890.

Days Thirteen and Fourteen

So, I fell off the bandwagon yesterday. We arrived in Höfn yesterday evening after a day of hike-drive-hike-drive-midterm. And then we proceded to party (mildly) because THE bar in town was already closed.

Sunday (13):  Before setting out in the morning, I hiked up to the top of the nearby 40m waterfall (Skógafoss) with Sharon to have a look around. A little farther up stream from the main sight was a second smaller, more niagra like waterfall. A shortish drive brought us to the parking lot of the Skaftafellsjökull - a glacier on the southern part of the country. We hiked up past the moraines, and onto the glacier.  It is both amazing and increadibly sad to see how much the glacier has receded over the past 100 years. I am aware, and I believe it is important to mention that we are coming out a mini-ice age, but its rather unreal to see how much ice has melted. The glacier has receded a few hundred meters (estimated based on how far we hiked) in the last 50-odd years. We drove on for a ways, stopped at another glacier to see it's lagoon (on the near side of where Beyond the Wall was filmed for the Game of Thrones!!!) then on to one final lagoon - where amphibious boats take tourists out. <-- does that sound sustainable to you? Kinda seems like it's unnecessarily contributing to climate change...But then again, I flew here on Earth Day.

We arrived in Höfn with a little time to study in the hostel before writing the midterm after which we grabbed some bjór and headed to the beach.

Today (14): Up bright and early, as usual, this time to head a research centre here for a few hours of lecture followed by a grocery trip.  We then had little time to get ready to set out on another hike to a glacier, this time Hoffellsjokull.  Our guide (nicknamed Thor because his real name is a mouthful) sounded sad as he talked about the receding glacier. Every month for the last five years he has been taking a photograph from the same spot. When he started, he was just barely at the ice, now the ice is hundreds of metres away. I think was stuck me was not so much the recession in metres, but the depletion in volume of the glacier. I can even begin to estimate a km^3 value, but it is most definitely massive.  We hiked up a hill west of the glacier face to get a better view, and it was magnificent!

On our way back into town, we unanimously decided to make a pit stop at a dairy farm which makes its own ice cream! The chocolate vanilla cone I had was delicious! Before dinner a Ava, Luke, Lesley, Riley, Steve and I headed for the pool to try out the waterslides and the hot pools. Then Luke and I made ribs (not on the BBQ, sadly, there was no propane, and the grill looked uber disgusting). One game of thrones episode later, here I am!

Ok picutres! I've taken so many gorgeous ones of glaciers, I'm going to try for some variety....Enjoy!

Day Twelve

Today was amazing! We checked out of the hostel at 9am and left to meet with our instructors and pack the vans.  About an hour of driving through the rain with a quick Bonus/bathroom stop brought us to the base of our first hike of the day. There was some confusion about who would be going up the mountain, but eventually everyone got on board, and we set out.  I think we were away from the cars for nearly 4 hours as we hiked up to the geothermal springs, past the bathing area (literally just a hole in the river) to some more bubbling mud a ways on, then circled back to the river for a dip! Almost everyone got into the water (after some fun open air changing) which was suppper hot! One of  pools was (supposedly) 44C! We left the hot pools as I at my sandwich around 12h45.  The hike back to the car was permeated with running! As we ran, Luke looked like Gimly (from the Lord of The Rings) while Emily, Sharon, Riley and I ran along with him. The scenery was phenomenal; the sun even started peaking out between the clouds! - Did I mention it was raining this whole time? Our speed and a bunch of layers (yay wool and down!) kept me warm, if not totally dry. I honesty loved running along the trails, and found my self motivated because of trying to keep up with the athletes (and 6'6 Riley). It was really cool to see how the grasses had remained green in the vicinity of the hot/war running water, but was an unwatered/wintered yellow everywhere else! The landscape was one that no photo could do justice.

We next headed off to visit a waterfall that we could hike around behind the falling water. If I hadn't already been pretty damp, this would have done the trick! A combination of wind and falling water means spray for everyone! Poor Daisy got drenched when a gust of wind picked up the falls and blew them towards her. I got some pretty neat shots from behind the falls, and some falling rock made those of us doing the loop run through a section up to the viewpoint before finishing the circuit and heading back to the vans.

Our last stop was a giftshop and small movie theatre at the base of Eyjafjallajokull - best known for shutting down air traffic all over Europe in April 2010.  The movie was quite interesting; it recounted the experience of a farming family at the base of the glacier before and throughout the eruption. They had farmed there for generations, and were prepared to leave at any moment due to suspicious seismic activity prior to the main eruption. The latter blotted out the sun, caused layers of ash to fall on the farm, and required sheltering the animals and evacuation of the families. Now though, the volcanic ash has fertilised the surrounding areas, and they are a self sufficient farm, providing grain for the livestock from their own fields.

We ended at the hostel in Skodar.

Here are some pictures from today.

Day Eleven

Today was awesome. We had two lectures this morning, on natural hazards and emergency preparedness, and one on Ecological Economics.  The latter was taught by a woman who joked during her presentation about a student's comment: "if you blink you fail."  That's no word of a lie - she spoke soooo fast! But she did have heaps to say about how economics and politics often take environmental or natural capital for granted, and how there are limits which we've far exceeded. This seemed to round back to yesterday's point that we can't always grow. Growth isn't infinitely sustainable, and something will eventually give. There are wastes and bi-products of the economic/political/social/consumption systems that we have in place that go out into the environment but never get accounted for in life-cycle analysis. I know that there are regulations for the oil sands and for mines in Alberta to return the landscape to the image it once was post-processing, but that only talks about the landscape where the resources were removed. What about where the resources go after that? The refineries in Texas have waste, and the final products emit carbon, end up in landfills or end up in other systems, but how much material or energy actually gets recycled? I would also like to point out a comment that was made by someone else: Reduce Reuse Recycle. Which comes last? Why are we focusing on recycle when it is the third R? Reduce consumption, Reduce the materials used (as an engineer, I can say that the first R is being done to an extent - so many things are being over designed now to reduce the amount of material used to make a product. Why? because material costs money!), but I think the former, reducing consumption, is one that needs to emphasized. Do we really need as much space, clothes, electronics, cars, and other stuff as we have become accustomed to?  

After the collapse of the factory in Banledesh, Chatelaine ran a story which included the headline [Pay more, Buy less] (http://www.chatelaine.com/living/bangladesh-the-wake-up-call-we-needed/)  Which I think is and interesting concept because it covers the idea that local made products, or products made where the workers are safe and being paid fairly, are more expensive, yet more equitable. We shouldn't be adverse to spending more money to ensure the safety of the people who make our things. Though I do prefer the former option of having products made locally because it keeps the money in our economy, and reduces  the energy needed for transportation, Mountain Equipment Coop did a study where they tested to see if customers would hold true to their word and actually spend more money to buy a Canadian made product; however, what people say and actually do diverges when it comes to spending money. "The demand for lower prices by retailers and consumers makes production in low-cost countries attractive."(http://www.mec.ca/AST/ContentPrimary/Sustainability/EthicalSourcing/SourcingAndGlobalIssues/SourceInCanada.jsp) Meaning production in Canada is not really a priority for consumers, price is.

The second part, "Buy less" addresses the excessive consumerism. The article talks about all the clothes that we've bought for cheap and left to rot at the bottoms of drawers or in the back of closets. Why do we buy so much stuff we don't use? Or use once then send it to contribute to overfilling landfills? Marketing, advertising, and capitalism can all be scapegoats.  I don't really have an answer to this question. All I can say is that I will monitoring my own spending much closer now.

Reuse is starting to become a fashionable thing with the "up-cycling movement" which I think is neat, and again contributes to the idea of a changing labour force as mentioned in Day 10.  People are becoming innovative by adding value to 'junk' and making it desirable.

On another note:

I've also come to feel as though we aren't destroying our environment, rather altering it in such a way that Mother Earth will just remove us from the equation. We won't destroy her, we'll just make her uninhabitable for us.

The second half of the day started after stocking up at Bonus, grabbing a swim suit and heading out towards the Blue Lagoon. First we stopped at a geothermal power plant for a tour. Then a facility which takes waste carbon and electricity from the plant, to make exportable substances. Then off for a swim and some bjor(s) in the Blue Lagoon. The Blue Lagoon is actually a bi-product of the plant - we went swimming in waste water!!!

Oh, and did I mention? HAPPY BIRTHDAY RILEY!
Here are a few pictures!

Day Ten

Today was an introduction to our final group project for the course. Topics haven't been picked yet, but we've selected our interests, and we'll be grouped accordingly. After these discussions, we shopped for foodstuffs for the next few days, then headed back to the hostel before leaving for the bus station (Hlemme (?)) to go to visit the author of Dreamland ( Andri Snær Magnason) in his home turf at a re-purposed Coal Energy Factory (now Toppdin). The location was magnificent, the kind of place I could wander for hours taking pictures and never get bored.  We only had a short time to wander after his speech/question period, not nearly as long as I would have liked! Here are some pictures from the factory!

The pictures weren't really the most important part of this visit though, Andri was really interesting to listen to. He's written a few books (starting with poetry and children's books) and had interesting views on how the labour force should be structured and what form that labour should be. Iceland has become a hotspot for aluminium smelter plants due to its super cheap energy (ie. the energy company breaks even) which take up over 70% of the energy produced here.  The energy is primarily hydro-electric which means these companies can claim to be using green energy, but they are still eating up Iceland's beautiful landscape. Andri describes a shift in thinking towards a new type of labour force, and warns against the tribulations of living in the past. (Which makes me think of the shift described by a guy the Strombo had on his tv show - he describes how because so much has become mechanized and automated, the required labour force is shrinking; therefore, the more important jobs in the future will be those that add value through creativity and innovation.)  Andri believes that the energy and aluminium/heavy industries are like wildlife: if you feed them, and encourage them, they will get hungrier and hungrier and complacent in the realm we've built for them; they will endlessly come back for more. Instead, Andri advocates the need to understand that just because nothing is changing, new smelters aren't being built, there is no economic growth, the country is not stagnant but rather in a time of consistent prosperity. I agree with this to an extent: economies cannot grow indefinitely, this is unsustainable, so this perceived stagnation may just be a balancing point in the scale at this particular point in time; however, if everyone else is growing, does that really mean that one is not really stagnant, but rather shrinking with respect to other economies? I think this would be a hard pill for any government to swallow (or to try to feed to its people).

Some of this is mine, most of it is his. I like that this is not the first time I've heard of the idea that we are moving towards a tertiary labour force. As a mechanical (engineer), I'm part of those that mechanize systems to make them more efficient and consequently provide fewer jobs.  When labour is cheap elsewhere, and money drives decisions, we need to look at how we can add value, at how we can be innovative and irreplaceable.  I think the days of being an assembly line worker are coming to an end - we can assemble anywhere or machines can that job.  How can the assembly like worker innovate and make themselves irreplaceable? I do not have an answer, but I know that one will be needed soon if we want to save the millions (or more?) of people that do these kind of jobs in North America.

Night all. 

Day Nine

Classes again this morning followed by a visit to the National Iceland Museum. The former included lectures on glaciers, climate change, ecology, and fisheries (this last lecturer was awesome, his enthusiasm and ideas - though sometimes very biased - were enthralling!).  At 14h00 we headed to the museum (thanks to Leah for paying our entrance! - apparently it used to be free on wednesdays, but is no longer) where I wandered mostly alone till just before 5.  I took some photos, but they were few and far between; I did find some cool stuff in the gift shop!

I also got my marks back for all my courses save Capstone; I did better in one and worse in the other of my classes than expected - I've officially passed! (not that there was any concern....)

I don't know what rules are for posting images like this, but I own no rights to the content, it's all accredited to the National Museum of Iceland! The white box is an old photo booth!

Day Eight

Today was another classroom day with lectures on Hydrogen/alternative fuels, politics and economics (with some history thrown in) and Iceland's flora and the issues surrounding the deforestation, desertification and soil erosion. Followed by a visit to the Canadian Consulate to meet the Ambassador! It was interesting to hear him talk about the Arctic Council (Canada and 7 other countries meet to discuss issues around Arctic melt, shipping lanes and other north Atlantic issues).

Once again today was a low photo day ( a good thing seeing as I've taken 899 photos to date on my camera), but here is a sample of the few I took today!

Day Seven

Today was our first classroom day; we left the hostel at 830 for a 9pm start at the University of Iceland. Three lectures covered the definition of sustainability - including the dichotomy of sustainable development, Iceland's geography, and finally energy. The breadth of the topics to be covered in the course this week is vast. Tomorrow we'll discuss everything from Hydrogen power to politics and the economy to the environment. After class we headed home via Bonus (the grocery store - finally!) and after chilling out for the afternoon, headed to the thermal beach for a soak (my first since being here). The temptation of jumping in the freezing cold Atlantic was far to grand, and most of us had a (very) quick dip! It appears that the beach has been man made given the colour of the sand, and the thermal pool is a long rectangular .5m deep pool made of concrete. By the end of our soak, I was famished.  The trek home was ~30 min, but it was with good company. Dinner was a grand affair with a fried rice-style stirfry.

I didn't actually take any pictures today, so here's another one from yesterday. This was taken at the location of the first parliament in the world mentioned in my text yesterday.  The ridges you see on either side of the path are being slowly separated ~2cm/yr. One is on the Eurasia plate and the other the American plate!

Enjoy!
★♥

Day Six

Last night was a blast! We hug out at the hostel and played werewolf until about 23h00, then headed out to bar hop around town (starting at the Lebowski Bar!) until 4am! At which point we snagged some drunk food (pizza - 800 ISk, and subway) and got called out on our way home for going home early!  The sun had already risen by the time I crawled into bed, only to be woken 3.5 hrs later by a Skype call from Colin!

Today we got to take the Golden Circle tour (or at least our version of it) which took us out of Reykjavik and into the mountains/volcanoes! There are two kinds here: table mountains - formed during the last ice age, and shield mountains which have a crater and were formed by multiple eruptions. We saw many of both; Iceland has ~30 volcano systems consisting of hundreds of volcanoes, and produces a third of Earth's magma! ( http://www.eldey.de/English/geology/geology.html ). As well as glaciers ( jökull - pronounced yo-kutl).  Eyjafjallajokull, the volcano that erupted in 2010 and shut down European airspace, erupted from under a glacier!

We visited the site of Iceland's original parliament, and arguably the oldest in the world, at þingvellir (pronounced thing-vet-lir) the fissure between the European and American continental plates. People from all over the country used to gather during the summer at this spot to discuss their governance, and the story goes that the person reciting the laws would face away from the crowd and shout at the wall from a pedestal (now marked by a white flagpole) which would reverberate off the wall back at the crowd like a crude form of a megaphone.

The Gullfoss waterfall was also on the list of sites to see, and there were many a picture taken here. the waterfalls are magnificent.  It was threatened by foreign persons to be harnessed fro hydroelectricity.  I so glad it wasn't!

We also visited the site of Geysir, the namesake of all the geysers in the world! The water is heated underground by the magma - the hottest of which is 410C, and shoots into the air rather unpredictably, but on average every 5 minutes  The water is still 100C when it surfaces, and I gather that there have been a few tourists who have tried to check this with their fingers - bad idea. I want to look up the actual mechanism of eruption, but I haven't yet (and it wasn't explained - that I remember). There was a tourist shop with lots of fun Icelandic fare like "Icelandic Air" (= empty tin can, no joke, the side read "open outside of Iceland to get full effect" - cost was 12$), and the kids toques shown in our group shot below. I would also like to mention that it was super windy.  Like, jump = fly away windy....(this was the case for most of today)

Finally, before returning to Reykjavik, we made a quick stop at an EcoVillage,  Solheima, where the people live off the land as sustainably as possible. (it's way more complicated than this...see the orka (power) sign image below. Then we drove  around the second largest Geothermal Powerplant in the world (the largest begin in Mexico) - I don't have any photos here because I thought we would bes topping but we didn't, it was just a quick spin.

Marjane, Chanelle, Sharon and I finished off the day with a delicious meal at the Laundromate Cafe where, somehow the planets managed to align, and I ran into Heather, who hired me on at TransCanada for my first work term there!

All in all, it was a long day - lots to see, and many photos to take (I took 194!), so here is just a snippet!

Day Five

First day with the group! We started off the day with an lesson in Icelandic, followed by a scavenger hunt all over Reykjavik! Two hours were given, which I originally thought was excessive , but we barely made it back on time! There were a few places I hadn't yet been, the parliament buildings and a super old graveyard!

Here's a selection of today's pics: