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.