Miscellaneous Stories, Part Deux

As my time here in Iceland draws near an end (indeed I will likely have moved on to Madrid by the time you read this), I thought it appropriate to have a second (similar to before) posting which contains various general observations of life here.

There’s a Sale in the Meat Department!

Turns out even a task as mundane as grocery shopping has some subtle differences here. For one, there aren’t any baggers whatsoever and the cashier doesn’t help, which made for an awkward moment the first time I stood there waiting for someone to come. And they charge for the bags, so you have to guess how many you’ll need when you start to check out. After some inordinately heavy bags as a result of underestimation, I noticed a much higher success rate once I started deferring to their judgment.

For the most part, walking up and down the aisles seems pretty similar to being in America. Many products are exactly the same; Ragu is still the cheapest spaghetti sauce, for example. However, I did find one strange item in the meat department. When I first saw it I just stopped and stared, amazed at what appeared to be a sheep’s head staring back at me.

Turns out that’s exactly what it was. It’s a traditional Icelandic dish, and you don’t normally just buy one; they come sawed in half (top to bottom) and bagged together. I found it really creepy because they still had eyes and teeth, but at least the brain was removed. I inquired about this dish to my co-workers and many agreed it’s really good, although there was no consensus as to which was the best part (eye, cheek, or tongue). I was thinking of including a picture, but I decided this is perhaps best left to the imagination.

You Talking to Me?!?

Although Icelandic is a very difficult language for English-speakers, I felt compelled to at least learn the basic greetings. My favorite is “good morning”, which sounds just like “golden dying”. Another silly word is “bumboboni”, which is some kind of abdomen workout device. I take no responsibility for the consequences should you decide to start saying these words at work.

Where’s the Bill?

In my experience, Icelandic people kind of remind me of Texans. Both groups claim to always be the best at everything. They have “the best looking women, the smartest children, the best athletes, etc”. They even claim to have the best hotdogs.

Regarding this last point, I’m actually inclined to concede theirs are far superior to ours. I don’t have the faintest idea why (I claim only to know enough about how hotdogs are made to stop asking questions). One place in particular is famous; I’ve even been told it’s the first fast-food place in the country. Located one block over from the main drag, this unassuming looking stand boasts long lines nearly all day and night until their 5am close. They have some pictures of various celebrities which have come through, but this is my favorite.

Did You Hear What He Said?

One small surprise I had when I first listened to the local radio is that they don’t censure any of the music for language. While this isn’t a particularly big deal for most songs, artists like Eminem, Kid Rock, and Limp Bizkit make it hard not to notice when they’re playing. I personally kind of like it, but maybe my opinion would be different if I had young children. The Icelandic mothers I talked to didn’t seem to mind it though.

Who’s Been Eating Beans?

One very noticeable difference when I first arrived is how bad the hot water smells. Apparently they put sulfur in the water to prevent pipe corrosion, but it also gives it a distinct rotten egg aroma. Truth be told, I found myself thinking of the shower as a sort of minor torture chamber at the beginning of the summer. But over time I’ve become accustomed and hardly notice it anymore. Still, I don’t expect to miss it when I leave.

The Shark Incident

Location: Reykjavik



















If you were hoping for some tragic shark attack story, then be prepared for a much funnier tale.

One of the roommates brought home a piece of shark recently. It's a very traditional Icelandic dish which many of the locals proudly claim to never have tried, but we figured "what the hell"?

I'm not sure, but I think what we had was called "Hákarl", which is also called rotten or cured shark because they used to take raw shark meat, dig a hole in the gravel, and allow the shark to rot in it for several months before eating. They did this because it can be dangerous to eat raw shark, especially if not cut properly. I have no idea if the process has recently evolved, but I doubt it.

This is what it looks like in the store. Not scary at all, right?
The most common way to serve is to cut into cubes, stick onto toothpicks, and serve as appetizers at dinner parties. Many locals like to eat it, but still only in small doses.

In my opinion, the smell is worse than the taste. It wreaks of ammonia, or as someone else described it, stale urine. It reminded me of being back in Chemistry class when someone had knocked over a beaker of some mysterious substance.

It tastes so "great" that it's usually not eaten alone, but rather chased with an Icelandic hard alcohol named Brennivin (translates into "Black Death"), which is the national alcohol made from potato mash.
I had tried the Brennivin once before and thought it tasted like something charcoal filtered which should only be consumed by college freshmen. And this is supposed to be the "good" part...

But here's me with my piece of rotten shark!
It tasted bland and chewy for about 15 seconds, then all of a sudden a surge of ammonia flavor burst out. This is me almost getting sick.
And this is after the shot of Brennivin.
I also chased it with some beer, and this was my impression of the after taste of the three together.I personally think it's close to being a toss up which one tastes worse, but I say the edge goes to the shark.

Suspecting this would be funny, we decided to film the experience. Enjoy my pain!

Click here for additional pictures.

Whirlwind Tour of North Iceland - Part 3

Locations: Dettifoss, Husavik


















Dettifoss
Another gem within Jökulsárgljúfur National Park (the same one from the last post which I can't pronounce) is Dettifoss. As previously mentioned, "foss" means waterfall, and Icelanders are particularly proud of this one because it's considered the most powerful in Europe.

As usual, we had to park and take a short walk to get to the good stuff. Fortunately the path followed along a cliff which provided a great view of downstream. Here's an example.

And another.
And here is Dettifoss from afar.
I followed up on what exactly is meant by "most powerful" because I already knew this wasn't the tallest in the country. Glymer is. It turns out that "most powerful" implies flow rate, and it doesn't disappoint with a whopping 200 cubic meters per second (almost 53,000 gallons going by each second). This translates to 4.5 billion gallons of water each year.
And as always, one pic with me partially blocking all the natural beauty :)

Husavik
This is one of the few towns in the North, and it also offers some good points of interest despite its small size. We were lucky enough to be there during a week-long "candy" festival where locals and tourists alike would spend the evenings down on the harbor with bbq, beer, and live music. And although I saw very little candy, it's hard to pass up a chance to grab a beer and mingle with the locals.

Here is a picture of the cafe right above the harbor.
One of the main attractions of the town is its Whale Watching tours, which are supposed to be far superior to those offered in the South. For a moderate price, we boarded a boat and set out for ~3 hours. Here is the one we were on.
Despite the foggy day, we were successful. The boat took us out to where some whales had been recently spotted. This particular species (I can't remember which one anymore) fed by diving up and down with their mouths open, essentially sucking in and expelling large quantities of water while filtering out their food.

They would surface briefly about every four minutes, but since the time & place was never known, we were constantly moving around to keep up with them. We saw 3 in total, and they didn't seem to care that we were there at all. My videos came out better than my pictures, but I did get one good one.

When they go completely vertical for a deep dive their tails come almost straight up, which gives those of us watching a good show. Here is what it looked like.
The captain was saying they tend to see the same few whales everyday, and since they can tell them apart by the tales, they tend to name them. The one in the pictures is Freddy.

They tend to surface pretty fast and we had to keep our eyes open in all directions, but luckily one came up really close and directly in front of where I was looking. Here's the short video I got (assuming it works).

Also one funny side note. Near the end of the tour Freddy surfaced right in front of us while our boat was still moving ahead slightly, and we actually collided with him. Someone yelled out "we rammed Freddy!", much to everyone's amusement except the captains. If you're reading this Freddy, thanks for not getting angry and sinking us.


We felt famished when we got back into town, so we walked up the harbor a few minutes to one of the two restaurants in town for an early dinner.

I really liked the place not only for its terrific food but its traditional Icelandic selections. We had a local bird named Puffin for an appetizer. I thought it tasted similar to duck.
And a few people in the group ordered a reindeer entree (they live in the East), which I also really enjoyed. I thought it tasted just like a really good beef steak.

Probably one of my favorite destinations of Husavik, however, is the Iceland Phallological Museum.

Seriously, I wouldn't make this up! The owner has collected over 250 specimens and aspires to get at least one penis from every mammal on the island. In case you don't believe me, here is front sign.
Located at the beginning of the tour, I found this diagram helpful because it gave for a sense of scale for what I was about to see. You probably can't read the text, but mankind is the smallest one on the far right.
I think this one belongs to a sperm whale.
I would attempt to guide you through which specimen belongs to what, but I found it more fun to just wander through without trying to remember the details.
And some more...
The guys in the group really seemed to enjoy taking their picture with this one, although I think we all tried our best not to feel inadequate in its presence.

And thus ends the long weekend (4 day) tour of North Iceland. I really don't think we possibly could have squeezed in anything else. We didn't even get back until 4:30am and still had to wake up for work in the morning!

Clik here and here for additional content.

Whirlwind Tour of North Iceland - Part 2

Locations: Hverfell, Lake Mývatn, Grjótagjá, Jökulsárgljúfur National Park



















Grjótagjá
This place is really cool because it saddles Iceland's two tectonic plates (similar to Þingvellir in a previous post), except here you can peer down into the Earth.

Notice how small the people look - it's a long way down.
And in case you were wondering I was all set to jump across, but at the last minute I couldn't find anyone to sing the Indiana Jones theme song for me.

There are also some caves nearby built into the rocks; here's the entrance to one.
Once inside, the ceilings were quite low and there was a large hot spring. I'm told this used to be a popular place to go swimming but when Krafla volcano erupted in the 70s (the one right next to the geothermal plant in the last post) made the water way too hot. It's been slowly returning to normal and is currently right around 120 degrees.
I of course stuck my hand in it like an idiot, which is exactly what they tell you NOT to do.

Hverfell
There is a crater very near Dimmuborgir "Dark Castle" (see the previous post) which provides a terrific view of the area. I'm told the top is ~600 feet up, which sounds right because it was a nice little hike to the top.

This is the view looking inside.
And one looking out from the crater's rim.

Lake Mývatn
One of our main destinations for the entire trip was this lake. It's supposed to be one of the country's most beautiful and is also a very popular weekend getaway spot. Apparently Mývatn translates to "mosquito lake" because there can be "clouds of them" at certain times of the year. At first I thought my coworkers were just pulling my leg, but then I looked into it more and apparently it's true.

The best picture I found on the internet is from user JimBobTx on Flickr. Many thanks if you're reading this JimBob.
This looks like something out of a Stephen King movie to me. My experience was much more pleasurable since I didn't see a single mosquito while I was there.

Just by luck, one of our coworkers was also staying for the weekend at his summer house in the area, and he offered to let us ride his horses. I should mention that Icelandic horses are naturally smaller, but you shouldn't call them ponies because it offends them!
The horses here also have a distinctive way of running (called gaits) which I will not even attempt to explain. If you want to know more you can follow this link. Whatever they are doing, I found it to be a very smooth ride even at fast speeds.

I'm not sure how safe it was to take these but here is one of my "horse cam" pictures.
Our new friends led them into the lake after we were done in an attempt to clean them, and the first thing the horses did when we got back was to roll around in the dirt! It was a really funny sight.
They also let us get back on after they were unsaddled. This feat required a big jump and a bit of luck that the horse didn't move. Once on, there isn't much one can do for control without reigns, but apparently you can get a little bit of steering capability out of pulling its hair. Here I am demonstrating such a move, although I'm not sure I would want to try while in motion.

Jökulsárgljúfur National Park
I tried to pronounce this to one of my coworkers but the look I received has convinced me to never try again. Despite its confusing name, it is quite a gorgeous area.

It has especially memorable and distinctive cliffs. After a short walk from the car we came to a place called Asbyrgi where the cliffs and valley make a horseshoe shape. It's hard to make it out up close, but you can see how it all starts to curve around in the picture below.
Another one taken with me from the same spot. You can see I either got fairly sunburned from the day before or decided to hit the bottle really early. I'll let you decide.
We were able to partially hike/climb up the side of one of the cliffs to get a better shot of the canyon.
Well worth the effort. This last one shows how extremely vertical the cliffs are.
Anyone feel like climbing?!?


And there's still enough additional stories to necessitate a part 3, so stay tuned. If you want to see more, try here, and here.

Whirlwind Tour of North Iceland - Part 1

Locations: Akureri, Kalina Power Plant, Krafla Power Plant, Dimmuborgir, Goðafoss



















We recently took two days off work and combined them into an extra-long weekend to try and take in all the sights North Iceland had to offer. Our official cover for this operation was to visit two geothermal power plants in the north. Our company was even kind enough to provide us with a VIP guide for the plant tours.

Our main base for this excursion was Akureyri, which is Iceland's 2nd largest city with ~17,000 inhabitants. Its other claim to fame is its natural scenic beauty and great weather, both of which I have to agree with. Here is a pic of the town and area.
And another one at sunset.

Kalina and Krafla Geothermal Power Plants
It turns out the two geothermal plants we quite different, both in physical size and the specific technology used. I won't bore you with the details, but lets just say there is more than one way to make a geothermal plant. The smaller one was 2 MegaWatts (MW), and the other 60MW. This means they can power approximately 2,000 and 60,000 homes, respectively.

Here is the schematic of the smaller one. Even I got confused quickly when I stared at it.
And here is a view of the surrounding area outside of the larger plant. I have no idea what I was gesturing at, but the white plumes (not pollution - only water vapor, I promise) coming out of the ground give away the plant's location.
Here is a shot of the inside where the two main turbines are. Since this plant is 60MW, each turbine produces 30MW of electricity. Cool to know that each one of those blue structures can power 30,000 homes isn't it?
This particular plant also has some interesting history. As one might imagine, these plants are all located in some active geothermal areas, but in this case the source is a nearby volcano. This particular volcano decided to erupt shortly after the plant had been built, and in fact the engineer giving us our tour was working when it blew. He said it was "interesting" to watch free-flowing lava in person. The plant building was not seriously damaged, although at least one of the geothermal wells erupted with lava!

Here's a picture of the incident.
And another really impressive one. I had to lift this one off the internet (many thanks to the USGS).
Sure beats my average day at the office.

We also decided to embark on a hike around the area, which was interesting because a large portion of the landscape was a dried lava field. Here's a good shot of what I mean - notice the green on either side of the valley, which is all black?
Here's what the black looks like up close.
Despite its treacherous appearance, it is quite safe to walk around on these lava rocks. I even took a small one home as a souvenir.

Dimmuborgir
One of the places we stopped by is called "Dimmuborgir", which is Icelandic for Dark Castle. Located on a small road off the main highway, it has very unique terrain, even by Icelandic standards. Huge jagged boulders seem to randomly sprout out of the ground and together they form very tall structures. Here's a shot on top of a ridge when we first started our hike. If you look really hard, you can see people walking on a trail right in the middle of the photo. This gives a pretty good sense of scale.
Immediately I understood where the Dark Castle name comes from. Honestly, can't you imagine the bad guy from Lord of the Rings living here?
This next one was taken inside a cave named "The Church" because of its high ceiling and narrow entrance. I could almost conjure up images of a seance or exorcism being performed.
Maybe not my first location choice for a summer home, but at least you know where to find me if I end up ruling the world from an evil lair.

Goðafoss
As mentioned in an earlier post, this country has all kinds of amazing waterfalls just a few miles off of main roads. Goðafoss is one such example. Viking history tells of a local magistrate who threw all of his pagan statues into this fall when the country converted to Christianity around 1000 AD.
And this is what the center of the falls looks like.
Part 2 coming soon! Click here, here, and here to see more pics at these locations.