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!

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