The One With The Horse

Let's not beat around the bush on this one. Highlight of the trip (or any trip). Horseback riding yesterday evening in Iceland, on a drop dead gorgeous evening. I cannot imagine a way I would rather spend my time. This is the 6th time I've been riding in Iceland. My dad and I went on two different rides in 2009, one in the north in the Skagafjörð area, and once in the south of Iceland in Skogar. During Snorri in 2011, I went riding once here in Fáskruðsfjörður and one time with the whole Snorri clan on a midnight sun ride in the West Fjords (holy good grief it was just the best thing ever). You might see a pattern in my level of excitement about horseback riding here. In 2012 I went on an 8 hour (like 6 in the saddle) adventure near Hveragerði. It took me days to be able to walk correctly again, but it definitely topped my Coolest Adventures Ever list.

Now this ride was here in Fáskruðsfjörður as well. Bogga set it up for me with a woman she knows in 

 town. A German exchange student named Maria that is staying with a family down the street came along on the ride as well. She has been here for 11 months and went from zero to fluent in Icelandic in that time. Color me wildly jealous.

                                                 

My mighty steed for this ride was named Geysir. He had to have his tongue tied down for the ride, which was one of he the strangest things I have ever seen. Apparently he manages to flip his tongue over the top of the bit when he is all geared up, which is no good. Because of this they literally have to use a rubber band to hold down his tongue to his lower jaw. He was not at all impressed with the process.

We cantered and tolted (autocorrect just tried to make that word into "tooted" and I giggled like a school girl) through the late evening sunshine just as the shadows were starting to fall around the mountains. It was breathtakingly gorgeous. I would have ridden until my legs fell off, so luckily, for the sake of my health, other people were in charge of the timeline. We rode for a little over an hour 
and I loved every minute. I have recently found someone in Minnesota that has Icelandic horses and so have been riding with him a few times in the last month or so. I can't wait to get back and go out again. In fact, I might book another ride for my final week in Reykjavik. I just can't get enough.

I'm writing out of order her, but earlier yesterday was also marvelous, I just had to get my horse excitement on the books first. Bogga and I went to Stoðvarfjörður, the town to the south of Fáskruðsfjörður. We went to the hand crafts market there where they sell lots of woolen goods. I am on the hunt for a lopapeysa (Icelandic wool sweater) of my very own, and maybe a good pair of mittens as well. I found some lopapeysas that I liked, but wasn't 100% sure yet so didn't end up buying anything. It is rather a large commitment. We walked around the town and had a nice kaffi tími at the local cafe. 

We drove back towards Fáskruðsfjörður, keeping a lookout for a nice place along the fjord to go out and explore. Having found just the right spot, we got out of the car and walked for a couple of hours up and down the shore. It was lovely to search for little creatures and wild flowers and shells and take in the nice sunny day.

It was so nice and sunny, in fact, that after we returned from our walk, Elvar and Bogga and I sat out on their deck eating melon and sipping lemon water like we were in the Mediterranean. It was a little surreal how nice it was. After dinner we went horseback riding (see above).

Today Bogga and I drove into the highlands to Laugarfell. Við gengum um hálendið i dag (we walked around the highlands today). We went to the Highlands Hostel first for lunch, which was also the starting point for the hike we would take. Her friends own the hostel. I think Bogga knows everyone in Iceland. Actually, I think everyone in Iceland knows everyone in Iceland. Anyway, I had never been into the proper highlands, so this was pretty exciting. Up, up we drove, just south of Lagarfljót. We drove closer and closer to the mountain Snæfell. Further past that is the edges of the largest glacier in Europe, Vatnajökull. We had mouthwatering broccoli soup and bread (súpa og brauð) with the mountains at our backs in the hostel and then set out for a hike. Beautiful waterfalls galore.

Feel free to admire my hot hiking outfit. The sheep totally dug it.

Hiking supplies

We had a nice Icelandic language lesson on the walk back to the hostel/car. I seriously wish I could 
move here for a year and just make a huge effort to learn as much as possible. I would try my best not to get too distracted by Icelandic horses, who don't seem to care what language you speak and really focus on my studies. Mhmm.

Tonight we went to Lisa and Stebbi's shop for dinner (fiskibollur and the rùgbrauð Bogga and I made 
last night). I stumbled through some conversations in Icelandic with Lisa and Stebbi, who are the nicest, hardest working people in the world. I think a large part of my motivation to learn the language is so I can talk more with them when I visit. My Icelandic language skills are ekki gott enough.

I think today is Thursday. I, the girl who cannot go 5 minutes without obsessively checking on my calendar most days, can completely forget about having to keep a certain schedule here. We can make it up as we go along. All I know is I have to catch a flight back to Reykjavik on Tuesday. Maybe I should set an alarm.