On the Road Again

Our travels thus far have been amazing. We have seen some truly wonderous things and have been on adventures that are hard to describe in a way that does them justice. I am having a very hard time coping with the fact that it will shortly be coming to an end. Now we are at Hofsos, which is a lovely town in the north of Iceland. This is where the museums dedicated to the Icelanders that left for North America back in the day are located and so we are getting to see a lot of information on our ancestors. There is one exhibit just on North Dakota Icelanders which we are going to see after breakfast this morning. Super pumped. Those are my peeps.
I won 't spend much more time typing away on my Nook about what is happening this morning. I still plan on giving a full account of the week complete with pictures once I get back to MN. For now, I just wanted to let all my loyal readers know that I am loving every minute I am spending here, whether it is spent on a cramped bus with the Snorris or climbing the sheer cliffs of the puffin island Drangey.

Ain´t No Mountain High Enough

Sandfell was my Everest. I climbed it to the very tip top and made if safely back down again, and was I ever proud. I started off the hike feeling pretty rough on Tuesday. I don´t know what it was, but at about 2:30 when we got going I was shaky and weak, and edged on being irrationally weepy for about the first 45 minutes. My blisters from the day before were killing me and I was convinced I couldn´t make it all the way up. Something was off and I didn´t think it was just due to being tired from having gone climbing the day before too. I sat down for a break about an hour in, after feeling miserable and only being able to concentrate on how rotten I felt. I ate a cereal bar and some peanut butter crackers and drank some water, and lo and behold, within 20 minutes more of walking I started to feel like a new woman. I think my blood sugar had crashed or something, because I perked right up after that. I was able to enjoy the amazing beauty of the valley, and look at the mountain as a challenge I could meet rather than one that was going to crush me.

"Sandfell is a cone-shaped, rhyolite mountain on the south side of the fjord, rising to a height of 743 meters. When molten rhyolite lifts older layers of lava, so-called laccolith is formed. Sandfell, about 600 m thick, is a famous example of this and is in fact one of the best visible examples of the Tertiary period in the northern hemisphere." - travelnet.is

Sandfell is not particularly tall compared to other hiking mountains in Iceland, but it is pretty steep. It is also fairly unique in the way it was formed and the kind of mountain that it is. I´ve been told there is only one other one like it in the world and that is in Japan. The hike up to the back of the mountain took maybe 2 and a half hours. On this part of the hike we weaved in and around the valley, working our way closer to the base of Sandfell, climbing ever higher and higher. The ground there in the valley is spongy and takes a lot of effort to walk through, but it is breathtakingly beautiful. We made it to the foot of the "first hill" which is really the first leg of the actual mountain. It is a steep climb up a mix of grass and rocks that I sometimes was tempted to climb on my hands and knees so I didn´t tip backwards and end up bouncing back down to the bottom. We made it to the top of this first summit and had a nice snack break before tackling the main event.
From the first summit to the top of Sandfell there is nothing but large chips of rock that are much more sturdy to stand on than you would think, if climbed with careful attention to your footing. This part took a lot of focus and I admit that I was so concerned about how I was going to get down the mountain after we were done that I didn´t even worry much about climbing up this part. Standing at the top or the bottom it looks like it is almost a completely vertical climb.
At the top we reveled in having met our goal, signed the guestbook and took a bunch of photos. Chock it up to the thin air, or my excitement or whatever, but I wrote the wrong date in the guestbook when I signed my name. I copied the entry before mine like a fool but didn´t realize it until about half way down the mountain.
Now, for getting down from this beast. Bogga kept telling me, "It isn´t dangerous. We´ll just slide right down." These two ideas did not match up in my head. Slide down a 750 meter mountain safely? I don´t think that sounds right. But it turns out it wasn´t bad at all. It was a lot of work to control the way you slide down, but it actually was sort of fun. Slide one foot ahead, balance, let the other foot drag down behind. Repeat. Switch leads occasionally so your legs don´t give out on you. Once I figured out the system it was no problem.
What I had to puzzle over though was the mechanics of the human body during the fall/startle reflex. Why in the world are we designed to toss our hands into the air like we are on a roller coaster when we start to slip, instead of moving them down behind us where they might do some good to catch us or break our fall? Seems to me that something got overlooked in that plan. As much as I tried to change my reaction when I slipped, my arms just kept popping into the air like a spastic puppet. I was glad Bogga and I were the only ones on the mountain and there was not a big audience to watch me slide down.
The whole hike from start to finish took 6 hours and 45 minutes. I was thrilled to see the car when it finally came back into view. I was filthy dirty and a little sunburned, but it had been a great experience. My feet were bruised and blistered and felt like someone had pounded at them with a hammer, but it was totally worth it. When we started out I was convince I wouldn´t make it, but by the time we were done I knew I could do it again if I needed to, though maybe not until I´d had a good night of sleep.


Indeed, the next day (yesterday) I hobbled around like an old woman for the better part of the morning. My feet were furious with me for subjecting them to Sandfell. I did my best to ignore them and by midafternoon they gave up their whining. I helped Stebbi paint some of the light poles and posts around the shop. I got to wear a snazzy uniform too, which made it that much better. You could see me from space I think, (or at least the top of Sandfell) but it kept my clothes from getting speckled with paint. I was glad that I had agreed to wear the jumpsuit because when I was done painting Stebbi looked at me and laughed, saying "You look like a blackbird (Guillemot) egg." In other words, I was speckled from top to bottom with white paint. I spent a long time using WD-40 to get paint spatters out of my hair so I didn´t spend the rest of the day looking like I was going prematurely gray. The bad news was that I looked a little greasy afterwards, but the good news is that I no longer squeak when I turn my head.

Today is my last full day here in Fáskruðsfjörður. Tomorrow I take a flight from Egilsstaðir to Reykjavik at 12:45. I cannot believe how quickly the time has gone, or how much I wish I was sticking around for another couple of weeks. There is still so much that I would like to do. I want to do more baking with Lísa, Bogga and Thorhildur, I want to climb more mountains and meet more relatives. I want to see more of the landmarks and old farm sites where my ancestors once lived and worked. The more I´ve done here, the more things I have added to my Want To Do list.
I am, however wildly excited to be back with my Snorris and start our adventure tour. I cannot wait to see them all and compare notes on how we have all spent our last three weeks. We got our itinerary for the tour and it sounds like it is going to be amazing. We are going to be seeing some really wild places all along the Snæfellsnes peninsula and the West Fjords. With the Snorris it wouldn´t matter if we were just sitting together in a small room for 7 days. We would still manage to have a blast, but I think that getting to see and do all these fantastic things with them will be incredible.

I'm not sure what the internet availability will be during the tour, so I may or may not be able to keep everyone updated on what is happening. If I can´t I will be sure to give a solid summary of the adventures when I get back to civilization.
This trip has been all that I had hoped it would be and so much more. I´ve made wonderful friends, met relatives that 6 weeks ago I had no idea even existed, and experienced Iceland in a way I had only dreamed about, and the best is yet to come. Sitting here on this foggy morning in Fáskruðsfjörður my real life seems a million miles away and I am in no hurry to get back to it. I am going to enjoy every last moment that I have and know that the memories I´m making here will be with me for the rest of my life.

Addendum: There was a going away party for me and all 3 of Lísa and Stebbi´s daughters came, along with their families. There was wonderful food and everyone sat around and ate and laughed. I did Perla Sól´s hair (she is 8 years old or so, and the cutest thing you have ever seen) and we took funny pictures of everyone, and I earned some points with the little boy cousins when I brought out my Nook so they could play Angry Birds. It was a wonderful party. I got a very sweet gift from Bogga. I had mentioned to her awhile ago that I am sort of crazy about aprons. I always keep an eye out for cute ones and have a small collection started. So she gave me an awesome apron with a Puffin on it. Also, she gave me an Icelandic spoon with a woman on it to remind me of the strong women who taught me how to cook all sorts of wonderful Icelandic foods, and a really nice keychain as well. When everything was cleaned up and the house was quiet again, Stebbi and Lísa brought out another gift for me. It was 2 beautiful picture books on Iceland. It almost brought tears to my eyes to think that they were the ones who opened their home to me and have fed me and entertained me for three weeks, and yet THEY are giving ME gifts. I should be the one showering them with gifts, and I only wish I could repay their incredible kindness. An evening as wonderful as this is not going to make it any easier to leave tomorrow.

Another Day, Another Awesome Mountain

A lot can happen in 5 days. I have done so much that there is not space in this blog, or time left in my evening to write about all of it. I´ll try to cover all the bases, though I know I won´t be able to do the week justice. Here´s the run down:
This past Thursday I went to Egilsstaðir with Bogga after a stimulating morning at the bank. She had a hair appointment and I was more than happy to go along for the ride. We had plans to do some shopping afterwards, as I was still on the hunt for a ponnukokur pan. I read my Nook for the duration of the hair appointment. I was in the middle of a good book and happy to have the down time. We had an amazing afternoon coffee at Hotel Egilsstaðir, which is the hotel which runs from the farm which gave its name to the town. It was a beautiful place, and I had a to die for piece of apple rhubarb cake with whipped cream and hot chocolate. Heaven help me, I just can´t say no to something like that.

We stopped in the barn on the way out, as I was curious about the dramatic Mooooooooing coming from inside. The cows were having an afternoon coffee break too, though their snack didn´t look nearly as good. Their dining room also smelled considerably worse. I stepped in there for maybe a minute and I swear I smelled like cow pee for the rest of the day. Lesson learned: photograph cows from outside the cow barn.

I had no luck finding a good ponnukokur pan during our brief shopping trip, but I was not discouraged. The right pan is out there for me somewhere. I just have to find it.

Friday was a big day because I was going with Bogga, Thorhildur, Stefán Alex and Eiður to the family reunion camping trip near Akureyri. That is about 4+ hour drive from where I am staying and I was sitting between 6 year old Eiður and 11 year old Stefán Alex for the whole thing. That ride pretty much cinched my decision to never have children. About 200 relatives gathered for the weekend. I was related to some of the branches represented there, so I had the opportunity to meet even more cousins. The campground was beautiful. It turns out Icelandic camping is not so different from American camping.

I think the biggest differences are that the campsite is just a huge field, there is not a tree to be found, so you aren´t tucked into a private corner of the woods like in many campgrounds I have experienced at home. Also, it was significantly colder than any other camping trip I have been on. This was not 100 degree heat like in Medora, ND, or a warm evening sitting by the fire at Buffalo River State Park. I was fully decked out in wool hat and mittens, and about 8 layers of clothing any time I set foot out of the camper on Friday and Saturday (it warmed up significantly on Sunday).

Friday evening wasn´t too wild. We got set up at the campsite and walked around meeting people and talking. I carried my ancestry book around, as always, and used it to explain to people why I was crashing their family reunion. I got many warm welcomes, including one old fella who video-taped our introduction and conversation for several minutes thereafter, rendering me completely idiotic and unable to form a complete sentence. Mostly I just tried to smile pretty and keep quiet.

Saturday morning we made the 40 minute drive from the campsite into Akureyri to do some shopping and look around. Bogga was by this time just as determined to find me a ponnukokur pan as I was, so we went to about 6 or 7 different places trying to find a good one. Not a single place had them, including some antique shops (the older and more used the pan the better). We finally asked a clerk why on earth they weren´t anywhere and she told us there is a problem with the company right now and so there aren´t really any available. Just my luck. I could buy one of the cheap teflon ones, but I want the legit, heavy as lead kind that all the ammas around here have passed down over the years, keeping each generation well supplied with pannokokur. So I´ll wait. We managed to do some non-pannukokur pan related shopping as well, and went through several stores in the Akureyri mall. The most exciting thing I saw there was an Angry Birds tournament. Apparently this is taken very seriously in Iceland.

We got back from Akureyri in the late afternoon and I was instantly set upon by an older, outgoing gentleman that I had been introduced to the previous evening. His name is Daniel the White. He grabbed my by the hand and speaking to me in Icelandic said to go with him to his car. Now I´m not stupid, and normally this would have raised some alarms, but Bogga and Thorhildur were laughing and waving me on so I walked with him to his car. He gave me a book that he had made on the descendents from Kolmuli (all the family members at the reunion had ties to Kolmuli). "Special for you," he told me. "For you to keep, special". I was honored and thanked him over and over. He wrote me a little note in the front of the book and everything. What a wonderful gift.
After that I made lummur with Bogga. Lummur are basically small pancakes (maybe a little more dense) and are served with whipped cream and the jam/sauce of your choice. Another option it to coat them in sugar. Really there is no way you can go wrong.

I made the whipped cream by hand with a whisk, which was exhausting, but pretty gratifying when it actually turned into real whipped cream. Cream (the legitimate stuff) is used in everything around here. I think Icelanders might just keel over dead if you showed them a tub of Cool Whip. Dinner was held in the gathering hall at the campsite, which managed to accomodate all 200+ people that had come to the reunion. They served grilled leg of lamb, baked potatoes and salad and it was all delicious. There was a speech, which I did not understand at all, and then a music program. I was both saddened and relieved to see that the Swansons are not the only branch of the family that forces children to perform at family functions.

I helped wash up after dinner, which was a good way for me to keep from feeling awkward or in the way. I´m happier when I´m busy. I got to talk to one of my cousins while we worked too, so that was nice. There was a huge bonfire and everyone gathered around and sang. People asked me all weekend, "Do you do this sort of thing in Minnesota? (or Manitoba, depending on who was asking and how confused they were about who I was and why I was there)." I always sort of nodded and told them, "Yep. Well, my family doesn´t, but I´m told that other families get together and do things like this." One guy told me he figured American campgrounds must be full of only huge fancy RVs and no tents or pop-up campers or camping trailers. I set him straight when I told him that last time I went camping we didn't even have tent poles so we had to set the damn thing up with big sticks. I think I changed his view of Americans being overly luxurious.

Sunday morning was pleasantly warm and sunny. We slept late and took our time getting out of the campsite. I played soccer with Stefán Alex for awhile, and then we bonded over Angry Birds on my Nook. The ride back was long, with my boisterous little cousins on either side of me, but the scenery was beautiful so I tried to concentrate on that. I was happy to have been able to go with for the weekend, so the ride was really worth it. It was fascinating to get to see Icelandic camping, participate in a family reunion, see Akureyri and drive through all of Northeast Iceland. Great weekend.

Today at the bank I used the time to finish my assignment for the Snorri Program that is due on Wednesday. Each participant has to write a paper or poem or something about their experience with the Snorri Program. It can be about a particular event or activity, something we learned or have observed while being here about nature or family or whatever. Anyway, I got mine mostly done this morning which was a relief considering I didn´t know what I was going to write about when I walked in the doors at 9:15. This afternoon I made pannukokur at the shop with Lísa and Bogga. They taught me how to make them so they are nice and thin, and oh so delicious. They are really fun to make too. Now if only I had a pan of my own on which to bake them.
Bogga and I went mountain climbing after that. We spent 3 hours or so climbing up and another hour going back down. I maintain that climbing down is far more terrifying than climbing up. I´m going to be climbing Sandfell tomorrow and I'm seriously thinking about looking into the prices for being airlifted down once I´m signed the guestbook at the top. The mountain we climbed today was on the north side of town and was very beautiful. I think I now have roughly 1 billion pictures of Icelandic waterfalls in my collection. Not too shabby. It was nice and warm up in the mountain, much warmer than in town, which is cooled by the breeze coming off the water. The smells from the herbs, grasses and flowers along with the fresh water from all the waterfalls and mountain streams was absolutely intoxicating. People could make millions if they could bottle it. We explored the waterfalls and found the ruins of an old ski cabin and a lóa nest full of eggs. It was a great afternoon, though my feet are a little the worse for wear. I have a couple of humdinger blisters that might make tomorrow´s climb a little challenging. Nothing a little moleskin or some High School Musical Bandaids can´t take care of I hope.

Best. Day. Ever. (And Climbing a Mountain)

Tuesday morning dawned bright and cloudy, which was a vast improvement over the dark and rainy weather that had been lurking around for ages. The day had some promise and I felt an extra skip in my step during my short walk to the bank. I had a good feeling about the day. Turns out I was right.

(This is the view from my desk at the bank)

I got to help sort the mail at the bank (a real task!) and I got a Groupon offer in my junk mail email account for 70% off a ´make your own photo book´ on some overpriced photo book website. Only 35 dollars for 115 dollars worth of photo books? Yes please. I have adventures to document. I will have no problem filling those pages, and it is much less fussy than scrapbooking, which I don´t think I have the patience for. Thanks, Groupon. Don´t mind if I do.
I got to the store and ate some really tasty fish (no idea what kind, but it was delicious) and was told I either had the choice of going to see an eccentric relative out at one of the farms where my ancestors lived at 3pm, or go horseback riding at 5pm. No time to do both in one day. Now don´t get me wrong. I´m all for visiting historic family sites and meeting more relatives, and this one does sound like a real doozy. Everyone that hears his name sort of shakes their head and mutters something rude sounding in Icelandic- I actually can´t wait to meet this guy. Expectations are high. However, horseback riding takes precedent over pretty much everything else in my world. Especially horseback riding in the mountains of Iceland. Seriously. It´s like being in a movie.
Since the weather was actually nice I immediately voted for taking advantage of the nice weather and going riding, and saving the relative visit for a different day when it didn´t matter if it was rainy or not. There wasn´t much argument. I had several hours to burn, some of which was taken up deciding what to wear. Lísa was especially concerned with how many layers I should wear and making sure they weren´t nice clothes that would be ruined by "hestur lykt" (horse smell). I personally have no problem with hestur lykt, but I decided not to bring that up and get myself labeled as the weird American relative that likes smelling like a horse. Too early in the relationship for that, I think.
Þorhildur and little Eiður brought me out to the farm (Þorhildur´s husband´s brother´s girlfriend´s farm, from what I gathered) and I got to spend 2 glorious hours riding around on a lovely steed named Magnús.

He is a gem. We forded rivers and tölted (a really smooth sort of trot that many of the Icelandic horses can do) down rocky paths and grassy fields. Heaven. We rode deep into the valley where the farm is located, took a little photo session break at one of the waterfalls near the back of the valley, and then rode back home. During all of this, I couldn´t help but notice that that big stupid grin was glued to my face. I could have kept riding around there for ages longer. That is my idea of a great day.

I cleaned up quickly back at the shop and then helped during the late dinner rush for an hour and a half or so before Stebbi brought me home. Awesome day.

Today was pretty sweet too. I went walking up into the mountains with Bogga and Stefán Alex, who was not thrilled to be there after the first 45 minutes or so. You don´t have to speak the language to understand whining 11 year old boy. Lady Hike had nothing on this fella.

I had images of Hobbits dancing in my head as we worked our way up the lovely slopes. It was like something out of Lord of the Rings. We made it a long way up in the 3 hours that we had, with Bogga encouraging Stefán to continue. Distance up there was measured in waterfalls. At one point I heard Stefán say in Icelandic to his mom, "You said we were going to turn around like 3 waterfalls ago!" It was a beautiful day to be hiking, with the sun truly shining for only the second time since I´ve been here. It was a glorious, "warm" day up in the mountain and I was incredibly grateful to get to witness such beauty.

Even now, sitting here at the computer at 9:30 at night, the sun is shining in the window, and making the slopes on the south side of the fjord absolutely glow. The sun is just about to dip below the mountain where it will hover all night, keeping the sky light until the sun pops back over the mountain in the early hours of the morning. Incredible.

These were taken last night around 10pm. Gorgeous pink sky.

The Weekend

This is a friend that I made when I was out for a walk one afternoon.

I had plenty of down time this weekend to read and relax. It has been cold and raining solidly here for the past 4 days and it supposed to keep it up for another 4 days or so. Lovely. It has been so cloudy and foggy that I can barely see the mountains that frame the town. It is as if the world ends where the fog cuts in. Saturday I had the whole day to myself until about 6pm when Stebbi stopped at the house to bring me to the shop. I spent the whole day looking at stuff online for my new job at Capitol Hill Elementary, browsing facebook, and reading on my nook. In a moment of desperation I even decided to attempt to figure out the TV and DVD player so I could watch Mamma Mia. When Stebbi showed up I was starting to go a little stir crazy so I was happy to go and help with the cooking and cleaning at the restaurant. At one point, Lísa jokingly told me in Icelandic, "Það er gott að hafa góða vinnu konu hér," which means something along the lines of "It is good to have a good working woman here." I felt pretty good about that once I realized what she meant. Closing up the shop was really nice because there is lots to do. I didn't feel like I was in the way because there was a lot of little jobs that I could actually do. It was nice to feel like I had contributed to the shop instead of just adding to the work that needed to be done.
Yesterday (Sunday) I had the morning to myself and then at noon Stebbi came and brought me to the shop. I ate lunch (lamb, yummmmm) and then Bryndís and Gunnar picked me up and took me to Egilsstaðir with them for the day. We were on a hunt for a pönnukökur pan, but as it was Sunday many of the shops were not open. We found an overpriced, cheaply made one at a supermarket, but Bryndís told me with disgust that it was "ekki gott" (not good).
We visited an old slaughterhouse that is now a co-op musuem (Kaupfélag Héraðsbua), featuring the meat and dairy production history of the area. It was actually interesting to see some of the old machinery and pictures, although whoever was in charge of setting the mood in the exhibit got a little carried away with the fake blood. I get it, its a slaughterhouse, but enough with the blood spatters.
After that we checked out a couple of beautiful gift shops that had pieces of art and clothing that were way over my budget, but that were just beautiful. If I had a million dollars... I enjoyed looking, but couldn´t find it in myself to buy a pair of mittens for 90 dollars. Even if they were really nice mittens.
Bryndís tried to explain to me where we were going next, but aside from "driving to a place with good coffee" I didn´t exactly know what to expect from our next destination. It turns out we drove all the way around Lagarfljót, which is the lake on the West side of Egilsstaðir. Legend says Iceland´s equivalent of the Loch Ness monster lives in these waters, a giant worm called Lagarfljotsormurinn. I admit I kept a close eye on the surface as we drove along, just in case. On the drive I got to see Hengifoss, which is one of the tallest waterfalls in Iceland and lots of other beautiful things.

Hallormsstaðarskógur is the large forest that surrounds the lake. There are actually a ton of trees in this area and several times I found myself thinking, "What in the hell are all these stupid trees doing in Iceland? I can´t see a damn thing." It is just like my dad says, all trees are are scenery blockers. We stopped at the East Iceland visitors center in Vatnajökull National Park. It was a beautiful building with some neat exhibits. http://www.vatnajokulsthjodgardur.is/english

Just down the road from that was a building that I had seen in my Iceland guidebooks but didn´t think I would get a chance to see. It is called Skriðuklauster and is a beautiful stone building that now houses a musuem of sorts, and has a wonderful coffee and cake selection in the afternoons. When you are offered a plate at a cake buffet in Iceland, take my advice and just say yes. You won´t be sorry, at least until you try to squeeze into your skinny jeans. Skriðuklauster was the home of Icelandic author Gunnar Gunnarsson and was built in 1939. Just down the hill from the house are the remains of a 16th century monestary. There is currently an archeological dig happening there and I actually got to see a skeleton exposed in the earth, waiting to be removed.

Even further down the road we drove quickly past a hydroelectric power plant that is a total eyesore, but provides energy to a big chunk of East Iceland. All I know is that I would have been ticked if some big energy company came through and planted massive, ugly, metal power poles on the Utopia-like farm that my family had lived on for generations. Just saying.

Our final stop was at a family friend´s summer house up in the mountains on the east side of the lake. I think actually she is a several times removed cousin, but I couldn´t quite track how it was that we were related. She kept calling me "frænka min," which poorly translates to English as "my aunt," but actually means any female relative that isn´t close enough to describe as mother, father, sister, brother, husband, or wife in Icelandic. You can have frænki (male relatives) and frænka (female relatives). I find it sort of funny that in a country whose national pastime is to track who is related to who, that they don´t have specific names for cousins. It ends up being a long process of saying, "She is the daughter of my sister´s daughter" instead of, "That´s my great niece." I am often met with confused looks when I use the word cousin, even with my English speaking cousins here. Aunt or uncle is the term they would use in English for relatives like cousins, nieces or nephews, no matter how old.

Anyhow, we had a nice visit with Lúla(a nickname for Lúvísa) who is on the right side of the picture (Bryndís is on the left) and her family. It turns out that she had gotten married on Saturday, and so we were walking in on a wedding party of sorts. Bryndís was thrilled with this, but I´m pretty sure the wedding was a big surprise. It didn´t sound like she knew that was happening this weekend. There was so much Icelandic being spoken at such a fast rate that I couldn´t follow any of it. I was asked a couple questions and was completely dumbstuck. All of the confidence I had in my language ability flew out the window. Apparently I´m still at the level of talking to a single person, in a quiet room, with them talking very slowly and simply. A group setting was not kind to me. We were there for over an hour, maybe closer to two. By the time we left I was exhausted, but managed to stay awake for the hour and a half long drive back home.
I was glad I got to go on that day trip to all those great places. It was very nice of Bryndís and Gunnar to bring me with them and to keep me entertained all day. I never know what to expect here from day to day, or sometimes even from hour to hour. This is not something I am used to, as in my everyday life at home I plan things down to the minute. Here I can´t do that, and I think it is really good for me. It is strange getting into a car, or walking into a family member´s home and not knowing where I am going or what I am going to do. It is sort of an exercise in trust in these people I am getting to know, and definitely a character exercise for me in learning to be adaptable.

Another pretty waterfall we happened across on our adventure.