Day 40

Thursday we drove from Hófsos to Álftanes, passing through Reykjavik along the way.  With another great day of beautiful sunny weather we stopped at the side of the road to walk around Grábrók crater.  

After arriving at the hotel in the afternoon we visited the President’s house.  The current president of Iceland Guðni Jóhannesson is married to a Canadian woman!  He was very welcoming to us and has supported the Snorri program in the past.  We ate ponnukikur and a dessert that resembled vínarterta then were shown archeological ruins of the Danish government building when Denmark had control of Iceland.  After visiting the president, we had a Snorri program graduation ceremony at the hotel.  All the Snorri west participants, our Icelandic language teacher, and the Canadian ambassador came!  All the participants got a matching program T-shirt and each of us gave a short presentation about our experience in Iceland.  Then we had a delicious dinner and went to the Blue Lagoon!  At the Blue Lagoon we got a complimentary silica face mask and drink.  All the water was opaque and a whitish color from the natural silica present.  The lagoon area was huge with plenty of room for floating around.  

After the Blue Lagoon, the Snorri participants gathered to say goodbyes back at the hotel.  They all gave me a group hug since I was the first one to leave the next morning at 5 am from the hotel.  I will miss all of them!

The Snorri program experience was amazing and helped me reconnect with my Iceland roots as well as meet so many of my living Icelandic relatives.  I enjoyed each part of the Snorri program from the language classes to the homestay and work placement in Akranes to the West Iceland adventure tour.  The whole program went by so fast since I was enjoying it.  And I really was able to improve my Icelandic language skills throughout the program.  I would like to give a big thank you to the Snorri program, the National League of North America, Rosemary Guttormsson, the Icelandic Club of Greater Seattle, Islendingabók, and Icelandic Roots for their support that made this program possible!

It is on a bittersweet note that I leave Iceland.  I intend to stay in touch with the relatives and Snorri participants I have met during the program and will continue to work on my language skills.  I am looking forward to continue traveling in Europe for another month.  However, I am sad to leave Iceland and the feeling of being in the country where my ancestors lived which made me feel in touch with their culture.

Me in my Snorri program 2018 shirt on Friday morning at 5 am before flying to Oslo and a photo of the sun low on the horizon duirng my last evening in Iceland.

Day 39

We spent all day today in Hófsos and it was very relaxing.  We got to sleep in and walked to the Emigration Center, which had several exhibits about Icelandic emigrants.  One exhibit was over 400 photographs of emigrants, since most emigrants had pictures taken of their families once they arrived in America.  I read a lot of stories about emigrants between 1870 and 1910.  I tried to find names of my relatives but I didn’t have all of them memorized and couldn’t find any among the featured photographs.  Other exhibits were about North America, Brazil, and North Dakota.

  After the museum we went to the pool which is on a hill overlooking the coast so you have a great view across the fjord in the pool.

Next we visited some basalt columns on the shore.  

Overall, it was a very enjoyable day with the amount of free time we got since most of this week and has going from one scheduled activity to the next.  It is so nice to be sleeping inside again because it gets quite cold in the middle of the night camping outside in Iceland.  On a different note, tomorrow will be the last full day of activities for the Snorri program.  On Friday morning, everyone else will fly home but I’ll fly to Oslo to go on another European adventure with one of my college friends!  I’m sad the Snorri program is already almost over, the homestay weeks went by really fast.

A random observation I’ve had that frustrates me in Iceland is I’ve noticed that biking along the highways is a popular tourist activity in Iceland.  Personally, I don’t understand why biking in Iceland is so popular and don’t think it is a good idea.  The weather is can change quickly and is often too windy for enjoyable biking where I’ve seen people.  But more importantly, the roads don’t have any shoulders for these cyclists so people are biking in the roads with cars moving very fast around them.  In heavy rain and wind conditions biking like this is very dangerous!

Days 36-38

On Sunday, we went from the Snæfellsnes peninsula to the Westfjords.  We first stopped at the home of Erik the Red, who established the first settlement in Greenland.  We went inside a turf house replica of his house and listened to a story about Erik the Red’s life.  I learned that Icelanders back then slept sitting up and that all that driftwood their houses were made of came from Siberia.  Next, we drove to the Hólar petting farm which we were invited to visit since our van driver (my distant cousin Kent) knows the owner of the farm.  The farm had many types of animals including sheep, horses, bunnies, turkeys, guinea pigs, a crow, chickens, an artic fox, and cows.  

Then we drove to the Museum of Icelandic sorcery and witchcraft in Hólmavík.  There we were able to catch the last 15 minutes of the final World Cup match between France and Croatia.  The museum displayed magical symbols and ingredients necessary for performing certain magical powers.  Next to each magical sign, it explained the steps required to achieve the magical powers such as making oneself invisible, how to gain wealth, or raising the dead.  All of the processes were very specific about the random assortment of materials needed.  The museum also explained the witch trials in Iceland and that 21 people were burnt for witchcraft.  

After the museum we went to Strandir in the Westfjords where we camped in tents at a campsite that night.  The weather was cloudy with rain and wind when we arrived.  At least there was a shelter we could cook and eat dinner in at the campground.  As we started pitching the tents, I could tell that camping outside was going to be a bad idea.  With the campsite being located to the coastline, we were exposed to strong winds and the constant rain didn’t help.  Nevertheless we pitched the tents.  After dinner we drove to a pool called Krossneslaug down the road.  The pool was outdoors and had very plain facilities (no lights inside, thankfully it’s daylight most of the time here).  We floated around in the pool from around 11:30pm-1am before going back to the campsite.  When we went to go sleep in our tents most of them were already soaked through.

I didn’t end up sleeping much with the wind continually knocking against the side of the tent and pushing the top of the tent into our faces.  In the morning we shared stories of tents leaking overnight.  One of the tents was so wet that the people sleeping in it had to go to the shelter with the kitchen for the night.  It had been a long night for everyone and the mood was rather low.  We ate breakfast and tried to warm up before having to take the tents down again in the terrible weather.

On Monday we were driving to Skagafjörður which was about a five and half hour’s drive.  I and most of the others slept on the bus for the first several hours since we were so tired from the night before.  On the way we stopped at a place to go river rafting on the West Glacial River.  So we got off the bus at the river rafting company, some of us still semi-wet, and prepared to go rafting.  We put on wetsuits and extra waterproof shirts.  Inside the rafts it was a fun experience.  The rapids were rather mellow but this was good since most of the Snorri participants hadn’t been rafting before.  We travelled through a canyon with grass and waterfalls on the each side.  We passed by sheep and hot springs several times along the route.  All the guides were Nepalese men who said they lead rafting trips in Iceland during the summer months then go to Nepal to lead rafting trips there the rest of the year.  We stopped at the side of the river after about 30 mins next to a natural hot spring and they made us hot chocolate!  Then we stopped later where there was a 10-12 foot rock for us to jump off into the 35-41°F river if we wanted to.  I didn’t jump because my clothes weren’t soaked yet and I wanted to conserve my dry clothes after the camping experience the previous night.

After rafting we drove to the campsite in Skagaströnd and ate dinner at a restaurant in town.  Pitching the tents was a lot nicer after dinner since the weather was sunny with mostly clear skies.  The low sun in the sky was beautiful as we set up our tents.  That night was great for camping – cold but no rain or wind so everyone was happier on Tuesday.

The next day started with us visiting the Museum of Prophecies in town.  At the museum we learned about the different types of fortune telling that Icelanders have used in the past.  One of the types was intestine readings where they removed the intestines of the first pig killed at the end of summer to “read” the intestines for how the winter conditions would be.  Pieces of bone were another thing used in a similar way to a magic 8 ball for answering yes and no questions about the future.  At the end of our visit, the museum guide had a bag of small sheep bones with ruins carved on them and let us blindly draw one to read us our fortunes.  Mine was that I have trouble around me right now but it will leave soon.  Those around me joked that the ‘trouble’ was the Snorri participants.

It was a day of beautiful blue skies and sun with breathtaking mountain views across the fjord as we drove from Skagaströnd to Reykir in Skagafjörður.  

At Reykir we caught a boat to Drangey Island where we got a tour.  Drangey Island is located in Skagafjörður and is about 170 meters high with sheer rock cliffs on some sides.  After the short boat ride to island we climbed up a steep path to the top of the island.  I was thankful that the path had a hand rope since some areas were steep and with the ocean below me I didn’t want to feel unsecure.  The island is home to many types of birds that we got to see including puffins!  The air on the top of the island was so warm that I couldn't believe it.  I assumed being in the middle of the fjord would be windy and cold but on the contrary Drangey was calm and sunny - a perfect place to sit in the grass and relax by yourself as you enjoy a beautiful view. 

Finally, after the tour we drove to the small coastal town Hófsos where we are staying the next two nights!  Hófsos was so sunny and hot that all the Snorri took some lawn chairs and hung out at the top of a hill on the coast with this view below.  It was a great end to an awesome day!

Day 35

The first stop today was a hike from Arnarstapi to Hellnar along a 2.5 km path on a cliff over the coast.  It was beautiful to see the sea crashing against the rocks and the vibrant green grass.  There were many birds called Artic Terns which are known for attacking humans’ heads but thankfully I didn’t get attacked by any.  

After the hike we did a cave tour of Vatnshellir a lava cave created from an eruption 8,000 years ago.  We descended into the cave on a long spiral staircase with a guide and were shown the three rooms of the cave accessible from the opening.  I was able to see stalagmite and stalactite formations in the cave.  We were constantly being dripped on in the cave but it was so interesting to walk around in.  The guide had us all turn off our flashlights for a minute to experience complete darkness around us.  I found it very relaxing and enjoyable!

Next we went to Lóndrangar for lunch.  It was a nice area with an information center about the area and a walking path to a lighthouse on the coast.  Everyone made their own sandwiches then we walked around the information center.  Then we visited the lighthouse and got a complete 360° view around us.  

The next stop was Djúpalónssandur a beach that had rocks of different weights which used to be for testing whether someone had the necessary strength to be a fisherman.  I wasn’t able to lift the heaviest rock (154 kg) but I was able to lift the second lightest rock!  After trying to lift the rocks we walked around the beach.  It was a natural black rock beach with a big warning sign telling the danger of standing too close to the shore because the strong rip current and unexpected big waves can pull people out into the ocean. 

Then we continued our drive along the coast of Snæfellsnes peninsula around Snæfellsjökull.  This glacier was the subject in the book Journey to the Center of the Earth and shown in The Secret Life of Walter Mitty.  Unfortunately, even though the weather changed from an overcast morning to sunny afternoon the glacier remained hidden by fog all day.  After the beach we stopped at Kirkjufellsfoss a beautiful set of waterfalls with a great view from the top.  

Then we continued driving to the hostel where we are staying the night in Stykkishólmur.  We arrived at the hostel around 6 pm.  We are staying in rooms with 3-7 of us per room (I’m in the latter situation).  We ate a dinner of marinara and pasta then went to a nearby school to play football with some local kids and play on the playground.