Day 14 Saturday September 8th Iceland

Although the waves were high, and our boat was slightly crippled, we arrived in Iceland without further incident. Neither impacted our appetite. Notice all the food Terry ordered for himself.

Around 8:15 we left the ship looking for our guide, Swafar (phonetic spelling), from the Eskimo tour company. Thanks to Mary we had a private tour in Iceland. Yeah! Swafar turned out to be a good looking 26 year old Icelandic native, born in Connecticut while his dad was studying medicine. He lived in Minnesota for a year before the family returned to Iceland. I know he was too young to pick up English, but he spoke it as well as we did.

Swafar is planning a route 66 motorcycle trip ending in Chicago (because he is a blues fan). I offered to introduce him to same-age-Jon, who is equally enamored of motorcycles, not so much blues. They are also both equally dissatisfied with the current politics in their countries. Our first stop was at this petrol stop (Nesti) for our guide’s breakfast and our coffee. Swafar eats while he drives, along with texting, talking on the phone and looking up pictures so we can see what various birds look like. Swafar is a multi talented.

According to Swafar, Iceland went bankrupt 2007 when 15 guys at local banks created ghost companies to move money around which made them rich at the expense of everyone else. Sounds familiar.

Course he also told us that a Viking had hidden 2 chests of silver in Mossy Mountain Valley and either no one found it or someone did and wasn’t telling and was unwilling to consider it might be more fiction than fact.

Farmer wrestling is the national sport. Pictures and videos decorated the restaurant. Cod and haddock are normal entrees, along with boiled sheep’s head; a delicacy being the eyes of the sheep. Yuck. I had fish stew for lunch, which was delicious and Terry had favorable reviews for the cod.

We stopped to look at some Icelandic ponies, sturdy, sure footed with a fifth step…not sure what that means but the result is the horse glides rather than gallops. Our guide being who he was pulled off the road and traveled on one not really suitable for travel to get us a closer look. Iceland is unwilling to allow any other kind of horse to be imported, even for temporary (i.e. movie) reasons because they don’t want to lose the purity of the breed.

The highest mountain is 6,927 feet. Thankfully that was not where we were going to snowmobile. It is the season for northern lights but the weather was providing clouds rather than clear skies, so I will have to be content with the ones I saw in Minnesota.

Because Iceland is a land of volcanoes with 200 degrees C superheated water available for heating homes and water. His electric/water bill runs about $50 per month. We saw some of the plants around the area. Swafar said they had one female president, in his opinion the best ever, but she opted out of politics. The current president had been re-elected 7 times, and our guide was slightly miffed there were no term limits. We traveled into nowhere land – the RIFT -the North American plate pulling away from the Eurasia plate and creating new land.

I heard that the first waterfall we saw was formed in 950 when a farmer chopping ice over the fault. His axe disappeared and water poured over the cliff, pictured to the left. I drank the water, which was clear and pure, and immediately became healthier. Swafar doesn’t drink anything but Icelandic water.

At another water stop we tossed coins – it had to be from our country of origin - in the stream under a bridge along with a positive wish for good luck. Mary P had enough pennies to buy us all good luck. The sparkle of coins told us we weren’t the first. At a tourist bachelor party the guests threw the intended groom to be in the stream. Water is 2 to 4 degrees centigrade all year. Our guide mentioned that it took 17 years for the water to reach this ravine from the glacier.

It used to be normal for people to live in the caves in the mountains nearby. Swafar knew one 58 year old lady who was born in a cave and lived there till 6 years old. The thermal springs nearby were used for warmth and to bake food. They still bake rye bread (at least) in the thermal springs.

Iceland has no military, although they helped to start NATO. They do have a couple of coast guard ships to help out in event of a sea emergency. Norwegian air force takes care of Iceland because, according to Swafar, the Russians inv ade air space.

According to Swafar, there is not much crime in Iceland, with just one prison for 3 to 400 hundred inmates with internet, TV and some even some excused absences– depending on crime. Maximum penalty for 1st degree murder is 16 years. Drug trafficking gets 1 to 10 years. A member of Parliament served time for stealing construction materials for use at his house. Still serves.

With 130 active volcanoes, 1/3 of the lava on earth is produced in Ireland. The 3rd biggest glacier is in Iceland. Although I was apprehensive about snowmobiling on a glacier, we did it. I was afraid we’d freeze being unprepared for that kind of cold, but they gave us snowsuits, boots, gloves and helmets and then loaded us into a utility vehicle which bounced all

over the Road to Hell (the glacier). Actually once we were on the trail, and even though I worried some about the damage that ice might do to my body if I encountered it prematurely, and once I even considered that Terry might be trying to collect the insurance, it was decidedly a highlight of the trip. On the way back to the ship we stopped at Gullfoss Falls. Still pictures don’t do it justice. The videos are great but unfortunately difficult to share from the ship.