before i start blathering on, a quick mention of pics we've been taking of this trip can be found at
http://www.dotphoto.com/go.asp?l=cavasin.
if you like your photos 90-degrees off-kilter and without captions, you'll love these.
of course, vin and i are in a lot of them, but the real star is the landscape--glacier, iceberg, bay, ocean, runaway sheep, hill, mountain, valley, waterfall, a horse named power, the sweetest farm with the coolest couple and their dog named hekla (named for the famed, angry volcano of the island). if you go there (skalafell farmhouse, skalafell@simnet.is), ask about my boots i left there. oops.
who you won't meet in the pics (forgot the camera) is elisabet, from reykjavik, who reminds us that, among other things, it is belief in ourselves and our genuine, loving connection and curiosity, our recognizing *this* moment in the world that helps us see our blessings. and you won't see siw either. she's our new friend and guide from oslo by way of oakland, ca (thanks for hooking us up, laura.) siw who knows where to find good reindeer patties. thanks for the view of the city from atop that crazy-cool opera house. good luck with getting that northface job.
anyway, here's a sampling of what's up in dig-pics so far:
(note: the island only looks empty. there are actually approx 300,000 people living somewhere.):
glacier-walking
glacier-stopping
icebergs in the bay
still amazing
freaky volcanic, mossy soil
rivulet in valley where lava flow stopped
run! run!
stay tuned for pics and movies of other adventures, including...
our saturday "night" on the town. icelanders don't feign a party spirit. those looking for a good time in the capital city, at least, don't sleep on the weekends. they party. and party. and party. "runtur," they call it. ('round tour.) pub crawl. as elisabet (the coolest gal in hilton hospitality) put it as we all sat on sunday night (vin and me nursing hangovers, she relaxing for a sec on the job) watching the sun not setting over the atlantic and over the main drag of reykjavik, "oh, you should see the walks of shame from here."
elisabet, it might be noted, is a renaissance woman. (icelanders seem to be like this, remaking themselves every few years.) i mean, at 31 she's already toured some US cities with her gal punk band, written and published a book, spent a bit of time as a cult of personality on icleandic web and radio. she also proposed to her finance. guess he said yes b/c they're plannning the dealio for 10/10/2010.
stay tuned also for...
our icelandic horseback riding experience. (if vin were awake, he'd tell you his butt cheeks still hurt.)
and also for...
erupting geysirs
and also for...
our hike to where the continents are drifting apart at 2cm per year. (this is the busiest little island, innit it?, with glaciers and earthquakes and volcanoes and continental plates breaking apart and people !)
and also for...
our 3 mile hike to "hot river." that's a river in the outskirts of iceland's capital city whose hills literally pipe steam because of the boiling water barely contained beneath. water roils, in mini cauldons, out of the earth. it's too hot to bathe at the source of the river, so you creep, near-naked back down the river to spots fed by glacier springs... then you sit and watch the steam rise around you. gray mountains, green grass, purple and yellow posies, and you and your honey. it's really stunning.
we're in norway now. thanks to siw, oslo is alive.
and we're blessed.
and, vince thinks i gave him giardia when i made him drink from a cool, clear icelandic glacier spring. (icelanders look askance at tourists who buy bottled water. "they just bottle it from our tap, which comes from the rivers," they say.) yeah, well, vin and i took a drink from one of these clean glacier springs. and just below our lips--a slug! (that's good for us, too. just ask an icelander. ;j)
enough.
stay tuned...
vince, you EVER gonna write something? ;j