Exploring The World

Tamarindo: The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly

2011-01-01T22:21:00.002-05:00

In 1999 I visited Tamarindo for a few days on a family vacation, and we all enjoyed it immensely. Tamarindo is a beach town on the Pacific coast in the northwest part of Costa Rica, and is a popular surfing destination. At that time it was a fairly quiet, surfing town that had a relaxed, close-knit community that encouraged a fair amount of tourism. The beach was long and pristine, the people were friendly and talkative, and the town had a charming vibe. With these fond memories in mind, we chose Tamarindo for our two-month stay in Costa Rica.

However, almost immediately upon arrival in Tamarindo, I could tell that it had changed a great deal. For one, the town is now much bigger than it was before, and has lost essentially all of its charming small-town vibe. We had not done much research, mistakenly trusting that little would have changed over the 11 years while I had been away. We have since learned that it experienced a big boom in the early 2000s and grew up quickly. While it is easy to focus on the negatives of Tamarindo, it has served us well in a lot of ways. Here is my attempt to summarize the many aspects of life in Tamarindo.

The Good:

Tamarindo beach itself is very long and spacious, and allows us to find fairly quiet areas away from the more densely populated areas in front of the main hotels. The surfing here is reliable and good for beginners, so we have been able to learn and practice. Being in a developed town has also enabled us to have access to a lot of luxuries that we would not have otherwise, such as our gym membership, a nice, modern apartment, and a lot of restaurants, bars, and other stores. The time Siobhan has spent working at the local pottery studio has been well-spent and enjoyable too, and would not have been possible in most other places. Tamarindo also operates as a good base for renting a car and exploring a lot of the nearby attractions.

The Bad:

Without a doubt, the most disheartening (to us anyway) and all-encompassing feature of Tamarindo is its unyielding and uncompromising focus on tourism, particularly to Americans. It no longer offers a traditional, authentic Costa Rican environment. Examples of this include: the numerous fast food chains and American-style restaurants, the fact that dollars are as common as colones (the Costa Rican currency), seeing NFL games in multiple bars, and hearing more English than Spanish. Furthermore, we are constantly treated as outsiders and tourists. It is impossible to walk down the main road without hearing "Taxi, Taxi" and we are repeatedly being offered souvenirs on the streets and on the beach. It often feels that we are viewed by many of the locals as unending sources of money.

The Ugly:

Yes, I am sad to say that there is an ugly side to Tamarindo too, which goes beyond the bad. To be fair, the ugly side is a product of tourism, money, and foreign visitors looking to party to the max. This reality has attracted a lot of shady characters, including an ample supply of drug dealers and sexual predators. Even so, it has not been too hard to separate ourselves from this sleazy underbelly when going out at night, we just have to use a little common sense. The ugly side struck us personally in our last week in Tamarindo, when someone stole several of our things off of our balcony in the middle of the night. The thieves took both of our hiking shoes, which was particularly painful, as well as both of my bathing suits, and some of my workout clothes. It was an infuriating occurrence, and we will have to be more careful in the future.

In conclusion, it is hard to say whether or not we wish we had chosen a different location in Costa Rica. Tamarindo has been a good home to us in a lot of ways, and we have certainly enjoyed our time here, but we feel as though we have only gotten to know the real Costa Rica on our trips outside of town. We think that the perfect scenario may have been for us to have spent one month in Tamarindo, and our second month in a smaller, authentic town. However, that would have been hard to juggle with my work, apartment rentals, and the moving and transportation. In the end we have perfect weather on a daily basis, a beautiful beach, and plenty of fun things to occupy our time, so there is not too much to regret.

Montezuma's Revenge

2011-01-01T22:16:00.000-05:00

After doing some research, Siobhan and I decided to take an overnight, weekend road trip to the beach town of Montezuma in the southern part of the Nicoya peninsula. The distance according to Google Maps is a mere 112 miles (!) and is projected to take just under 2 1/2 hours. Lies! We rented a compact SUV with 4-wheel drive and set out on a Saturday morning with a fairly early start. We did not know it at the time, but our choice to pay a little extra for an SUV over a car would turn out to be critically important.

About halfway to Montezuma we arrived at a small town called Jicaral, where we had a choice of a couple different roads that could ultimately lead us to our destination. Foolishly ignoring the advice of a police officer, we went for the "more direct" inland route as opposed to traversing the coastal roads. After a short time on the bumpy, partially-paved, pothole-ridden road, it quickly became apparent that we were in for a long journey. This realization was compounded by the fact that the map we had was inaccurate, and that there were almost no road signs and a lot of unmarked forks in the road. We finally got our bearings when we arrived at a beautiful, secluded beach, but simultaneously realized we still had a tough path to cross to reach our destination.

Leaving the beach, we headed inland again and were starting to feel like we were making good progress. Next thing we knew, the SUV in front of us plunged into a two and a half foot deep, quickly flowing river and slowly made its way across to the other bank, a good 30 yards away! We stood on the bank, stunned with mouths open, and began to process our predicament. After watching another truck make it through (which offered to help tow us across for $20), and a moped, we decided to try it ourselves, despite the fact that doing so was not covered by our insurance. Just before doing so, an English-speaking couple warned us not to get out of the car if we got stuck, because the river is home to a number of crocodiles (which we later learned have eaten their fill of dogs, pigs, and small cows over the years). Fortunately we made it across and did not have to deal with that scenario. (See the video for an in-the-car experience.)

On the other side of the river we encountered a small soda (a little restaurant) and talked to the people there in Spanish to get some directions. They told us that all three of the roads (including the one we had just used) leading away from the restaurant had river crossings, and that we still had a decent distance to travel. We were encouraged to take the coastal route, so set off in that direction. Within a matter of minutes we had to do two more river crossings, one of which was particularly fast-moving and dicey, but yet again our SUV made it through. After narrowly escaping a couple of muddy patches, our car suddenly emerged from the jungle and shot right out onto a nearly-deserted beach. We started driving down the beach to try to find another way out, but soon came across another SUV that was parked in front of a small river that was flowing into the ocean. Testing the waters on foot, we found them to be waist-deep and impossible to cross as the tide was rising. Not wanting to backtrack with waning daylight, we (and the other group of people who were American tourists) decided to park our SUVs back in the jungle and walk along the beach in search of a town. The tide had come in even further at the river crossing, and was now up to my chest, requiring us to carry our bags over our heads. After an hour walk we arrived at a very small coastal town, which fortunately had a restaurant and hotel rooms just off the beach. We made the decision to head back to our car around midnight to drive it along the beach to the town; it would be low tide at that time. With nothing else that could be done at the moment, we enjoyed the ocean sunset, had some dinner and got some sleep before our retrieval mission. Around midnight we awoke and did the long walk down the beach to retrieve our car. It was a clear, beautiful night with a lot of stars, but it was also quite nerve-wracking to be alone on the remote beach in the dark. In the end we found our car unscathed, and were able to easily ford the rivers at low tide and bring our car back to the hotel. We went back to sleep for a few more hours, planning to make it to Montezuma early in the morning.

The drive to Montezuma was not without a couple of directional concerns, but with the help of some local advice we arrived at our destination in mid-morning. We parked our car in town, explored the beach for a little while, and then set off to hike up a river to a jungle waterfall. It was quite a high and powerful waterfall, with a nice swimming pool, and we made it there early enough to avoid the crowds we passed on our way out. Getting back onto the main road, I saw a sign for a butterfly conservancy, which I knew would appeal greatly to Siobhan, so we hiked up a scenic road overlooking the coast and found the conservancy. The tour of the butterfly conservancy was fun and informative, and Siobhan managed to get a lot of quality, close-up pictures. The rest of our afternoon was spent having a good, Costa Rican meal, and relaxing on the beach with a Litro of Imperial. Overall Montezuma was a very nice, laid-back town with a respectable mix of local culture and tourism, and we wondered if it would have been a preferable place to stay over comparatively-busy and tourism-dominated Tamarindo.

On the ride home we never dared to stray from the coastal roads, and the drive definitely worked out much better. That being said, the roads were still in horrendous condition in many places, featuring two-foot deep potholes, winding mountaintop passes, and the traditional lack of road signs. Despite these obstacles we made pretty good time on the return trip, and did not take any wrong turns. Considering that our successful drive home still took well over four hours, we can safely conclude the 2 1/2 hour projection offered by Google Maps is a joke.

Pottery Volunteering

2011-01-01T21:54:00.002-05:00

After the rains subsided and we were finally able to emerge from our compound, we took a walk through Tamarindo to check out the sights. About five minutes from our house we came upon the Guaitil Pottery Studio and I went in to see if they could use a volunteer. Lucky for me they said sure! For the past few weeks now I have been going there frequently and have learned a tremendous amount from Arbin (who makes colorful Chorotega pots) and his wife Tricia (who makes amazing wire jewelry), who are both incredibly talented artists.

I stole some of this from a handout in the store, but here goes:

At the Guaitil Pottery Studio in downtown Tamarinido, potter Arbin creates one of a kind Chorotega pieces, an indigenous craft taught to him as a child by his mother. In this fashion, the same traditional and ancestral techniques of the Chorotega indigenous art lives on from generation to generation as it has done for over 800 years.

In spending time at the studio I have had the opportunity to learn a lot about this process from Arbin and by helping with each step along the way, and I have even created a few pieces of my own. In this style of pottery, each piece is created using coil building techniques and a completely manual hand wheel, which is very difficult to get used to. The clay is made of materials found in Guaitil, a famous Costa Rican potting town (where Arbin is from) about 45 minutes from Tamarindo. To make the clay one adds water to fine sand and clay dust, then stomps around on it as if crushing grapes for wine. On my first day volunteering I helped to make a batch! I knew I would like it there immediately; there is nothing better than really getting into it and making a mess.. There are no glazes in this process, so after each layer of paint is added separately, and the piece needs to be polished using small pieces of smooth plastic. This technique gives each piece a glossy appearance in the end. Each piece will also undergo a series of paintings and etchings. They are then fired in a hand built kiln (made from stone and manure), using a specific wood that fires them at an extremely high temperature (this process also cooks chickens quite nicely I might add). Each piece requires hours of work and detailing, and as with pottery in general, if something goes wrong in the last phase all is lost. Arbin is a great teacher and offers lessons to anyone who is interested, so if you are ever in Tamarindo and want to bring a souvenir back that will last longer and contain more memories than a rain stick, then stop by his studio and check it out. It is located in Tamarindo circle, and you can check out his website @ www.Tamarindo Pottery.com.

My second piece..

Tricia has a store right next to the pottery studio called Urban Eclectic, and features amazing wire-wrapped jewelry. She is originally from Los Angeles, but for the past few years has been living the dream with a beachside jewelry store featuring all her unique necklaces, bracelets, earrings, etc. I have had the opportunity to see some of her creations come together and I must say they are truly works of art! If you’re interested in checking some out… In addition to her shop in Tamarindo, she has a website (http://www.urbaneclectic.etsy.com/) where you can go to check out her latest creations, or even request whatever design or style you are thinking of.

I have been very lucky to have been able to spend so much time in beautiful place learning from two talented artists, not to mention two really great people. I have learned a lot from them and I look forward to calling upon what I have learned for inspiration in the future!

Endless Summer III

2011-01-01T20:47:00.004-05:00

The gang arrived late one night after a five hour drive in a party van, carrying with them the greater contents of the duty free liquor department. Needless to say, it did not take long before Doody was using a Doritos bag as a pillow and Ashley was passed out in the hammock.

The next two days we hung out around Tamarindo, and everyone displayed their greatest effort at surfing, especially Geiger, who had dubbed himself "The Great White Surfer." Although I think the ladies showed the greatest natural talent, with Ashley and Abby standing up on their first waves, we were certain that within a few days we would be getting shot out of tubes! We also spent time cultivating our skin cancer, in addition to checking out the local stores, restaurants and mixed drinks. They were also treated to the fine, cultured nightlife here in Tamarindo. While ladies often drink for free, there is always a price to pay, whether it's being hit on by sleazy locals or that hangover the next day from that strange jungle juice. We grilled and played cards and were treated to an evening of Abby’s finest jokes!

After a few days on the beach we all headed out into the wilderness to see some of what the real Costa Rica has to offer. We decided to do a combination road trip to see the Arenal Volcano and the Monteverde cloud forest. The first stop was Arenal, where a long morning of bumpy travel, put us at the base of an active volcano, which we had a nice view of from our hotel. Along the way we stopped for photos, got up close and personal with some couti mundis (who have been robbed of their wild ways by ignorant tourists!), and some of us saw a sloth for 0.5 seconds going by the car window at 70 mph. Since light was fading fast we headed to the Arenal national park and did a hike around the area, stopping to admire the massive trees and fun hanging vines, then watched the sunset over the lake. We unfortunately did not witness any spewing lava or visit that infamous German bakery, but I’m sure Derek and Luke’s tears were absorbed by their massive pancakes that morning on our way to Monteverde.

The road into the mountains on our way to Monteverde was paved primarily with potholes, but the views along the way were amazing. There were lots of beautiful trees, cows, coffee plantations, and stunning scenery of the valley bellow. As usual it took us longer than expected to get there thanks to the roads. As soon as we arrived we signed up for a cloud forest hike across hanging bridges, then set out to do an impressive zip line course. Soon enough we were harnessed and flying through and above the canopy at speeds which can make your eyes water. It was especially fun to get a unique perspective of the surrounding landscape, which made for a truly fun experience that we will not soon forget.

All that sitting in the air can really work up an appetite, and in one of our more “American” moments, we all rushed to the car afterwards to shovel down the breakfast leftovers that had been baking in the sun all day. And yes, I literally mean shovel (we used potato chips as the mechanism). In mid-gorge we looked up to see a van full of locals looking at us in horror; we probably looked like zoo animals at feeding time, that you would think were on the verge of starving to death. The fact that Ashley was loudly inquiring about the safety of eating car-baked meats did not help our cause much either I suppose.

On the way back we found ourselves driving through a small lively town at the base of the mountains called Juntas, where locals were walking through the streets, with music playing and a soccer match being played on the town's central field. Wanting to stay a bit longer, we decided to watch the end of the game and then stop for dinner and drinks to refuel. We later found out that all the liveliness was due to local elections that were being held. I also witnessed my new favorite means of advertisement, where a guy on a little motorized bike was carting HUGE speakers behind him that were blasting out political messages mixed with music. That combination is deafening and impossible to ignore!

In our last few days together we hung out around Tamarindo, enjoying more of the beach and sunsets. Abby spent some quality time drinking her new favorite soft drink, Squirt, and Ashley spent some quality time on the bathroom floor with the squirts!

But being the trooper that she is, she rallied for a sunset catamaran cruise filled with snorkeling and as much food and drink as you can put in your face, just in time to take sunset photos in a bathing suit. Sadly all journeys must come to an end, but I hope that they will take comfort in knowing that in the coldest depths of winter, while scraping ice off their windshields, I will be laying in the sun and having a siesta in a hammock ;-) and that they came come back and visit anytime!

Everyone loves a 4 a.m. wake up call!

2010-12-30T00:24:00.000-05:00

And you thought roosters were bad! For the first week in Costa Rica I was convinced that our neighbors were harboring some sort of hell pig, which was on the verge of death. From the noises that that thing was making I pictured it to be pushing at least 300 pounds. Then to my shock and amazement I discovered the noise was coming from howler monkeys that frequently swing by to forage in the trees surrounding our house. The howler monkey is one of the loudest animals in the world, and their calls can be heard from up to three miles away. The males are the only ones capable of producing the calls, and do so to warn other groups of monkeys that their territory is occupied. They also issue these verbal assaults on barking dogs and lawnmowers, and probably just for fun at 4 a.m.

I particularly like how National Geographic describes them in this you tube clip: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=REPoVfN-Ij4

I was able to get up close and personal with one outside of our house:

Visitors, Thanksgiving, and Dengue Fever

2010-12-24T12:11:00.000-05:00

At the beginning of our third week in Tamarindo, Costa Rica, Siobhan left for a week to volunteer with a project to help sea turtles (see her blog about this topic for more information). I continued onward with my normal routine, until later in that week when my friend Justin arrived. His visit came as a sudden, pleasant surprise, as I got an email from him the day after Siobhan left, and greeted him at our apartment just three days later. He had been poised to start a new job, but when the start date was pushed back two weeks, he decided to take advantage of the down time. Having traveled throughout Europe together with our mutual friend Mark in January of 2008, we had already had a lot of adventures together. During his time here, we spent a good bit of time surfing, eating and cooking great meals, made a successful trip to the casino in the neighboring town, and saw an epic moonbow. We also had some visitors in the form of a couple neighborhood cats (which we named "Paloma" and "The Grey One"), and had an interesting time hanging out with them on the balcony. Unfortunately he had to leave before Siobhan returned, so they still have not met.

Soon after Siobhan's return I developed a fever, but it passed for the time being and we were able to have a healthy Thanksgiving. After a jog on the beach, we made a point to go for a quick swim, basically so that we could say we had swam in the ocean on Thanksgiving. I had never been out of the country on Thanksgiving before, so it was a strange and somewhat sad holiday. Fortunately we discovered that a restaurant in town was serving a traditional Thanksgiving dinner. For $20 per person, we got a full plate of food (turkey, potatoes, green beans, beets, and stuffing) in addition to a glass of wine and a slice of pumpkin pie. The food was quite good and helped lessen the sting of our foreign holiday, but a second helping would have been nice... after all, it was Thanksgiving!

The next morning I awoke feeling ill, and found that the fever I had briefly experienced on Tuesday morning had returned with a vengeance. As it grew worse, my temperature began to fluctuate in the 101-103 degree range, and I alternated between waves of feeling very hot and very cold. Being in a tropical location, where a dengue fever outbreak had occurred the summer before, and where malaria is never entirely out of the realm of possibility, I was concerned about getting treatment if needed. Adding to my distress was simply being away from home, in an unfamiliar place with unknown (to me anyway) health care services. I spent several days mostly laid up on the couch, but fortunately I was able to fight off the illness, and did not have to go to a doctor or hospital. As best we can figure, I probably had the flu.

Another reason for concern over my illness, was that my friend Ryan was coming to visit the following week. I did not want to be a vegetable during his visit, and luckily I was recovered enough that I was able to do most everything, though not always with my typical level of energy. We spent his first day relaxing and catching up, but on the second day of his visit I felt well enough that we were able to take a trip outside of town for a zip-lining expedition in the canopy. When we arrived at the facility, we ascended to a platform in a tree, strapped into our harnesses and then the cable, and proceeded to ride the cables from tree-top platform to platform. Some of the lines moved pretty fast and they were all high above the ground, so it made for a fun experience. Most of the time we rode the cables lying on our backs in the harness, but we each tried the "Superman" method as well, where with the help of the guide, we flew face first on our stomachs.

During Ryan's trip we also celebrated my 29th birthday for a second time and did some surfing. Halfway through his time here, three of Siobhan's friends arrived (Ashley, Abby, and Luke), so we all had fun hanging out together (see her blog for more information about their visit). It has been great having so many visitors, and I continue to be thankful that my illness occurred at the best possible time.

A Turtle Eclipse of the Heart

2010-12-24T12:08:00.003-05:00

Costa Rica is only the size of West Virginia, containing just 0.25% of the worlds land mass, yet has the distinction of containing 5% of the world’s biodiversity. Around 25% of Costa Rica’s land area is protected by national parks, making it the country with the greatest percentage of protected areas in the world. That being said, Costa Rica faces enormous challenges as it continues to develop. In coming to Costa Rica, I wanted to experience first-hand some of the diversity that I have always associated with this country. After doing some research I chose to volunteer with Pretoma, a non-profit organization. Pretoma has projects throughout Costa Rica, working within communities, thereby employing locals and enlisting anyone who wants to donate some time to work in the field. The program seeks to increase environmental awareness by educating people locally and internationally about the impacts of human development on coastal regions in Costa Rica (primarily focusing on sea turtles and sharks).

There are seven kinds of sea turtles in the world, four of which frequent Costa Rican beaches: the Olive Ridley, Leatherback, Green, and Hawksbill. All four are endangered, two critically. The threats to nesting sea turtles are abundant, and entirely linked to human impact, including: long line fishing/nets with no escape enclosures, habitat destruction due to light pollution (they will not return to nest on a beach where there is too much light because the hatchlings will be confused), and poachers on the beach.

To get to the volunteering site I had a long day featuring multiple bus transfers, travelling partially washed out roads, and traversing large mountains, all paired with my fledgling Spanish. But the trip was well worth it! I arrived at Playa San Miguel (located on the south western coast of the Nicoya peninsula) late at night and awoke the next day to find that my backyard was the ocean. Playa San Miguel has a population of about 300 people and about two and a half restaurants. The beach is long with cliffs and sea slug filled tidal pools at one end, and an estuary at the other, and is almost entirely deserted at all times. My daily routine consisted of running on the beach, eating meals at the local soda which served delicious typical home cooked Tico food (rice and beans were present for all three J), and working on the project. Most of our work occurred at night, and involved monitoring the hatchery and patrolling the beaches looking for turtles. The predominant type of sea turtle nesting at this site is the Olive Ridley turtle. They are unique in that they have a shell that is wider than it is long, and are rarely known to nest in arribadas, which occurs when hundreds of turtles emerge from the sea at the same time to nest. Each night we patrolled the beach in groups (using no lights) looking for the turtle tracks, which are about 2.5-3 feet wide, and can be found above the high tide mark. Sometimes we would see a turtle nesting, or just follow the tracks to where the eggs were laid.

Olive Ridley turtles can lay up to 120 eggs in one nest. They dig a tube down into the sand, which has a wider mini-cavern at the bottom where the eggs to rest; this task is accomplished using only their back flippers. The whole process is actually quite quick, I was surprised by how fast a full grown ~120 pound marine animal can move so quickly on land. When we came upon nesting turtles it was important not to use any lights or stand in front of them, or else they would potentially head back to the water. But once a turtle started laying the eggs, she would become totally oblivious to us and we could take measurements of the shell and track size, then tag the flippers, and collect the eggs as she was laying them. All of the information collected from the turtle goes into a database, which helps to track turtle health and migration patterns. The eggs were collected so that they could be brought to the hatchery, where they would be safe and the turtles only exposed to red light so as not to disturb the process. Eggs are also brought to the hatchery to protect them from poachers on the beach (who would take them before the morning), as well as from dogs and other accidents.

During our patrols we occasionally ran into poachers, and even when we did not see them, we sometimes came across nests that had been dug up. It seemed that there were no outright hostilities between the conflicting groups, and the system operated on a first-come first-served basis. To combat this constant threat of poaching, Petroma has people monitoring the beach all night long in shifts. The poachers take the eggs to sell them, and from what I was told they can make up to $20 per nest, which is a lot considering that the average wage in Costa Rica is $2 per hour. When successful in collecting the eggs, we returned them to the hatchery to bury them (in the same type of nest). The correct temperature is very important to their development, so the nests we created had to be similar to what the turtle would dig, with an incubation period of about 45-55 days.

I was lucky to be there when turtles were still nesting and the eggs were hatching. So while we were patrolling at night we would check the hatchery frequently, since the eggs were likely to hatch in the dark (giving them an advantage over the tremendous obstacles that awaited them). The reason that turtles lay so many eggs is that the likelihood of a baby turtle actually making it to adulthood is around .01%. For the most part they all hatch simultaneously, which gives them an advantage, then they immediately start heading for the ocean based on sight and smell (another reason why light pollution can be harmful, as it can attract them inland). Before even getting away from shore, they are picked off by birds, crabs, and fish, and can be baked in the sun quickly. They have no defenses, and are just about bite-sized, so basically anything that wants to eat them can pretty much do it. After escaping the nest, they have to survive to about 15 years of age before they will return to nest. Surviving 15 years is a huge feat in itself, since the largest threat to turtles is not the poachers on the beach, but the fishermen offshore. Turtles need to go to the surface to breathe, so if they are caught on long lines (used to catch swordfish and sharks), or in fishing nets (typically used for shrimp), they will suffocate and die before ever making it back to nest. Long line fishing is a huge problem in Costa Rica, as it is all around the world. In Costa Rica this technique is used to catch sharks, predominately for shark fining (which is illegal), and done on an industrial scale by international vessels (upwards of 100 million sharks are reportedly killed solely for their fins worldwide). It seems that in Costa Rica the laws are in place to protect animals from poaching, overfishing, and shark-fining, but the enforcement is lacking. When thinking about all the challenges the turtles face, it’s amazing that they survive at all.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CCUGLaHDujk

Successful and unsuccessful methods of protection:

Involving local communities and educating them on human impacts, such as over fishing and habitat destruction is critical. Even simple things like shielding open-facing lights and installing exits in large nets for bigger marine animals can have a big impact. Tourism is the biggest source of income in Costa Rica, and people come here to experience the biodiversity. This source of income can be more lucrative and sustainable for communities than the poaching of eggs. The latter is unsustainable, and as with all endangered populations, there is a critical number that can be reached at which point there is not enough genetic diversity for a species to survive.

(http://playagrandeinfo.org/docs/leatherbacknature.pdf)

An example of this may be found in Playa Tamarindo, where we have been staying for the past six weeks. Tamarindo lies at the center of what was once a substantial nesting area for the Pacific leatherback. However, light pollution and over-development has almost totally wiped out this nesting area. So now the people who come here to see Leatherback turtles end up paying high prices for guides who may not even find any. While there are still turtles nesting to the north and south of Tamarindo, there are concerns regarding the aforementioned point of no return, as Pacific Leatherback turtles are critically endangered.

To see what you can do to help:

http://www.pretoma.org/

Life in Costa Rica

2010-12-20T01:56:00.001-05:00

Our early-morning flight to Costa Rica led to a long, tiring day of travel. We took a shuttle from near the main airport in San Jose and arrived in Tamarindo after dark, where we would be based for the months of November and December, and checked into our hostel. Having little energy to explore the town, we had some dinner and went to bed early. The following morning we arrived at our pre-rented apartment, La Casa de los Árboles, or The House Among the Trees. We met our French-Canadian landlord, signed the paperwork, and started to settle into our new home.

Our apartment is on the second floor of a three-apartment building, which is set just outside of town, and about a 5-minute walk from the beach. The location is great, as we are truly amongst the trees and far enough outside of town to have privacy and peace. The best feature of the apartment is the large balcony that has a good-sized table for meals and work, two comfortable hammocks, and an easy-to-use gas grill. The balcony is situated amongst a lot of trees, and we have had many different birds, iguanas, and even noisy howler monkeys, within a few feet from the balcony. Inside we have a large living room with a couch, television, and desk, and a nice, equipped kitchen too. The bathroom features an open-style shower with questionable water pressure and a finicky toilet. Up a little wooden staircase from the main room is a tiny bedroom, which has windows for three of its four walls, and a nice breeze. Aside from occasional minor issues, such as Internet outages, we have been quite happy with our apartment. (See the video of our apartment, to be posted soon, to get a better idea.)

We spent our first week in town getting to know the area as best we could during the occasional breaks in the torrential, unrelenting rain. A tropical storm in the Gulf of Mexico was effecting our local weather, and for roughly six consecutive days Tamarindo averaged about 18 hours of rain per day. During this time we managed to join a local gym, and started to get into a workout routine. However, this complicated other aspects of our lives, as the building's washing machine was not functioning, and the damp environment led to a lot of wet, smelly clothes. (Eventually the machine would work, but not until we paid about $20 to have our clothes washed at the only public place in town.)

With the rain finally subsiding, we began a more interesting and fulfilling existence. In addition to our workout routine, I started to fall into a comfortable working pattern, and Siobhan began volunteering at a local pottery store on an almost-daily basis (see her blog for more information on that topic). Of course since we were only five minutes from a beautiful, tropical beach, daily trips to swim, surf (using the surfboard that we purchased and intend to sell upon departure), and relax became a regular occurrence as well. Our routine also found us making weekly treks to the large grocery store on the other side of town (about a 30-minute walk), and hauling back groceries in our backpacks. Our diets shifted to the local flavors, featuring a lot of beans, rice, pineapple, and bananas, among other things. We tried out several of the restaurants in town too, and quickly found some good ones.

Overall the first few weeks we spent in Tamarindo were pretty quiet and relaxing, which worked out nicely, as we would have several visitors over the coming weeks.

Roadtrip #2: Car-sleeping near the article circle

2010-11-05T19:04:00.000-04:00

Having seen the southern part of Iceland a month before, we wanted to get up to the west and north parts of the country while the weather was decent. When the forecast provided a good-looking weekend, it was time to act. With the days quickly getting shorter and the weather deteriorating at the same pace, we were thrilled to have a good opportunity.

We picked up our rental car at 9:00 on a Saturday morning, loaded it up with some food and supplies, and shot out to the north on the ring road. That day we drove alongside beautiful mountains, rugged fjords, and a lot of sheep and horses en route to Akureyri, the second-largest "city" in Iceland with a population of roughly 17,500 people, which is situated in the north-central part of the country along the water on a fjord. Arriving in the city in the mid-afternoon after five hours on the road, we realized there was no way we could accomplish our aggressive itinerary with a two-day rental. After weighing our options, we decided it would be worth the extra cost and extra work I would have to do upon our return, to extend our rental for another day. Finding a phone in a gas station, we were able to extend our car rental until Tuesday morning. With that out of the way, we decided to spend the rest of the day and night exploring Akureyri, before setting off further to the east the next morning.

Arriving in the center of Akureyri we found a good parking lot near the small downtown area to set up our car/hotel for the night. We jumped out of the car and walked around the town, seeing an amazing botanical garden (which was quite impressive considering its proximity to the Arctic Circle), some guys playing American football, and the downtown area for some coffee. That night we got some dinner at a family-style restaurant, and quickly realized that the town was not going to become active until at least midnight. We decided to watch a movie, and afterward went out for a couple drinks. Opting not to pay a cover, we found a bar and sat with Marco, a Swiss amateur photographer who was traveling around the ring road (we met up him again in Reykjavik to play a trivia game). From about midnight until dawn (though we didn't stay awake quite that long to find out), the center of town was full of cars and young people, but was significantly less busy the rest of the time.

The next morning we woke up early, and shivering, and headed out to explore the area around Mývatn in the north-central part of Iceland. This area features a large lake, a lot of old craters, and a lot of volcanic/fissure activity. It is also one of the most beautiful parts of Iceland that we saw on our trip. While there, we drove the road looping around the lake, stopping to take photos and to visit a museum on the birds of Iceland. This museum featured a very strange and unique (the only other place they appear is Japan) spherical, underwater plant, called Marimo. Also while driving around the lake, we hiked up to the top of a small mountain, which gave us wonderful views of the craters from above. The entire area looked somewhat like the surface of the moon, minus the light vegetation. Near Mývatn, we drove over a ridge and suddenly found ourselves in the middle of a steaming area of geothermal activity right outside the Krafla caldera. After exploring this area, we drove past a geothermal power station, and hiked up to and into the actual caldera. The landscape was quite dramatic, featuring jagged, black volcanic rock, and a lot of hot, steaming vents. It was getting dark, so after walking a ways into the caldera, we turned back and made our way to the nearby Mývatn Nature Baths. This site is dubbed "the north's answer to the Blue Lagoon" and it did not disappoint. Sharing the warm, thermal pool with only a handful of other visitors, we relaxed in the warm (and in some places, simply too hot) turquoise water. On the drive back to Akureyri that night, we were treated to a good display of the aurora borealis, and stopped a couple times along the way for photos. By the time we got back to Akureyri, we were exhausted and accustomed to the idea of another cold night in the car.

On the final morning of our trip, we awoke fairly early (and cold once again), and started the long drive toward Snaefellsness, a long peninsula off the west coast of Iceland. Our route there ended up being a long, arduous one, as we were stuck on a bumpy gravel road for a good portion of the drive. We briefly explored a few of the coastal towns on the north part of the peninsula, and then headed out to its tip, where we saw the Snæfellsjökull glacier and volcano. While there, we explored a lot of interesting, old lava flows, saw some of the jagged, black coastline, and visited a sign paying tribute to Jules Verne's Journey to the Center of the Earth, which was set in the area. After a full afternoon of exploring the region, the rain started to get harder and harder, and we made the journey back to Reykjavik. Luckily we did not have to turn in our car until the next morning, so we were able to sleep in it one last night... just kidding, it was great to be back in a real bed.

Rotting shark meat...yumyum

2010-10-26T08:59:00.000-04:00

Here is what Wikipedia has to say about an Icelandic "specialty" dish:

Hákarl (Icelandic for "fermented shark") is a food from Iceland. It is a Greenland or basking shark which has been cured with a particular fermentation process and hung to dry for four to five months. Hákarl is an acquired tasteand has a very particular ammonia-rich smell and fishy taste, similar to very strong cheese slathered in ammonia. The shark itself is poisonous when fresh due to a high content of uric acid and trimethylamine oxide, but may be consumed after being processed. Those new to it will usually gag involuntarily on the first attempt to eat it due to the high ammonia content.

Hákarl is traditionally prepared by gutting and beheading a Greenland or basking shark and placing it in a shallow hole dug in gravelly-sand, with the now-cleaned cavity resting on a slight hill. The shark is then covered with sand and gravel, and stones are then placed on top of the sand in order to press the shark. The fluids from the shark are in this way pressed out of the body. The shark ferments for 6–12 weeks depending on the season in this fashion.

Airwaves 2010

2010-10-26T08:30:00.000-04:00

Derek and I lucked into an unexpected invitation (thanks Patrick!) to volunteer for the Airwaves music festival in Reykjavik. We only had to sell some t-shirts and posters for two afternoons and in return we got free music passes for the entire show (which were worth about $150 each and had sold out already). We discovered that Reykjavik has a collection diverse and talented bands for such a small city. Every night we saw bands that we have never heard of, and many of them were from outside of Iceland. But I must say that the best performances were from Icelandic bands. Some shows on the weekend didn’t even start until 2:30 a.m., so needless to say that we were exhausted by the end of the festival. One of the great perks of volunteering for this festival was that not only did we get a free pass, but we also got to skip the lines outside (which sometimes had waiting times over an hour). On top of that, all the passes came with discounts at some of the restaurants in town. Someone should have warned us (or just Derek) that if you order sushi in Iceland you will most likely be getting some raw whale meat as part of your sampler.

Here are some links to a few bands that Derek and I particularly enjoyed:

FM Belfast: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XYc0qjAhWoM

Hurts: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=15uFb2wjxjg

Seabearer: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SYiYDgpjAF0

Lay Low: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DshHs8VqkUk&feature=related

Basia Bulat: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tNmXekrpu6I

Four movies per day = advanced states of atrophy.

2010-10-26T08:24:00.000-04:00

My second work camp was volunteering for the Reykjavik international Film Festival (RIFF), which started the day after I returned from my first camp. I quickly threw my filthy cement-crusted clothes and work boots in a pile and replaced them with heels and dresses (and what I could try and pass off as nice clothes). I must say the two work camps could not have been more different. For RIFF we had over 20 volunteers (still no Americans!) and were housed in downtown Reykjavik. I started off the first day by volunteering for RIFF's opening gala where we helped set up for the event, and I attempted to pour champagne for famous people (without spilling it all over them), all while keeping an eye out for Bjork (who was a no-show…go figure).

In this work camp, I finally had a chance to experience the night life first hand, which usually involves going out around midnight and staying out until six in the morning. Needless to say I saw lots of organic graffiti (aka vomit)and shirtless men. It’s interesting to note that at 2am on Saturday you see more people out in the city than you do at any other time during the week.

The food was also especially different for this work camp. We spent most of the time eating gouda cheese, cucumbers, skyr, nutella, and digestive cookies (probably the worst name you could give a cookie), and sometimes bread from a large bin with old pastries mixed in.

My job at the festival was mainly as a driver, which was basically a disaster waiting to happen. I had to pick up directors/judges/etc. at the airport and drive them around Reykjavik to different shows and parties. In reality, I ended up driving a huge 9-person van the wrong way down one-way streets, doing illegal u-turns and getting stuck with horns blaring, shutting a car door on a director, and looking back to see one woman holding onto the "o-shit" handles for her life. I would inevitably get lost and try to convince them that they would just be fashionably late, then I would have to call someone and tell them that I am on Skólavörðustígur street?! How do you pronounce that?! I would also help out in the theatres, which consisted of me watching a movie and then sweeping up the popcorn afterwards. I discovered that my limit for movies in one day is four, after that reality starts to feel like a blur. I really enjoyed the festival as it gave me the opportunity to see lots of great films, that I would have mostly never heard of otherwise, and a chance to meet the people who made the films and to personally ask them questions. Also I enjoyed meeting so many great volunteers that I had the opportunity to work with, and whose couches I may be also crashing on sometime in the future.

(Side note: I never thought about doing a work camp in a foreign country as opposed to general travel. Typically when I travel to a place I try to cram in as many sights as humanly possible, but I think there is something to be said for signing up for a volunteer program and really getting to know a group of people. It gives you an opportunity to see a country in a different way, as opposed to the ultra-tourist method.)

Officially, the winner of the film fest was “The Four Times”(Le Quattro Volte (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0zxYGvRBpg8). Honestly, I really tried to watch this movie, and perhaps someone should have warned me beforehand, but it was it was an entirely silent film and for some reason I just couldn’t do it. Here is the official description:

"An old shepherd lives his last days in a quiet medieval village perched high on the hills of Calabria, at the southernmost tip of Italy. He herds goats under skies that most villagers have deserted long ago. He is sick, and believes to find his medicine in the dust he collects on the church floor, which he drinks in his water every day. A new goat kid is born. We follow its first few tentative steps, its first games, until it gains strength and goes to pasture. Nearby, a majestic fir tree stirs in the mountain breeze and slowly changes through the seasons. Le quattro volte is a poetic vision of the revolving cycles of life and nature and the unbroken traditions of a timeless place. The story of one soul that moves through four successive lives."

It actually sounds like a really great movie, so maybe someday I will work up the courage to try and tackle this beast again. Here are some of my recommendations from RIFF:

Little rock (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KoHUcdeMDCE)

Nuumioq (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JGuu9iOa8NU)

Womb (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N8Oujip3nJQ) ... be warned this one is VERY strange and I am only recommending it because I don’t want to be the only one who was disturbed by it (I’m taking you down with me!).

Also: Toxic Playground and Venice

To finish off the work camp, Derek and I rented a couple cars with some of my co-volunteers and did the golden circle tour, which is a three-stop day trip outside of the city. The first stop was at Þingvellir, a national park where the tectonic plates are separating -- on one side you are on the European continent and on the other you are on the North American one. The other interesting aspect of this site is that the Icelandic parliament or AlÞingi was established here in 930, and would host annual meetings to discuss laws for the country all the way until 1789. The second stop was at Geysir, which was basically a bunch of tourists standing around a hole in the earth with cameras positioned up while waiting, and waiting, for the sulfurous pit to blow in the cold. The English word "geyser" actually derives from the Icelandic name for this particular geyser. The final stop on the tour was Gullfoss, which was a very large and beautiful two-part waterfall.

How I arrived a girl... and left a Fisherman!!

2010-10-26T07:47:00.000-04:00

I shouldn’t have packed those snow pants, or the five pounds of granola, or the motion sickness pills for that ‘15 hour drive’ to the work camp. But when one hears the word ‘workcamp’ all sorts of scenarios come to mind, like forced manual labor/starvation/brutal cold/no running water. I should have looked at the map, I wasn’t going to North Korea! It took about 4 hours to get there on nicely paved roads, and we were greeted by being shown to our hotel style housing (with running water!) and a delicious three-course meal (where I was introduced to the bread that I would become obsessed with for the following two weeks). I was one of ten people coming to volunteer in Heydalur (http://www.heydalur.is/), a developing guest house in the West Fjords, where they offer sea kayaking, horseback riding, and natural hot springs to guests and pool cleaning, rock moving, washing dishes, painting, cement making, and wall building to volunteers (with the fun stuff mixed in). The people in the volunteer work group were from Sweden, Belgium, Germany, Hungary, France, and South Korea. My roommate was a Swedish girl named Emma who within the first few days was bitten by a very mildly domesticated Arctic fox (I even use that term loosely). I told her that if she started foaming at the mouth I would have to kill her… as far as I know the verdict is still out.

We spent most days working around the farm helping with whatever was needed and eating delicious food cooked for us by Stella, the retired school teacher who at ~70ish spent all day in the kitchen cooking us amazing meals (although perhaps a little heavy on the cauliflower). In order to combat the fatness that was approaching from our daily cake break at 4pm, we spent a lot of time hiking after work and walking down to the waters along the fjords every morning. On our days off we were able to do some horseback riding, sea kayaking (with seals), and hiking to the ‘top’ of the fjords, which we never seemed to truly reach.

After two weeks we were all ready to leave; I know this because we all began imitating the talking parrot Cope, it wasn’t pretty...Overall it was an amazing experience and I saw and did things that I never expected going into this work camp, such as: learning how to use a hammer! I also caught a fish, gutted it and removed all of its bones and sliced it up (I left the cooking part to Stella, no one wants a microwaved salmon). Another unexpected highlight was seeing the northern lights while sitting in a hot pot.

We all became close over the two weeks we spent in Heydalur, and it was strange to be back in the BIG, HUGE city of Rekjavik and saying goodbye. But I told them not to be too sad, you never know when Derek and I may be crashing on your couch!

As we were leaving we passed on the legend of the Japanese man in the cage to our replacements, compliments of Cecile, the Danish girl working there for about 4 months (that’s a long time without outside communication…). We told our replacements that in Iceland since there is such a low population it isn’t worth building a prison, so in the West Fjords each valley gets one prisoner and they are to leave him in his cage, but feed him leftover scraps for which the government compensates them . We went on to explain that the system is all well and good except that sometimes the local prisoner gets loose and tries to bite people; we even showed them a bite that Anna (a German volunteer) had gotten from a horse. We told them to watch out when they are hiking, never go alone, and to always be alert, because he is stealthy and hungry since all he gets to eat is leftover fish heads. We thought that it would be obvious that this was just a joke but they really believed us muhahaha…so the legend lives on….

Why is the gym scanning my retinas?

2010-09-21T14:31:00.000-04:00

From the small sample I have seen, gyms in Iceland are pretty cool. After doing some frustrating Internet research, I headed out for a jog in the direction of one of the gyms that I was interested in. I had never seen such a large, modern, clean gym before. It featured three, maybe four levels, two outdoor hot tubs (one fresh water, one salt water), every type of equipment you could imagine, large rooms for yoga, pilates, and the like, giant locker rooms, and even a motivational weight room that had a giant traffic light on the wall that lit up to tell people to do another set of reps. I was not ready to sign up at that time, thinking I would wait until Siobhan was back in town, but they gave me a paper to hold onto which entitled us to a one-month price of about $60 per person.

A few days later, while walking to the grocery store I realized that I had been passing another nearby gym. I stopped in to explore and found that it was much closer to what I am used to at home, and was still partially under construction. After looking around on my own, the person at the front desk told me there was a special open until the end of the week of about $15 for a one-month membership due to the construction. I signed up on the spot. After handing over my cash (in Icelandic króna), they told me I would need to do a retina scan, which would be used for check-in purposes. (On account of Craig and Ali mentioning this possibility, I was not surprised.) I leaned into a little window, and a robotic, female voice directed me (in English) on how to align my face for the scan. That being completed I left the gym, but returned later that day for my first workout.

Hopefully we will be able to figure out a way to get Siobhan into the gym too, but with there still being three weeks until she would be ready to think about that, I could not pass up the opportunity to join. Perhaps we will decide to sign up for one month at the first gym in October. Until then, I am a member here: http://www.worldclass.is/.

Reykjavik's Nightlife: Ruffies & Ghostbusters until 6am

2010-09-16T13:40:00.000-04:00

On Wednesday morning, September 8, Siobhan left for her volunteer camp in the Westfjords of Iceland, where she will spend two weeks cleaning up the area and prepping it for winter after the busy summer tourist season. She was nervous about heading out there without knowing anyone, and unsure of what to expect, but got ready and headed out nonetheless. That morning we said goodbye as she departed to meet her group, and I settled into the reality of two weeks on my own.

(I will spare everyone the suspense about her volunteer camp. She has been able to send a couple of emails, and it's very clear that she is having a wonderful time out there. The people in her group are all very nice, and as the only native English speaker, she has been doing a lot of translating. From what I can gather, her group members have come from different parts of Asia and Europe, and she has a Swedish roommate. Their group has been doing a lot of painting and cleaning, but they have also had free time for hiking, horseback riding, and relaxing in the hot baths, among other things. She said that the food is amazing, some of the best she has ever had, and she will be trying to get some recipes. On Tuesday night she saw a wonderful display of the northern lights, and has promised a lot of pictures. We will be sure to have a blog entry detailing her experiences once she has returned and had the time to organize.)

That same Wednesday night, I heard from my suite mate, Anca, that the University was having a discount student night at a bar in town. I joined her and her friend Tom, who is from England and appears to be her boyfriend as far as I can tell, and we headed out to join the party. At the bar I met a lot of her student friends, who were all pretty nice and talkative. There seemed to be a particularly large German and British population in the student group, and someone told me that I was the first American they had met. I was impressed/surprised with everyone's knowledge and enthusiasm for American music. Practically all the songs the DJ played that night were from America, yet everyone knew all the words and even the dances. My personal favorite was the Ghostbusters theme song, which received a mixed reaction from the crowd, but certainly loosened up my dancing. Everything seemed fine that night, but I found out the next day that someone had put ruffies (or something similar) in Anca's drink. She made it home safely with Tom, but felt pretty ill for the next couple of days. Evidently even in a (relatively) smaller city like Reykjavik, and in a country with a reputation for safety, you still have to be careful.

On Friday night I spent some time with my other suite mate, Andy, and three of his friends, who are all Canadian. They are all in Iceland to study various aspects of Icelandic literature and language, and the four of them comprise the entire graduate department at the University in that area of study. Everything happens late in Reykjavik on the weekends, so after spending some time at our apartment we headed to the downtown area around 11:00 or so. We went to a few different bars, and by 3:00 in the morning I was the only one ready to head home. They did not stay out much longer, but many bars in Reykjavik stay open until 6:00 AM, some even 7:00 AM, on weekend nights. As expected the streets of the city are deserted on Saturday and Sunday mornings, and most establishments do not open until 10:00, at the earliest.

Roadtrip! Volcanoes, glaciers, icebergs, and geothermal waters.

2010-09-11T14:32:00.000-04:00

On Sunday morning Jesse and Vanessa picked us up and we headed southeast. Our destination that night was the small town of Höfn in the southeast part of Iceland, but we had many things to see along the way. The landscape changed dramatically once we exited the city; trees were few, mountains were plentiful, and rugged terrain was everywhere. Driving on the Ring Road (which encircles Iceland along its outer edges because the center of the country is isolated, desolate and harsh) we made good time and made two early stops to see waterfalls. We could walk behind and around the first waterfall, and the second one had a nice rainbow and short hike to its top.

Both of these waterfalls stem from glacial melting and runoff from around the summit of Eyjafjallajökull, the volcano made (in)famous by its lengthy, flight-grounding eruption earlier this year. From the road and below there was no discernible peak or caldera, but on our return trip to Reykjavik the area to the east of the volcano was engulfed in a hazy, dark sky from ash that it was spewing that day.

Driving through the south-central part of Iceland we came to our first glaciers and the Skaftafell National Park, home to Vatnajökull, the largest glacier in Europe. Knowing we would visit on our return trip, we moved on to our primary target for the day, Jökulsárlón. Jökulsárlón is the name of a glacial lake which is full of giant (and sometimes bright blue) iceberg chunks that have broken off the Breiðamerkurjökull glacier and are stuck there until they melt or slide out to sea. After snapping some photos, we took an amphibious vehicle (a functioning boat and land vehicle) out into the water to see them up close in a steady rain. We learned that some of the icebergs take seven years to melt, and bit off pieces of a small iceberg chunk that was over 1,000 years old; the oldest thing we'll ever eat. Some smaller icebergs that were slipping out to sea had been beached by the tide, which gave us the opportunity to carefully climb on them. Several films have had scenes shot at Jökulsárlón, including Die Another Day, Tomb Raider, and Batman Begins.

The next morning we returned to Skaftafell to see part of the glacier up-close and to hike to a mountain waterfall. We approached the glacier after parking are car and found a place to stand on its edge. It is not recommended to walk far on glaciers, and with good reason. There are dangerous fissures that can break open; even standing on the very end it was very slippery and muddy. Arriving at the visitors' center at the park we found our hiking trail and proceeded up to two more waterfalls, the second one complete with beautiful rock columns. Late that afternoon we arrived in the small town of Vik for dinner, and that night bathed in the outdoor geothermal hot tubs at the hotel where Jesse and Vanessa were staying.

After breakfast on Tuesday morning we hiked up to the mountain range above Vik to get a view of the surrounding beaches and countryside. The hike would have been nice, were it not for the brutal, hurricane-strength winds at the top. At first it was fun and we took some pictures jumping with the wind at our backs. But as we walked along the exposed ridge, there were sustained winds of probably 70 miles per hour, with gusts even stronger than that. Going with the wind we were sometimes forced to run not to fall forward, and going into the wind was a slow, challenging ordeal; it was so strong that it even knocked Vanessa from the path at one point.

Tired from the hike, we headed back toward Reykjavik in search of geothermal baths along the way. Our first stop was a failure, though it turned out to be a funny one. When we arrived at the baths we read about in our guide book, we found that they were closed and quite muddy. After looking around, we started investigating some abandoned farm equipment. At that point a local appeared and we deciphered through his body language, and his use of a small surgical mask, that the area had some dangerous fumes.

Fortunately our final stop was very successful. We parked our car near the town of Selfoss and did a hike up the mountain ridge and into a valley. Along the way up we encountered bubbling hot water and mud springs, and a lot of steam. On the top of the ridge we overlooked a beautiful canyon and waterfall, but our destination was the mountain stream heated by geothermal waters. We found a suitable spot and lay in the running water, which was warm and pleasant, especially considering the cool outdoor air. The spot we chose was just below where two streams combine, one too hot and the other too cold for swimming. However, once the two streams collide and mix, the water becomes the perfect temperature. After a long soak in the stream, we hiked out and returned to our apartment in Reykjavik.

Overall it was a great, activity-filled road trip and a lot of fun. We got along great with Jesse and Vanessa, and enjoyed a lot of good meals, sights, and conversations together. The next day they flew home to the United States, as Siobhan embarked on her journey to the Westfjords.

Friends!

2010-09-10T12:38:00.000-04:00

While out on Friday night, Siobhan noticed two Americans that she recognized from our flight. We got to talking to them in the bar, as well as we could with all the background music (mostly classic and modern American rock) and chatter. It turned out that the guy, Jesse, works in DC and lives in Northern Virginia, and the girl, Vanessa, is from and lives in MA. Sounds a bit like us, no? They are old friends who go on periodic vacations together.

Jesse proposed that we do a shot of Brennivín, an Icelandic schnapps considered to be the country's signature alcohol beverage. After some hesitation we all had one, but Siobhan and I did not care for it much. I thought that it tasted like rye bread, and she felt like her "body might reject it."

To complete our Icelandic experience we went to a popular hot dog stand, called Bæjarins beztu, which has been frequented by Bill Clinton, where Jesse and I tried one. Despite its popularity and reputation, I thought it was an average hot dog at best.

About this time we proposed the possibility of doing a road trip together, having heard that their itinerary was somewhat similar to ours. We met the next night for a bit to firm up the plans, and decided that we would all head out together the next morning for a three-day road trip.

Siobhan posed in front of the popular grocery store chain on the walk home.

Quirky Iceland = Quirky Apartment

2010-09-10T12:25:00.002-04:00

I use the term endearingly, but there's just no getting around describing Iceland as quirky. Everything seems to be a bit different than we are accustomed to, and sometimes even downright weird, for better or worse. With that in mind, one would expect there to be some interesting things about our apartment, and it does not disappoint.

A few interesting characteristics of our apartment:

1) Thanks to geothermal heating, the water is sometimes instantly hot enough to burn when it's first turned on. It's especially important to be careful when getting in the shower!

2) To flush the toilet we have to pull up on a screw that is sticking out of a wooden board across the top of the toilet's water tank.

3) We have a "balcony" off our room, which is really just a fairly narrow ledge with no railing to prevent a three-story plummet.

4) Our apartment includes a huge collection of weird, old VHS tapes, but we have no VCR. Fortunately there are plenty of weird, old DVDs too.

5) We have a strange washing machine in the basement, which inexplicably works or does not work, and often needs a good kick before the door will open.

And speaking of quirky, what is the deal with these people that Siobhan encountered?! They wanted her to take their picture, as if they had to ask.