ridiculous hike

Dana from Latvia and I just did the most incredible hike. I still cant quite believe I was in such a special place. it all seems very sureal as the colours and natural beauty is almost over-powering. i'm afraid none of the photos get even remotely close to the spectacular views that were all around us for 3 days but in a funny way i am happy because you have to experience them for yourselves. i think some nature is just meant to stay where it is rather than be transformed into a 2 dimensional image on coffee table.

we stated out from reykjavik at 9am on saturday and managed to get a lift with a couple from lithuania who were really nice and dropped us at selfoss, next we hitched a ride from some adventure rafting guides who funnily enough seemed quite dull, then a kind musician picked us up and took us to the road we needed. finally we hopped on a bus with some american graduate students. was fun to hitch hike as we met so many characters and somehow we made pretty good time and didnt have to wait long at all. at Lanmanalagur we began our hike at 2pm in awesome surroundings: orange mountains and steam rising from the ground. we made the first hut and set up my shabby, broken tent in moon like scenery with snow capped peaks all around us. it was a pretty cold night but we survived with extremities still intact and started in bright sunshine and blue skies. we hiked 27km on sunday passing through science fiction type landscape and down into moss covered mountains which looked like very strokable velvet peaks and expansive lakes. all the grass was dotted with cotton looking flowers and the array of colous was unbelievable: maroon, turquiose, electric green....... it was as if we had died and been transported to some majestic land of tranquility. sorry i think i'm getting a bit carried away but it was truly special. on monday we decended further to the thorsmok area where we were greeted by trees and some rather ominous river crossings, one of which i lost a flip-flop. i'm hoping i will find it next week when im cleaning the coast near reykjavik! in thorsmok we met up with another project and stayed a night in secluded valley below some glaciers. simply too much. writing this now i feel like i have to leave this country to fully digest it and appreciate the feelings that it provokes. think that is enough cheese for 1 day....

exhibition

The photomarathon was a brilliant project as everybody learnt a great deal about photography and took some excellent photos. the project ended on wednesday after opening an exhibition of our photos in the city hall. the end result was really surprising as there was high standard of quality and range of ideas and subjects. it was so much fun to have a friendly group of volunteers who cooked lots of food from their countries and were always joking around. think i will miss them a lot!

Reykjavik: Pohtomarathon

After a relaxing holiday, taking it very easy and reading about many religions for my teaching course, i am back in Reykjavik for the photomarathon project. we have 20 volunteers from around the world: singapore, USA, south korea and europe. everyday we will have a lecture about theory and technique from my spanish friend kike. we started today and already i feel like i have learnt loads. this project is quite relaxed as we dont have to take photos with the volunteers so we have a lot of time off and can visit some galleries etc. today i went to the world press photo award which had some incredible images from around the globe. the only hard thing to do is the cooking for 24 people. today i managed a cuscus extravaganza but it will tough to be creative. thankfully there are many teams so i wont have to cook everyday!

Last weekend was awesome as i saw trentmoller on friday night and then chilled in the park on saturday where there were some hiphop MCs and DJs freestylin and improvising beats on the spot. then met some interesting characters who told me about the New World Order taking over our lives and controlling our minds which was intense and amusing at the same time. love the conspiracy theories....watch out for the reptilians working on the 4th dimension to warp our capacity to question. excellllllllllent! on sunday 2 friends from lithuania and greece and me went on a road trip to the south where went to some beautiful waterfalls and a secret hot spring in the mountains where the mist was hovering and light rain was falling into the pool. then we had an epic drive back as the crazy greek christos managed to take a wrong turn and run out of fuel. muppet. however a friendly viking sorted us out within seconds of the old banger conking out. legend.

back to civilization

After 6 weeks out in the far reaches of iceland I am back in Reykjavik. the rest of the project in kopasker went really well. we had an international evening where we cooked some dishes from our countries and did something cultural such as flamenco, lithuanian dancing, films etc. I excelled myself with my best crumble creation using some rhubarb i picked in the village and also did a quiz about England. thankfully the weather was amazing for the last few days so we enjoyed our walks along the beach picking up the rubbish. on the last night we went for a swim in the sea as the cloud rolled from the mountains to the sea, couldnt quite believe our luck with the timing.

then mum came out for a few days so we did a whirlwind trip taking in some waterfalls, glaciers, fjords and general epic scenery. we drove from the second largest city in the north called Akureyri all the way back to reykjavik via the east fjords. it was fun to catch up and drive our tiny rental car off road avoiding the sheep and trying to see the views through the fog. we finished up in the blue lagoon which is a hot spring with milky blue water. we arrived at 8pm so there were very few people when the sky was turning orange at 9:30. superb!

Kópasker

we finished in Þórshöfn on Tuesday after planting more than 2500 trees and shovelling loads of manure! now we are are in Kopasker which is about 100km east of Þórshöfn. it is a small village with only a 1 shop and a post office but the locals are extremely friendly and there is a great group of short term volunteers who are very relaxed and easy to manage.

In Kopasker we are mainly cleaning the coast which i thought would be tedious to say the least, but it is actually incredibly relaxing, as the beaches are so beautiful with waterfalls and mountains in the distance, and i have no worries whatsoever. at the start of the day i have the waves to listen to and in then i can listen to loads of new music from the volunteers as i hop along the rocks picking up rubbish from all over the world. have found plastic containers from south africa, france and even wolverhampton! today Bibi from Holland found a message in a bottle from Norway. classic.

iceland has the best music too. buy the albumn Takk by sigor ros or watch the film Heima if you want to get a feel for this country.

over 2500 trees planted!

Dettifoss

after a fun week planting trees in the sunshine with loads of manure we decided we needed to freshen up at the most powerful waterfall in europe. we drove through the wilderness on a tiny dirt road passing a green lake, a red mountain and countless views of jagged mountains covered in moss and snow with not another car or person in sight. finally we arrived at the beast of dettifoss which is awesome and not a fence in sight. brilliant.

this week are back on the planting and it really does give me a sense of well being so it doesnt really feel like work. you cant go wrong.