Chico Verde: Cuando vinieron las muchachas

So two weekends ago Jenn and Cynthia drove from Reykjavík to visit me and Akureyri. They arrived at my house early Saturday morning and we all had breakfast together. Later on that day we had planned to go with some of my co-workers to climb a mountain nearby, named Súlur (which means pillar). My boss, Ásgeir, and another co-worker, Sindri, came by the house and we all crammed into Ásgeir's car to meet up with yet another co-worker, Dagný, and her two sons. We then drove to the foot of the mountain and parked by the city landfill and compost site. As one may guess, it smelled really bad, so we were all happy to begin the 2 hour hike. The weather was cloudy and halfway up the mountain, it started to drizzle. Dagný's sons were really shy and cute with their chocolate raisin breaks here and there.

At roughly the halfway mark, Dagný decided to go back down with her sons and Jenn also went with them because she was not feeling too well. Ásgeir, Sindri, Cynthia, and I set out to conquer Súlur like it's never been conquered before. It was the first time any of us had climbed this peak, and it was much more difficult than any of us had anticipated. Nevertheless, it was really nice and we had many adventures along the way. We saw premature berries (blueberries and blackberries I think) growing all around us and we were among the packed ice from the winters, that never completely melt, so it's really old ice. In order to reach the peak we actually had to traverse some snow patches, and in case you don't know or have forgotten, snow is still really cold. The snow that does melt forms many water streams which peacefully trickle amidst the rugged terrain. We even drank from these natural streams, face first. The water was truly natural, cold, and had a slight grassy taste. Delicious and refreshing! When Cynthia and I finally reached the top (where Ásgeir "the speed demon" and Sindri "the super hiker" were waiting for us) we rested, ate some bread and cookies, and signed the guestbook which was on the summit.

The snowy patches we had to cross to reach the top were at an incline, so coming back down was a rather interesting experience. It was my first "skiing" experience. But for the most part it was fun and we had a mini snowball fight (I never pass up the chance to throw snow at people). Then we reached this one part where the downward slope was perhaps at a 70° angle (the reference point being the horizon). Sindri expertly went down the slope and Ásgeir chose to bypass this slope and go down a less deathly way. I of course witnessed Sindri ease of going down, so after some time debating with Cynthia, I took a step down the slope and started sliding (falling) down the mountain and quickly (fell free to calculate my velocity given that I traveled about 50 meters and assuming µ = 0) approaching some jagged volcanic rocks. Luckily the rocks broke my descent, but I had snow everywhere and my hands were freezing and they hurt to the max since I tried to use them to slow me down (µ definitely > 0, ouch). I wish I had a video or pics of this fall, but I don't. Anyway, after I went down, Cynthia also went down by sitting on her jacket.

The rest of the hike down was normal, just chatting with the Icelandic guys about words and festivals coming up. We went back home, ate, showered, and crashed. We then woke up like around 6pm to drive to a barn by Lake Mývatn for a free concert. The bands played rock, some punk, and some indie-ish music.

The barn was pretty cool, there was a lot of smoke, candles and some tree branches hanging from the ceiling. There were a lot of drunk Icelanders and even some free alcohol (those Icelanders are so friendly when they are drunk). Even one of the bands had a bottle of vodka for the people. They passed around shots to most of the people in the front, and then sang a song (entitled Vodka), and then everybody raised their shot, said Skál (Cheers/Salud in Icelandic), and drank. One band had a lead singer (male) dressed in a Snow White looking costume and another singer had a birthday, so everyone sang the Icelandic birthday song. Also, most of the bands' members (male) ultimately sang shirtless as the night went on. All in all a great concert experience; free, fun people, good music, and a relaxed atmosphere. When we returned, Cynth and I didn't even have energy to go out that night/morning, so Jenn went out alone. Needless to say, I was tired and achy the next day. I'm getting old. :(

Guy with the Snow White costume.

Ásgeir and Sindri jamming out.

The girls just having fun, which really is what they want.

The sky after the concert.

Sunday was also cloudy, but we walked around downtown and then past the church to the botanical garden. They had a lot of pretty flowers and interesting trees and plants. We then tried walking to this foresty area with nice trails, but it was rather far, so we turned around and went to the "mall," which is like 5 clothing stores, 2 phone stores, a grocery store, a room store, and a Toys R Us. We bought some food and the girls bought socks and I got a pair of bright green boxers. Later we went to go eat at the Bautinn place mentioned in an earlier post. Then they left, so that they had enough time to rest in Reyk for work on Monday.