Más del Norte

OK, so sorry that I have not been updating this, but work has been busier, now that I am in the lab doing experiments (more on this later). So because of this, I will make the next couple of posts more concise and less detailed, but maybe with more pics (WARNING!! There are A LOT of photos). If you have any questions, or want me to go into more details on any matter or experience, let me know.

So the day after we went to the Kalina plant, we toured the Krafla geothermal plant. It was pretty cool, and back in the 70s there was a lot of volcanic activity happening in the Krafla area. Here are some vids and pics:


This video shows the 2 big turbines seen from above, and the MIT crew learning about the plant.


The control room. There are only 2 people working in the entire plant per shift. Everything is automated, but they are there to make sure everything is running smoothly, to give tours, and to do systematic checks.

The big turbines, from Mitsubishi. If you can read the sign closely, it says 3000 rpm.


3000 rpm, in all its glory.


Some warning sign in Icelandic. Not sure what the first word is, but the second one has something to do with life (lífs) and hot or heat (hætta), so maybe like electrocution or burning. Yay for my Icelandic.

More Mitsubishi machines.

The water cooling towers outside.



After the Krafla tour, we hiked to a lava field with a ton of...lava rocks. I really enjoyed the hike. Ever since I was a child I would play with rocks and dirt, so just seeing all the different colors of the mineral deposits and handling/inspecting the light, sharp lava rocks was interesting.


Auðunn and Cash looking into a crater, with plenty of steaming hot spots behind them.

Awesome rock.

I was fascinated by the rocks. Auðunn seems to be amused.

More awesome, colorful rocks.


After this we toured the rest of the Mývatn area, which I had already done, but it's still worth seeing and more fun with people. We went to Dimmuborgir, the "Dark City," Goðafoss, this old crater, and the natural baths. Here are some pics of our adventures:


View of most of the Dark City.

Cool hole-in-rock formation, with some other tourists.

Cynth showing off her rock climbing skillz.

Auðunn showing off his rock climbing skillz.

More awesome rock formations. Check out all the different textures and colors!! OK, so I love rocks.


The most famous rock formation in Dimmuborgir, it's called the cathedral, because it looks like a big church with a high ceiling.

The top of the crater (with a view of the inside), with Auðunn showing off his Viking muscles.


Inside of crater as viewed from the top.

View of the area surrounding the crater, as viewed from atop the crater.

Chilling in the natural spring bath thing. Water T like 30°C. Air T like 10°C.

Help I'm drowning! I love Cynth's expression in this pic. Probably my favorite one. :)

Awesome rock formations at Goðafoss.

RAAWWRR!

Some waterfall models.

We should be on the cover of Tour Iceland.


Goðafoss.

Ever since Jenn's accident with the river crossing, the girls are very careful crossing bodies of water. Here, they are doing their tribal river crossing dance for safe passage.

Resting a little after a long day in my living room, before going out to meet one of the new Icelandic MIT grad student. Watching some mindless show on TV.

Gauti (he starts MIT this fall) and his wife and the MIT interns, outside of the Kaffi Akureyri bar.

We stopped by my work after meeting up with Gauti to see if Fiddi was working in the lab on the asphalt for the airport strip elongation. He was.


So as you can see, it was a very long Saturday, but it was very fun thanks to Mannvit and Auðunn. He is an awesome person and one of the coolest Icelanders I have met. Actually he just got married (on the 8th of August: 08.08.08)!! Another Mannvit worker who is from Spain, Javier, also got married that day, along with my 7th grade teacher. And of course the Olympics started that day...but I'm getting ahead of myself.

Next time, Sunday.