Welcome to Reykjavik

Posted 21 August 2006 by Benj in Facing Climate Change, Field Notes

Hallo,

Despite the media attention No-Creams-Lotions-or-Gels-Day generated, it was rather uneventful flight for us. We made it to Reykjavik just fine, and two things stand out in the capital of Iceland: everyone has really cool (really expensive) shoes and there are 16 geothermal swimming pools.

   Other less remarkable things to mention:

• We have spent a lot of our time here coordinating logistics (surprise). We did make it to the Gay Pride Parade, though.
• Everyone speaks English. In Icelandic, jai (sounds like yow) means uh-huh, yeah or yes. We like it.
• It feels like November (50 degrees and windy) and we both have colds.
• It is a very expensive place (even if you don’t buy shoes). We are staying at the campground now.

   Last Monday we met with Oddur Sigurdsson, the head of the Icelandic Glaciological Society, and the main reason we are in this country. If you have read Field Notes from a Catastrophe, by Elizabeth Kolbert, you already know a little bit about the Icelandic Glaciological Society. Oddur coordinates 30 to 40 volunteers who monitor local glaciers around Iceland. We have come at the end of the melt season to accompany some of these volunteers on their surveys. His volunteers remind us a lot of the naturalists we have been working with for The Dipper’s Attitude. He himself has a fondness for insects and 3D photography.