Hello from Iceland

Just flew into Iceland this morning. I´m in culture shock. Where are the skyscrapers? Where is the hot sun? Where is the subway? I´m not sure I´ve finished digesting NY. BTW, the thing I liked best about NY is how everyone does their own thing there. From what I can tell, there is not the same kind of defined fashion and lifestyle categories that we have in Vancouver.

I haven´t figured Reykavik out yet... From what I´ve seen before it reminds me of a cross between England (because of the different cars, they have, the roundabouts and the funny coloured post-office boxes), Campbell River (because it is a small city on the water), an Inuit village (because of the prefab houses) and Unionville/Whistler/Banff (because of the number of expensive boutique shops downtown). The terrain is very flat and very rocky with very black soil - presumably volcanic. No trees. Just grass patches between black soil and rock.

It´s cold here compared to NYC. It was high 20s in NY and it is maybe around 10 degrees here. Yesterday I could be wearing shorts. Today, I´m wearing a winter jacket and wondering if I should have unpacked my gloves.

The icelandic language is a bit of a mind breaker. I just realized that I´ve heard most languages of the world through TV and Movies. ie. We have all heard Russian, German, Spanish, French, even Arabic languages that way. When is the last time you´ve heard Icelandic? It makes it hard to remember things. For example, my hostel is near the Sunlaugavegur and Kringlumjrabraut intersection. Try saying that 10 times fast!

Stuff here is expensive. The ritter bar at the hostel is 250KR ($5). I don´t think I´ll be having too many of those!

I talked to a girl on the bus from the Airport. I was actually going to try and walk from the airport, but decided to do things the "normal" way. I´m glad I did, because when I got on the bus, I found out that we were 50KM from Reykavik! Anyway, turns out the girl works at a tourist information centre on weekends so here is what I found out:
1. There are no puffins. They have left already. According to the guy sitting behind me they went to Newfoundland. The guy behind me was a paramedic going to pick up someone from Canada who is sick and need help getting back.
2. The only way for me to see a puffin right now eat one (order one in a restaurant)
3. Puffins don´t taste good and smell terrible.
4. Icelanders don´t celebrate Thanksgiving, nor do they eat puffins for Thanksgiving

I´m thinking of taking a horseback riding tour one day and then another day I´ll rent a car and look around.