The Time of my Life in Iceland

8.5 After feeding the horses in the morning I take the car again and head to Husavik's garden. The scent of needles is in the air, there is some coniferous trees here and it reminds me of home. There is a small path near the little stream which I follow and now and then a s´cute little bridge goes over the stream. There is luxorious looking buildings on the other side. I decide to gas up and head for Myvatn, which is 45 minutes drive away. On the way I pick up a hitchhiker on her way to Akureyri. I drive her all the way to the Godafoss waterfalls. Godafoss The waterfall is awesome. We take pictures of eachothers infront of the beautiful falls and say farewells. She recommends Myvatn's nature paths for me so I head there next.  Near the nature baths the landscape is totally different to the falls. Everything is dry, smoking and sizzling with weird smelling gas. The ground is brown-red. It feels like the ground is breathing and the breath smells like bad eggs. The na...

Exploring... The horses standing butts towards the wind. 7.5 I wake up to a white morning. I start with plowing the snow infront of the stable door. When I get inside and feed the horses I go and shake the snow off the electrick fences since the it has pressed them on the ground. Luckily the horses didn't decide to go wandering off. When the raining stops so I take my wiperless car to Husavik. The season hasn't started yet so none of the museums have opened yet. I head to the little shops where they sell the classical icelandic woolen sweaters, and other woolen clothes plus some interesting looking bone artifacts and bird leg key fobs. I try on some of the sweaters. The vendor is friendly but doesn't speak very well english. I decide to buy a sweater for myself and some woolen mittens and key fobs for homecoming gifts.  The selfs loitering with woolen sweaters  key fobs made from bird feet Lamb horns I drive back to make Lalli, Freya and...

6.5 I give hay to the horses and check Fyni's cut which looks a lot better already. That aloevera gel is a miracle stuff. Next tour is at 5pm so I sit in the stable and petthe cats. They jump on my lap and start to purr. Outside it's sleeting again. I let the horses out when it stops and clean the pens. Salka is trying to herd the horses all the time, so I play with him a little. At 4pm I get Visa Freya and Lalli and make them ready for the clients. There is a terrible sleetstorm outside. It's almost 5pm and there is nobody coming for the tour. I wait half an hour more and then let the horses back to the paddock disappointed. Iiris asked me if I could clean one very dirty pen, so I get to it. I empty everything since it's really wet. I put the clean chaw and the horses in and feed them. The spotlessly clean pen's residents look particularly happy. At the house I'm invited to a meal which is not horse meat as they jokingly tel me first, but pgs meat and...

There is a screaming Thrush outside my window, keeping me awake through the small hours. I get two swiss tourists brave enough for the rageing sleetstorm. Idynn comes with us and I get to try a young horse named Ás. He is very sensitive to all my movements but is very obedient and tries his best all the time.  Ás We make it back to the stable and Idynn takes the tourists to the inn to show them their rooms since they are going to stay for the night. I stay behind and make it ready for the next sixs person group that's coming at two.  It's very windy and the horses are in a wild mood s it takes a bit of time to catch them. While brushing and saddling up I try to learn their names. Many names have meanings and it's easier to learn them when you know it. Ás means the first. Visa is a poem. Freya is the goddess of love in viking mythology. Long way to go when there is 150 horses. It's almost half past two and the tourists have not shown up yet. Idynn is...

I wake up early, eager to get to work. After feeding the horses I start to clean and organize the saddleroom. Taking a brake I sit on a sofa and the stablecats both jump on my lap. 4.5. At ten ó clock we take Visa and Freya inside with Bjarni and make them ready for a experienced danish tourist. Visa has such a bushy fringe that the bridle almost won't go over the ears. Both of the horses have had fun outside and are very muddy. Luckily it comes off easily and they are also molting and the floor is soon covered with soft fur. Freya The client arrives and I introduce her to Freya. We saddle the horses together and go. I follow the track carefully. We arrive to the beach, where the hoovetracks have been washed away by the waves. I have a moment of panic but luckily the beach is the easiest part of the track to remember. The sea is rumbling and the wind murmuring in our ears and we ride in silence. Soon we reach the stream crossing which is a bit steeper than before. Th...

In the morning I feed the horses and afterwards I go to the field with Bjarni to feed the big herd. He moves the big hay rolls with tractor while I open the gate and the rolls. I have some time to admire the seaside, the big waves and breath in the scents of the salt and seaweed. When we have moved all eight hay rolls I stay at the field to clean the plastic thrash that is left from the rolls. While I clean, the horses start to gather around me, curious. I stop and let everyone meet me. I feel like I'm in a movie with wild horses although these are just very greedy horses since thy think I have some bread in my thrash sack. In the evening after clening the stall I get to go to the local swimming hall with Elsa and Bjarni. The pools are all outside and the water is hot like in a hot spring. And it is from a hot spring, coming from underground. We sit in the pools and the locals talk in icelandic. I relax and let the words roll in my head, sometimes asking the meaning of so...

It's so bright. At night it's never totally dark. It's quiet. There is no trees rustling behind the window nor cars swooshing by. The only sound is the occasional rain battering on the roof. But now it is snowing. Monday 2.5 I wake up at 4.00am. I wake up at 5.00am. I wake up at 6.00am. I rise from the bed at 7.00am, giving up. Around ten I walk to Bjarni's place and we go through the plan for the day. I am offered sour milk and cereals for breakfast and I'm not convinced. Sour milk? Well..It's the icelandic way. I try to eat half, but embarassed, dump the meal in the thrash. Luckily we head for Husavik, where I get to go to the local store and buy some food for myself. At Husavik I pay a visit to the whale museum. The exhibition is small but well arranged and interesting, and there is even a rare bluewhale skeleton which is formidable in size and smell. Whale skeleton In the evening I get to go for a two hour ride with Anna the guide and two swe...

How can there be so many mountains? I'm sitting in the bus and thinking: Iceland is a wonderful country. Looking to the left, I see flat land sometimes so rugged that you couldn't imagine even a mouse walking there, and sometimes seas of grass as soft as silk. Looking to the right I see mountains. Snowy mountains, mountains black as coal, brown mountains. Sharp, rugged mountains and smooth mountains. How can there be so many colors and shapes? The ground where almost nothing grows and still it can be every shade of brown you can imagine. The landscape is changing all the time and so is the weather during the two hour trip. From cloydy to rainy to sunny to misty. I cannot close my eyes for even a second, I am entranced. I left from Helsinki airport and arrived to Keflavik, where I took Grey Line's bus to Akureyri. From Akureyri I got a ride from my host  to the Saltvik farm. There I will start my two month internship with 150 horses. views from the plane We ar...