Isafjordur, Iceland

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Today we landed in Isafjordur, a small town with a population of 2,600. We booked a tour with Wild Westfjords, the Dynjandi Waterfall & The Westfjords tour. Our tour guide is a student at the University Centre of the Westfjords, he is from Sacramento, California and is getting his masters in Coastal and Marine Management. The school offers two masters programs and no bachelors. A year of school costs him double what students from Iceland or the EU pay a total of $4,000.00 per year. He has low rent around $300 per month and shares ownership of a car with his roommates. Iceland is a deal for students but all products and taxes are expensive. The people of Isafjordur are very honest, they do not lock their homes or cars. Babies are left in their strollers outside of shops and cafes, the locals believe leaving the baby out in the cold helps the imune system and helps them adjust to the cold. The town has no crime and no jail. Isafjordur has the oldest house in Iceland build in 1742. The town has three months of dark and when the sun comes out they celebrate by having pancakes. Sunrise was 4:00 am and the sun set at 11:00 pm. It was weird having the sun out at night. Once a year the sun shines 24 hours a day.

The town has a small downhill ski resort (two lifts). The area around the town has suffered two deadly avalanches. One on Mother's Day 1995 killed 20 people and ten months before a avalanche killed 16 people. The area now has A shaped earthen dams built up the mountains to deflect future avalanches. It will not stop an avalanches but disperses the snow.

We visited the Dynjandi Waterfall, the hike to the top was very windy, I thought I was going to get blown over but the small hike was worth it. We visited one of the few white sand beaches in Iceland. Three or four days a year it is warm enough to go to the beach. The sun is out but the wind makes it too cold to lay out in the sun. People who live in this part of Iceland must be very hearty. When it snows most of the area we visited cannot be visited in the winter due to the fact the roads are dirt and not plowed or cleared. Our food and bathroom stops were at a gas station so I was glad Mark and I brought an orange and a banana to eat.

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Comments

[Tiffany Ye]

nice views
Good to see you traveling again. Very lovely pictures.