Churches and Rafts

In spite of his declarations otherwise, Les cooked his awesome breakfast this morning.  We had Icelandic hot dogs instead of bacon with our eggs.  While shopping, we picked out some sausages, then, thanks to Google Translate, realized that it had horse meat inside.  We passed on that option.  PSA:  If your food product in Iceland says this word in the ingredients list - Hrossakjöt - That means HORSE.Up the road a bit from our apartment was an old turf-covered church.  So, we drove, then walked and got some great pictures.  Man, a few days of sun will spoil you.  We didn't have any meaningful rain, but there was no sun, and it was windy, so it was COLD.  I'm sure those of you in AZ or Northern California are playing "My Heart Bleeds for You" on the world's smallest violins.We got back on the road to head to Holar.  Full disclosure: every time Carrie said the name of the town, I yelled out Hollah!  It's the little things in life...  This town has a tiny university.  By that, I am not referring to where Mini-Me got his degree, but a rather small college.  There was another example of a turf-house complex, as well as a beautiful church (that was actually still being used as that - refreshing!), and some recreations of older buildings.We left there and drove on to see another turf-covered church.  This one was just as small as this morning's, but is still used as the parish church.  I guess that minor distinction is why they wanted to charge us $40 just to enter.  We felt like outside pictures and looking through the windows was sufficient.  I know Iceland is expensive, but really?From there, we went to a craft store/information station.  Carrie and Pat each found some cool items, and we also got some travel info for the next region we will be visiting.  We left there and went to another craft gallery, this time it was run by the artist who made all the stuff.  She not only made it herself, but used the wool and other materials from her farm to do it.  She gave is a great demo of how she separates wool and spins the yarn herself.  Again, Carrie and Pat found some cool items, and this time, Carrie got a picture of the artist at work.  Upon stepping outside, we were greeted first by a beautiful dog, then a parade of small sheep and a goat, all being herded by a few sheep dogs.  The goat is the same stock as the originally introduced goats to Iceland.  There are only around 1100 of them on the entire island, so they are in danger of vanishing.  She has almost 30 on her farm, though.  It really took a liking to Les's shoelaces, and kept trying to eat them.  While we waited for a line of ducks to transverse the road, we took some more pictures.When the coast was clear, we headed to our adventure for the afternoon - river rafting.  The weather had relatively held, but there was still no sun, and the wind was cold.  I was not sure what to expect.  They gave us dry-suits that are fully sealed, even at the neck and wrists, to keep water out.  On putting it on, Carrie knew that her proclivity for claustrophobia would not sit well with these suits, so she opted out, leaving Les, Pat, and me to endure the glacial rapids.We rode down to the starting spot, and suited all up.  We had a safety briefing (If you don't do X, you could die), and got in the water.  We had a great view of a volcanic canyon and had a few sections of rough river splashing us.  We had a surprise stop at a hot spring, where they passed out mugs for us to collect said water, and they stirred in hot chocolate mix.  Pat declined, but Les and I had a nice warm break.  Back in the raft, we paddled on.  Our guide, from Nepal, LOVED to sing, and serenaded us with a medley of old and new pop songs.  We had another break where we could climb a clif and jump in the river.  Les and Pat refused to get out the raft, and I just enjoyed leaning against a bolder, while many of the rest of the expedition immersed themselves in the rushing, frigid river.  When it was finally time to end, we pulled up next to a steep canyon wall.  Our guide told us to get out and follow a blue roped path up the hill to catch the return bus.I must say that Les and Pat have been troopers with all the hiking and walking, but I know that climbing is really hard.  The stairs on this "path" were large and steep.  We let the others go ahead, and Les and I made sure Pat got to the top.  Her opinion of whether the excursion was fun was "I survived."   At least when we got back to the lodge, we had a hot meal waiting for us.  Carrie had wisely planned ahead, and had availed herself of the option to add dinner to our rafting trip.  They brought out Cod with a curried sauce, potatoes, salad and bread.  Apparently, several of the staff are from Nepal, so there is that influence to the cooking.  It was delicious.  It was nice to have something with a bit of spice (more than a bit, and it was awesome).Fully satiated, we drove back to the apartment, and are getting all the pictures and notes done, since we are going to have an early morning. It is still relatively early, so maybe we'll play some games, or just drink tea and look at the ocean.  Whatever, I am ready to relax.