Flew from JFK to Reykjavik (Keflavik) on IcelandAir. Tony didn't show up to see me off, but that's ok. Flight took 6 hours, got there on the morning of the 13th. Saw sunrise from plane very early, like 1 AM. Memorable plane moments: Dickmeister with a cigarette, weird broccoli pate, yummy cognac. Cognac for coach class, gotta love IcelandAir even though they're notoriously late.

Staying at Salvation Army, walked around downtown Reykjavik. Bought chocolate (100KR), hamburgers (400KR), postcards (30KR each). Had difficulty with the language - learned "Tak" (thank you) and "Godog" (Hello). Very tired, jet lag induced. Slept a lot.

Jen and I went food and supply shopping in the morning. Needed masking tape but bought double-sided tape by accident because we couldn't read the label. Walked to hot pool in the afternoon, 100KR to get in. Alternated between hot pool and cold pool, boy that got my circulation going. Had an amazing hot dog afterwards - must buy some Icelandic mustard! Stopped at a sweater outlet store. Bought one for me and one for Joe (3400 & 3900 KR). Great deal for Icelandic wool sweaters! That night walked around town with Jen, going over every horizon. Went back to visit old chocolate man, got followed by three Icelandic boys and then just happened to see Rob. Went to sleep by midnight, still light out.

Got up early to go to Reykjavik Domestic (not Keflavik) airport to fly to Isafjörður, up in the tippy top NW "corner" of Iceland. Taxi driver in a Nissan took us to the wrong place, ended up getting another cab and paying a total of 815KR to get to the airport. Ugh. Plane delayed 1/2 an hour for brake problems - got on and then got off again. In the air, slept the whole way. Staying at a hostel in Isafjörður. Walked around the small town, had lunch, went swimming. Met a bunch of guys at the pool, turns out they are a band called Katir Piltar from Reykjavik. They're playing in a local disco tonight and invited us to come see them, they'd leave tickets at the door. So at 11PM we went and got in free (cover 900KR). 11PM and we were early enough to hear the end of the sound check. Geez this country never sleeps. Names: Lead singer Atley (very cute), drummer Ollie, keyboardist Hjörtur Howser (father American in the Navy), bass guitar and guitar players I don't remember their names. Guitar player has a BS in chemistry, is going to Santa Barbara for grad school. Before the band started Hjörtur bought Jen and me a BOTTLE of Beaujolais, because I said I didn't drink hard liquor. Beer just became legal in Iceland so liquor is more common to drink, but beer is all the rage. That seemed backwards to me. (Quote from Jen when she saw that I was going to argue about the wine: "Drink that wine or I will kill you!" Somehow managed to express that exclamation point with a whisper through closed teeth.) Then the band played and we danced and they brought us Austrian beer. Danced more. They played covers mostly, Rolling Stones Honkey Tonk Women, CCR, some Icelandic songs. Obviously they're very popular because there were lots of girls hanging all over them, looking angrily at us. We were dressed in our field clothes (long work pants, turtlenecks), much less fancy than anyone else there, but we were the excitement for the evening because we were the foreigners. Some fights at the bar, one between girls. One guy asked if I would fuck him (I declined), and then apologized profusely. Talked to a guy about whaling (a local industry) and Greenpeace. Bringing up that organization almost resulted in a very violent drunken brawl. People generally seemed very promiscuous, judging from the scene Jen and I saw passing through a room upstairs the bar ... headed back to the hostel and to sleep at 4AM. STILL LIGHT OUT!

Got up at 10am. Charter flight to Greenland supposed to leave at noon, but doesn't end up going until FIVE so we hang out at the airport. Saw the band guys again at 11:30, late for their 11am flight back to Reykjavik. The fight waited for them. That's all for Iceland, for now. Got to Sødalen at 7pm local time (2 hours earlier than Iceland time). Set up camp, cooked and now am in bed ready to sleep at 12:30.

Up at 11am with the arrival of a plane! Has been raining since we arrived 24 hours ago, getting harder as the day progressed. It's supposed to continue for two days, Ugh. EVERYTHING is sopping wet and it makes it difficult to do anything, especially go to the "bathroom" (off a ways behind a pile of rocks). It's pretty cold too, about 8-10°C (45-50°F). We've been taking cartloads of gear to the stream about 1-2km away. Jen and I took one together. Tomorrow we'll ford the stream and camp in a different place. Right near the airstrip (read: gravel and pylons), the Platinova Mining company has set up camp. They've been rolling around with the tractor NONSTOP through the night and day. How annoying. Probably everywhere else on the East Greenland coast it's quiet and we're camping by a tractor. They set up the cook's tent, it's got a stove and a REFRIGERATOR inside. I'm clueless what the fridge is for. Seems cold enough here. One guy doing the airstrip took my picture, what a sneak.

Broke camp and got to the stream (now a river after three days of rain) to ford it. Platinova people let us use one of their many space heaters this morning during breakfast. One woman (the head cook) said that she felt so bad for me yesterday because I looked like a drowned rat. I felt like asking why she didn't offer to let us come inside then instead of today when it isn't raining. Well, no matter. So we get to the stream/river by noon. Dick (Professor Naslund) tried to cross with the boat and paddles but couldn't, so we tried various different methods until FIVE PM when it finally worked because Dick finally got out of the boat and waded in waist-deep COLD water across the stream. Ugh. We were all pretty wet (again) by the end, but now we had a connection at both ends and ferried gear across in the boat. Then an hour hike to our campsite which is right on the edge of one fjord. Two more days until we get to base camp, assuming the weather holds out - not bad today, just a few sprinkles! ALL my clothing is wet, including what I've got on. "Borrowed" the sweater I bought for Joe because both of mine (and my parka) are soaking. Hope the sun comes out soon. Time to sleep.