The Gap Filled

I want to apologize for the tardiness of this post and for its possible lack of coherency (I'm not sure how this will go). I mustered up a least 20 minutes worth of energy to throw some pictures online and update this shenanigan as promised!

Where we left off...Ah yes! I was walking! I ended up moving in with a group of wonderful (and life saving) women for the reminder of my stay in Ísafjörður. Through them I was able to experience the local community through a local choir practice, Icelandic tutoring and recommendations on other hikes to take.

"O Waterfall you look sooo Goood"

I took another walking excursion out to Hnífsdalur (about a 40 minute walk from Ísafjörður) where, hiking back into the farm lands, found water falls and made friends with the Three Musketeers (I swear to god every time I turned around to look at these three horses they looked like a little trio of trouble makers)....they were adorable. 

My Favorite Trio. The one in the back was the sassiest

I want to make a joke saying I felt like I was in the Twilight Zone because every time I looked around or stopped to take in the sights I kept thinking I was in Westeros  or no...Middle Earth? The landscape kept tricking me of my whereabouts in the state of the universe or parallel ones. 

The next day I took the bus out to Flateyri (a town in the neighboring fjord) and climbed to a rock garden plateau (keeping my fingers crossed for troll sightings!)

Troll Umbrella

Worth. The. Trip! This fjord was much more expansive than Ísafjörður's and from this plateau you could see multiple surrounding fjords with the clouds dipping down into them. That day I got a sense of what it is like to be so far north as I was able to watch the sun the ENTIRE DAY briefly flirt with the horizon.

Flattering Flateyri

I was invited to go along with one of the girls and some of her friends to a friends sheep farm for the weekend. Cool! I was nearing my stay in Iceland and eager to see more of it. The sheep farm was about and hour drive away and beautiful one at that. Coming up the pass that lead back down into the fjord the farm was in the sky was pink and blue and the little streams cut through the green basin down to the sea. And the huge cliffs on either side had a hint of snow and it was so beautiful I felt like Little Foot entering the Great Valley after a long battle with the sharp tooths (tree stars, look it up!).

The girls went surfing, I met part of the family and then just as we were sitting down to relax and start making dinner I passed out, and yes I mean completely lost consciousness. Now we come to the part of the story that uncovers the mystery of why I have been gone from facebook and other social platforms for so long.

The Weekend Escape Sheep Valley

To save you all the boring details, many hours of pain and puking later my dream team of amazing ladies called the ambulance to come get me. Problem was my entire abdomen hurt so bad there was no way I could be moved and I was very convinced that I was indeed going to die that night. Couple shots of morphine, excruciating bumpy and long ride back to the hospital (ya that was a good time) I was finally stably out of pain and in a comfortable bed. All the horrible things were ruled out and it was diagnosed as a bad GI infection. I spent most of the day in the hospital but was able to walk myself back to the house.

My lovely Ísafjörður family took such good care of me and then I had (I guess I didn't have to) hop on the plane to get to Reykjavik and make the jump onto my next journey to Norway!

The next wave of the sickness hit when I was headed back to Reykjavik but I had friends to help me :)

I honestly cannot tell you how I made it to Norway. I am still in shock of the fact that I made 3 plane rides and 2 drives being as sick as I am. But I am alive and recovering and finally had the energy to put some words in for the public so that is a start!

Goodbye Iceland. Stepping off the Lonely Planet.

The Cat and I are Checking Out