(Mis)Adventures Of A Roaming Coloradan

Travels, Photos, and Energy Investigations by Cully C

Thursday, October 28, 2010

Flying to China

Posted by Cully at 7:50 PM

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Maxi y Teli

The two Porteno tango dancers living with Carlos during our project together. Perito Moreno Glacier in the background.

Hierba Mate

The Argentine tradition in the works

A Famous Film Set

Can you figure out which one?

Pro Cyclist Mecca

Girona: a short train ride from Barcelona. 65 pros live here full time, and the Garmin pro team is based here.

Skaters and Modern Art

Barcelona's art/grunge plaza in front of the Modern Art Museum

Invisible Spaniard

This guy definitely made me do a double take

Arroz Negro

This Spanish rice dish is colored black with squid ink. Sounds weird, tastes great.

Rope Up

Rock climbing trail workers outside Barcelona

Getting Down To Business

I've been wearing more suits in Madrid than I did in Iceland (where I found it easier to fit in by wearing woolen sweaters with large metal clasps)

Fishing the south coast. In the 1800's.

This basalt hovel once served as a winter home for nomadic fishermen. Imagine charging out into the Atlantic Ocean each morning in some dinghy, then returning home to sleep on a bed of volcanic glass and endure Iceland's freezing December nights

You First

I only touch the lines after the engineers do first

Maria Leaves Husavik

My Spanish housemate has flown back to Barcelona, but not before cooking a final omelet from her home country

Transformer

This thing takes a 6.3 kV current down to 400V for the systems in Husavik's power plant and recycling plant

Dried Fish

Eating this makes you feel really thirsty (and pretty tough too)

4x4 Mania

Icelanders modify their cars to no end. They can drive over razor sharp lava fields and easily plunge through deep rivers. The new Viking warships as it were...

Maria is Steamy

My Spanish housemate in the the steaming hot geothermal fields of Krafla

Natural Steam Showers

Here I am emerging from a geothermal steam vent

Mushroom Soup Ingredients

Picked straight from the side of the road

New Potatoes

Enough for the whole winter, and they came from the back yard

Old Timer

This is the senior sheep herder in the Husavik area

Utter to Bowl to Mouth

Your milk source is often your neighbor in Iceland

A Diverse Jammy Spread

From the berries that I plucked with my housemates

Hearty Batter

A stick-to-your-bones waffle for the post wrangling relaxation

Old School

Outside the ancient school house at the Raykjavik Outdoor Museum, which detail's the capitol's evolution from settlement to year 2000

Bros at the Blue Lagoon

My family came out to Iceland en route to a longer vacation in Denmark and Italy.

The Supportive Mother

Ballin on the Fairways of the Midnight Sun Golf Course

Mom and Dad

Blue Lagooning it up

Geysir

The most famous geothermal area in Iceland, and the namesake of geysers everywhere

Silica Face Paint from a Power Plant

A weekend trip to the Blue Lagoon geothermal pools with my brother. Everyone covers themselves with geothermal power plant effluent - try doing that with a coal plant!

Reykjavik

What an Awesome city! Home to the headquarters of Iceland's largest power companies, 2/3 of the population, and the Cultural Festival I experienced last weekend

Greek Boating

Sporting the most modern fashions near Mykonos: biker's tan and speedo

Beautiful Icelandic People

It's true what they say...

Collision of Landscapes

Iceland's rugged terrain changes around each corner. Somehow the scenery always appears alien, as if imported from a sci-fi movie. Here you see remnants of a glacier, glacial debris, and some weird moss forest. Just out of frame lies a basaltic moonscape.

Overlooking Akureyri

Proudly representing Vermont Industry after a three-hour hike. Below me is the fjord I now call home. This photo was taken at about 9:00PM by the way.

The Great Fish Festival

This event transformed from a free fish binge into an all night party after a barrage of fireworks signaled the stew pots to be put away and the kegs to be rolled out.

Fish Leather

Colorful fish strips in the seaside town of Dalvik

Fire Breather

I found all kinds of interesting characters at Fish Fest

Fried Egg Candies

The viking lads go crazy for this stuff

11:15 PM in Akureyri, Iceland

Snapped this photo after leaving a movie (Inception, awesome) in the middle of the night. Kids skateboarding, people walking their dogs, people sipping drinks on unlighted patios well past midnight

Iceland's Rugged Puffin Hunters

These rocks and the surrounding cliffs host large bird colonies during the summer. The bird families are just now leaving with their young chicks to go float around in the ocean until next summer. Apparently hunters lurk silently in these cliffs just waiting for the birds to come home every spring. Imagine opening your front door after a long vacation and getting blasted with a shotgun then made into a puffin steak.

Dried Fish for Africa

Iceland exports hundreds of kilos of dried fish skeletons to Nigeria. Africans boil these things for hours to make fish broth. The desiccated specimens smell like rotten fish covered in bird shit, which in fact, they are.

"Pinko" the Death Racer

I think my brother stole all the shorts from my bag before the race (although he denies it), so I ended up in my girlfriend's spandex shorts. All the other racers called me "pinko."

Death Race Wood Chopping

I had to quarter and stack 30 logs. That was one of twelve tasks throughout the 32 hour race.

Translating Greek in Freezing Water

Another super-fun task that the sinister Death Race planners invented

Diving for Pennies

Another Death Race task - the pennies in this muddy lake could be used to purchase critical tools and information throughout the race

Sushi from a Conveyor

Our first meal in London...

Old School

A Cambridge clothier older than my country. Around the corner is Stephen Hawking's apartment, the bar where DNA was discovered, and the complete skeleton of an extinct species of whale.

The Bike Path from Heaven

France showed me scenery like I've never seen before - it may be the best place on earth to ride a bike. The drivers are universally considerate and mindful of cyclists, the roads are all smooth and healthy, and the route is dotted by small towns with delicious cafes.

Da Basilica

A great place to people watch, look out over the city, or eat peaches in the grass. Just don't talk if you go inside or the monks will mean mug you

Vinny and Me

Lose the left ear and I'd be a pretty good Van Gogh look alike.

Escargot

This dish of buttery snails rivals my steak tare tare as most intimidating new delicacy tasted during the tour.

Eiffel Tower

An engineering marvel build for the world's fair and centennial of the French Revolution. It is the most recognizable icon on earth, and over 200 million people have paid to visit.

Packed!

This is a photo of the TDF course heading up Mount Ventoux. At one point, the road was so crowded that people had to dismount their bikes and walk. The police estimated 400,000 people were in attendance.

The French Milk Man

Why does France have so much cheese? Back in the day, herds of cows would follow greening grass high into the mountains as the snow melted in spring. Eventually, the cows trekked so high that their owners could not bring the milk to market before spoiling. Resultantly, farmers preserved their milk in huge wheels of cheese, which could be rolled downhill at a later convenience. Milk pipelines and tractor transport eliminated this situation, yet the cheese cultures remained (get it?)

A Curious Sheep

This is what a Savoyard stock show looks like. I think...

Steep Like Whoa

Atop the famous Col de Galibier

The Big Cheese

Raclette derives from the french word "racler" which means "to scrape off." We heated this huge raclette cheese in a special toaster oven on our table and scraped the gooey delight onto potatoes and cured meats. Mmmm... heart problems.

Stinking Spandex

The tour organizer wanted me to wear the same jersey every day - great for building a strong tan line, but bad for personal hygiene...

Stage Winner

This man, from Spain's Basque Region, just had the best day of his life. A pro cyclist standing next to me said that, as a rule and a tradition, he will literally never have to buy another drink for the rest of his life in the Basque region. He just became the biggest celebrity in his country.

Tren a la Pooch

The last thing I saw before passing out and missing my stop - four massive labs blocking the aisle. Nobody seemed to care; this is quite normal apparently.