Hafthor – The Volcanologist

Hafthor – The Volcanologist

Background

Hafthor is a Grindevik native, one of the only residents who has lived there for over 50 years. He’s an expert on volcanoes and loves sharing his unique knowledge of Iceland’s lava flows. This is his story:

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After the devastation and lava flow from the 2023 eruption in Grindevik, Havthor was relocated for a few years in Selfoss. Yet he always wanted to return home, despite the danger and the lack of grocery stores or basic necessities.

His knowledge of the history of volcanic eruptions in Iceland goes back hundreds of years. He can name each eruption and has stories from the fallout and results of each experience. There are several eruptions on Iceland most years, so his expertise is quite extensive. One story he told of the Icelandic puffins that suffered from one eruption so that the baby puffins weren’t able to navigate to the sea. Instead the fell out of the sky and were picked up by local children in the town and carefully placed in boxes and then hand delivered out to sea, because of the volcanic ash that was blocking their flight patterns.

His name meaning Thor of the sea, is quite fitting for his level of experience, both with as a fisherman and as a volcano guide. He can navigate lava fields that have been cooling for 5 to 10 years, and find the steam vents hot enough to cook food over. He is lucky to be back in his hometown of Grindevik, after the fissures that ripped through the town are slowly being filled. He called the event a once in every 2000 years type scene, and considers himself lucky to be back home, when more than 90% of the town has not returned.

His Perspective

Hafthor believes life’s memories and experiences are meant to be shared. It’s a rare moment that he is not explaining insights into some life changing experience where he gained a new and unique perspective on life. With a near death experience while out on a volcano tour one day, where the tourists who were doctors essentially saved his life, he has gained new appreciation for the fragility of life. He had suffered internal bleeding in his head, and after the cat scan the doctors are surprised he’s alive, let alone back hiking up the volcanoes in the area. Yet he wastes no time focusing on what he loves, grateful for every day he has left!

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Svend – The Ice Cave Finder

Svend – The Ice Cave Finder

Background

Svend is an adventurer and has lived his life seeking the thrills the world provide. This is his story:

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As an expert ice cave finder in the Spring in Iceland, Svend searches the Katla glacier for signs of water draining into an opening in the ice. Even in the worst of weather, as with one experience where he burned more calories than the average marathon runner, Svend spent days uncovering paths to unique ice caves for others to experience.

His Icelandic heritage gives him a practical personality and sarcastic sense of humor. His tattoo of Iceland on his forearm allows leaves him with a map close at hand. Yet he describes many Icelandic farmers as just as dumb as the sheep that can’t give birth on their own anymore. The isolation of the island has allowed for dumb sheep, and dumb people, to interbreed too much. Yet despite his sarcastic jokes, you can sense his real care for his fellow human beings.

Svend describes one experience with his supped up van. He never allows anyone to drive his van, but one passenger was completely blind. He was out in the middle of nowhere, with nothing by him for miles and Icelandic black sand as far as he could see. He could tell the blind man wanted an adventure and allowed him to drive for nearly an hour in this “safe” environment. He’s always looking for the thrill in himself and to give that thrill to others.

His Perspective

After spending a months long travel from Iceland down to the tip of Cape Town in South Africa, he experienced a lot. Traveling through dozens of countries, his perspective on life changed. He saw what was important, what made people tough, what made people weak, the good in people, the bad and the simple instinct to survive and thrive. He has been over 400 pounds and lost more than half of it, has been on the world stage in motor cross competitions, yet despite or perhaps because of all his experience, he’s learned to focus on the little things that make him happy. His joy comes from his cars, his freedom and his opportunities to be out in nature.

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Michyal – The Glacier Guide

Michyal – The Glacier Guide

Background

Michyal is a glacier hiking expert working in Iceland originally from Croatia. This is his story:

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Life on the glacier can be thrilling and unique, but for Michyal it became a way of life and a way to make a living. He loves to show people a good time, with light hearted jokes and consistent ways of making people have a good time.

His background was as a ski instructor for children and his passion for the slopes led him to the glaciers of Iceland. He is looking forward to the day he can share his passion with children of his own.

His Perspective

Finding meaning in life and sharing it with others is Michyal’s goal. He loves to have a good time, joke around and yet when someone’s safety is at risk, he jumps into action. From days where all goes well on an enjoyable ice climbing experience, to days where some pretty inexperienced people end up with a life flight off the glacier, getting caught sliding down the slopes wrong. He’s up for and ready for anything to have a good time and to take care of those who may make the wrong decision in an unforgiving place.

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Martin – The Lava Guy

Martin – The Lava Guy

Background

Martin is a Polish immigrant who lives in Iceland, working in the tourism industry as the only place in the world where real lava is made and handled. This is his story:

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Martin moved from Poland to Norway and finally now settled in Iceland. He’s a thrill seeker and loves to get out into nature to, as he puts it, “kill his boredom.” He loves working outside and has fallen in love with Iceland and its nature and power. He works at the Lava Show in Vik, a small town in Southern Iceland.

Lava has become his passion. He’s shot several drone footage scenes over live flowing lava on the different active volcanoes around Iceland. He told of one experience where even several hundred feet up, his drone was melting from the heat of the lava. It’s something he’s never experienced before, seeing how power nature can be. The lava even they make at their show requires hundreds of gallons of propane every day to heat the furnace enough to produce the lava. The rocks after the show, after being cooled down with ice, take a day or so to fully cool off. Lava river flows can solidify and preserve their heat for years after they appear to have cooled.

His Perspective

Life is about experiences. Going out and doing and being passionate about something. He’s found his passion in lava, but would advise everyone to find their passion. Beyond money and fame, having something that excites you gives you more out of life than things we tend to pursue.

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Hannah – The Sheep Farmer

Hannah – The Sheep Farmer

Background

Hannah is from Selfoss, Iceland and works as a farmer for most of the year. This is her story:

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Life in Iceland typically revolves around two things: tourism and farming. Hannah is involved in both. For part of the year she works as a guide showing tourists around the newly publicized Caves of Hella. The caves show strong evidence that the Vikings were not the first people to come to Iceland, but instead the Irish. It was quite a controversial discovery as the Icelandic people love and revere the Vikings and contribute so much of their culture to that one people.

The toughness of the Vikings still lives in the people of Iceland today. From the lack of umbrellas, both because of the extreme winds and the high tolerance for uncomfortable weather, to the handmaid wool woven sweaters. Icelanders love the Viking spirit of their ancestry. Yet the Irish ancestry just recently made public, has felt a little harder for them to swallow.

Although the evidence in the Caves of Hella has been known for hundreds of years, as farmers have used them for their sheep during the harsh winters in Iceland, the information did not become public until 2010 for fear of the Icelanders reaction to their history moving away from solely Viking.

Hannah embraces this truth more readily than others though. Yet her true passion still lies in old fashioned Viking farming. Her land has been in her family for generations and particularly with the thousands of sheep during breeding season, becomes a lot of work. The sheep in Iceland have grown so accustomed to human intervention during birth, that the mothers will not help lick the lambs’ faces clean after birth, allowing them to breath. So baby lambs born outside of a human’s presence will die. So Hannah and her family have their work cut out for them as they expect to help birth nearly 700 lambs over the next few weeks.

Her Perspective

Hannah is a realist and takes facts as facts when they come. She finds beauty in the simplicity of life and is straightforward enough to tell even the youngest of tourists the lambs she raises are “slaughtered for their meat.” She’s not a sugar coater and says things how they are, which is how she lives her life. She works for what she has and doesn’t expect anything to be easily handed to her. Life is about enjoying the work and the struggle.

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Geirr – The CODA

Geirr – The CODA

Background

Geirr is a story teller and loves to connect with people. This is his story:

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Geirr is a child of deaf parents and as a result he’s developed incredible skills to adapt in life. His name, which means spear in old Icelandic, defines his dedication in life, to spear through any challenges that come his way. He is a linguist and a musician, things he’s been drawn to with his parents’ disability. He speaks Japanese, English, Icelandic, Danish as well as American Sign Language, British Sign Language and Icelandic Sign Language. He loves history and has studied the viking story of Iceland extensively.

Currently working at the Blue Lagoon south of Reykjavik, his job is to tell the story of the lagoon and the history of the vikings who discovered it hundreds of years ago, all the way to the modern history of the development of the current facilities. His gift for telling stories and captivating the audiences relaxing in the lagoon make him the ideal employee for the reserve.

His Perspective

Life can be challenging and with neither of his parents being able to hear or speak, Geirr had to make many adaptations in his life. He is dedicated and full of wonder and focus, which makes him uniquely able to find happiness and connection with people. His study of language and communication and culture has given him opportunities to travel, connect and enjoy life. He believes life is about the story you tell!

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Freyja – The Natural Disaster Survivor

Freyja – The Natural Disaster Survivor

Background

Freyja lives in Grindevik, Iceland a nearly deserted ghost town. This is her story:

Dailey Life

As a waitress in one of the town’s only remaining restaurants, Freyja despite living in a highly tourist visited country, doesn’t come across new people too often anymore. In 2023 a nearby volcano erupted and lava flowed nearly into the town. Beyond the risk of lava, the town became completely destroyed by fissures that opened up hundreds of feet into the earth suddenly. Most of the buildings have structural damage and all but a few fishermen and some essential services have been relocated from the city. Her town now has become a ghost town with fewer than 100 people living there now.

Yet life in the town continues. Freyja still enjoys all the same things as before, she loves watching basketball, especially with the Grindevik team playing in the national final this year.

She also loves introducing people, particularly foreigners to Hakral, a fermented shark dish they serve at the restaurant. Its a 6 – 12 week process to take Greenlandic shark caught by the fishermen still living in the town, to bury underground and allow for the poisonous shark meat to ferment and become edible. It’s an old Viking tradition that produces a flavor that is unforgettable and mostly regrettable by those who are adventurous enough to try it.

Her Perspective

With so much constantly shifting in Iceland, with bitter cold weather, yet incredible scenery, with natural disasters of earthquakes and volcanoes, yet they leave unimaginable beauty in their wake. Freyja believes life isn’t meant for planning ahead, but taking things one day at a time and learning to enjoy each moment, because you never know when you’re entire way of life can be completely changed.

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Herman – The Transient

Herman – The Transient

Background

Herman is a homeless man making his way on the streets of Santiago. This is his story:

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Every day is a struggle. It’s a struggle to get food, it’s a struggle to get cool, it’s a struggle to keep warm, it’s a struggle to find clean water to drink, every day is a fight when you’re out on the streets in Santiago. Herman’s life drastically changed when he lost his job as a cook in a restaurant over two years ago. His wages barely afforded him rent and so it wasn’t long before he was out on the streets.

There is a big population of homeless individuals in Santiago, so he found he wasn’t alone. This can have its pros and its cons. Having friends in the same situation is always helpful, but desperate people make desperate decisions. He’s lost much of his faith and sticks to finding simple pleasures in life, when they are few and far between.

His Perspective

Many people will say life is not about money, but those tend to be people that have enough. Life may not all be about money, but when you have none, your life drastically changes. Having sufficient leads to opportunities, that without are simply out of reach. Even getting a single bottle of water is now never taken for granted living right in the middle of the Plaza de Armas in Santiago.

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Tian Lo – The Asian Market Owner

Tian Lo – The Asian Market Owner

Background

Tian Lo has lived in Santiago for nearly a quarter of her life, yet still speaks very little of the local language. This is her story:

Dailey Life

Tian lo goes by Andi in Santiago, because it’s easier for people to pronounce. She was born in Shanghai, China and migrated from her country to Chile to run an Asian market. She’s been successful, but despite interacting with customers in Spanish day in and day out, she speaks very, very little of the language. She knows just enough to get by and get paid for the things she sells.

Her brother came over with her and she now employs him as well. Their store provides a good living for them and they have felt no need to integrate into the culture where they live. That integration process is harder than most realize. Living in a foreign country can still feel foreign even after you’ve spent more time there than your native country.

Her Perspective

She takes things one day at a time. She looks for happiness in her small sphere of influence and has a tremendous focus on family. The Chinese network in Santiago is very limited and so she relies on family to have conversations beyond, what would you like to buy and how much does this cost!

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Anyelo – The Dreamer

Anyelo – The Dreamer

Background

Anyelo is a Peruvian living in Santiago for the past year as a driver. This is his story:

Dailey Life

He left Peru over a decade ago seeking a better life, better wages, safer conditions and a better system. Yet in his heart Anyelo is still very much a hard core Peruvian. He talks about how he doesn’t speak Chilean, just Spanish and how surprisingly different the two cultures are despite being so close in geography.

Anyelo is a problem solver. After being passed up by several drivers because of the amount of stuff with two kids we had, Anyelo found a way to fit everything in his compact car, eventually putting the stroller on my lap to make the final piece fit. He cars about others and particularly has a soft spot for parents. As a father to two little girls, he knows what that experience can be like, the joy and the misery.

For him, the biggest dream is to travel to the United States and live there. He is an avid NBA fan and follows the teams closely. But he knows that dream may be a long shot, especially with the current political climate in the U.S.

His Perspective

Life is a problem to be solved and for those who work hard on finding a solution, it can be very enjoyable. Anyelo is quiet, reserved and not forthcoming with his perspective on life. He is humble, but knows his lane and sticks to it, with small daily improvements to achieve his dreams.

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