Author Topic: Wait for it...  (Read 4055 times)

KarenRei

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Wait for it...
« on: June 16, 2012, 06:30:38 PM »
I swear this is on topic... see me through to the end here  ;)  I was climbing Mt. Esja today and, well... wait for it...



Wait for it...



Wait for it...



Wait for it...



Wait for it...



Wait for it...



Wait for it...

Drekaávöxtur á Toppnum á Esjunni

I was thinking to myself, what would be the most improbable thing to find on top of an Icelandic mountain...  hehehe  ;)  Here's a better pic:

http://i272.photobucket.com/albums/jj169/KarenRei/S1230027.jpg

He's just a baby, of course.
« Last Edit: June 16, 2012, 06:32:11 PM by KarenRei »
Já, ég er að rækta suðrænar plöntur á Íslandi. Nei, ég er ekki klikkuð. Jæja, kannski...

fruitlovers

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Re: Wait for it...
« Reply #1 on: June 16, 2012, 09:12:13 PM »
Taking that pitaya up there just for the ride?
Oscar

KarenRei

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Re: Wait for it...
« Reply #2 on: June 17, 2012, 01:10:25 PM »
Yup!  They don't get out much... figured it could use some fresh air, hehe  ;) 

(Figured a pitaya in Iceland wasn't improbable enough on its own, so a Pitaya on Esja would be better.  Hmm, wonder if I could find a way to *grow* one on the top.... *really* confuse the heck out of the hikers  ;)  )
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FlyingFoxFruits

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Re: Wait for it...
« Reply #3 on: June 17, 2012, 03:28:15 PM »
what's gonna happen to that plant?  u just walking with it? or planting it?

looks cold/windy for that little guy!

am i missing something??

nice pics though...I'd pass out at that elevation!
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Jackfruitwhisperer69

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Re: Wait for it...
« Reply #4 on: June 17, 2012, 05:08:37 PM »
Hi Karen,

WOW :o...Icelands lanscape is similar to some locations on Madeira like Pico do Areiro :o Few months ago...i walked to Ponta de São Loreço...about 8 km walk.
The landscape is somewhat similar 8)

Thanks for sharing :)
Time is like a river.
You cannot touch the same water twice, because the flow that has passed will never pass again.
Enjoy every moment of your life!

KarenRei

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Re: Wait for it...
« Reply #5 on: June 17, 2012, 05:46:10 PM »
ASaffron: I just took it for a day hike, just to have brought (presumably) the most unlikely thing in the history of the mountain to the top  ;)  I took it back down with me, a bit worse for wear.  But I've got enough baby pitayas that it's not a problem if something happens to it, and knowing pitaya, the arm may end up breaking off from the flexion stress, I'll have too much of a heart, I'll plant the lose arm, and both will grow into new plants  ;)

I really should try to get a totally unexpected plant growing somewhere in the ground, though... not sure what I could get to survive.  Hmm, come to think of it, I could start a plant indoors and then plant it come summer (then either dig it back up later or let it perish come fall).  I'd need a plant that could tolerant good winds and brief frosts, though, if it's going on a place like Esja.  Heck, if I *really* wanted to confuse the heck out of people, I could "plant" it in a glacier (buried pot, concealed as best as possible).  But that'd require an even hardier plant.

Jackfruitwhisperer69: Heh, there is no single "Iceland's landscape", although some features here are more common than others  :).  Despite the size (about the size of Kentucky, Cuba, or South Korea; a bit bigger than Ireland), each part of the country is radically different.  For example, the south gets rainforest-level rainfall, while parts of the northeast are desert, and the shifting volcanic fissure zones and eruption patterns and flood patterns over the years have sculpted each area radically differently.  Esja is Reykjavík's "city mountain", the most prominent mountain on the city skyline.  So it's maybe 2 dozen kilometers from the city center by road, less as the crow flies.

To get an idea of what different parts of Iceland look like, Google Images gives a pretty good impression:

https://www.google.com/search?tbm=isch&hl=en&source=hp&biw=1600&bih=677&q=iceland+nature&gbv=2&oq=iceland+nature&aq=f&aqi=g5g-S5&aql=&gs_l=img.3..0l5j0i24l5.369.1481.0.1589.14.10.0.2.2.1.164.975.3j6.9.0...0.0.ZsxGDfQyCL0

Just stunningly beautiful.  Here's some pics from my favorite place in the country (that I've been so far!), a canyon called Jökulsárgljúfur (Glacier-River Canyon) in the north:

http://www.production.republik.is/assets/2008/6/20/J%C3%B6kuls%C3%A1rglj%C3%BAfur_Rau%C3%B0h%C3%B3lar_lost_1_copy.jpg
http://www.weltweitwandern.at/system/itineraryimages/1510/normal/is-101-0_Small_.jpg?1294993593
http://img.geocaching.com/cache/de4db8c5-e5da-4010-9ee5-a664e1bf6538.jpg
http://samuelrosset.ch/gallery2/d/3651-2/Island2010_264.jpg
http://www.flickr.com/photos/hellmaker/4447429440/#sizes/l/in/photostream/
http://www.eikongraphia.com/images/iceland/Iceland_Basalt_6_S.JPG

That's just one canyon, out of thousands.  Can you see why I fell in love with this place?   ;)


« Last Edit: June 17, 2012, 06:39:04 PM by KarenRei »
Já, ég er að rækta suðrænar plöntur á Íslandi. Nei, ég er ekki klikkuð. Jæja, kannski...

fruitlovers

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Re: Wait for it...
« Reply #6 on: June 17, 2012, 07:46:14 PM »
Taking your pitaya plant for a walk? Do you use a leash?  ;) Most unusual! To say the least!! Are you american? If so how did you end up in Iceland? Just curious.
« Last Edit: June 18, 2012, 07:07:59 PM by fruitlovers »
Oscar

KarenRei

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Re: Wait for it...
« Reply #7 on: June 17, 2012, 08:02:28 PM »
Taking your pitaya plant for a walk? Do you use a leash?  ;) Most unusual! To say the least!! Are you amercian? If so how did you end up in Iceland? Just curious.

I'm an American citizen, although working toward Icelandic citizenship.  Iceland entered my radar due to the music of Sigur Rós.  After seeing the documentary "Heima", I wanted to visit.  I came twice last summer - first for just hours on the way to the UK, then for 15 days.  I fell so in love with the place that I started applying for jobs in Iceland, not actually expecting I'd get one.  I had a phone interview within a week and a job shortly thereafter.  Getting the permits, however, took half a year.  It took me months to get my permits to bring my plants and parrot, and I went through massive efforts to get the plants here (about 40 species) alive.  But I'm so glad to be here  :)

BTW - the guy in that video is the hiking guide, increduously  asking whether I brought a flower  ;)  The trip was launched by our "starfsmannafélag" ("Employee Association").  It's something people do here which I think is really awesome.  Employees contribute a tiny bit out of their paycheck, the company matches at a multiplied rate, and then the association uses its bulk buying power to organize all sorts of trips, mostly little (maybe once a week), but a few big ones per year .  Back before the banking crisis, these often included things like overseas vacations, although nowadays it's mostly domestic.  This was one of the random little events, which include everything from "disco bowling" to guest chefs from fancy restaurants in the company cafeteria.
Já, ég er að rækta suðrænar plöntur á Íslandi. Nei, ég er ekki klikkuð. Jæja, kannski...

Central Floridave

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Re: Wait for it...
« Reply #8 on: June 18, 2012, 03:41:59 PM »
This is an interesting thread I would never guess I would see in a tropical fruit forum! 

Why one would take dragon fruit on a hike is..er...well...fruity!   

I really like Bjork and have most of her albums. I'll check out sigur ros.   My parents lived on Iceland back in the 70s while my dad was in the Air Force. they always had nice things to say about living there.  Looks like an interesting place with interesting people! 

Thanks for the photos!   


KarenRei

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Re: Wait for it...
« Reply #9 on: June 18, 2012, 09:15:54 PM »
In case you're curious as to what their music is like, here's a random selection.

Upbeat:
Sigur Ros - Glósóli
Sigur Ros - Hoppipolla - HD Live from Heima
Sigur Ros - Hljomalind

Dark:
Sigur Rós | Sæglópur (Official Video)
Sigur Ros - Ny Batteri (Live)
Minn Heima - Í Gær - Sigur Rós
Sigur Rós - Popplagid (Heima live) HD

Of course, they're just one of an absurd number of bands.  The amount of musical talent here is beyond all reason.  Probably about a thousand bands good enough that any of them on their own should be the pride of the country, in a country of only 320,000 people.  It ceases to surprise me now when I see someone who I've known pick up an instrument and play something just awesome and flawlessly.  And often using the instrument in a way it wasn't designed to  ;)

Anyway, this is getting a bit off-topic  :)  BTW, Keflavík (where the old NATO base was) is probably the least interesting part of Iceland, heh  ;)  Just one giant endless lava field.
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