Page 40 - 2000 ICELAND

and two washbasins with really cold water
on the outside wall of that facility.

Nearby, there was a new A-shape cottage
being built consisting of four rooms and a

wraparound porch. The rooms in this
cottage were all locked up and

unavailable to us.

Before dinner that night, Oskar ran us up a couple of mountains for exercise.

Actually the hike was exhilarating since once the top of the highest peak was
reached, the views were stunning and we could see even more of the great

“desert.” Our little “encampment” area looked lonely indeed from that
elevation. The hike took us through snow so we got do some slipping,

sliding, and playing on the way down. Again, the walking sticks are just the
thing for all this hiking up and down in rocky and slippery terrain.

There was yet another activity to get through before bedtime - the

promised “Festival of the Summer Hut.” Apparently this is a tradition on

Icelandic holidays. When you stay at a remote summer camp like this one,
everyone gets together for songs and jokes and whatever will pass through

the language barriers. Actually, our “festival” was more interesting than
entertaining, but well worth remembering.

We had all been forewarned and had prepared songs to sing typical of our

respective countries.

At the camp that night were the following: the Icelandic guides, drivers, and
cooks for the tour groups, the previously mentioned German tourists on the

same type of tour as ours, and our busload of French, French-speaking

Swiss, Canadians and US citizens.

We all assembled in the large sleeping hut on the first floor. There was a
center aisle about eight feet wide and thirty feet long. Three long wooden

tables ran the length of the hall. On either side of the middle aisle were the