This posting will be some miscellaneous items from our time on Heimaey in the Westman Islands.

Puffin meat is part of the national diet of Iceland, though today a much smaller part. They have hunted puffins for decades. They use puffins for their meat, eggs, and feathers. To get puffin eggs, they lower themselves over the side of the cliffs on long ropes. Once they are hanging from the rope, they swing themselves back and forth across the rocks to get the eggs, only taking about one of every three eggs. Below, I was practicing rope swinging but rest assured, no puffin eggs were injured in the process.

This was at the Aquarium in town. The aquarium also had animals, rocks, minerals and other things. They also do some animal rescue work, such as this young puffin. Vicky communicated with the puffin quite well.

Alto cooked us a home-hosted dinner in his house. Then, he and his wife, Helga, entertained us with songs from the 1960's: Graham Nash, Jim Croce, and the Beatles. Dinner was excellent with the main course being fresh cod. Helga's family lived in this house in 1973 and they survived the volcano and had great stories to tell and many thanks for the Americans who sent them the pumps to turn the lava flows.

This is Helga, from our home-hosted dinner, the next day at their bakery. We ate lunch here and it was very good.

Icelandic Marketing. Yes, of course it worked.