My Petanque Tour de France – 2013

As someone who enjoys the French culture and the game of Petanque, I am living a dream. For the past week, I have been in France visiting Jo and Paulette Sanchez. Jo is a former Petanque champion of both France and Algeria and his wife, Paulette, is a most gracious hostess. Their home is a spacious, three-story house that Jo designed and built in 1967.

Jo is a retired electrician and is the best example of a Renaissance man that I know. He plays the harmonica, he is a prolific painter in watercolors and in addition to being a champion Petanque player, he is an excellent coach in the sport. He has a fantastic workshop in his home where he can fix anything.

During this past week, Jo and I have played Petanque every afternoon at his club, Club de Petanque de Sainte Genevieve des Bois, where I have received a most gracious welcome by everyone in the club. Yesterday, they even let me play in a tournament sanctioned by the French Federation of Petanque – which is just for French people. Jo talked to the officials and they let me play. Having my USA Federation of Petanque membership card also helped. I was the only foreigner in the tournament consisting of 80 two-man teams!

 

 

I probably don't have to tell you that we did not win the tournament (in spite of Jo's excellent shooting and my not-so-bad-for-an-American-in-France pointing). In fact, we lost the first two games of the double elimination tournament by the scores of 13-7 and 13-11. What I must tell you is that just participating in an event like this was one of the most memorable experiences in my life. To be surrounded by 160 Petanque players, most of whom have played this game since they were children, in a tournament of the iconic French sport was pure ecstasy.

I hope that all my friends in the Heart of Texas Petanque Club in Austin, Texas get to have an experience like this. 

Energy and Water in Iceland

I was in an Internet café and met a British grad student who was studying Hydrology and was working at an Iceland power plant during a year-long exchange program. He explained to me that Iceland has both water and electricity in abundance. 90% of their energy comes from thermal wells drilled 1,000 to 2,000 feet deep that bring super heated water to the surface. As the water comes to the surface, the pressure is reduced and the water turns to steam that drives turbines that generate electricity. Because of the high sulfur (and other chemicals) content, you cannot drink the excess water created by this process but they do use it in a heat-exchange process in other industrial applications.

Drinking water is extracted from shallower wells (generally 200 ft deep) that tap into the predominantly basalt rock – which is very porous and efficiently traps the 90+ inches of annual rain in much of the country.

This guy also explained that there was a complete lack of effort to conserve water or electricity. Everywhere you go, there are electric wall heaters going full blast, even in unoccupied rooms, buildings, etc.  Lights are on all night where they are not needed. Every small town has an outdoor heated swimming pool and hot tubs going full blast 24/7.

 
In contrast, solid waste recycling bins are located everywhere, are free and more widely used than in the USA.

I've included several photos of power generating stations located in the southwest part of Iceland where the two diverging tectonic plates are the thinnest and they don't have to drill so deep to get the hot water.

(Stay tuned for the lesson on "diverging tectonic plates")

Entertaining day in Iceland

Wow! What a great day. Most of my trip, so far, has been spent enjoying the geological features found in the vastness of Iceland. Today, I was fortunate to spend time with some Icelandic people enjoying some local customs.

 

It all started with a great night's sleep in a nice B-n-B. This morning, the owner told me about a local event happening today that few, if any, tourists know about.

Way back in the spring, all the sheep ranchers in Iceland herd their sheep up into the mountains where summer grass fattens them up and there is plenty of glacial water to drink. The ranchers in a local area will mix their sheep together because it would be impossible to keep the herds separate and it no doubt helps in cross-breeding among the herds. When winter comes, they all get together, saddle up their beautiful Icelandic horses (that's another story to come) and herd the sheep back into the warmer lowlands. The trip takes several days as the sheep travel 50+ miles.

When they arrive in the lowlands, they are herded to a place where the ranchers can then sort their sheep. This is done in a big round pen about 100 ft. in diameter - with a dozen or so smaller pens along the circumference. Each pen belongs to a different rancher. There is an entrance to the big pen that is used to get them into the middle then that gate is closed and the fun begins. Everyone starts grabbing sheep and looking at ear-tags for their own and wrestling them through the gates to their pens. It was particularly fun to watch the kids helping their family with this chore. Later, the sheep are loaded onto trucks and taken back to their respective ranches.

It is quite the social scene of the year as all the neighboring families gather in the big pen to visit. I stood in there with them and my feet were constantly trampled on by sheep and my pants smell of wet wool. 

 

All this started about 9:00 am and by about noon, they had filled the big pen 5 or 6 times with a total of about 6,000 sheep sorted into the separate pens. Did I mention that most of this activity is accompanied by drinking that began at 9:00 am! There was lots of canned beer being consumed but the majority of drinkers (the majority of adults in attendance) were drinking out of flasks and pint liquor bottles – from licorice-flavored vodka to some very fine cognac – and I had some of both. I was the only tourist there and when someone found out I was from Texas, there were lots of folks insisting that I try their favorite – so I did.

After the sheep sorting, most of the men gathered in the middle and sang one traditional Icelandic tune after another. I was surprised how good they sounded for being a bunch of drunk sheep herders but I later learned the men in Iceland are quite good singers as it is a rich part of their culture. Be sure to click on the video to hear/see some of the singing.

 

They were still singing a couple of hours later when I was sober enough to drive.

 

Reindeer in Iceland

REINDEER:

Reindeer are in Iceland, however, they are not indigenous. They were imported a long time ago by some of the original settlers in hopes of providing a good source of meat as there were no sheep here either. The problem with reindeer is that they migrate great distances because they need lots of grazing range. They simply could not convince the Icelanders to become nomads and follow them all over the place. So shortly after they were imported, they were let free. They have sustained a respectable population to the point where they are hunted in limited numbers through a national lottery that allows a fixed number of hunters to take a specific number of reindeer.

I was told that the hunting season is about to begin – and the reindeer know it because each year at this time, they go hide in the most remote valleys and hunters have a difficult time finding them.
 
I was lucky to see one and take some pictures of him. You will notice that he is shedding his velvet. He will shed his antlers, an annual occurrence, in the coming winter months when the mating season is over.

5 days into my Iceland experience

This initial entry will be brief as I'm 5 days into the trip and am simply way to busy during this part of the trip to write much. I'll include a few photos, however, to satisfy at least my family and friends who are mildly curious.

Sept. 4 – Left Austin in the early morning for New York City. Had a (planned) 8-hour layover at JFK which gave me enough time to take the subway into the City and view the World Trade Center Memorial and have lunch at some (any) unique place.

That evening, I caught a late flight to Iceland, arriving early the next morning in time to pick up a rent car. Since them, I have driven about 600 miles, which is 2/3 the way around (clockwise) the island, camping for 4 nights – so far. Tonight I am staying in a hostel because the weather is miserable – rain and cold….and they have Internet.

I have found Iceland to be quite amazing. If you are wondering why did I choose to travel here, I'd have to say it is to satisfy my curiosity about the dynamic and varied geological features found in this place. My interest in things geological began in college. As most of you know, my degree from the University of Texas is in International Business. However, that degree requires a year of some science. I chose Geology and since then, I've been quite curious about that stuff.

 
OK, enough writing for the moment…here are some more photos...